Not having mastered the ability to knit and read at the same time (and doubting I ever will), I am continuing to turn to audiobooks to provide some additional stimulation when working on my knitting projects. As I have been knitting quite prolifically during the past year, the number of books I physically read in 2020 has plummeted, whilst my consumption of audiobooks appears to have increased quite significantly compared to previous years.
Provided my count is correct, I seem to have listened my way through some 20 audiobooks between January 2020 and now. This group makes up a wide selection of genres, including literary fiction, historical fiction, fairy tales, young adult, fantasy, horror and, of course, some crime, mystery and suspense.
Authors included well-known names such as Michael Ende, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Shirley Jackson, Håkan Nesser, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Wolfgang Hohlbein, Tess Gerritsen, Alex Michaelids as well as a lesser-known writers.
Wherever possible, I tried to listen to the books in their original language of publication and in case of translated works, I either opted for the English or German translation of the original title.
For the most part I enjoy listening to audiobooks not just because they are a convenient way to add an extra layer of entertainment to my knitting sessions, but because they offer the option to both revisit old favourites and to discover new authors, genres and to quickly dip into new series of books relatively effortlessly. Based on this first exposure, I frequently make a decision on whether to continue with a new series / author or not.
What follows in this upcoming series of blog posts are the low- and highlights of my year in audiobooks. In the next part, I will focus on crime / mystery and literary fiction. In this post, the spotlight will be on fantasy, young adult and horror. Heavily dominated by German writers, this post will feature Michael Ende's Never-Ending Story, Wolfgang Hohlbein's Am Abgrund (Die Chronik der Unsterblichen I), Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, and two fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid and Wilhelm Hauff's Cold Heart.
Michael Ende's Neverending Story - Die unendliche Geschichte
2020 started off with a re-read (re-listen) of Michael Ende's Never-Ending Story. I happened to get hold of the 2008 German audiobook version read by Rufus Beck, which is published by DAV. Reading other readers' reviews of this edition, many highlighted that, despite claiming to be unabridged, this version is, in fact, abridged. Others pointed out that Beck's style of delivering the book is inferior when compared to the unabridged 2013 audiobook version, which is read by Gert Heidenreich and published by Hörbuch Hamburg Verlag. Not having listened to the 2013 version of the book, I am unable to comment, but my experience of the 2008 audiobook was a positive one and listening to it certainly fulfilled its purpose, which was to reacquaint myself with Ende's story after having first read it many years ago. I also didn't think that Beck's narrative style was butchering the story.
In itself a classic within the young adult fantasy genre, not much needs to be said about the Never-Ending Story. I really enjoyed meeting the characters again and reacquainting myself with the large cast of fantastical beings populating Fantasia, sometimes wishing Ende had spent more time on developing these.
Wolfgang Hohlbein's Am Abgrund (Chronik der Unsterblichen I)
Sticking with the fantasy genre and another German author, I decided to listen to part one of Wolfgang Hohlbein's Chronik der Unsterblichen. Hohlbein, derided by book critics and my German teachers alike, is - purely based on the sheer magnitude of his output - simply too great a force to be ignored when it comes to contemporary German fantasy literature. Having previously read the first instalment of Hohlbein's Der Hexer - Auf der Spur des Hexers, which is available as a free sample e-book on Amazon and, which is more or less a reworking of Lovecraft, I wanted to dip into another of his series.
As far as I am aware, there is no English translation of this series. Perhaps because Hohlbein tends to borrow his plots, themes and motifs from other writers in the field, including King, Lovecraft and Tolkien, comparatively few of his works are translated into English. To an English-speaking audience Hohlbein appears to be surplus to requirements, whereas he is often the author of choice for many younger German readers.
