What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Catlady]

I just finished Before He Finds Her, by Michael Kardos, read by Julia Whelan. This is the third thriller I took a chance on based on the glowing professional reviews (the others being the horrid One Step Too Far and the marginally acceptable Descent), and although it was the best of the bunch, it didn't come close to being a riveting, thrilling, can't-put-downable page turner. It started oddly and rather slowly, with shifts in time and POV, but once it really got going, the story--involving a teenage girl who's been hidden away and presumed dead since her mother was murdered 15 years before--became quite intriguing. There were surprises along the way, but not a lot of suspense; if I graded books, this one would be a solid C.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, that was just as enjoyable the second time as the first, and has me back up to speed for the new one due out shortly.

Now reading A Dangerous Place, written by Jacqueline Winspear, and read by Orlagh Cassidy, the latest in the Maise Dobbs series. I love the series, and am enjoying this edition of it, though I admit the reader sometimes annoys. But the story is worth it.

Finished, and very much enjoyed the book, in spite of the reader. This is one of the better Maise Dobbs books, in my opinion, though it takes a bit to get going. There's a time lapse of ~3 years since the end of the previous book, and the action takes place predominately in Gibraltar at the time of the revolution in Spain. Which, of course, Maise gets involved with.

Now reading Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck, narrated by by Jerry Farden. His voice is perfect for this time and place, and I'm enjoying his reading. The book, of course, is a classic and a good read under any circumstances, but is the MobileRead Book Club selection for this month.

BTW, this can be had as a WhisperSync for Voice book if you buy the correct version of the eBook. The one you want is: Cannery Row, but it's not easy to find. For some reason, Amazon only shows the non-WhisperSync edition, even though they're from the same publisher. And at the same price.

[CRussel]

Still reading Cannery Row, but meanwhile read #12 in the Campion series from Margery Allingham Cororers Pidgin, read by David Thorpe. At first, I found his voice not quite matching to my take on Campion, but it grew on me and I decided I really liked listening to this book, so a solid 4 stars for the performance.

[Catlady]

I'm listening to A Touch of Stardust, by Kate Alcott, narrated by Cassandra Campbell. This is a novel set during the filming of Gone with the the Wind, with lots of familiar but still interesting background stories, both about the film and about the relationship between Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The heroine, an aspiring screenwriter, gets a job as Lombard's assistant and becomes involved with an older man who works for David O. Selznick.

It's all quite enjoyable, especially for someone who loves GWTW.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Looks like I'm going to be listening to a lot of audiobooks the next two weeks. I have to take my niece and nephew to school these next two weeks. An hour to pick them up and take them to school, then a bit over an hour to get to work. I should be able to make it through a couple of books! Right now, I'm listening to Childe Morgan by Katherine Kurtz. It's the second in the Childe Morgan trilogy, the last of which came out around 4 months ago. The first, In the King's Service, was pretty good.

Finally finished my two week trek. I also finished Childe Morgan, Magic Rises by Illona Andrews and Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud.

Childe Morgan was pretty good. Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series was one of my first discoveries when I first started reading/buying SF&F in high school. The Childe Morgan trilogy is a prequel to the original trilogy written in the mid to late 70's. Maybe with a bit of luck, the Camber trilogy will make it to audio and ebooks. I've just started The King's Deryni which is the last of the Childe Morgan trilogy.

While I liked Magic Rises, it is a bit easier to skip through the romance sections in the book as an ebook rather than as an audio book. Over the space of this series, the romance aspects have been more and more frequent (that's romance as in romance novels, not romance as in romantic). I found myself getting a bit impatient with the book at times.

Lockwood & Co is the latest by Jonathan Stroud, of the Bartimaous (sp?) fame. The basic plot line is that England has be come more haunted and only kids can see the ghost or visitors as they are called. Unfortunately, it's fatal to be touched by a ghost. This is an excellent series, well worth reading. The narrator does a very good job.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Still reading Cannery Row, but meanwhile read #12 in the Campion series from Margery Allingham Cororers Pidgin, read by David Thorpe. At first, I found his voice not quite matching to my take on Campion, but it grew on me and I decided I really liked listening to this book, so a solid 4 stars for the performance.

Finished Cannery Row. This was narrated by Jerry Farden, and I must say the narration was superb. He has a perfect deep, craggy voice for this book, and he very much brought the book alive. Wonderful book, and wonderful narration.

Also read Tracker, #16 in the Foreigner series from C.J. Cherryh, read by Daniel Thomas May. Mr. May has been the reader for each of the Foreigner books, and I've listened to all of them, most multiple times. His voice is inextricably linked with the books for me, and that's a very good thing. If you enjoy SF at all, and are interested in the interaction of cultures, I highly recommend the series. But please, start with #1, Foreigner. And look forward to a wonderful, and long, series.

