What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[melmac]

I've been on a bit of a macho binge lately and have been ploughing through the prey series. I finished Silent Prey, Winter Prey, Night Prey, Mind Prey, Sudden Prey I then dumped Lucas and went for some Jack Reacher with Persuader and the Enemy. Now I'm back with Lucas with Secret Prey I'm enjoying the books a lot but usually I would break the series up a bit with other authors/genres however I've been waiting for audible to have a sale and a lot of the prey books are already in my account.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Just avoid modern Regency romances or your head will surely explode.

Indeed! Or failing that, I'd be forced to put myself out of my misery.

Somewhat related, I am in fact reading a Regency romance, An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer. I'm going to have a Napoleonic theme next year (among others) and I'm leading up to it with a few soft options. But one thing I'll say for Georgie is that while I'm not entirely convinced by the attitudes and actions of her characters, she knows her onions when it comes to the specifics of the period.

[CRussel]

Indeed. One of the things that I always enjoyed about her Regencies is the attention to detail. And, of course, they're just fun.

[CRussel]

Well, as if Tai-Pan didn't put me off really long books, the latest David Weber Safehold book, Hell's Foundations Quiver came along and tied me up for weeks. An excellent reading by Oliver Wyman, but really Weber just goes on and on sometimes. A full 31+ hours.

Next up, something a bit shorter I hope. I've got a KU book, Cranford, read by the superb "Nadia May" (Wanda McCaddon) that I've been sitting on for months, and it should be a good break from these overly long books I've been reading lately. Plus it's always a pleasure to listen to a McCaddon-read book.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, as if Tai-Pan didn't put me off really long books, the latest David Weber Safehold book, Hell's Foundations Quiver came along and tied me up for weeks. An excellent reading by Oliver Wyman, but really Weber just goes on and on sometimes. A full 31+ hours.

Next up, something a bit shorter I hope. I've got a KU book, Cranford, read by the superb "Nadia May" (Wanda McCaddon) that I've been sitting on for months, and it should be a good break from these overly long books I've been reading lately. Plus it's always a pleasure to listen to a McCaddon-read book.

Just think of it as getting your money's worth.

I've got it on my to be read list. I read the ebook when it came out and it was pretty good.

[LSM]

Originally Posted by issybird

:

Somewhat related, I am in fact reading a Regency romance, An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer. I'm going to have a Napoleonic theme next year (among others) and I'm leading up to it with a few soft options. But one thing I'll say for Georgie is that while I'm not entirely convinced by the attitudes and actions of her characters, she knows her onions when it comes to the specifics of the period.

I think I remember reading somewhere that this is required reading at West Point as an authoritative account of the Battle of Waterloo

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, something a bit shorter I hope. I've got a KU book, Cranford, read by the superb "Nadia May" (Wanda McCaddon) that I've been sitting on for months, and it should be a good break from these overly long books I've been reading lately. Plus it's always a pleasure to listen to a McCaddon-read book.

I'll be interested in your review. This is one I planned to pick up at the Whispersync price for the November Buy 4, Get $10 promo. But I'll buy it eventually, anyway.

Originally Posted by LSM

I think I remember reading somewhere that this is required reading at West Point as an authoritative account of the Battle of Waterloo

That's a great thing to know! I've often found that it helps to ease me into a topic if I read a couple of novels set in it first.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'll be interested in your review. This is one I planned to pick up at the Whispersync price for the November Buy 4, Get $10 promo. But I'll buy it eventually, anyway.

Yeah, I miss that promo too. I expect to start this book tomorrow morning. I know the reading will be good, so the rest will just depend on the book itself. But I expect to enjoy it. Will report back, of course.

That's a great thing to know! I've often found that it helps to ease me into a topic if I read a couple of novels set in it first.

Yes, I'm the same way. And I've read An Infamous Army a couple of times (widely separated in time). I learned a lot from it, and everything I've read since has indicated that it was well researched and accurate. And, as with all Georgette Heyer books, well written.

[issybird]

I've finished Sharpe's Trafalgar. Great fun and informative, too, but "Lord Horatio Nelson" is unforgivable. It hasn't put me off continuing with the series, but it's disappointing.

