What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Just started listening to Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee, narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers

I enjoyed Carousel Tides. A complete departure from the Liaden books, but fun. And two more are on the way.

[astrangerhere]

Just started a recording of My Antonia for my commute to and from work.

[pidgeon92]

I'm finally finishing up The Fiery Trial. I've been listening to it since mid-November, about the time the Lincoln movie came out (which I still haven't seen). It's been quite an educational listen, and it certainly demonstrated that our current political climate is nothing new.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I enjoyed Carousel Tides. A complete departure from the Liaden books, but fun. And two more are on the way.

Just finished it and I liked it quite a bit. Looking forward to the sequels when they come out.

[fantasyfan]

Claire Tomalin has written one of the more recent biographies of Charles Dickens: Charles Dickens: A Life . Our library has both the text and the audiobook so I decided to try the latter.

It was an enjoyable experience, but in the end I was disappointed with this biography. It lacked depth and detail. In fact, when one contrasts it to the work by Una Pope-Hennessy, Charles Dickens, published in 1945 just after all of the letters of the author became available, this new "Life" is dwarfed in size, detail, insight, and analytical skill. Pope-Hennessy does a far better job dealing with the novels, whereas, Tomalin simply dips quickly into some of them. {The Pope-Hennessy biography BTW is still easily obtainable in paperback--but neither as an ebook nor audiobook--so far as I know}

So, this audiobook is pleasant enough but not of much use if you are looking for something that sheds new light on or even a new perspective of Dickens. For that you must go elsewhere.

[sgoldin]

I just finished Eon by Greg Bear. It's a large novel with far-reaching ideas and great imagination. I thought the ending was a little rushed and confused, but that's sometimes inevitable in a book of this scope. Al;l in all, I enjoyed it tremendously.

[SeaBookGuy]

One can argue about whether Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is brilliantly clever, or a big old mess, but everyone seems to agree that the narration is a solid five star. Now that I'm over that, it's on to Raymond Chandler's second Philip Marlowe book Farewell, My Lovely read by actor Eliot Gould.

[Marrella]

I realize that I have finished a couple of audiobooks this month:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling, read by Stephen Fry. Still my favorite book in the series, and Fry's narration is a delight, no matter how often I have already listened to this in the past ten years.

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins. A YA book about science and what makes the world real to us. It was narrated by the author and Lalla Ward. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, the second (and best) book in the series of the same title. It tells the story of Will Stanton, the seventh son of a seventh son, who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is an Old One. The day also marks the beginning of a new battle between the Light and the Dark.
This book is another old favorite of mine.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, the first book in the Hiccup series. Hiccup is the son of a chief Viking, but he has been rather useless at being a hero, until he acquires Toothless, a rather special dragon. This was highly enjoyable and the narration was a hoot. David Tennant reads the book with his natural Scottish accent and I think I'll have to get the rest of the series just because of this.

The Prisoner of NaNoWriMo by Craig Robertson. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) becomes a real nightmare for the main character, because he is determined to participate, he just can't think of what to write about. Funny situations follow. It was narrated by the author himself and friends and is available for free at Podiobooks.

Nearly finished: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, narrated by Davina Porter. Even though I am not a fan of (historical) romance, the Outlander series is just great. I already have the next book on my TBR.

[DianNC]

Scott Brick is reading Joseph Finder's Vanished to me (Nick Heller series). There's only one other book in that series, Buried Secrets, and I have it lined up for my weekend reading (or listening).

[sgoldin]

I just finished Something Rotten, Book 4 in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. It's as insanely funny as the first 3, beginning with The Eyre Affair; I lost track of the number of times I laughed right out loud. There's absolutely no predicting what lunacy will come up in the very next line, apropos of nothing. Fforde is an inspired madman. If you love Discworld, you should love these books as well.

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by DianNC

Scott Brick is reading Joseph Finder's Vanished to me (Nick Heller series). There's only one other book in that series, Buried Secrets, and I have it lined up for my weekend reading (or listening).

Well, I didn't get to Buried Secrets after all. Instead I listened to Run by Blake Crouch (pretty sure I saw it recommended here somewhere).

So, yesterday morning I found the ebook on Amazon with a great offer that I could buy it for $3.99 and then only pay $1.99 for a 'professional narration'. I immediately recognized that as a great deal, so I bought the ebook only to find out that the $1.99 professional narration is only available to those who own a Kindle Fire (I'm such a dufus -- probably everyone knew that but me!).

The lady in CS was so nice; she refunded my purchase of the ebook (without calling me a dufus) and then I headed over to iTunes to use my GC on the audio book version. I spent most of the rest of the day listening -- a most enjoyable experience!

[AnemicOak]

Listening to Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The newest book in the Liaden Universe.

[pidgeon92]

I'm a couple of hours into this one, and quite enjoying it:

[sgoldin]

Just finished Sight of Proteus by Charles Sheffield. It was from the mid 1970s, so it's pretty dated both in terms of social conventions and style. Also there are almost no female characters, which today makes it look pretty sexist.

[astrangerhere]

Listening to Stacy Keach's reading of In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway.