Susan Juby recommends 3 audiobooks she's recently loved
CBC Radio | Posted: January 24, 2020 8:14 PM | Last Updated: August 14, 2020
This interview originally aired on Jan. 25, 2020.
Nanaimo, B.C.-based author and The Next Chapter columnist Susan Juby believes there are many benefits of listening to audiobooks.
Juby joined Shelagh Rogers to talk about her love of listening to literature and to share three audiobooks she recently loved: Bunny by Mona Awad, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb and Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink.
Bunny by Mona Awad, read by Sophie Amoss
"This novel is narrated by Sophie Amoss. Bunny has the distinction of being one of the weirdest books I've ever read. I mean that as a tremendous compliment. It's told from the point of view of an outsider in this exclusive creative writing workshop at a prestigious university.
In audiobook form, this book reads incredibly entertaining.
"The workshop has only five members, four of whom are in an intense clique. The narrator refers to them collectively as 'the bunnies.'
"The writing is incredibly good here; every paragraph has some incredible description, haunting image or some piece of dialogue, that, especially in audiobook form, is incredibly entertaining."
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb, read by Brittany Pressley
"Lori Gottlieb is an author and psychotherapist. She experiences an emotional crisis of her own and has to go back into therapy herself. It's the story of her therapy journey and also the story of several of her patients. What I loved about this book is she's just got a lovely attitude about her situation.
This is a book that has a lot of grief in it and the narrator is the right person to take us through that journey.
"She's very smart and insightful. The book is full of bits of wisdom — including psychological and spiritual insights — and it's one of those books where you want to hit pause every few minutes to write down what she's said.
"The narrator is an actress named Brittany Pressley. She's got one of those voices that is lovely, clear and cheerful without being grating. This is a book that has a lot of grief in it — and this narrator is the right person to take us through that journey."
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink, read by Kirsten Potter
"This book is a crushing indictment of the lack of planning that led to the catastrophe in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The author focuses on one New Orleans hospital, Memorial Medical Center and what happened during that time. When the levees broke, the hospital's generators failed and the building was flooded with water.
This book is a crushing indictment of the lack of planning that led to the catastrophe in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"Staff have to start evacuating patients with no power; doctors and nurses are forced to transport patients in the dark down flights of stairs.
"The book is incredible. The author spent six years covering this story — it examines disaster preparedness, medical protocols and situational ethics. It's read by Kirsten Potter, who is one of the most popular voices in audiobooks right now."
Susan Juby's comments have been edited for length and clarity.