What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I listened to The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I wish I'd read it so I could have skimmed, since the first half of the book was excruciatingly sloooooow. The description of the Middle Ages was interesting, but not enough to hold my attention for 26+ hours. The story finally came together at the end, but I almost gave up a couple of times. I'm starting to think that historical fiction is hit and miss for me and my avoiding it in the past wasn't all bad.

I very much enjoyed The Doomsday Book, though Jenny Sterling isn't as engaging a reader as Katherine Kellgren. I agree that Connie Willis is heavy on historical details and I am surprised I enjoyed it so much since I am not really a fan of historical fiction, either. I think it must be her characters I like.

I recommend you stay away from Blackout/All Clear then, because it also reads much more like historical fiction than science fiction.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by Marrella

I very much enjoyed The Doomsday Book, though Jenny Sterling isn't as engaging a reader as Katherine Kellgren. I agree that Connie Willis is heavy on historical details and I am surprised I enjoyed it so much since I am not really a fan of historical fiction, either. I think it must be her characters I like.

I recommend you stay away from Blackout/All Clear then, because it also reads much more like historical fiction than science fiction.

Drat, I bought those two during a BOGO sale. I'm not a big fan of science fiction either, but I really didn't consider Doomsday to be very science fictiony.

I liked 11/22/63 and loved Unbroken (not fiction, but definitely historical) which are probably the two stories closest to this that I've tackled lately, so history isn't a no go for me entirely. I think the problem with Doomsday was the pace and the audiobook format exaggerates this, since it's much slower than reading. Maybe I'll try Blackout/All Clear on 2X speed.

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I liked 11/22/63 and loved Unbroken (not fiction, but definitely historical) which are probably the two stories closest to this that I've tackled lately, so history isn't a no go for me entirely. I think the problem with Doomsday was the pace and the audiobook format exaggerates this, since it's much slower than reading. Maybe I'll try Blackout/All Clear on 2X speed.

I have 11/22/63 on my Kindle wish list (didn't like the sample at Audible too much). The pace of Blackout/All Clear isn't much better than Doomsday book and it might be a bit confusing the first time around because it jumps around a couple of timelines, so you get the impression there are more than three main characters, but there really are only three. I don't know if double speed will help with this problem.

[BenG]

My favorite Connie Willis audiobook is To Say Nothing of the Dog, narrated by Steven Crossley.

It's another Oxford time travel book, this time to the Victorian era (with side trips to Coventry during the Blitz), but it's a light comedy rather than the tragedy of the Doomsday Book. It takes it's title from Jerome K. Jerome's comedy about a trip down the Thames Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

One of my favorite books in any form.

[DianNC]

I LOVE the Connie Willis books read by Katherine Kellgren! IMO, she's just a joy to listen to.

I also loved the disclaimer by Connie at the beginning of All Clear -- "If you haven't read Blackout yet, you need to stop listening to this right now!"

Made me smile

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by DianNC

I LOVE the Connie Willis books read by Katherine Kellgren! IMO, she's just a joy to listen to.

I agree. I have some books on my wish list at Audible just because she narrates them. One of my favorites of hers is Among Others by Jo Walton, but I could listen to her reading Blackout/All Clear all day.

To Say Nothing of the Dog narrated by Steven Crossley is very good, too, but I really fell in love with the characters of Blackout/All Clear.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by BenG

My favorite Connie Willis audiobook is To Say Nothing of the Dog, narrated by Steven Crossley.

It's another Oxford time travel book, this time to the Victorian era (with side trips to Coventry during the Blitz), but it's a light comedy rather than the tragedy of the Doomsday Book. It takes it's title from Jerome K. Jerome's comedy about a trip down the Thames Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

One of my favorite books in any form.

I plan to try reading that one since my library has the ebook and I don't have it as an audiobook yet.

Originally Posted by DianNC

I LOVE the Connie Willis books read by Katherine Kellgren! IMO, she's just a joy to listen to.

I also loved the disclaimer by Connie at the beginning of All Clear -- "If you haven't read Blackout yet, you need to stop listening to this right now!"

Made me smile

Maybe a different narrator will help. *fingers crossed*

Originally Posted by Marrella

I agree. I have some books on my wish list at Audible just because she narrates them. One of my favorites of hers is Among Others by Jo Walton, but I could listen to her reading Blackout/All Clear all day.

To Say Nothing of the Dog narrated by Steven Crossley is very good, too, but I really fell in love with the characters of Blackout/All Clear.

Maybe different characters will help too, I didn't care for or about Kivrin in The Doomsday Book.

[melmac]

Recently finished The Last Policeman by Ben Winters narrated by Peter Berkrot I very much liked it. I think in this case the narrator really added to the book he did a brilliant job of bringing the earnest young Hank to life and I really doubt I would have liked the book quite as much had someone else narrated it

Currently listening to Stay Close by Harlan Coben so far it's not really grabbing me plotting seems kinda lazy and characters thin but I'll give it a bit longer maybe it will come together better further in

[astrangerhere]

I'm listening to the free recording of The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, from the University of South Florida's "Lit2Go" program.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm deep into Invader, and totally caught up in the series again. Which is great, since I will be using it for my swimming and bike workouts.

Finished Invader, by C. J. Cherryh, read by Daniel Thomas May. Very good. The reading is a bit slow, but tolerable, and the voices well done and easily distinguished. This is a strange series in some ways. Long passages that don't really have much happening, but the main character, Bren Cameron, doing a stream of consciousness angst. Which usually I would avoid like the plague. But here, it works for me. The world Ms. Cherryh has created is compelling, different, and interesting, and the characters are consistent. This is the second book in the series, and the entire series is available on Audible. I'm enjoying it and finding excuses to listen -- always a good sign.

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by Marrella

I have now started Storm Front by Jim Butcher, the first book in the Harry Dresden series, which I have read years ago but don't remember a lot of. I have picked this up during the holiday sale at Audible. The reader is very good, though sometimes a bit fast for my taste (English isn't my first language).

Finished it, but didn't like it as much as I had anticipated. Apparently my tastes have changed over the years and it had too many silly action scenes for my taste. Overall, I enjoyed James Marsters' performance, though.

My bedtime story for this week is The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins. While this is clearly a young adult book, it is very well written and I am enjoying it quite a bit.

[sgoldin]

I just finished Greg Benford's In the Ocean of Night. A little too introspective and mystical for my taste. Who would've thought you could make the subject of first alien contact boring?

[sgoldin]

I just finished The Silk Code by Paul Levinson. The story has an interesting premise and a decent amount of action, but the plot is pretty complex and tends to fall apart in confusion near the ending, making me wonder whether it was worth the journey. And maybe I'm too much of a stylistic purist, but a book that haphazardly switches between 1st and 3rd person indiscriminately is a bit much.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by sgoldin

I just finished The Silk Code by Paul Levinson. The story has an interesting premise and a decent amount of action, but the plot is pretty complex and tends to fall apart in confusion near the ending, making me wonder whether it was worth the journey. And maybe I'm too much of a stylistic purist, but a book that haphazardly switches between 1st and 3rd person indiscriminately is a bit much.

Sounds complicated. Is this one that would have been better to read than listen to? Or is it too much regardless?

[sgoldin]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Sounds complicated. Is this one that would have been better to read than listen to? Or is it too much regardless?

Always hard to say, but the ending rushed up on me without adequate explanation. I think a few more pages (at least) of denouement would have been very helpful.