What's New? Stacking the Shelves

StS is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got.

I've been catching up on my audiobooks this month and decided to order these three:

I'm with Stupid by Geoff Herbach. Unabridged book on 1 MP3-CD, 7 hours and 13 minutes. Read by Nick Podehl. Brilliance Audio, July, 2013. 9781480533196.

Publisher synopsis: It's nerd-turned-jock Felton Reinstein's last year before college, and the choices he makes now will affect the rest of his life. That's a lot of pressure. So, he's going to make a list. What would he be if he weren't a jock? He'll try everything — comedian, partier, super student — and which ever identity he likes best he'll stick with. Poof. Stress gone.

Except not... Because the list leads to:

1. The whole state of Wisconsin hating him.
2. His track coach suspending him.
3. His mom moving out.

Before leaving home forever, Felton will have to figure out just who he is, even if, sometimes, it sucks to be him.

I absolutely adored Stupid Fast and Nothing Special and fully intended to read this one with my eyes. The book is sitting near the top of TOM. I don't know why I suddenly decided to check whether it was produced in audio, but once I saw that it was performed by Nick Podehl...

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz. Unabridged audiobook on 1 MP3-CD, 4 hours, 11 minutes. Read by Kate Reinders. Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, April, 2013. 9781469275215. 

Publisher synopsis: When eleven-year-old Annie first started lying to her social worker, she had been taught by an expert: Gran. “If you’re going to do something, make sure you do it with excellence,” Gran would say. That was when Gran was feeling talkative, and not brooding for days in her room — as she did after telling Annie and her little brother, Rew, the one thing they know about their father: that he was killed in a fight with an angry man who was sent away. Annie and Rew spend their days under the birches and oaks of the Zebra Forest, telling stories about their father the pirate, or pilot, or secret agent. But then something shocking happens to unravel all their stories: a rattling at the back door, an escapee from the prison holding them hostage in their own home, four lives that will never be the same.

This deeply compelling, emotionally evocative, and grippingly suspenseful look at the complicated fallout from long-held family secrets is impossible to forget.

Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Unabridged audiobook on 1 MP3-CD, 5 hours, 23 minutes. Read by Bahni Turpin. Brilliance Audio, May, 2013. 9781469273983.

Publisher synopsis: For Sugar, life is anything but sweet.

Ten-year-old Sugar lives on River Road Plantation along the banks of the Mississippi River. Slavery is over, but working in the sugarcane fields all day doesn’t make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar knows how to make her own fun, telling stories, climbing trees, and playing with forbidden friend Billy, the plantation owner’s son.

Then a group of Chinese workers arrives to help harvest the cane. Sugar wants to know everything about them — she loves the way they dress, their unfamiliar language, and, best of all, the stories they tell of dragons and emperors. Unfortunately, other folks on the plantation feel differently — they’re fearful of these new neighbors and threatened by their different customs. Sugar knows things will only get better if everyone works together, so she sets out to help the two communities realize they’re not so different after all.

Sugar is the inspiring story of a strong, spirited young girl who grows beyond her circumstances and helps others work toward a brighter future.

I actually read this one with my eyes not long ago and hope to review it this coming week. Bahni Turpin is one of my favorite narrators and though I had the author's voice in my head since I heard her do a reading, I am eager to see how Ms. Turpin interprets Sugar.

That's what's new with me. What's new with you?

Happy reading!