Garden of Beasts : A Novel of Berlin 1936 (Deaver, Jeffrey) by Jeffery Deaver

5/5 – This is one of my top 5 audiobooks ever. ( The Christmas Train is another, but that is another review.) I originally listened to this as a book on CD (BOCD) a couple of years ago. I was excited to find it available from Netlibrary for electronic download. As I automatically do after download, I re-recorded it at ‘fast speed’ (an increase of 40%) and began listening. This is the only book that I have listened to that I wanted to ‘savor’ the story, so I switched from fast speed to normal speed to finish the book. It was even better the second time around. Highly recommended. Note on the author: Jeffrey Deaver is most famous for the Lincoln Rhyme novels such as The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) which was turned into a movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in 1999 ). I have listened to a couple of Lincoln Rhyme novels and I didn’t care for them so much. However, every non-Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffrey Deaver has been great. One such is The Blue Nowhere: A Novel. When searching for books by this author it is hard to ‘weed out’ the Lincoln Rhyme novels, so if you know of any others, please pass that info along.
Format : electronic download from Netlibrary, played at normal speed.

Twisted: The Collected Stories of Jeffery Deaver by Jeffery Deaver

3.5/5 – I listened to about 2/3 of this book straight through on a work day. I would have been better off listening to a couple of stories, changing to something else and then coming back to this anthology.
Format : audiobook download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.

The Witch’s Boy by Michael Gruber

3.0/5 – The main story is somewhat tedious because the main character is despicable and spoiled rotten. (He was worse than the boy in The Giving Tree ) However, this story is redeemed (and gains an extra rating point) by the fact that the author weaves in classic fairy tales, but with a twist. Example, Cinderella is an ungrateful wench who is never appreciative of her step-mother’s kindness. Cinderella lives in a fantasy world and maintains that she *must* be married to a prince. No matter how many gowns her step-mother makes for her, Cinderella is never statisfied. Also, nothing is ever clean enough, and she is constantly scrubbing out the hearth.
Format : audiobook downloaded from Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) played at fast speed.

Sharpe’s Prey: Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Denmark, 1807 by Bernard Cornwell

3.5/5 – Book 5 or 6 of a series that has something like 20 novels in it. I am trying to read them in chronological order (the author wrote some prequels). Some of this series are available as electronic downloads, but not the entire series. I missed the one immediately previous to this, but each novel stands on its own and I enjoy this author is a great deal.
Format : book on tape (BOT) from Santa Barabara Library system. Like I said, I am trying to listen to the entire series in order, and some of the books are only available on tape.