I was reading the article titledWhat (Books) to Listen to This Summer and an idea came to me. In the article the New York Times book editorial board came together and told us the best books to listen to this summer.
One book sounded awesome to me. So, after reading this section of the article I had to look it up.
“My partner and I are tentatively planning an 11-day roundtrip road trip from Manhattan to Minneapolis at the end of next month to visit with my sister’s family and sample the variety of fascinating food at the Minnesota State Fair . Google Maps estimates the drive to be around 19 hours each way without traffic complications, pit stops and Dairy Queen breaks. Since that’s a lot of time on the National Highway System through seven states, I have three potential dashboard entertainment plans. The first: Listen to audiobooks of classic works set it some of the states we’re passing through, like Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio. Since I also want to shop local at her Birchbark Books shop once we get there, spinning up the audio version of a Louise Erdrich novel is a distinct possibility and I’m looking at “The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse” for starters.
Environmental factors will ultimately affect our moods and listening choices, so that’s where the second plan comes in. Bad weather and jacked-up highways will undoubtedly call for Sarah Vowell’s “Assassination Vacation” and “The Partly Cloudy Patriot” humorous, insightful essays about traveling through America and its history, read in part by the delightful author herself with the help of some great guest narrators (Stephen Colbert! Seth Green! Catherine Keener!) along the way. Since this trip will be a bit of an asphalt marathon, my third plan is to just pick one epic novel for the long haul. Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon” is a favorite because it involves many topics that interest us both, like World War II codebreaking, Bletchley Park, cryptography, hackers, computers and data havens. The audiobook version clocks in around 42 hours, which should get us there and back with plot to spare. J.D. BIERSDORFER, staff editor, The New York Times Book Review
Sarah Vowell wrote this book and I chose to look it up on the NLS (National Library Service) database. This is what I found. Reading time: 8 hours, 8 minutes.
Read by Colleen Delany.
Humor
Travel
U.S. History
Journalist visits sites associated with the first three assassinated American presidents: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. Relates pieces of historical trivia, including the fact that Robert Todd Lincoln was present at all three shootings. 2005.
If you want to follow me on Twitter and get my blog posts in your timeline: just click this link. Follow @tylershepard223 p.s, “Cryptonomicon” on the NLS clocks in at this
Stephenson, Neal. Reading time: 44 hours, 27 minutes.
Read by Richard Hauenstein.
Science Fiction
War Stories
Epic tale of World War II, cryptography, and high-tech finance. Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, mathematical genius and Allied codebreaker, joins other individuals in clandestine encryption operations. Years later, those secrets could liberate or destroy the cybertech revolution. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. Locus Award. 1999.
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