Audio Reviews : Everyone Worth Knowing, Seriously… I’m kidding and The Statues that Walked

Posted by Kay on July 31, 2012 2:38 am in 2 stars reads, 3 stars reads, 4 stars reads | 6 comments

I noticed I tend to take a lot less notes while listening to audiobooks, but I still want to share a few comments on the books I recently listened too; hence, it is once more time for mini-reviews!

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Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
Narrator : Eliza Dushku
Lenght : Abridged, 4h58
Genre : Women’s fiction
Stand Alone
My rating : 2/5

From Goodreads :

Soon after Bette Robinson quits her horrendous Manhattan banking job like the impulsive girl she’s never been, the novelty of walking her four-pound dog around the unglamorous Murray Hill neighborhood wears thin. Then Bette meets Kelly, head of Manhattan’s hottest PR firm, and suddenly she has a brand-new job where the primary requirement is to see and be seen inside the VIP rooms of the city’s most exclusive nightclubs. But when Bette begins appearing in a vicious new gossip column, she realizes that the line between her personal life and her professional life is…invisible.

My thoughts : This was, in fact, the first audiobook I ever finished listening to, a few months ago. Luckily this was abridged, because Bette’s very predictable story wasn’t the most engaging. At just under five hours though, the book was entertaining enough and Eliza Dushku was a great narrator. It also made me realize that, if I could listen through this entire book and somewhat enjoy it, then I probably had a lot more books to look forward to in the audiobook world!

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The Statues that Walked by Terry Hunt and Carl Lippo
Narrator : Joe Barrett
Lenght : 6h40
Genre : Non fiction, history, science
My rating : 3/5

From Goodreads :

The monumental statues of Easter Island, both so magisterial and so forlorn, gazing out in their imposing rows over the island’s barren landscape, have been the source of great mystery ever since the island was first discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday 1722. How could the ancient people who inhabited this tiny speck of land, the most remote in the vast expanse of the Pacific islands, have built such monumental works?

[…]

When Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo began carrying out archaeological studies on the island in 2001, they fully expected to find evidence supporting [the previous] accounts. Instead, revelation after revelation uncovered a very different truth.

My thoughts : This was such an incredibly interesting audiobook to listen to! I went into this one knowing very little about the Easter Island’s statues; I only knew that I was very curious about the why, how, when of their existence. The book answered a lot of questions, but I’ll admit I zoned out a few times. The narrator was great, but the book itself was a little technical for me, having little knowledge in science or archaeology. Not that this knowledge would be essential to understand the book itself, but if you do have it, you’ll certainly be able to understand better and make links with other facts, compare theories, etc.

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Seriously… I’m kidding by Ellen Degeneres
Narrator : Ellen Degeneres
Lenght : 3h07
Genre : Non fiction, Humor
My rating : 4/5

My thoughts : I love Ellen Degeneres. She has a silly sense of humor that I really appreciate, and I love that her funny stories are mixed with some life lessons and uplifting messages. I had a few laughs listening to this walking down the streets, and my only negative point would be that there is too little about Ellen herself in this very short book. If you love Ellen, you’ll probably enjoy this one; if you don’t like her style, then I’ll nicely advise you to skip it, as this book really couldn’t be more Ellen!