I don't usually listen to audio books, but I tried it out (in the car) when I was traveling between Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri this past year. The first book I tried was Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons. It was an Oprah's Book Club Selection in 1997. About it:In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage--and the occasional kindness of others--to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory.
I haven't listened to any more audio books, though. I definitely prefer to read them myself instead of someone reading to me. But, if I travel by myself again, I would check one out from the library.
