Libby Audiobook: Smit Motors, Réney Warrington

 

I was initially a bit sceptical whether this would be a book I would enjoy, as it opened with a lesbian sex scene. Fortunately, the story was not overly explicit and actually developed into a really good read. I became quite fond of the characters.

Petro inherits a garage from her grandad and befriends Arno, who lives with cognitive challenges after his mother tried to kill him as a baby.

It is written the way Afrikaans people actually think and speak, which made the characters feel authentic.

4/5

Libby Audiobook: Huis van Gruwels, Susan Cilliers

 

What a sad story. Not particularly well written, a bit all over the place.

Mandri Sutherland was a very good narrator.

3/5

Libby Audiobook: Kantelpunt, Sophia Kapp

 

Ek het hierdie boek ongelooflik geniet. Ek het na die oudioboek geluister en kon elke dag nie wag om verder te luister nie. Dit was werklik baie goed, al was dit op plekke ’n klein bietjie langdradig.

Wat my die meeste geraak het, en nogal laat nadink het, is hoe maklik hierdie storie my eie lewe kon gewees het as ek ander besluite geneem het. As ek byvoorbeeld besluit het om met MB te trou. Hendrik in die verhaal het my sterk aan hom herinner. MB het my gelukkig nooit fisies seergemaak nie, maar die jaloesie en daardie stiltes… ek onthou hoe hy my ’n hele naweek geïgnoreer het oor iets so klein soos ’n pakkie sop wat ek vergeet het.

Dit laat mens besef hoe fyn die lyn soms is tussen twee heeltemal verskillende lewenspaaie. Ek is net ongelooflik dankbaar vir hoe dinge uiteindelik uitgewerk het.

Die verteller van die oudioboek was ook uitstekend.

4.8/5

Libby Audiobook: All My Knotted Up Life, Beth Moore

 

Cried twice.

Love when the author reads their own work, just makes it so much more personal. 

4.5/5

Libby Audiobook: Start With Why, Simon Sinek 4/5

 

Kindle Audiobook: The Unquiet Bones, Loreth Anne White

 

I have enjoyed a number of Loreth Anne White’s books, but unfortunately this one did not quite land for me.

Three reasons stood out:

1. The use of present tense. I realise this is very much a personal preference.

2. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which made it difficult at times to stay fully engaged with the story.

3. The audiobook experience was disappointing. The narrator struggled with accents, and the South African accent in particular felt off, at times sounding closer to Jamaican. Given how central setting and voice are to a story like this, it would have benefited from a narrator more comfortable with those nuances.

I also found some of the explanations, for example around elements like bobotie, to be a bit repetitive and overdone.

2/5

Kindle: Last Orders, Caimh McDonnell

It's like catching up with old friends 

4/5