I've started John Quincy Adams by Harley Giles Unger, and the early indications are that this will be merely okay. There's another bio out there that might be better (both have GR ratings over 4.0), but this is the one I have. I know quite a bit about John Adams but relatively little about JQA, so I figure either one will serve the purpose.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, something a bit shorter I hope. I've got a KU book, Cranford, read by the superb "Nadia May" (Wanda McCaddon) that I've been sitting on for months, and it should be a good break from these overly long books I've been reading lately. Plus it's always a pleasure to listen to a McCaddon-read book.

Originally Posted by issybird

I'll be interested in your review. This is one I planned to pick up at the Whispersync price for the November Buy 4, Get $10 promo. But I'll buy it eventually, anyway.

I'm only about 1/2 way through it, but certainly far enough to review it. This is a book that is growing on me the longer I read it. In the beginning, I would have quit except that it's Nadia May (Wanda McCaddon) reading it, and I can listen to her doing the London phone book. However, the longer I listen, the more the story pulls me in. Ms. McCaddon's narration remains wonderful, even though this isn't the sort of book that really calls for much from the narrator. There are no "voices" required, no actual dialog. Each chapter is basically a standalone story, written in much the same style as a letter might be. Recommended.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm only about 1/2 way through it, but certainly far enough to review it. This is a book that is growing on me the longer I read it. In the beginning, I would have quit except that it's Nadia May (Wanda McCaddon) reading it, and I can listen to her doing the London phone book. However, the longer I listen, the more the story pulls me in. Ms. McCaddon's narration remains wonderful, even though this isn't the sort of book that really calls for much from the narrator. There are no "voices" required, no actual dialog. Each chapter is basically a standalone story, written in much the same style as a letter might be. Recommended.

Thanks, Charlie! I'll get to this, definitely. I share your opinion of Wanda May and I think the Victorians really lend themselves to being listened to.

Along those lines, in regard to Sharpe, I should have added that Patrick Tull's narration was terrific. While, as you know, my heart belongs to Simon Vance when it comes to Aubrey/Maturin, now I think I've got the best of both worlds. I suspect Frederick Davidson, another in my pantheon, will be equally good when I get to him.

[CRussel]

Ms. McCaddon will always be Donada Peters to me, because that is the name she was narrating with when I first fell in love with her. The book was West with the Night.

Frederick Davidson (David Case), was the artistic partner of Wanda McCaddon, and both were at the very peak of the audio book narration business from its very early days.

The Davidson narrations of the Sharpe books are excellent.

[sakura-panda]

I'm listening to Lord John and the Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander side novella) and I'm not enjoying it as much as other books in the series. It's short -- less than 4 hours -- so even though I started on Monday, I will finish it this a week.

That will the last audiobook for me this year; I'm going to listen to some of my podcast backlog (currently at 155 hours!) for the rest of the year, and I'll start the next big Outlander novel (An Echo in the Bone) in January.

[fantasyfan]

I read Morgan Robertson"s short novel The Wreck of the Titan or Futility. Written in 1898, it has remarkable similarities to the sinking of Titanic which took place 14 years later. However, it is a disappointing story which I would never have read except for that strange link to the disaster.

But reading thay book led me to listen to the audio drama, Dr Who: The Wreck of the Titan. This is a very interesting adaptation of Robertson and the result is far superior to his work.

The Titan features in the story (as does the Titanic briefly and the Nautilus) and some of the events are similar. For instance, events occur on the iceberg after the collision. John and Myra appear but they are far more interesting than their counterparts in the novel. And of course The Doctor and Jamie (played by Colin Baker and Frazer Hines) are excellent to their roles. The story expands in interesting and unexpected ways and I would recommend this very enjoyable if loose adaptation.

My rating for the book was two stars while I would give the audio drama five stars out of five!

[taosaur]

My most recent listens were Orson Scott Card's Enchanted and the first Temeraire book by Naomi Novik.

As with much of Card's work, Enchanted was compelling but ideologically problematic.

Temeraire was great fun (and I started the second book last night). The main human character is maybe a little too gallant and proper, and at the same time it sometimes seems the author is jumping through hoops to create conditions where such a man could accept modern values (gender roles, for instance) out of step with his time. I wouldn't even go so far as to call it a flaw, so much as a quirk. One can hardly complain of revisionism in a book that inserts dragons into the Napoleonic Wars