Debbie Macomber’s novels have hit #1 on the New York Times best seller list, have been made into TV movies, and have inspired a loyal fan base. Seeing as how she’s a pro at illustrating serene, picturesque settings with words, it follows that she should present the world with a literally illustrated one, in the form of her very own adult coloring book.
As it turns out, coloring is the perfect chance to focus on listening to a good book — and you can really double-down on the relaxation factor with the right one. Here’s what Debbie has to say about it:
“I’m a big audio listener, and have been from the time that dates back to cassette tapes. Audio appeals to me for a variety of reasons. The main one is that listening allows me to multi-task. I can get engrossed in a story while walking the dog or working on finishing a knitted piece. I have several books going at once and never have a problem keeping track of which book or which story I’m listening to at the time. Lately, I’ve been using my time to listen and color in adult coloring books. I can’t think of a better way to relax at the end of the day, doing two things I love.”
She adds, “Another reason audiobooks appeal to me goes back to my childhood. I loved having my mother read to me because she added to the story, enhancing it with her voice and intonation as she read, making it come alive for me. The same is true with [narrators], adding depth and texture to the story in ways that I might have missed reading.”
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life — steady boyfriend, close family — who has never been farther afield than her tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life — big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel — and now he's pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. He is acerbic, moody, bossy — but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
Audible Editor Tricia says: Get ready to have your view of the world turned upside down. Malcolm Gladwell — best-selling author of Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers — returns to present new ways of looking at why being among the advantaged is not always advantageous. David & Goliath explores the "art of battling giants" through the personal accounts of underdogs and misfits whose wild success stories are often falsely considered flukes. This is not a sentimental celebration of good things happening to good people. In true Gladwellian fashion, the real reasons behind so many pull-from-behind wins are completely unexpected. And if you've ever heard any of the author's many speaking engagements you know to expect a lively listening experience with Gladwell narrating the book himself.
Pat Conroy has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning 40 years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born. Filled with the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country as well as the dusty glitter of New York City, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy at his very best.
