Book of Lies

I just got back from the beach and I am SO relaxed that I don't even really mind that I'm still in the office at close to 7pm. I had an amazing time; my first visit out to Fire Island, and I am hooked. I never really thought of myself as a beach person before, but after a trip to Kiawah earlier this summer and then this jewel of a long weekend, I'm beginning to revise that opinion. As planned, I began listening to Brad Meltzer's BOOK OF LIES while I was out there, and I have to say how impressed I am with both the writing of the opening scene and the production--really beautiful swelling music and, of course, expert narration by Scott Brick. I didn't get enough alone-time with the audiobook because I was so surrounded by friends at almost every turn, but the few minutes I stole away to listen were totally worth it. Now in my memory that haunting first scene will always appear in tandem with darkening crashing waves and a gorgeous empty beach.

There's a new trailer for the book which I'll post as soon as I figure out where it's hosted on our servers. It stars Joss Whedon, Damon Lindelof, Christopher Hitchens, Brian K. Vaughn, and A.J. Jacobs.

Assorted linky update with a New York Times focus

I was tempted to try to back-date this entry, but instead I will simply apologize for another long absence. You didn’t miss much anyway. July was horribly hot here in New York and I don’t think anyone was in the best mood. Now that a hint of autumn is in the air, we should be able to have much more congenial discussion about our favorite audiobooks. I'm currently a little behind in my listening, having been busily away a lot lately for weddings and family vacations, but I'm really looking forward to listening to THE BOOK OF LIES by Brad Melzter, read by Scott Brick, and OFF SEASON by Anne Rivers Siddons, read by Jane Alexander. Perhaps I’ll finish one this weekend and post about it next week!

In other news from the office, Hachette Audio was featured in a New York Times article today! I’m getting good feedback from people who read the feature; they think the idea of including the audiobook in the DVD release of the Gossip Girl television series was a great idea, (we're even getting tweeted about on twitter!) and I’m excited that people are reacting so positively. Christina Ricci reads the audiobook, which is another draw for listeners (and that reminds me that I need to move Penelope up my netflix queue). I feel I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how teens don’t read anymore, so anything to get a book in front of them is a positive. It's cool to think of our audiobook getting to as large an audience as loves the show. Plus, I think that the DVD is pretty neat from a TV-watcher's point of view, too. It’s got so many great multimedia extras! I think I’ll have to go out and buy one for the department. Oh, and while I’m talking about wonderful NYT coverage, I’ll include another link, to the article Andrew Adam Newman wrote about our wake for the cassette. This one got a lot of pickup around the nostalgic internets... people are really going to miss our old pal.