My audiobook listening has slowed somewhat as the last few ones I have not particularly loved - not to the point where I sit in the car because I can't bear to stop listening.

Weekly Reading With Fifty Shades of Grey And Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me {The Audiobook Edition} Plus An August Audiobook Library Loot

Recently Finished

Fifty Shades of Grey, E.L. James. Narrated by Becca Battoe.
Location: Oregon & Seattle, USA.

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too - but on his own terms. Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control.

At first, I was very engaged in the story, the intrigue as to what Christian wanted Anastasia to do, and her trying to decide what she wanted. But then, things started to get very repetitive very fast. He would call, or she would email, they would meet but before he/ she arrived, she would start thinking and over-analyzing their "relationship." They would come face to face, talk about it, then have sex. Sleep. Go home. Repeat. I couldn't stand all that thinking about their relationship she did - analyzing everything over and over again ... but maybe this annoying personality was what the author was aiming for, after all she was naive and innocent. There wasn't much of a story developing (just like in porn movies). And - although I'm not usually one to notice things that "critics" do - even I picked up on the 1-dimensional characters and the phrases that were used over and over ... and over and over again. Having a character having a "businessy" phone call, doesn't really make him a business-man ... again, a very porn-like technique.

Oh yeah - and the BDSM (bondage) thing - honestly, I thought it was quite tame, but the lifestyle was well introduced - no judgements from me. It was odd though listening to the sex scenes on an audiobook though, but the narrator did a really good job. She managed to convey the youth and naivete of Anastasia rather well, plus she did a good job on her best friend Kate. What I HATED was her Spanish accent for Jose ... she freaking butchered it!

I'm still undecided about whether I'll continue with book 2 - I really don't care to, but my audiobook choices are usually books I've heard of and have no intention in reading the print version. (Goodreads)

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Mindy Kaling (Author & Narrator). Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck-impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence "Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I'll shut up about it?"

I have never watched a full episode of The Office (the tv show for which Mindy is an executive producer), but there is a lot of good buzz about this memoir, and since it's relatively short, I decided to listen. The first thing I heard - the voice of Mindy Kaling - was crazy nasal and thus distracted me throughout the entire reading. She is obviously funny, which came across in the book, but I figure a memoir is suppose to inspire me to do something - be better, or impart (or even re-affirm) some nuggets of wisdom. This book didn't do it ... although I suppose it was nice to hear that there are (other) people out there who grow up with normal childhoods, liked spending time with their parents, go off to college and have a relatively normal post-college experience of being broke & trying to get a job ... although take it from me - being broke but having supportive parents who you know you can fall back on - is not really being "for real broke." So I suppose there's that - normalcy, which people don't tend to write about since it's boring ... and they may have a point. (Amazon| Goodreads)

August Audiobook Library Loot

Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman.
Khristine Hvam (Narrator).
Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped. (Amazon| Goodreads)

The Help, Kathryn Stockett.
Octavia Spencer, Bahni Turpin & Jenna Lamia (Narrators)
If one more person asks me if I've read this book ... Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. (Amazon| Goodreads)