What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Davina Porter does a good job reading them. I got stuck in the series after they got to the US, but have the others here and will get back to them when I finally have more time to listen. These aren't books you can knock off in a few days of listening!

I don't think I'll be posting *very often* but I thought it would be fun to participate with all of my listens this year.

I may listen to as many as three -- or four! -- books in this series before the year is out.

[sharphamster]

The first Black Mask Pulps collection - Doors in the Dark that's on sale at Downpour. I've got the 3rd collection up next in the queue. It features Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcon, and I couldn't possibly pass that up.

It's interesting listening to this genre as opposed to reading it off the page. I found out that my internal voice for the written word with old pulps sounds remarkably like Humphrey Bogart. Had to make the adjustment for other, non-Bogey narrators with the audiobooks.

Really enjoying them and recommend highly to anyone who liked any of Penzler's other collections or old hardboiled fiction in general.

[melmac]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

Anyway, with the new year, I've started listening to the third Outlander book, Voyager (unabridged and narrated by Davina Porter.) I'm a fan of the series and this is my first time listening my way through it. I'm a bit of a skimmer, so I'm catching a lot of details now that I missed even in multiple reads. (Apparently I always skip the same bits. LOL)

Originally Posted by CRussel

Davina Porter does a good job reading them. I got stuck in the series after they got to the US, but have the others here and will get back to them when I finally have more time to listen. These aren't books you can knock off in a few days of listening!

Just in case you're interested and weren't aware they are making a tv series of the Outlander books First Trailer

I'm currently listening to The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and I'm enjoying it very much the story seems to be dragging along a little slowly but the language is so beautiful and the character so likeable that I don't mind The narration by David Pittu is so pitch perfect that I will definitely be checking out other books he has done.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by melmac

Just in case you're interested and weren't aware they are making a tv series of the Outlander books First Trailer

I am both excited and scared for it to come out. It is on Starz, and I have a subscription, so I'll check it out when it is released.

I have high hopes for it, but I know you all understand how scary it is to have a favorite book adapted for video. That it is a mini-series, rather than a movie, is good sign!

[orlok]

Just started the second Repairman Jack novel Legacies by F. Paul Wilson. So far so good, with none of the slightly paranormal overtones of the first book. There's still time, though, as I'm not too far in yet. The narration is pretty good too, with clear delineation of the characters.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by melmac

Just in case you're interested and weren't aware they are making a tv series of the Outlander books First Trailer

I'm currently listening to The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and I'm enjoying it very much the story seems to be dragging along a little slowly but the language is so beautiful and the character so likeable that I don't mind The narration by David Pittu is so pitch perfect that I will definitely be checking out other books he has done.

Yeah, I'd heard they were. We'll see. My concern is that to make them not be totally gutted they'll have to make each book a 26 episode series, and I just don't think that's going to happen. Be lucky to get each book as a 6 episode mini-series. And there's way too much detail in them to make that work, IMO.

[din155]

Last week I finished Small Gods read by Nigel Planer. It was quite an enjoyable listen and got me through a few strenuous runs . Now listening Amulet of Samarkand read by Steven Pacey. Still very early in in the book to comment anything.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Went with a tried and true surety -- a Georgette Heyer, The Nonesuch, read by Eve Matheson. This is a good example of a Georgette Heyer Regency. Humorous, well-written, and all comes right in the end. And the reading by Ms. Matheson is good, not intrusive and with good pace and character separation.

Excellent read, very much enjoyed! Now, on to Necessity's Child, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, well read by Eileen Stevens. This is book #16 of the 17 in the Liaden Universe, and the fifth that Ms. Stevens has read. (She's the reader for the Fledgling Arc.)

[sharphamster]

Picked up two Laundry Files audios by Charles Stross with my Feb credits.
The Atrocity Archives and The Apocalypse Codex. Lovecraft meets Procedural - love the protagonist, and his dry wit.

From Wikipedia

A series of science fiction spy thrillers about Bob Howard (a pseudonym taken for security purposes), a one-time I.T. consultant, now field agent working for British government agency "the Laundry", which deals with occult threats. Influenced by Lovecraft's visions of the future, and set in a world where a computer and the right mathematical equations is just as useful a tool-set for calling up horrors from other dimensions as a spell-book and a pentagram on the floor.

Tor has several Laundry Files novellas online, if anyone wants to try them out. I read Equiod and was hooked. Haven't gotten to the other two (Overtime & Down on the Farm).

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Excellent read, very much enjoyed! Now, on to Necessity's Child, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, well read by Eileen Stevens. This is book #16 of the 17 in the Liaden Universe, and the fifth that Ms. Stevens has read. (She's the reader for the Fledgling Arc.)

Finished Necessity's Child. This is an excellent addition to the Liaden Universe, and quite well read by Eileen Stevens. It's a bit of an out of context read for the main story lines, being mostly about the Kompani, and about but I'll be interested to see what comes out of this line. IAC,

Next up? Not sure. Have to think on that. I have a bunch of books here, waiting to be listened to, plus I have 4 credits in the bank. Decisions, decisions.

[sharphamster]

The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection. Narrated by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone, which is pretty much perfect, though I prefer Sir Christopher Lee's reading of The Raven to Basil Rathbone's.

[pwalker8]

My to be listened to list keeps building and building. Right now, in the car, I'm listening to James Hogan's "The Gentle Giants of Ganymede", written back in the late 70's. It's a bit dated, written back in the days where smoking and drinking constantly was the norm and when everyone expected an end to war (I guess that makes it fantasy rather than SF ;-) ), but still one of my favorite books. The reader is pretty good.

At work, I'm listening to "King David's Spaceship", by Jerry Pournelle. Pournelle successfully anticipated smart phones/tablets. The book is good as is the reader. Definitely better than the reader for a couple of his other books.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished Necessity's Child. This is an excellent addition to the Liaden Universe, and quite well read by Eileen Stevens. It's a bit of an out of context read for the main story lines, being mostly about the Kompani, and about but I'll be interested to see what comes out of this line. IAC,

Next up? Not sure. Have to think on that. I have a bunch of books here, waiting to be listened to, plus I have 4 credits in the bank. Decisions, decisions.

Next up, The Curse of the Pharaohs, by Elizabeth Peters, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. This is the second book in the Amelia Peabody series. An excellent series and an excellent reader.

Warning: There are two different readers for all the Amelia Peabody books, Ms. Rosenblat, and Susan O'Malley. I'm sure Ms. O'Malley is a good reader for some books, but the idea of an American accent for Amelia Peabody, a Victorian-era English woman, is just too ludicrous and painful. Make sure you choose the Rosenblat versions.

[sharphamster]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

At work, I'm listening to "King David's Spaceship", by Jerry Pournelle. Pournelle successfully anticipated smart phones/tablets. The book is good as is the reader. Definitely better than the reader for a couple of his other books.

Sounds (heh) great! Picked up the epub from Baen and put it on my Audible list. Thanks!

[pwalker8]

I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed by Lance Axt, the reader for Pournelle's "West of Honor" or "Birth of Fire". I like Rob Dean (King David's Spaceship), a lot more.