From a Times Insider column by Stefano Montali headlined “But How Does the Book Sound?”:

For about a decade, Elena Sheppard has reviewed books, mostly fiction, including several novels for The New York Times. It’s safe to say she knows the art well. But in June, an unexpected request landed in her email inbox.

The query came from Lauren Christensen, the editor who heads up audiobook coverage for The New York Times Book Review. Would Ms. Sheppard, a freelancer who also writes narrative essays and profiles, review the new audiobook of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’s “Poems of the Night”?