3rd Quarter Booklist 2016 — Karlee Bradbury

Huzzah!

The reading slump that dominated the Second Quarter Book List has been vanquished, as the almost twenty books I read over the last three months can attest to. Part of my success has been due to my near constant use of audiobooks this quarter, since I've recently discovered that my local library system has an amazing digital selection to choose from.

So all of the memoirs listed this month were listened to, and I don't think I'd have it any other way. Hearing Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, and Amy Schumer narrate their own works was a much more intimate experience, I think, than reading the book on my own. I wouldn't say that for every novel, and I certainly seem to enjoy fiction better when I read it. But for memoirs and nonfiction, audiobooks are the way to go, in my opinion.

My favs are listed below, followed by the full 3rd quarter reading list.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

There's a good reason this book won the Pulitzer. And while I've never been a fan of epistolary writing, Walker's approach is what really makes this novel the searing, unflinching classic that it is today.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

I love Tina Fey. I love her. She's smart, she's savvy, she's self-deprecating, and she's funny as hell. Everything she touches is gold. I can't believe it took me so long to pick up her book. I would highly, highly, highly recommend that you pick up the audio book version which Fey narrates.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Another audiobook read and yet another book I'm coming to so late in the game. This one was narrated by Edward Herrmann (Richard Gilmore of The Gilmore Girls fame), and I have since dubbed him a velvety-voiced-reading-god. Unbroken is amazing and, I'm sad to say, the subsequent film did not do Hillenbrand's book, or Louis Zamperini's life, justice.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Is it really over??? I need my Grishaverse.