recommend audiobooks for mother's recovery from surgery
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Anonymous
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She likes
- (loves) Shakespeare, and has enjoyed some takes on his work such as Learwife - very gentle romance - some longer books like Covenant of Water - Stephen King (is there a good audio version of one of his books that you highly recommend ?) Not necessarily literature related, but she also loves Monty Python, Black Adder, and that vein of British humor. She is the best, and this surgery is life changing. I would love to set her up to be comfortable and happy. Thanks in advance, all! |
Anonymous
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A long saga she may enjoy is “The Autobiography of Henry VIII” by Margaret George. (I’m thinking if she likes Shakespeare, she may like some of the real-life Elizabethans and Tudors.) It’s narrated by David Case, and it is extraordinary. You feel like you’ve lived someone else’s life.
One thing to be aware of: the first chapter is setting up that Henry’s journal has been found by his Fool, Will Sommers, who sends it to Catherine Carey Knollys, the daughter of Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary, and alleged to have been Henry’s bastard daughter with Catherine Carey Knollys. That chapter or two is a bit slow, but then it gets into Henry himself, and it’s worth it, with Will’s asides in the margins along the way adding to the experience. |
Anonymous
*I mean bastard daughter with Mary Boleyn |
Anonymous
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Here are a few "gentle romances" that I found to be less cliche than most of the stuff out there. All are pretty upbeat (no trauma etc.)
- Evie Drake Starts Over, by Linda Holmes - Very Sincerely Yours, by Kerry Winfrey - The Second Ending, by Michelle Hoffmann (super enjoyable - a happily married woman in her 50s takes a circuitous and somewhat zany path to rediscovering her purpose and passion after her daughters go off to college. Her relationship with her husband is lovely but not the focus. The real "romance" is her mid-life journey to fall in love with herself.) |
Anonymous
SO MANY! Stephen King narrates some of his own books, and I happen to like his nasally voice for some reason. Otherwise he has a great cast of narrators for his other books. Given that she'll be recuperating while listening (rather than doing errands, etc.), I'll try to recommend some that are easier story lines/not as dark or complicated. If she has read or listened to the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, then my top suggestion would be Holly, which is all about Holly Gibney and is narrated by the women who played her in the Mr. Mercedes TV show (which I haven't seen, but her voice was great). She could certainly listen to the book without knowing anything about Holly, but I enjoyed learning more about the character after having "met" her in multiple other books. The Mr. Mercedes trilogy is narrated by Will Patton, who is wonderful, and I would recommend those three if she hasn't read them yet. Holly is also in The Outsider, which is another fantastic book, and she's in one of the short stories in If It Bleeds, which is a really good collection of short stories. Speaking of short stories, there are lots of great collections of those, and bonus since they're on the shorter side (although some of them are quite long!). I would recommend Full Dark No Stars, Everything's Eventual, Four Past Midnight (these are longer stories but there are four of them in the book), Skeleton Crew, and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. Also, Elevation is a short story that's not part of a larger book. Gwendy's Button Box is the same (and King has called it a prequel to Elevation, although I didn't read them in that order and the characters aren't the same, I think it's just the continuation of a Castle Rock story). As for other novels, John Slattery narrates Duma Key, and although that wasn't my favorite story, I loved the audiobook because he did such a great job with it. Billy Summers and Later are two novels that are sort of tied together in my head. Somewhat similar protagonists and I listened to them both around the same time and liked them both. The Institute is also kind of in that group (I listened around the same time, younger male main character), and was probably my favorite of the three, which may have been because it was narrated by Santino Fontana, who is amazing. Doctor Sleep is the prequel to The Shining and is read by Will Patton and was very good. Fairy Tale was a bit off brand for Kind, and I'm not a big fairy tale kind of person but it was good and some parts of it were particularly touching (especially if you have a dog or love them). Needful Things is a classic, read by King. Desperation is another that he narrates that is good. Michael C. Hall narrates Pet Sematary since he starred in the remake, and I love him as an actor and therefore enjoyed that. David Morse reads Revival, which I really liked. Sleeping Beauties is a newer one and I really enjoyed it, and also love Marin Ireland as a narrator. It was a thought-provoking book. The Dead Zone is read by James Franco and is one of the older ones that I listened to after having read them years ago. The Long Walk was also thought-provoking and I liked it more than I was expecting to. That's one of the older ones I came across (I try to alternate between the newer ones and older ones). Finally, Thinner was another old but good one. I hope this helps and your mom recovers quickly! |
Anonymous
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I forgot to mention that she loved Michael C. Hall reading Pet Sematary - great call!!
Thank you all so much for the wonderful recommendations and kind wishes. |
Anonymous
| No recommendations. Hope your Mom is well. |
Anonymous
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Remarkably Bright Creatures has gentle romance and also a giant octopus. I really enjoyed it.
I hope her recovery is swift and smooth! |
Anonymous
| She would love the Thursday Murder Club series! I just listened to all 4 of them and it was such a joy. It's about 4 people at a British senior living community who solve murders. The stories and narrator are wonderful. |
Anonymous
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The Thursday murder club books are fun.
In the British humor area she might like Pratchett’s Discworld series— there are like 2 dozen but my favorites are the Tiffany Aching books (which start with Wee Free Men) although partly I like them because the humor isn’t quite as broad, so you could also try Equal Rites (the witches subseries) or Guards Guards (the city watch). |
Anonymous
| You could see if her favorite comedians have memoir s or other books. I think my MIL enjoyed Steve Martin's |
Anonymous
Based on your mom’s interests, I recommend Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy. They are historical novels about rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s court. Insightful writing and excellent readings by audiobook narrators. British of course. They are my all time favorite books. |
Anonymous
| Tom Lake, read by Meryl Streep. I don't normally like listening to audiobooks but I liked this one! |
Anonymous
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Anything by Anthony Trollope read by Timothy West. |
Anonymous
| Thank you all so much for the suggestions! Her surgery and her recovery went well. Hope these will help others. |