I’ve been listening to the audiobook for Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, and I have to tell you, it’s not an audiobook for the faint-hearted. Rushdie’s prose is beautiful, but beautiful in the long-complicated-sentences-describing-things-in-exquisite-detail kind of a way. You really have to pay attention!

I heard Rushie read from this book a year or so ago, and immediately knew that I’d prefer the audio version. However, this is not an audiobook I can listen to while I’m cleaning my room, or paying my bills. I really have to be sitting down and concentrating! (So far a bit of knitting is OK, but it can’t be too complicated). That said, the audio version is beautifully read, and I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m towards the end of the first third (Disc 4 of 15), but I’m not expecting to break any records getting to the end of this!