What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Catlady]

I listened to Good As Gone, by Amy Gentry. Though it held my interest, ultimately it was disappointing.

Like two other books I read recently--Hollie Overton's Baby Doll and Anna Snoeksta's Only Daughter--the story involves the return of a missing, believed dead daughter to her family after an abduction. In both of those, however, the reader knows upfront if the woman who returns is an imposter or the true daughter; in Good As Gone, it's a question to be resolved.

It was the best of the three (I disliked Only Daughter so much that I returned it), but I didn't like the two main characters (the mother and the daughter), and the way the book was structured didn't work for me. Like so many books these days, it alternated between their two stories, but the daughter's sections didn't follow a coherent timeline; a lot of it wasn't especially relevant. Consequently, at the end there needed to be a rather lengthy daughter section filled with explanations, which was pretty much an information dump.

[tubemonkey]

Audible - Most Wished for Audiobooks of 2016

Below we’ve rounded up the books that our listeners wished for the most in 2016. While many held a strong place on the best sellers list throughout the year, there are a lot of surprises worth discovering. Pick one up now or add it to your own wish list!

The Most Wished for of 2016

• Audiobook --> The Girl on the Train -- Paula Hawkins/ multiple
  

  Before it became a blockbuster movie The Girl on The Train was a bestselling-Audie-award-winning audiobook. This thrilling narrative performed to perfection was the most wished-for audiobook of 2016, and for good reason: it is simply addictive. Told from the perspective of three unreliable narrators, The Girl on The Train keeps listeners constantly guessing. Paula Hawkins' innate ability to craft complicated three-dimensional characters drives this tightly-woven mystery to its gripping conclusion.

• Author --> Amy Schumer
  

  There’s more to Amy Schumer than a few jokes and a brilliant title. Her book The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo made her the most wished for author of 2016, because it showcases her greatest talent: storytelling. Filled with big-hearted stories of sisterhood, sexuality, and personal growth, Amy brings her values to the forefront and flavors them with her irreverent humor. Narrated by Amy herself, this characteristic romp into her brilliant and fresh comedic mind is not to be missed.

• Narrator --> Scott Brick

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next Up, the latest Michael Connelly, The Wrong Side of Goodbye.

Read and enjoyed. This series has always enjoyed good readers, and the recent books have changed to Titus Welliver as the reader. He's a good fit as reader, because he plays Harry Bosch in the Amazon series.

Next I read a couple of Tanya Huff's Confederation Series books, Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor. These were read by Marguerite Gavin, and read very well, once I got past the initial disconnect. I'm so used to her reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak books that I kept expecting Mutt to show up as a character any moment.

And now I'm well and thoroughly buried in the 35 hours of the latest David Weber Safehold book, At the Sign of Triumph, read excellently by Oliver Wyman (though there is one section where it sounds like they upped the speed to at least 125% for no explicable reason.)

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Read and enjoyed. This series has always enjoyed good readers, and the recent books have changed to Titus Welliver as the reader. He's a good fit as reader, because he plays Harry Bosch in the Amazon series.

Next I read a couple of Tanya Huff's Confederation Series books, Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor. These were read by Marguerite Gavin, and read very well, once I got past the initial disconnect. I'm so used to her reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak books that I kept expecting Mutt to show up as a character any moment.

And now I'm well and thoroughly buried in the 35 hours of the latest David Weber Safehold book, At the Sign of Triumph, read excellently by Oliver Wyman (though there is one section where it sounds like they upped the speed to at least 125% for no explicable reason.)

At the Sign of Triumph is still a bit pricey for me ($41), though I imagine that I will break down and buy in once I whittle down my to be listened to list a bit.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Read and enjoyed. This series has always enjoyed good readers, and the recent books have changed to Titus Welliver as the reader. He's a good fit as reader, because he plays Harry Bosch in the Amazon series.

Next I read a couple of Tanya Huff's Confederation Series books, Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor. These were read by Marguerite Gavin, and read very well, once I got past the initial disconnect. I'm so used to her reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak books that I kept expecting Mutt to show up as a character any moment.

And now I'm well and thoroughly buried in the 35 hours of the latest David Weber Safehold book, At the Sign of Triumph, read excellently by Oliver Wyman (though there is one section where it sounds like they upped the speed to at least 125% for no explicable reason.)

Originally Posted by pwalker8

At the Sign of Triumph is still a bit pricey for me ($41), though I imagine that I will break down and buy in once I whittle down my to be listened to list a bit.

Well, it's still only a single Audible coupon, so quite reasonable.

I finished it in the car on the way in to the office today. I figure there's at least one more book in the series before he's done, but this did tie up a lot of lose ends.

