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AudioSynced: Zeitoun

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When I moved, I got a new public library. One of the things that they do I love is separate out their new audio books from the huge selection they own. They’re on the same shelves as the new fiction and non-fiction, making them stand out. Zeitoun, by David Eggers, was a book I’d heard about over and over last year since it ended up on a number of “best of” lists, but I hadn’t thought to pick it up. When I saw that it was available in audio and knowing what a great experience I had previously with a non-fiction audio book, I thought I’d give it a whirl.

I’m so glad I did.

Zeitoun is the true story of Abdularahman Zeitoun (who goes by Zeitoun), the owner of a small contracting service specializing in painting and roof repairs in New Orleans. The story takes place in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina and follows Zeitoun as he chooses to ride out the hurricane in his home so he can watch over it and his rental properties.

Zeitoun’s both a father and a husband to Kathy. Kathy and the children do not like Zeitoun’s decision to stay in the city and they decided they need to leave. If there is a mandatory evacuation, they think it is best to follow the orders, and they choose to head to Baton Rouge, where Kathy has family.

Eggers’s story gives the day-by-day details of Zeitoun’s time in New Orleans. Prior to the storm, he invested in a small paddle boat. As the water starts rising around him, he finds he can be quite helpful to others who have found themselves in the city and stuck. He helped an elderly woman find safety, and he took responsibility for feeding some neighborhood dogs left abandoned by their neighbor. And, as luck would have it, one of the Zeitoun rental properties managed to maintain phone service; Zeitoun is able to make daily phone calls to Kathy and give her the update on the city and on himself.

While listening to the story, it was at this point I immediately thought that Eggers had written a text much like the graphic novel A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld. That, too, is a story of those who chose to stay in the city, rather than leave.

But I was so, so wrong.

What happens nearly a week after the storm wrecked havoc on the city is painful to hear. Kathy, accustomed to Zeitoun’s daily noon phone calls, suddenly stops receiving them. She has not heard from her husband in a number of days, and now that she is on her way to Phoenix (tired of her family in Baton Rouge), she is convinced Zeitoun has died. What would she tell her family? How would she ever be able to go back to the city?

It turns out that Zeitoun had not died. Rather, the Department of Homeland Security, in a hasty sweep of the city, had arrested him, stripped him of any and all of his rights, and locked him into a taunting high security prison for weeks. He was not told what for, nor was he given a single phone call. He was labeled a terrorist because of his skin color and religious beliefs, and he endured something far worse than the terror Katrina caused the city.

Zeitoun was a powerfully moving story that will stick with me for a very long time. I had not known about these stories of post-Katrina New Orleans, and it was absolutely painful and horrifying to find out these atrocities happened to innocent people. Although I am not ignorant about these sorts of abuses, it was not something I had expected to happen in the wake of a natural disaster in our own country. This is the sort of story everyone needs to read and become aware of.

Listening to this book on audio was perfect for me. The narrator, Firdous Bamji, delivers a wonderful voice to the story. It is not fully voiced, nor really semi-voiced audio. Bamji does offer us a bit of tone difference among the characters, but that is less for effect than simply for audio distinction (think more like a the fact we separate dialog on a page with new paragraphs to make it clear someone new is talking). He offers a nice, truthful rendering of how I would imagine Zeitoun’s life to sound, with his slight Syrian accent.

However, I had a huge problem with the production of this audio book. It was muffled and garbled, and the sound quality left a lot to be desired. On each disc, I had to readjust my sound and volume in the car, and immediately upon changing discs, I had to turn the volume way down or else I’d blow out my speakers. For such a well-received story and such a strong narrator choice, I was really quite surprised at the production weaknesses. Fortunately, the compelling story and sheer range of emotional investment I had in the characters — particularly Zeitoun — made me keep listening despite the flaws.

A fair bit of warning: aside from the anger and frustration one will feel with the central story here, there are a few other disturbing scenes. Zeitoun is made completely human and admirable in them. I won’t ruin them, but be prepared to cry a couple of times.

Zeitoun is worth the 9-disc investment. I think this is a story more powerfully told through audio than printed word, too. And in the end, prepare to feel both satisfied and unsatisfied. This is exactly the type of ending a book like this deserves.

