BOOK JOURNAL: Audiobook Round-up

Entry #6 - four audiobooks I've loved and consumed lately. Two English classics, a Pulitzer-prize winning contemporary, and a gut-wrenching memoir of a beloved pop star.

Jul 09, 2024

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, read by Kate Kellgren (Duke Classics)

Rating: 7/5 stars (you read that right!)

I love Pride & Prejudice. I love reading it, I love watching it, I love listening to it. It’s one of those rare books that transcends medium. On the film adaptation front, both popular options are satisfying. The 1995 BBC miniseries stars a swoon-worthy young Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (the pond scene is forever seared into every Millennial woman’s brain). The 2005 classic is also incredible and a personal classic—the cinematography is impeccable, Kiera Knightly plays a particularly precocious verison of Lizzie, and a pre-Succession Matthew Macfadyen does Mr. Darcy justice in a way we never thought possible after Colin Firth’s ‘95 performance (the close up of Darcy’s hand flex after helping Lizzie into the carriage is another scene forever etched into Millennial women’s brains).

The Duke Classics audiobook is the version I’ve listened to for the past two listens. Shameless plug for renting it from the library (Libby link here). The way the reader embodies the shrill voice of Mrs. Bennett and the drollness of Mr. Collins should be enough to convince you to listen to this classic. Pride & Prejudice is probably one of Austen’s more accessible works, though Emma is my personal favorite. If you’ve never read Austen, P&P is a great place to start. If you have read it before, it’s worth a revisit.

Middlemarch by George Eliot, read by Maureen O’Brien (Audible)

Rating: 5/5 stars

I can’t recommend enough listening to classics on audiobook. Over the past several years, I’ve done my Jane Austen/Brontë rereads via audio (as seen above). The classics are delightfully dense, meaning they are time-consuming and all-consuming to read via traditional physical copy. Listening via audio frees up your hands and eyeballs—take the Middlemarchers on a promenade! Take them with you to wash dishes and fold laundry! Take them on a road trip!!

I had somehow made it through my English literature degree and an obsession with 19th century English literature without having read any George Eliot (the horror!). My first foray into her work did not disappoint. Warning: it is VERY long. The hard copy I have (and read along for parts) is 785 pages, for context. The book follows the daily lives several characters in a fictional Midlands town in Great Britain with a paradigm political shift happening in the background. Eliot’s prose is a feat of nature—simultaneously drawing you into the mundane details of life with wry observations and detailed inner monologue while also painting a deeply complex social and political picture of the times. Eliot’s writing is gorgeous—there’s a reason this is considered a classic and in the canon for English literature. If you’ve been wanting to tackle a big classic, I highly recommend this book.

Trust by Hernan Diaz, read by Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Moshan Marno, and Orlagh Cassidy

Rating: 4/5 stars

I have had Trust on my list since it’s pub date in May of 2022. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022, so I knew it needed to stay on the list. This book was dense, and a little confusing in structure (it has competing narratives broken out by section), but worth the slog. Set beginning in the 1920s in New York City, this sweeping tale evokes the richness of the city at the time. It’s full of pomp and circumstance. Roxane Gay’s review of the book is that it felt like an homage to Edith Wharton—I wholeheartedly agree.

The book’s structure (the competing narratives) are given in different forms. The architecture is unlike any I’ve read before, and paired with Diaz’s gorgeous prose, proved to be satisfying throughout the book. It felt a little dense and confusing at times (due to the architecture), so knocked off one star, but ultimately I would recommend this book to those who like classics—the style felt reminiscent of the writing style of that era.

The Woman In Me by Britney Spears, read by Michelle Williams

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Wow wow wow. Listening to Britney Spears’ much anticipated memoir felt like an immersive one woman show. Michelle Williams perfectly captured Britney’s essence so much so that I had to remind myself that Williams wasn’t actually Spears. The accent, the cadence, and the tone of her voice was so perfectly Britney. The memoir is understandably very sad. If you’ve followed Britney’s career and life at all, this will not surprise you.

I cried several times throughout listening to this book (which I read in two sittings—it’s quick and it’s compelling). While it is a memoir of her life, the story Spears paints is ultimately one about the effects of mental illness coupled with celebrity and fame during the late 90s/early 00s. It’s a heart-wrenching and enraging. The disgraceful and cruel people who surrounded Britney during her rise to fame so obviously compounded these problems. The portrayal of her family (dad, mother, and sister) and her early relationships (in my notes about this book I had jotted down “f*ck Justin Timberlake!!”—how timely) were validating of suspicions and tragic to read.

This book is required reading for all lovers of pop culture, especially the Millennials in the crowd. It’s female rage—specifically Millennial female rage—at its most visceral.

Pulling weeds in the garden = not fun. Pulling weeds in the garden with an immersive audiobook in my ear = meditative, lovely, and *almost* fun.

Up next on my audiobook TBR:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I have read Frankenstein many times, but I haven’t reread it in a few years—anyone want to read along with me?
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (read by Meryl Streep)