Switched to reading Heart of Valor, number 3 in the Confederation series. Still a bit disconcerting to have Marguerite Gavin doing the reading, but she does an excellent job.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, it's still only a single Audible coupon, so quite reasonable.

I finished it in the car on the way in to the office today. I figure there's at least one more book in the series before he's done, but this did tie up a lot of lose ends.

Switched to reading Heart of Valor, number 3 in the Confederation series. Still a bit disconcerting to have Marguerite Gavin doing the reading, but she does an excellent job.

After reading the ebook, my impression is that was the end of this story arc, thus we won't have any immediate books. I think that he might go back and do future books set much later, but I'm not sure.

I'll have to try the Valor series. I have them in ebooks and really like them. Of course, my current audiobook playlist is at 19 days and 13 hours. That's just the car playlist. I really need to whittle that down.

Just finished Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. Really good. Next up, The Aeronaut's Windlass.

[Alohamora]

I just finished Maisie Dobbs by Jacquline Winspear. I've got the second in series queued up to start on my commute tomorrow morning.

Maisie is exactly the type of mystery I love, an interesting mystery surrounded by strong character development.
The setting is before/during/after WW 1 England and France.

I got the books on Overdrive.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

I just finished Maisie Dobbs by Jacquline Winspear. I've got the second in series queued up to start on my commute tomorrow morning.

Maisie is exactly the type of mystery I love, an interesting mystery surrounded by strong character development.
The setting is before/during/after WW 1 England and France.

I got the books on Overdrive.

Good books, well narrated by Orlagh Cassidy. I look forward to each new one.

[Catlady]

I read the first four or five Maisies in hardcover as they came out, trying to enjoy them, but I disliked the character more and more with each book, and finally gave up. I like the Bess Crawford series--Bess is a WWI British nurse--much better.

[WT Sharpe]

I'm currently listening to Don't Not No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh and enjoying it very much. Marsh paints a moving glimpse behind the curtain at the lives of brain surgeons, their triumphs, and their tragedies.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

After reading the ebook, my impression is that was the end of this story arc, thus we won't have any immediate books. I think that he might go back and do future books set much later, but I'm not sure.

I'll have to try the Valor series. I have them in ebooks and really like them. Of course, my current audiobook playlist is at 19 days and 13 hours. That's just the car playlist. I really need to whittle that down.

Just finished Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. Really good. Next up, The Aeronaut's Windlass.

There's certainly more to come before he's done with Safehold.

Spoiler:

In the near term, I somehow expected one more book in this arc--he's got the northern Harchongese to deal with, and there's still a whole bunch of unresolved issues wrt to the religious differences. The war may have been won, but the peace has not yet been won. And then there's the whole question of aliens and why humans are on Safehold. Etc. But that's another story arc, I think.

[pwalker8]

We will see on Safehold. Weber has so much on his plate, I think that he tied up what he wanted to tie up and will move on to a new story arc if he returns to Safehold.

I just finished a Detroit Christmas, a radio drama by Larry Correia. I haven't read the novela this is based on, but I can't say that I cared a lot for this one. The big reason for listening to it all the way through (about an hour) was to test out my new method for listening to audiobooks in the car. The next one up is The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. This is another long one (21 hours) and I most likely won't be doing a lot of driving this week, so it will probably take a while.

[Alohamora]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I read the first four or five Maisies in hardcover as they came out, trying to enjoy them, but I disliked the character more and more with each book, and finally gave up. I like the Bess Crawford series--Bess is a WWI British nurse--much better.

Thanks, added the first book to my wish list on overdrive.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Switched to reading Heart of Valor, number 3 in the Confederation series. Still a bit disconcerting to have Marguerite Gavin doing the reading, but she does an excellent job.

Finished Heart of Valor, and quite got used to Marguerite Gavin narrating. Though, for me, she'll always be the voice of Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak. However, she does an excellent job with these Confederation books from Tanya Huff.

Next, I read #4 in the Phryne Fisher series -- Death at Victoria Docks, superbly read by Stephanie Daniel. I've read all these in eBook format, but am doing a re-read of them as audio books. They're still quite delightful, and I'm having to space them out a bit to savour the pleasure.

Now reading #4 in the Confederation series, Valor's Trial.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I read the first four or five Maisies in hardcover as they came out, trying to enjoy them, but I disliked the character more and more with each book, and finally gave up. I like the Bess Crawford series--Bess is a WWI British nurse--much better.

I gave up on Maisie, too. I don't think I've ever run across a more humorless character and the many historical anachronisms drove me crazy . Nothing takes me out of a story faster.

I preferred Charles Todd's Inspector Rutledge series to their Bess Crawford series.

I'm listening to Vanity Fair, read by John Castle, which is delightful and Between Two Worlds: How the English Became Americans, read by Gildart Jackson, which is interesting but I wish the timeline weren't all over the place.