What I’m Reading – Twitter Style

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Welcome to what I’m reading, Twitter-style. Here’s a quick glance of what I’ve got a book mark in or have at the top of the pile for when I’ve got a book mark to put somewhere.

War Dances/Sherman Alexie: Alexie’s a favorite – audio is narrated by author, hope it’ll add a huge element to these short stories. New format for my listening needs.

Epitaph Road/David Patneaude: Post-apocalyptic thriller by debut ya author with interesting premise. Mixed reviews in blogosphere but hoping for unique dystopian take.

Government Girl/Stacy Parker Aab: Non-fiction memoir of an intern during the Clinton administration. She sounds kind of irritating herself, but the politics sound fascinating.

Dark Life/Kat Falls: Another debut author, another dystopia. Abby promises a thrilling & memorable read, and w/setting under water, I am 100% sold on this one!


Zeitoun/Dave Eggers: Non-fiction story of man who stayed in New Orleans during Katrina. Great story, characters but audio quality horrific, muffled, unpolished.

Shadow Hills/Anastasia Hopcus: Girl starts new school, meets mysteriously attractive new boy and falls in love. Sound familiar and overdone? Cliche and disappointing read.

It’s Not Summer Without You/Jenny Han: Second “Summer I Turned Pretty.” Lest you worry, I eat up sweet romances. Hope this sequel is as good as first. Perfect for spring/summer!

AudioSynced: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

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Every once in a while, you get lucky and everything — EVERYTHING — about an audiobook works. There’s the perfect narrator, the perfect story, and just the right amount of pacing, musical interlude, length, and breadth to the audio that you wish it could go on forever. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Place on Earth by Eric Weiner (pronounced “whiner”) was that book for me.

Weiner is a correspondent for NPR, and he is the reader on the audio. It’s what you would expect — the intonation is even, the emphasis on certain words and phrases are spot on, and the pacing is even and intentional. There are a lot of people who don’t like when authors read their own works, but in this particular title, I don’t think it could have been done better by another reader.

The premise of this is quite simple: Weiner wanted to go in search of the happiest places in the world and figure out what makes these places so happy. He begins his journey in Holland, and he goes from there onward to Bhutan, then on to Qatar. Within each of these countries, he interviews locals by drawing upon his journalism experience, and with incredible wit and utter respect for the people and customs, he shares what he learns. In addition to sharing the insights into happiness, he offers bits of wisdom from philosophers historical and contemporary.

But this isn’t just a book about happiness. Weiner goes to unhappy places too, including Moldova (the unhappiest place in the world) and India. His insights are at times laugh-out-loud funny, precisely because he is spot on in his observation and utter love for people. Weiner devotes time on this adventure, too, to Iceland, to Thailand, and to Great Britain.

I found it quite interesting that the bulk of his travel was in southeast Asia, particularly given a comment he makes near the end of the book about people in Latin America consistently ranking high on the happiness scale. I wish we could have gotten his take on a Central or South American country, too.

Lest you think Weiner is just interested in telling us about how other places are better than America, the last chapter of his book, along with the epilogue, bring us back to America. What he does in the end of the book is perfect: he brings together all the bits of wisdom collected from both the happy and unhappy corners of the world, and he offers those nuggets. He makes no judgement about who is living better or why they’re living better. Instead, the central premise boils down to the fact that happiness comes down to love and relationships. This point is so cleverly woven into the whole of the story with his own humorous vignettes.

This is a heartwarming but funny, insightful, adventure-filled, and straight up fun read. I love travel narratives like this — almost in the style of Bill Bryson — and listening to it was the ideal way to go. If you like reading about adventures, the notion of happiness, travel, other cultures, or even a book that’s just “different,” this is a winner. If you haven’t tried an audiobook yet, this would be a great place to start. There are no quality issues and no editing issues, and the sound is smooth and crisp through all 11 discs. Weiner maintains a steady narrative, and he speaks clearly, thanks in part to his career with NPR.

The Geography of Bliss would be a perfect go-to for those looking for something after finishing The Happiness Project. Reading them simultaneously was a great experience for me, as I didn’t find myself tired of the topic, but instead, I felt Weiner’s book really informed my reading of Rubin’s personal story.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

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I have a confession: I love reading books that make me feel happy. As soon as I picked up Gretchen Rubin’s highly publicized The Happiness Project, I knew this was one that would fit the bill.

