Audiobooks, narrators, literary fiction — and the occasional bit of waffle.
Bertie’s Books began with a fairly simple idea: I listen to a lot of audiobooks, I have opinions about them, and I thought it might be entertaining to share them.
I’m Bertie, and these are independent reviews from a listener’s point of view rather than a literary critic’s. I’m interested in the writing and the story, of course, but with an audiobook there’s another person in the room: the narrator. A great performance can transform a book. The wrong one can make a very long journey feel considerably longer.
The reviews
Each review looks at the author, the story and the narrator, before reaching the part no serious work of literary criticism should be without: the Waffleometer.
Books are scored out of five for Story & Writing and Narration. The Waffleometer is also out of five, but works the other way round: the lower the score, the less waffle.
There are no complicated formulas behind the scores. They’re simply my reaction to listening to the book.
What I listen to
Literary fiction is at the heart of Bertie’s Books, with particular attention to major literary prizes and the books attracting serious attention.
But the Recommendations page reaches rather further back into my listening life. Some audiobooks stay with you for years — because of the writing, because of an extraordinary performance, or simply because they were a joy to listen to. Those are the ones I want to collect there.
And Dave?
Dave is the Golden Retriever.
His precise contribution to the critical process remains unclear, although he has become considerably more prominent as Bertie’s Books has developed.
He doesn’t score the books. Yet.
