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Many years ago, in a bookstore that is now just a footnote in history, a co-worker who became one of my closest friends insisted I read Outlander. It was shelved in Romance, I didn’t read romance and I resisted – but like any good bookseller, and any good friend, she wore me down and I capitulated. That book was almost 700 pages and I tore through it in a weekend, I literally could not put it down. I remember perching it on my kitchen counter while I made (burned?) dinner. But that was a long time ago, the 1990’s, so why am I writing about it now?
Well, like millions of other Outlander fans, I waited with hope and a tiny bit of cynicism for the Starz network series based on that book – and I fell in love with it all over again. And lest you think this is some woman’s thing, I have to tell you my husband has been listening to the audio version of this series and also loves it, and the TV series as well. Starz did an amazing job, from the casting to the location to the costumes to following the story Diana Gabaldon gifted us with while adding to it with stunning scenery and fantastic acting. Alas, this is not a review of the TV series (but watch it, people! You can watch the first episode for free)
My friend who had insisted I read Outlander also suggested the audio books. My first thought was I had read them already, why would I listen to books I had already read? Then my husband started listening and told me how fantastic the reader, Davina Porter, was. Then came the TV series and I decided that listening to the book would be a nice way to pass the time until the series picked up again. And I am ever so glad I did.
There are eight books in the series, and here they are in order:
1. Outlander
2. Dragonfly in Amber
3. Voyager
4. The Drums of Autumn
5. The Fiery Cross
6. A Breath of Snow and Ashes
7. An Echo in the Bone
8. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood
That 700 page first book in the series is also the shortest, so it has been many years and thousands of pages since I read Outlander. Listening to the fabulous Davina Porter brought it all back plus so much more, all those fascinating little details I had forgotten. It took me quite a while to read all 33+ hours; I have only a 10 minute commute to work, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
Outlander is one of those stories that is really hard to pin down. As I said, my bookstore had it in romance, other bookstores shelve it in science fiction/fantasy or just fiction. The basic premise is that our heroine Claire is a World War II nurse in England at the end of the war. She is married to Frank Randall, and they are rekindling their relationship after a long separation due to the war with a trip to Scotland. Claire visits a display of stones, rather like Stonehenge, but when she touches the stones, she finds herself back in 18th century Scotland. There she meets a long distant relative of her husband’s, the villainous Black Jack Randall, and she is forced into marrying a Scot, Jamie Fraser, who keeps her out of Randall’s clutches and probably jail. These are wild times in Scotland, just preceding the Jacobite rebellion, and Gabaldon does her homework. Claire and Jamie have incredible chemistry and their adventures keep the pages flying by.
Outlander was Gabaldon’s first novel. She was a college professor, a scientist and a researcher so when she decided to write fiction, she thought it would be easier to research it then to just make it up, and her attention to detail is astounding and completely fascinating. Gabaldon put serious thought into the time period – she saw an episode of Dr. Who where the good doctor ends up in Scotland and she decided that men in kilts were the way to go. As for Claire, she needed a protagonist who could easily adapt to the hardships of that earlier time period, so she created this nurse who had been through severe deprivation during the war, not to mention was battlefield ready, and her characters were born.
Outlander is a real love letter to Scotland – both the book and the TV series. I am now listening to Dragonfly in Amber, the second book in the series, which is even longer. I’ve taken to listening while I cook, which is much safer than trying to read!
12/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon. Recorded Books. Audible.com Release Date: July 13, 2006. ASIN: B000GW8NVA. Listening Length: 33 hours and 8 minutes
Trade Paperback: Bantam; Mti edition (July 1, 2014). ISBN: 978-0553393705. 672p.
Note: I really don’t recommend the mass market paperbacks of these books, they are so unwieldy and I find them difficult to read, the books are just too big. And don’t forget you can get them at your local library!
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
If I lived up north, I’d keep this book for those days that I was snowed in. Since I’m in Florida, I would keep it with my hurricane supplies except hurricane season just ended and I couldn’t wait until June to read this. It is a big door stopper of a book, close to a thousand pages, and very much worth the time it takes to read it all.
In the aftermath of the events at El Corazon, Carter and Mel are faced with the possibility of losing Lily altogether. Because Mel has already been turned, they know that Lily carries the same gene. The progression of the Tick virus has been slowed temporarily thanks to the medical team at El Corazon, but Carter knows the only way to save her is to find the cure. And the only way Carter and Mel can get the cure is to work hand in hand with the very people who betrayed them.
Ever since escaping the Farm and surviving the events that followed, Carter has been especially careful in protecting Lily. And it could be to the detriment of the rest of the survivors at Base Camp. So when Lily’s pregnant friend McKenna decides to head to Canada, Carter supports Lily’s wish to travel with her.
Life for Lily and her twin sister, Mel, has irrevocably changed. A viral outbreak has left much of the country’s population infected, mutated into creatures driven by bloodlust. They call them Ticks. And nothing is as tasty to a Tick as the hormonal blood of teens. The so-called solution was the creation of the Farms – facilities built to house and protect the nation’s teenage population. But Lily knows this is far from the truth. Instead of protecting the kids, the Farms collect and dole out their blood as food for the Ticks.
Tel Aviv police officer Anat Nachmias gets her first murder case when a young woman is found dead in her apartment. The victim is Michal Poleg, who worked helping African refugees settle into Israel.
Austrian detective Beatrice Kaspary lands an unusual case of grisly geocaching in this combination police procedural and fast paced thriller.
Natty spends a lot of time juggling her various responsibilities. With two teenage daughters and a busy hotel to run, it’s a lot for anyone to handle. But Natty has the help of her husband, Sean, and together they make it work. Then their eldest has to be rushed into surgery while on a trip to France. Natty wants to be by her side but worries about how her family and work will handle her being gone.
Okay, so I’m late to the party. It happens; not often, but it happens. Ordinary Grace is anything but ordinary; in fact it would not be an exaggeration to say it is extraordinary. A New York Times bestseller, School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and as you probably know (or should know, especially if you follow me on Twitter) winner of the “EBAM” – Edgar, Barry, Anthony & Macavity awards for best novel, plus the Dilys Award and well, you get the idea. I did a little digging and could not find another mystery that had won this many awards. Closest I could find was Val McDermid, A Place of Execution (4 awards) & Dennis Lehane, Mystic River (4 awards) according to 
Emma Lewis is the perfect daughter; bright, pretty, and she also has a big heart. The Princeton sophomore moves to Spain for a semester abroad and halfway through makes the call home that is every parent’s nightmare; a young man from a prominent Spanish family has been stabbed to death in her apartment, and Emma is the prime suspect.
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