The premise is remarkably simple but utterly engaging. Rubin, now a full-time writer with a couple other titles under her belt, chose to spend a full year working on things that would make her happier. Each month, she chose a concept and from that concept, she developed a small list of goals and resolutions (something she defines as markedly different things). So, for January, her big concept was “vitality” and from that, she hoped to boost her energy. In March, her concept was “work,” and she hoped to aim higher. This was the month she began her very popular happiness project blog.

In each month, Rubin practiced wisdom she picked up from others who had shared their views on happiness, from philosophers to writers. She likewise developed a set of twelve commandments for herself to follow while testing out and practicing these nuggets of wisdom, and these included “Be Gretchen” (a recurring theme), “Do what ought to be done,” and “Act the way I want to feel.”

Everything that Rubin does in this book is entirely practical, but it’s her writing and her ability to laugh at herself and enjoy the moment that makes this such an enjoyable book. Right now – and to give some spoilerage to a future post – I’m also listening to Eric Weiner’s book The Geography of Bliss, and something he mentions is that too often, we relegate solving our problems to self-help gurus who have nothing but profit in mind. Rather than try to understand our place and our feelings, we think we’re wrong and therefore jump to getting help. The self-help industry is just that: an industry.

Instead, Rubin is entirely relatable, and she has a sense of humor about everything she does. One of her goals one month is to not nag or to criticize when others try their best to help her. As readers, we see exactly what would have irritated her and how we would have responded in the situation, but Rubin responds appropriately according to her happiness project goals. Pffft, how perfect, right? Well, no. Rubin then tells us EXACTLY what was going on in her mind and how she normally would react….and sometimes, despite her best efforts, she still responds in her old ways. You have to like a fallible character, especially one embarking on a project like this.

This is a highly readable book, and one which you can pick up and put down at any time. I found it quite a motivating title, as it made goal making easy, straightforward, and attainable. Rubin is the kind of person I would love to meet and hang out with. She’s funny, insightful, and totally human. She even gets a kick out of becoming “one of those writers” — you know, the ones who do something for a year, write a book, and make a profit.

I think The Happiness Project stands out from that crowd, as it’s a manual any of us can pick up and develop our own projects. It’s hard not to read this and come a way with a bit more insight into happiness or even feel happy reading it.

Non-Fiction: Written in Bone – The Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland

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Once in a while you open a book that really surprises you. For me, this was Sally Walker’s absolutely absorbing non-fiction Written in Bone – Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland.

Written in Bone follows a team of archaeologists conducting a couple of digs. First, they dig into an area of Fort James, Virginia, followed by digs in Maryland. The team discusses in detail how the process of choosing sites to dig at works, followed by the methods they employ while preparing for and actually conducting a dig. In addition to the text explaining it, there are multiple pictures on each page to illustrate the processed exactly. At one point, the team unearths a few iron caskets that were sealed shut and it was their goal to try to extract some of the air sealed inside. This air, they believed, would give them an idea of what the air quality was in the 17th century. Besides being really interesting historically, Walker has included a number of photos of the process of identifying where the remains were within the casket, the drilling of the casket, and the extraction of air.

In addition to explaining the processes of a dig, Walker goes into great detail about identifying remains. We learn how scientists can take bones, as well as how they figure out what sort of work they may have done in their lives, whether or not they were wealthy, what their gender was, and even what ethnicity they may have been. Again, the use of illustrations and images illuminate the text. Walker makes a large point in emphasizing that all of these details are put together not only through science, but also through the historical record (which makes the geek in me so excited). I spent more time looking at the photos than reading, making this book one that may be short on words but long on memory and on reading experience.

When I first had heard about this book, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I am pleased with this and found myself really fascinated with what archaeologists do with human remains. I think that this book has a huge appeal, both to those interested in history and science, as well as those interested in the all-too-common “something different.” Oh, and boys will eat this one up! This is a book about people doing something and it gives boys tools to learn with (I mean, there’s also really cool images of skulls and bones, too).

The text is highly readable and the use of images enhanced it. An index, a historical time line of events, and a sizable list of further resources that include both print and web sources also make this a book that can be read and referred to again and again for reports. But what makes this one special is that it’s not just a report book — this is a strong, stand alone non-fiction for teens and adults.