What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by orlok

Just finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. A three star rating - not bad, but as I've said elsewhere, the characters are so unsympathetic or down-right dislikeable that it is hard to care what happens to any of them. Competently read by Lorelei King.

Just about to start The North Water by Ian McGuire and narrated by John Keating. A grim read, by all accounts.

Despite the unsympathetic characters, I was still drawn into their world; I liked Dark Places better than Gone Girl. The U.S. version had multiple narrators, which I thought served the story well.

[CRussel]

I'm NOT getting much listening (or reading) done these days. So still trying to finish off these Ryk E. Spoor Phoenix books. I need a long trip to get some time to listen!

I've got several interesting books in my TBL queue, but I'm determined to finish this last of the Phoenix series. It's actually not bad, and I'm enjoying it. But no time and this last of the three is longer than absolutely required.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Despite the unsympathetic characters, I was still drawn into their world; I liked Dark Places better than Gone Girl. The U.S. version had multiple narrators, which I thought served the story well.

Multiple readers, as in the version of Gone Girl I listened to, might have improved it. On balance I preferred Gone Girl, but it was marginal.

[Catlady]

I listened to The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis, read by Tavia Gilbert.

The "dollhouse" of the title is the Barbizon Hotel for Women, which had been a residence for young women who came to NYC to pursue professional careers. In the present day, it's been turned into apartments, with space set aside for some of the old-timers who'd lived there since they were young women.

The story focuses on Rose, a present-day journalist, and Darby, a secretarial student at the Barbizon in 1952 whose face was slashed in a shocking incident back then; chapters alternate between past and present as Rose researches what happened to Darby.

I was engrossed in this story, particularly the chapters set in 1952, which offered a glimpse of what life was like for young women and the limitations on their lives and choices--and the present-day chapters illustrated that some things hadn't always changed all that much in 60-odd years.

There was nothing specifically objectionable about the narration, but I'm not a fan of Tavia Gilbert--I simply don't much like the sound of her voice.

[ApK]

I'm working my way through the Coffeehouse Mystery series by Cleo Coyle. Light cozy-type mysteries centered on coffee and food, with some NYC art history education thrown in.

My only complaints so far: The frequent misuse of "I" in place of "me" is like a needle in my ear. And that's from the well-spoken, educated narrator character, not some street vernacular in dialog.
That, and a few of the books in the series are starting to seem like they are trying to get in to the "Christian fiction" section.

Between those books, I'm spending time on various podcasts.

[CRussel]

Currently listening to Project Elfhome by Wen Spencer, and narrated by Tanya Elby. I've never been a huge fan of Tanya Elby's narrations, but they are certainly acceptable and don't distract from the story. And the book itself is a true pleasure. This is a collection of Elfhome shorter works, pulled together with dribbles and drabbles into a somewhat cohesive whole. Some of the short stories/novellas are old favourites (Pittsburgh Backyard and Garden, for one, and Bare Snow Falling on Fairywood for another), others are completely new and a delight. All are set in the world of Elfhome/Pittsburgh, and are probably best enjoyed by those with at least some familiarity with the series, if only to avoid some major snerkers if you haven't read the earlier books.

[WT Sharpe]

I'm currently listening to Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (Tim Curry, narrator). It's part of a free streaming offer for Alexa device owners that also includes Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Scarlett Johansson, narrator). I'm hoping to read both before September 30 when the offer ends. Tim Curry's narration is, as expected, excellent. I've read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before, but I'm sure it will be a special treat to have it read to me by Ms. Johansson.

[sindhus]

I am currently listening to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. I am on "Death at Victoria Dock". If you are a netflixer, be sure to check out the series

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'm currently listening to Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (Tim Curry, narrator). It's part of a free streaming offer for Alexa device owners that also includes Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Scarlett Johansson, narrator). I'm hoping to read both before September 30 when the offer ends. Tim Curry's narration is, as expected, excellent. I've read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before, but I'm sure it will be a special treat to have it read to me by Ms. Johansson.

I've got that version of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I agree with you on Tim Curry. I love his narration of the Abhorsen series by Nix. (There is suppose to be a new one coming out in a month or so, I sure hope Curry narrates that one).

[WT Sharpe]

Fished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which was excellent, and am now listening to A Deadly Grind (Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series, # 1) by Victoria Hamilton (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller). Very pleasant and enjoyable (read cozy) so far. The narrator sounds very much like CJ Critt (CJ Crittenden) to my ears, which is fine because I like Emily Woo Zeller's style quite a bit. (CJ Critt is the narrator of Janet Evanovich's books.)

[Catlady]

I listened to two books by Laura McHugh: The Weight of Blood and Arrowood. Unfortunately, these are her only two books to date; I will be looking forward to more.

I read her second book, Arrowood, first. It's a modern gothic about a woman's return to the old family home she's inherited, twenty years after her twin sisters disappeared one day while under her care: presumed kidnapped and murdered but never found.

The earlier book, The Weight of Blood, tells parallel stories of Lila, a young mother who disappeared one day when her daughter was a year old; and of that daughter, Lucy, sixteen years later when the dismembered body of her murdered friend is found.

The Weight of Blood was a little bit confusing as an audiobook; it had three narrators, all female, and the voices were a bit too similar to my ear. Add in the fact that Lila and Lucy sometimes had quite similar experiences (e.g., both starting a new job in the same place years apart), and I'd occasionally wish I had a book in front of me so I could flip back and see if I was in a Lila (past) chapter or a Lucy (present) chapter, especially in the beginning. The third narrator apparently handled the chapters told from the POV of a variety of other characters.

[CRussel]

Currently reading Divided Allegiance, by Elizabeth Moon, read by Jennifer Van Dyke. This is the second in the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, one of my all time favourite fantasy series. This is a re-read, but the first time I'd listened to it. The first and third books in the series are WhisperSync enabled, but this middle one isn't. Annoying, as I do need to go back and forth between the audio book and the eBook, depending on where and when I can listen.

In this second book, our heroine, Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter of Three Firs, the daughter of a sheepfarmer, has left Duke Phallen's Company of mercenaries, and is headed to Fin Panir the headquarters of the Order of Gird, though she doesn't quite know where she's headed when she leaves. Along the way, there's much daring do, and quite a bit of learning and growing, as Paks learns to move beyond the fighting of a private in a troupe of infantry, to a mounted knight.

Wonderful fantasy, excellently written and well narrated. The entire series, starting with The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, is highly recommended.

[booklover6]

On book 4 of The Last Survivors series by Bobby Adair and T.W. Piperbrook. This one is called The Last Command. I have #5 ready, but #6 is in production so have to wait a few weeks. Pretty reasonable series, buy the Kindle book for $2.99 and then the Audio is $1.99. Each story is about 8 hours in length. Not my favorite narrator, but not bad, either. The stories pick up one after the other, and the tension is really building. I do hope #6 is the last one, because I want to know how everything ends!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently reading Divided Allegiance, by Elizabeth Moon, read by Jennifer Van Dyke. This is the second in the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, one of my all time favourite fantasy series. This is a re-read, but the first time I'd listened to it. The first and third books in the series are WhisperSync enabled, but this middle one isn't. Annoying, as I do need to go back and forth between the audio book and the eBook, depending on where and when I can listen.

In this second book, our heroine, Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter of Three Firs, the daughter of a sheepfarmer, has left Duke Phallen's Company of mercenaries, and is headed to Fin Panir the headquarters of the Order of Gird, though she doesn't quite know where she's headed when she leaves. Along the way, there's much daring do, and quite a bit of learning and growing, as Paks learns to move beyond the fighting of a private in a troupe of infantry, to a mounted knight.

Wonderful fantasy, excellently written and well narrated. The entire series, starting with The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, is highly recommended.

I really like the series, but the second book was my least favorite. Too much, I deserve to suffer in it. As an ebook, there are sections that I kind of scan through. Kind of hard to do that with audiobooks.

[pwalker8]

Right now, I'm listening to the most recent Lockwood & Co adventure, The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud who wrote the Bartimeus books. It's a very good story. As is usually the case, I read the ebook first since I can read that a lot faster than people's normal speaking voice. My only complaint in the series (there are 4 books so far) is that they use 3 different readers. All three are good readers, but all in all, I like having the same voices for each book.