After completing Am Abgrund (Chronik der Unsterblichen I), I am pretty certain that I shall not be pursuing this vampire series further. Following a promising start and an interesting premise, the story quickly descended into a seemingly never-ending, detailed and repetitive description of fight and torture scenes resulting in physical injuries, from which the main protagonist, Andrej, is able to miraculously recover without being aware of the underlying reasons for his superpowers.
Andrej's companion, Frederic, is probably one of the most annoying characters I have come across in a long time and the description of Andrej's love affair is beyond cringeworthy. For those, who enjoy the lengthy description of sword fights, this might just be ticking all the boxes. I felt bored and couldn't wait to finish. When I briefly listened into the second instalment of the series, Vampyr, the story continued in the same vein and I decided to give the series a miss. I do enjoy the occasional vampire story and I am by no means suggesting that all of Hohlbein's novels are of inferior quality, but I have yet to find one that really captures my interest, is not formulaic or a half-hearted reworking of some other, already existing idea.
Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House
Having read The Lottery some years ago, I had high hopes for another novel on this list: Shirley Jackson's the Haunting of Hill House. It has as been on my to-read list for a long time, first and foremost as Jackson's book is one of Stephen King's book recommendations and I do take his recommendations very seriously.
Though incredibly atmospheric and spooky at the beginning, I was increasingly bored by the Haunting of Hill House towards the end. The book is by now considered a classic in the haunted house genre, and I am aware that I am part of a small minority of readers, who didn't get on with it. I would definitely recommend everyone checks out the freely available audiobook version read by David Warner for themselves and makes their own mind up. Following my listening experience, I am afraid, I will not be re-visiting the book.
Hans Christian Andersen - The Little Mermaid
Next up are two fairy tales: Wilhelm Hauff's the Cold Heart and Hans Christian Andersen's the Little Mermaid. After I watched the brief summary for both fairy tales on Sommer's Weltliteratur to go, a German youtube channel dedicated to delivering short introductions to classic works of fiction with the help of Playmobil figures (example video below), I was prompted to listen to the entire tales by Andersen and Hauff.
Andersen's 19th century tale is the dark and disturbing story of the little mermaid princess, who, following a deal with the evil seawitch, sacrifices her voice and fishtail in exchange for a pair of legs. Transformed into a two-legged, albeit mute, beauty, she leaves the sea kingdom and abandons her own kind to pursue her human love interest.
The Little Mermaid has got to be one of the saddest tales ever written. If you are not familiar with this classic and without giving away too much of the plot, I urge you to listen to one of the freely available recordings. I listened to a Librivox recording in German, which is available via the link below. This recording was a bit slow going, but I got used to the narrator's rather monotonous style in the end.
Wilhelm Hauff - The Cold Heart
Sticking with the theme of ill-judged wish-making, the final piece on this list of recommendations is Wilhelm Hauff's Cold Heart. This fairy tale was also published in the early 19th century and is set in Germany's Black Forest, featuring young Peter, who, motivated by discontent with his lifestyle, seeks out a wood sprite and, as a result of continued dissatisfaction, trades his heart for a stone in a subsequent deal with sinister Dutch Mike.
In the aftermath of this undertaking, Peter acquires riches, yet, he turns into a cold-hearted, spiteful and stingy individual. Events spiral out of control when Peter turns violently against his own mother and wife. Overall rather slow on the uptake, Peter finally becomes aware of his own mortality and the fact that his earthly deeds will one day be subject to divine judgement. At this point, he is granted a second chance to redeem himself by the wood sprite. The Cold Heart is a thought-provoking and rich tale, which I enjoyed especially for Hauff's descriptions of the Black Forest, its inhabitants and folklore. Recommended to all those, who enjoy dark romanticism and gothic motifs.
Most recordings are in the public domain and freely available. I came across the below version on Youtube (in German), which was professionally narrated and well produced.
So much for my round-up of 2020's fantasy, young adult and horror audiobook adventures. I hope you'll drop in for the next instalment featuring my 2020 crime / mystery and literary fiction audiobook picks.
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