The Costco Connection - December 2014

FICTION

The Complete Far Side, by Gary Larson. Hands down, my favorite comic strip of all time is The Far Side. Larson’s take on the world is a unique one, and just thinking about a daydreaming Viking, a tether-cat-playing dog or a dad marveling at the return of the slugs can make me laugh. If it has been a while since you’ve read The Far Side, or if you’d like to share that joy with someone, this complete set—now available in three volumes in trade paperback—includes all of the syndicated cartoons. That makes for more than 4,000 comics in this collection, more than 1,000 of which are available only as part of this collection. (Item #947380; available now)—Brian Hovis

NONFICTION

Novel Journals, from Canterbury Classics. I’ve often found that being an active writer goes hand in hand with being an avid reader. These journals make a great gift for any writer-readers you know. The lines on these 160-page

December Staff book picks

In our digital editions

Click here to listen to an audio excerpt from Harlan Coben’s novel, Darkest Fear.

(See page 11 for details.)

By Jonathan Lowe

IMAGINE A BOOK THAT, much as you want to, you just can’t read right now. Maybe it’s a mystery or suspense novel by an author whose movie version intrigued you enough to crave a deeper look. Maybe there’s a whole list of books you’ve been meaning to read. But with so many projects and errands jostling for your attention, you just can’t drop what you’re doing, and too many other chores are standing in the way before, at last, you can finally flop into that comfy lounge chair.

Why wait, though? Audiobooks to the rescue! Audiobooks can be played anywhere, from car to kitchen to laundry room, enabling you to immerse yourself in magical, romantic worlds beyond the cookstove or coffee table (where you might be wrapping presents or puzzle-fitting ones described as “easy assembly”). How much fun is this multi-tasking diversion? Just ask the narrators.

Narrators should know. They read aloud
for a living, and give life to characters on the
page via inflection, dialect and tone. Many are
professional stage or screen actors. Their job
is to create such believability that they can
disappear into the moment and conjure
scenes within the listener’s mind.

I asked actress and narrator Rosalyn
Landor about Maeve Binchy’s A Week in
Winter. “Binchy was masterful in describing
the inhabitants of her stories, so as I picture
each one, they take on a life of their own as I
speak for them,” Landor told me. “This one
takes you to Ireland, so I hope that if you
choose to travel there with Maeve Binchy and
myself, you’ll enjoy the experience!”
And I can vouch for audiobooks person-
ally. Before I became a reviewer, I would listen
to them while sorting mail at the post office. I
got through literally thousands of books that
way, while doing repetitive work with my
hands. You can too. C

Jonathan Lowe is an award-winning novelist and a judge in the Audie Awards. His website is towerreview.com.

The Costco Connection

Unabridged audiobooks by a variety of authors and across several genres are available in all Costco warehouses.

Hands-free reading

Audiobooks bring writing to life books are actually the novel printed in tiny text. There’s nothing like the words of Jane Austen or Oscar Wilde to inspire the ink to flow. Available titles include The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Brothers Grimm, Dracula, Emma, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice and The Wizard of Oz. (Item #956271; available now)—Shana Stowers

Baseball, College Football, Football and Golf, from Murray Books. Ideal for a variety of sports fans, these shaped books not only look great and have the texture of the respective balls, but they’re packed with information as well. Each book includes a history of the sport, players of note and rules of the sport. These books are a perfect way to while away the hours during the off-season. (Item #609065; available now)—Alex Zennan

The Elements: An Illustrated History of the
Periodic Table, by Tom Jackson. For science
enthusiasts and
the just plain curious,
this book traces the history
of the steps that led to the creation of the
periodic table in 1869. With more than 300
illustrations, it offers a fascinating look at the
world around us. The other titles in the series
get the same detailed treatment, with a bonus
poster. They include Mathematics Illustrated
History of Numbers, Philosophy Illustrated
History and Physics Illustrated History. (Item
#956261, available 12/8).—Lindsay Bubitz
FRANCEFREEMAN