Currently reading
Frackistan: The Promise and Peril of America’s Energy Revolution
Savaging the Dark
The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One
Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life
A Better Way of Dying: How to Make the Best Choices at the End of Life
Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness
Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success
S.
Dances in Two Worlds: A Writer-Artist's Backstory
Tigers in Red Weather
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
I liked this story more than I liked the audiobook production. I found the book charming and refreshing, in that it hearkens back to a time before every literary teenager was angst-ridden and orphaned and/or abused. It's about a normal kid with normal anxieties navigating his first year of high school. I hope "kids these days" (I love that I can say that, now) are as thoughtful, compassionate and able to learn from life experiences as Scott was.
The audiobook, however, is not as engaging. I didn't understand the use of music throughout...and why smooth jazz? The use of baby-mobile music to signal a diary entry got annoying. The music didn't always indicate a new chapter, either; sometimes it just appeared in the middle of a sentence. It was the wrong sounds at the wrong time and I found it distracting.
Also, it was a Full Cast Audio production. It's fun to hear different voices playing the different roles, but it's rare that these are assembled so well that it feels "real". Conversations don't play out well because they're stilted; there's no flow. It isn't believable because it sounds like a bunch of people reading their lines.
I would recommend the book but not necessarily this version.