What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Meanwhile, back on topic -- I'm still reading Michael Connelly's The Gods of Guilt, read by Peter Giles. This is a good book, and I am enjoying it. But it's not compelling me as much as I'd expected. Peter Giles is an excellent reader, and I've always liked Mickey Haller as a character, but I'm getting a bit bored with him. Plus I'm not happy with killing off the secondary characters that I've liked.

Finished The Gods of Guilt. As always with the Mickey Haller books, the presentation by Peter Giles is excellent and actually improves my appreciation of the book. The book itself I enjoyed, but I'd give it a 4 stars, not a 5.

Next up, The Curse of the Pharaohs, by Elizabeth Peters, read by Barbara Rosenblat.

[MeSue]

This morning I finished:
A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3) by Alan Bradley
Enjoyed it almost as much as the two previous Flavia mysteries. 4 stars. Maybe some of the novelty is wearing off. I still like them but I find my mind drifting more.

Before that I listened to:
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Gay Salisbury
It was good and interesting, but not what I was expecting based on the description. I thought it would have a lot more about the dogs and the race, but there was a whole lot of history of Alaska and Nome and side stories about air travel and other epidemics. Performance-wise, the narration was a bit dry. 3 stars.

I need to stick to fiction for audiobooks, I think.

Next up: The Catcher in the Rye, which I have never read before.

[mikemc2]

"A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" by Barbara Tuchman. Again.

[sgoldin]

Just listened to Dan Brown's Inferno. Preposterous situation from beginning to end, but Brown's such a good writer you have to follow along anyway, breathless and eager.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, The Curse of the Pharaohs, by Elizabeth Peters, read by Barbara Rosenblat.

And finished. thoroughly enjoyed, I'm liking Peabody more and more.

This series is set in Victorian times, with the main protagonist of Amelia Peabody, who is now married to Radcliff Emerson, an archeologist. Peabody (as Emerson always calls her, even after she becomes Mrs. Emerson), is herself a serious archeologist and the two now have a son, Ramses, who is going to play a more prominent role in later books. This book was #2 in the series, and was a delight. Well read by Barbara Rosenblatt, but beware if you go shopping for the series - there are two possible readers available, and the other reader is hopelessly American and totally inappropriate for a Victorian woman's voice.

Thoroughly enjoyed. Now, a couple of days with no book to listen to, as I wait for the latest in the Foreigner series from C. J. Cherryh. It's due out next Tuesday, and I'll definitely want to listen to that. (The books are read by Daniel May, who does a superb job with them. )

[taosaur]

I finished up the last book of Codex Alera last week, and really enjoyed the series. There's a workmanlike quality to Butcher's plotting--he wrote it in a very deliberate fashion, and on a bet no less, and you can see the bones showing through, but it doesn't detract from the story. It's far preferable to something like The Belgariad where the author doesn't seem to realize he's rehashing old tropes. Taking some core sword-and-sorcery story elements as a given, Butcher breathes life into the details of his characters and world, and keeps the reader invested in the ever-more-apocalyptic stakes.

Moving straight into a re-read-and-listen of The Way of Kings (more reading than listening on my new KPW ), I was struck that Butcher's world of Carne would be right at home in Sanderson's Cosmere.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Now, a couple of days with no book to listen to, as I wait for the latest in the Foreigner series from C. J. Cherryh. It's due out next Tuesday, and I'll definitely want to listen to that. (The books are read by Daniel May, who does a superb job with them. )

New Foreigner! I know we've discussed it before, but I'm less thrilled with May's narration. IMO he over-exoticizes both his pronunciations of "alien" words and his character voices. The reader for the earlier books had a subtler touch. I'm still all-in for the series, though.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by taosaur

New Foreigner! I know we've discussed it before, but I'm less thrilled with May's narration. IMO he over-exoticizes both his pronunciations of "alien" words and his character voices. The reader for the earlier books had a subtler touch. I'm still all-in for the series, though.

