I can't remember at what point I decided I loved The Dakota, the apartment building in NYC, but love it I do. It's a beautiful building in a great location (even if originally it was so far uptown you may as well "be in the Dakotas") and it is my dream place to live even though it will never ever ever happen. It's featured in the novel Time and Again. Rosemary's Baby was filmed there. John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived there. So I picked up a copy of this book about the history of the building when it was on sale and dove in. The first half of the book about getting built and the scandal of building this place so far from all the fancy-pants people was very interesting. The second half of the book was basically gossip about the residents which was somewhat entertaining except I didn't know who anyone was and turns out I don't care about NY socialites. Of course the interesting thing is this book was written BEFORE John Lennon was killed so there's a lot of present-tense references to him which was jarring because I did not check the publication date before diving in. It also means there is a fair amount of casual racism. I would love to read an updated version and see if they got all of the attic apartments figured out, since in the '70s, it wasn't clear how many apartments there actually were, which you'd think would be an easy thing to figure out but nothing is clear when it comes to the Dakota.
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I love Christopher Moore. Lamb is still one of my most favoritest books. This was the first of his books I did as an audiobook and I was a little worried how I would like his stuff on audio. Especially because I hadn't listened to much fiction since I find it harder to pay attention to. And I think it may have hurt my enjoyment here because the book was fine but not as good as I would have hoped. It's a noir style novel featuring a mysterious dame who walks into a bar where our hero, bartender Sammy, works. There's also maybe aliens or a strange cult. Something strange is going on. I can't remember a lot of this book. I remember the style ("a size-eight dame in a size-six dress and every mug in the joint was rooting for the two sizes to make a break for it as they watched her wiggle in the door and shimmy onto a barstool with her back to the door.") which I liked. But the story itself I was basically "meh" on. Entertaining enough, but not one I'll probably re-read anytime soon.
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This was one of the Audible Originals that's only sort of a book but could also just be a podcast. Regardless, I count it as a book cos it came from Audible and that's how that works. So this is a "book" about a bunch of animals. Each episode/chapter is about a different animals (Bees! Koalas! African Lung Fish!) and if you like watching nature documentaries but think they could use some humor, this could be for you. It was for me. Plus, as lovely as Sandi and Noel are, I very much miss Sue and Mel as Great British Bake Off hosts, so this was a nice opportunity to hear her humor again.
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Another Audible Original, this one by Bill Bryson and others discussing scientific discoveries. It's a bit like A Short History of Nearly Everything-lite. Some interesting pieces except I only remember bits and pieces of this, despite loooooving Bryson. So take from that what you will
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And ANOTHER Audible Original. Except this one is more like a radio play, full cast and sound effects and whatnot. Psychological thriller about a child-murderer and a copycat killer. I remember liking it and being engaged and I wanted the opportunities to pick it up again. But now, honestly, I can't really remember it. Which, that's not great, especially not for a thriller. I can't even remember if there is a twist. I think so? Thrillers usually have twists, right? I gave it four stars on Goodreads after reading it so I guess I liked.
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Full list of Feb books read
Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address by Stephen Birmingham
Noir by Christoper Moore
Texts from Jane Eyre by Daniel Ortberg
Earpedia: Animals by Sue Perkins
Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science by Bill Bryson
Relish by Lucy Knisley
Killer by Nature by Jan Smith
