A Raccoon’s Fragmented Audiobook Reviews 2023-ish

[My raccoon self Geo Holms listening to audiobooks apparently. Art by @QuaggyArt]

The last year or so, my job has consisted of work that affords me time to listen to stuff. At first, was listening to podcasts. Good light background listening content as I went about my day. Then I signed up for the various local libraries within close proximity to me, and then discovered Libby, an app where I could check out both eBooks AND audiobooks with the use of my library card.

My check outs started slow at first, then increased as time went on, sometimes listening to 2-3 books in a week. Sometimes revisiting some books from my youth. Sometimes trying a book I’d always meant to read. Sometimes just wandering into something with a neat cover. It has been a treat to sample more books than I have in years.

In some ways, I worry that I don’t connect with the books in listening to them instead of physically reading them. I am, after all, usually doing other stuff while listening. However, there’s also cases I’ll stick out a book based on the narrator alone, who will give a book more personality than I would reading it myself.

I do find myself wanting to read more books in this coming year, I have many physical books and digital books hoarded away after all, but also find great value in listening to more audiobooks. Unfortunately, my job has shifted in a way that haven’t been able to do either as of late. But hopefully will settle enough that I’ll be able to scamper back into my extensive list of audiobooks I wanna check out from my local libraries.

In the meantime, wanted to take a look back at the books I’ve listened to the last year or so, give a brief rundown of what I’ve sample. These are out of listening order and some I may have forgotten the specifics but will do my best to give my honest thoughts.

Fragmented Audiobook Reviews Beyond This Point: A Raccoon’s Fragmented Audiobook Reviews 2023-ish

The Great Housepets! Re-Read Caper: Part 2

Last time on: The Great Housepets! Re-Read: Various housepets (who mostly walk on two legs and have thumbs) are introduced and hijinx ensue. Some ferrets inherit a bunch of money. 

Disclaimer: This is not meant as a comprehensive recap of Housepets! as a whole. This is more for light entertainment purposes as I re-read the comic and point out who I think is cute. For further context, I’d recommend going over to read Housepets! (http://www.housepetscomic.com/) or perhaps the Housepets! Wiki (https://housepetscomic.fandom.com/wiki/Housepets!_Wiki)

The Great Housepets! Re-Read Caper: Part 1

Presenting Geo, who is going to be digging through Housepets! (I promised him shiny stuff if he did.)

Housepets! (http://www.housepetscomic.com/) by Rick Griffin has been the one webcomic that I’ve managed to stick with after all the other webcomics have been forgotten in a dusty corner of my bookmarks folder, never to be seen again. Housepets! keeps pulling me back in with its giant cast of animal characters and plots that range from slice-of-life one-shots to arcs that end up [redacted] a [redacted] to [redacted].

It’s also been a looooong time since I’ve gave the comic a proper re-read. Which is why I’m starting this: The Great Housepets! Re-Read Caper. Gonna go through the webcomic, arc by arc, give a quick recap and some brief thoughts on each.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive recap to the Housepets! webcomic and won’t usually include one-shot strips. This is more a personal journey back through the comic and is by no means meant as anything official/serious/accredited. For further context, I’d recommend going over to read Housepets! (http://www.housepetscomic.com/) or perhaps the Housepets! Wiki (https://housepetscomic.fandom.com/wiki/Housepets!_Wiki)

Blam!

“Blam! Murdered you!”

This one panel makes me froth in anger

With this line, I knew that Rocket was not the character I had grown to love. Rocket had been striped of his intelligence and cleverness, his depth and humor, and he’d become some sort of monster. Any character that Rocket had had been replaced with a label “raccoon with guns” and that was the only trait that mattered anymore. For some reason, the fact that Rocket happened to be a raccoon that welded guns destroyed everything else that Rocket had been and he’d been turned into an unlikable psychopath.