The only reader I've ever known for every one of the Foreigner books is Daniel Thomas May. And I've listened to every one of them by now. (I've both read and listened to them all, and am just waiting for the last couple to come out in eBook format to snag them as well. I had them in pBook first, though.)

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by CRussel

The only reader I've ever known for every one of the Foreigner books is Daniel Thomas May. And I've listened to every one of them by now. (I've both read and listened to them all, and am just waiting for the last couple to come out in eBook format to snag them as well. I had them in pBook first, though.)

Ah, I listened to the first six books narrated by Kimberly Schraf.

[faithbw]

I was listening to Expecting Better by Emily Oster but I got bored at chapter six. Now I'm listening to Triple Package by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenefeld. I'm only on chapter 1 so far. I finished Power Systems by Noam Chomsky about a week ago.

[Xanthe]

Just finished listening to David Weber & John Ringo's "March Upcountry" and have now started "March to the Sea". I'm only listening to it (the whole series - probably for about the third time ) while I'm in the car, but it's very hard not to pull down the hardcover and re-read it while I'm inside.

[CRussel]

It is a good series, isn't it?!

[MeSue]

*** The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
***** The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd
** On Borrowed Time - David Rosenfelt
***** A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith (currently listening)

[tdonline]

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. It was a Jeopardy question last night No one got it though ;(

The plot is one woman lives her life over and over again. I actually laughed a bit after one death--just the way Atkinson keeps offing of her main character! I've enjoyed all I've read from Atkinson. She really makes me wish I was an author--and I've never even really wished to be one.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

And finished. thoroughly enjoyed, I'm liking Peabody more and more.

This series is set in Victorian times, with the main protagonist of Amelia Peabody, who is now married to Radcliff Emerson, an archeologist. Peabody (as Emerson always calls her, even after she becomes Mrs. Emerson), is herself a serious archeologist and the two now have a son, Ramses, who is going to play a more prominent role in later books. This book was #2 in the series, and was a delight. Well read by Barbara Rosenblatt.

Thoroughly enjoyed. Now, a couple of days with no book to listen to, as I wait for the latest in the Foreigner series from C. J. Cherryh. It's due out next Tuesday, and I'll definitely want to listen to that. (The books are read by Daniel May, who does a superb job with them. )

Finished Peacemaker, the new Foreigner book from C.J. Cherryh, narrated by Daniel Thomas May. I really enjoyed it, and I very much like Mr. May's narration. I find his narration does a good job of differentiating voices without excessive or odd accents. When I listen to a book in this series, I'm rarely aware of the narrator, only the story. And that's as it should be.

I was seriously disappointed and annoyed that there was no WhisperSync for Voice integration. I really like having both together, and especially for the Foreigner books which I'm used to reading in both formats and I like to be able to go back and forth between them.

Next up is #3 in the Amelia Peabody series from Elizabeth Peters. The Mummy Case, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt. I'm very much enjoying this series, and like the voice of Ms. Rosenblatt. It's especially important to have a good and appropriate voice for this series, since it is always told from the perspective of, and with the internal comments from, Amelia Peabody. So you would not want an narrator with an American accent, for example. (And yes, sadly, there is another narrator available for the series, but please, do yourself a favour and avoid her versions.)

[pwalker8]

CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series just came out on Audible this month. I picked up the first one "Gate of Ivrel" and put the rest on my wish list. I'll listen to it as soon as I finish to Fated, the first of the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacks. Looking at my "to be listened to" list, I think that I'm going to have to take off for an extended driving vacation in order to listen to them all. If iTunes is to believed (I have them all in a iTunes playlist), then assuming that I drive for 10 hours a day, I'll need to take off 3 months. Well, I should be able to hit every state in the US in that time frame! I guess I just need a longer commute.

So far, Fated has been pretty good. I had read the ebook a few months ago. I initially found the reader's accent a bit strange, but it's really grown on me.