Reading Tryst
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Books to hear
Although some say it's cheating to listen to an audiobook, Leveen is a fan. "People have been telling stories for thousands of years," he argues. In the car, on a plane, even on the beach, you may enjoy a book more if you close your eyes and let the narrator whisk you away. Fast-paced fiction, he notes, is especially easy to absorb orally. Elizabeth Kostova starts THE HISTORIAN (June 14, $26; $50 for CD) by teasing her readers with a mysterious letter addressed to "My Dear and Unfortunate Successor." With that, she sucks them into a plot about a woman's quest to understand her family's secrets and connection to Dracula. Similarly seductive, THE TRAVELER by John Twelve Hawks (June 28, $25; $50 for CD) quickly hooks you into its Matrix -esque world, where most "Travelers" live "off the grid" --away from surveillance systems--and "Harlequins" protect them from the menace of the "Tabula." Maya, a reluctant Harlequin, must save two brother Travelers. So the butt-kicking begins. And it seems quite fitting to listen to culture/music critic Chuck Klosterman's KILLING YOURSELF TO LIVE: 85% OF A TRUE STORY (June 28, $23; $30 for CD), as he takes a road trip to the death sites of rock-and-roll legends while pondering tunes and his love life. The best audiobook of the summer though, book-buyer Langer opines, should be HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (July 16, $30; $75 on CD) with legendary reader Jim Dale. "He's a genius," she gushes. And if you listen to it in the car on your family road trip, all of you can crack open more books when you reach your destination.
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