Someone Please Let Me Live in This Photo, Thanks

I am one of those assholes who love Fall. Winter is cool, too. Spring has its moments. Summer is fine, even though it's often trying to kill me, but it is not my season. I never wanted a Hot Girl Summer. (Not shaming you if you do. Embrace whatever your seasonal joy might be.) 

I want a Spooky Witch Fall. I want leaves. Colder temps. Soup. Sweaters. Hot Beverages. Pumpkin Spice (only in my coffee, thanks) and spooky movies. Throw blankets. My aesthetic is cozy. I'm basically a hobbit.

While the weather has been lovely in my neck of the woods, I am very tired of the smoke and miss rain. The PNW has had a very dry Summer and I'm over it.

The smoke did leave for a few days at least, but today I woke up with what I've started to identify as my "smoke throat" (which sounds filthy but is not fun at all) and my sinuses going haywire. My weather app kept saying it wasn't smokey and I kept telling it that it was lying, and this afternoon it finally registered smoke. Victory, I guess.

*turns on air filter* *reaches for inhaler*

So since I can't go outside (hahahahah--I was not going outside today), I think maybe now is a good time to talk about audiobooks. I love them, but I'm picky about them. It's not just the narrator, though that is a factor. (True story--I can't listen to any of my audiobooks except for Curses. Jayne Entwhistle, the narrator with the best name ever, did such a good job that its like listening to someone else's book. That was also the only book I where I got to help pick the narrator.) I've also learned that some genres don't work as well for me as they do in other formats.

I have a hard time with fantasy in audio? The exception being listening to audio of fantasy series I've already read. (I listen to Ilona Andrews books again on audio sometimes as well as Patricia Briggs.) I think it's because I can't listen as fast as I can read? I'm not sure. And before you say anything, I don't like to speed up narrators.

So what genres do I like? Mystery is the top contender on audio for me. And books I've already read. Some nonfiction. Comedic romance. It's partially the genre and partially the narrator, you know?

A few audiobooks I've really enjoyed the last year or so because honestly my concept of time is totally borked at this point:

Savage Appetites by Munroe (nonfiction, true crime) was an interesting book. It's sort of true crime, but it's more about our fascination with it--and specifically why women are so fascinated with it. The book centers around four women whose lives in particular were intertwined with true crime. It was a really cool book.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Doughty (nonfiction). So as a writer, I freaking love Doughty. She has a ton of short videos up about death and the death industry that answer a lot of questions that writers end up googling, but in this case the source is absolutely solid because she's an expert. I had a friend at a writing retreat turn to me this year and say, "Lish, I know I can look this up, but I'm betting you just know--what happens to blood during creamation? Like, what's the process there?" To which I said, "now is my time to shine!" (As you can imagine, I had to learn a lot of this stuff for the Sam books and Ava's books.) And I happily showed her one of Doughty's videos. Anyway, this book is the author answering all of the weird and fun questions kids have asked her over the year. It was super interesting and entertaining and I loved it. 

Boyfriend Material by Hall (Romance, Comedy) At first I wasn't 100% sold on the narrator, because I had read the book first and sometimes that makes my brain say, "nope!" to a perfectly good narrator. I got past it pretty quick, though. This book made me laugh so much.

The Sebastian St. Cyr series (Mystery)--I know I just mentioned these, but I've listened to like half of them on audio and they're really fun. Delightfully action-y and full of historical tidbits. The narrator does change on the last few books, just FYI. Still not sure how I feel about that.

The Veronica Speedwell series (Mystery)--have inhaled these fun mystery books (with a dash of romance) and the narrator does an excellent job bringing Veronica and her wit, stubbornness, and occasional high-handedness to life.

Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas (Mystery)--this is a mystery series riffing off of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved detective duo, but gender flipped. What if Sherlock was a woman, and how would that impact her ability to use her gifts if she was not only female, but upperclass? Both my mom and I both love this series. Same with the Veronica books.

Mythos by Fry (mythology)--what's not to love about a book that's just Stephen Fry retelling Greek Mythology? He has a few more of these as well.

Smalls likes to listen to audiobooks when he's going to bed and I feel so sorry for my mother who shares a room with him because he will want the same audiobook over and over for weeks AND he makes us restart it every night. She has now heard the first few chapters of The Lightning Thief 846 times. (And my mom LIKES the that book a lot, but come on, kid, let her listen to all of it.) His other current audiobook obsessions on rotation right now are Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (nonfiction. He freaking loves this book so much), Bunnicula, and the Mercy Watson collection. 

Okay, that's enough from me. I want to hear from you. What books have you loved listening to?