I was doing so well on my 50 Book Challenge goal this year, and then the busyness of this past fall hit and I haven’t taken the time to read books. This one is in fact a book that I listened to rather than read, but I think that counts.
#19
Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty takes place in the near future. Set in an east coast city, the story revolves around the protagonist, Keepsie, and her relationship with the city’s protectors: genetically enhanced human superheroes. Unwillingly thrown in the middle of a conflict between the superheroes and the supervillains, Keepsie and her friends are forced to choose sides or make their own way with their collection of “useless” super powers. As it turns out, their powers are not as useless as they’ve been led to believe, and even the ability to control elevators comes in handy at one point. In the end, this is a story about using your gifts and abilities to the best you can, even when everyone around you believes they (and you) are worthless.
The book was originally released as a (free) serialized audio book, then as a (free) PDF download, and then finally in print (not free) through Lulu.com, before it was picked up and published by Swarm Press in August. Thanks to the efforts of many fans and supporters, the book hit #1 on the Science Fiction best seller list at Amazon the day it was released, even though it had been available in other formats for free. Aside from being a fun read, I think the story of it’s success is a nifty one and for me, added to my motivation to finally read the damn thing.
As a fan of Lafferty’s other works, I highly recommend that you also check out her other serialized fiction. Namely, the Heaven series.
What’s A Princeton Christmas: For The Children Of Africa Vol. 1 & 2?
It’s a pair of CDs that I will be writing a review of soon.
Listening surely does count! I haven’t, until now (okay, the near future, as promised today over at MML) begun to review the books I’ve heard, rather than read, but I’m going to continue—once I start. I look at this way: I travel a lot—granted in sporadic bursts— and I listen to about an hour and fifteen minutes of something every day to distract my brain from what I’m pushing my body to endure; and I figure it’s more beneficial, in the long term, if it’s an audiobook than a mind-numbing cycle of 80s hard rock (though I do love me some hair bands).
Long story short (as though that’s possible @ this point): Yes, it definitely counts.