A round up of audiobooks (#ABookADayInMay, sort of)

Today’s book was finishing off an audiobook that I don’t have masses to say about, so I thought I’d use it as an excuse to round up a whole bunch of audiobooks I’ve listened to this year – so I can tick them off on my A Century of Books list. Buckle up and discover the variety of books I listen to on audio!

Superforecasting (2015) by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner
A non-fiction about people who are particularly adept at forecasting the future – not in terms of psychic powers, but through teamwork, second guessing themselves, a deep understanding of logic and a good dose of humility. It was an interesting listen, though not quite what I thought it would be. Some of it was how-to, and I have no aspirations to being a superforecaster. But I enjoyed hearing about the people who are (without it being a book I’d necessarily rush to recommend to people).

Excellent Women (1952) by Barbara Pym
This was a re-read for book club, and (as recently discussed) I have really leant into re-reading by audiobook. It was 20 years since I read Excellent Women and I didn’t remember anything about it except that I was disappointed it was set in London. This time around, forewarned that it wasn’t in a village, I could concentrate no how much I enjoyed the humour of this story: about a single woman called Mildred, her travails trying to get to know her boisterously feuding neighbours, her various almost-romances with clergy, and the weight of expectations on her shoulders as one of society’s ‘excellent women’.

Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen
This was an absolutely excellent book about Black women ‘passing’ as white, and the consequences of it, that I must write about properly one day.

Life With Picasso (1964) by Francoise Gilet
An absolutely fascinating portrait of life not-quite-married to a total narcissist. It sounds like living with and loving Picasso was absolutely exhausting, and it’s no wonder he tried to get the book thrown out before publication. My one qualm with the book is that Gilet recounts extremely detailed conversations at enormous length, many years after they happened. Whoever did the introduction to the book tries to claim that Gilet often told her these conversations over the years in exactly the same words, but methinks the lady doth protest too much. (The book is also rather too long – the nuances of life among artists in mid-century Europe is my favourite, perhaps, but it wouldn’t be the same sort of book if it weren’t dominated by Picasso and his selfishness.)

From Bauhas to Our House (1981) by Tom Wolfe
A short non-fiction, basically railing against modern architecture – and, along the way, giving a potted history of architecture in America. It was less personality-driven and funny than I’d imagined, and more informative (though I don’t think I remembered many of those details.)

True Stories (1996) by Helen Garner
My journey into Helen Garner’s non-fiction continues apace, and I enjoyed this collection of essays from across Garner’s career. The 1991 label is a bit misleading, because they come from several decades of career. It’s a real mix, and I particularly appreciated the extended section on Garner’s siblings and their dynamics as adults (‘If there are five of you, you form a complex network of shifting alliances’) – the other books I’ve read by her are less revealing about her own life.

50 Great Myths Of Popular Psychology (2009) by Scott Lilienfeld et al
What a rich book! Lilienfeld (and a bunch of other authors) go through 50 myths of popular psychology – neatly explaining why all of them are false, and why a lot of what is passed down in popular consciousness or stereotype isn’t accurate. Some are widely known not to be true (e.g. we only use 10% of our brain), some aren’t myths I’d ever heard (e.g. people with dyslexia see words back-to-front), while some were truly revelatory to me (there ISN’T safety in numbers). Each chapter ends with a list of other mythbusting dealt with quickly, so there’s actually far more than 50 in here. I listened for free on Audible Plus Catalogue, but you can also get the ebook free from Lilienfeld’s website. My one critique of his reasoning is how often ‘people widely believed this’ is evdienced by ‘it appears in films’. I don’t think people believe in time travel, but that appears in films…

There we go! I can fill up some gaps on A Century of Books, and hopefully have given you some possible reading options.