Next up, The Resistance Man, by Martin Walker and read by Robert Ian Mackenzie. This is #6 in the delightful adventures of Bruno, Chief of Police of a small town in the Perigord. I've just started, but already falling into the magic of the town, the people, and the animals. I thought I had a couple of these as Audible books, but apparently not, so this is my first experience with Mr. Mackenzie reading the books. So far, so good.

[pwalker8]

Went on my every couple of months audible buying spree this morning. Note, I have two ways that I tend to buy audio books. First, I buy certain favored authors or books as soon as they come out. Second, I'll buy a group of books that are on my wish list every couple of months. I will normally look at the audiobooks sorted by date available every couple of weeks and put books that I'm interested in, in my wish list. I also will put all the books in a series into the wish list when I try out a new series.

The primary driver of a buying spree is the is a specific book that I want to listen to (in this case the second of the Lockwood & co books, The Whispering Skull). Then I fill out the order (usually 4 or 5 books) with an assortment of books. Once I download the books, I back them up and then arrange them in my listening queue. I rarely will listen to back to back books by the same author or of the "flavor" to avoid getting burned out on that author.

I have a couple of audio books on pre-order, the James Marster's reading of Ghost Story and Jurassic Park. Ghost Story is the only Harry Dresden book that I don't have in audiobook and it's the only one that didn't use Marster as the narrator. Apparently Marster wasn't available when the book came out and they used someone else. The reviews were not favorable. While I thought that Ghost Story is the weakest of the Harry Dresden series, I do look forward to listening to Marster's reading.

I'm not sure when Audible added the pre-order, but it's fairly recent. I like it. So far, Audible has managed to keep a lot of the unique flavor of their website. There are a few Amazon things that have filtered in, usually for the worse, but all in all, audible makes it easy for me to find what I want and easy to buy what I want. The biggest issue that I have is that the suggestions are starting to move more into a direction of books they want me to buy, rather than books that I am actually interested in. A year ago, I at least saw the logic of the suggestion, even if it wasn't a book I wanted, but now it's mostly "who is this author and why in the world would I be interested in the book?"

[Geralt]

2nd book in awesome and fun series. Highly recommend.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Even-White-Trash-Zombies-Get-the-Blues-

2nd book in awesome and fun series. Highly recommend.

Glad to hear it, as I have the audio books for #2 and 3. (I've read #1)

I am listening to the latest Joe Ledger book, Predator One, narrated by Ray Porter. He does SUCH a fantastic job with the series, I would not want to read the ebooks instead, if I had to choose.

[sakura-panda]

I had to go back and find my last post to see what I had said I was listening to and found that I haven't updated in a couple of months.

I'm still reading Diana Gabaldon books. The last time I posted, I was listening to the first story in Lord John and the Hand of the Devils, "Lord John and the Hellfire Club". Then I relistened to the book Lord John and the Private Matter, returned to the collection to listen to "Lord John and the Succubus", relistened to the book Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, and finally finished the collection with "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier". While I enjoyed the two books when I listened to them last year, I had a better understanding of some of the smaller moments within them after listening to the stories that fit in between and I'm glad I took the time to fit them in.

I'm surprised by how much I enjoy the Lord John books. I was tempted to abandon my One Main Outlander Book alternated with One Lord John Book playlist, but decided to more or less stick with it. It is important to me to put breaks between the "big" books and I like the idea that I am still within the same universe.

I am now listening to A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and even though I have my app settings set to "Download Single-Part", it downloaded seven parts. While I do appreciate being able to delete parts of it as I finish them, I am annoyed by the way each break is handled.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, The Resistance Man, by Martin Walker and read by Robert Ian Mackenzie. This is #6 in the delightful adventures of Bruno, Chief of Police of a small town in the Perigord. I've just started, but already falling into the magic of the town, the people, and the animals. I thought I had a couple of these as Audible books, but apparently not, so this is my first experience with Mr. Mackenzie reading the books. So far, so good.

Just finishing this now. A wonderful book in a delightfully quirky series set in the Perigord. Robert Ian Mackenzie's narration of this book is excellent, I've enjoyed it completely. A thoroughly enjoyable book, and I highly recommend the entire series, which starts with Bruno, Chief of Police. (Which is, btw, a WhisperSync special at $4.49. )

Next up, Sharpe's Trafalgar, by Bernard Cornwell. This is #4 in the Richard Sharpe series, and the narrator for this one is Patrick Tull, so I know it will be superbly read. Most of the books are read by "Frederick Davidson" (David Case) so the transition between the two narrators is not an issue. They're both superb and have quite compatible voices.

[Catlady]

I listened to The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson. This was a quite satisfying thriller, filled with liars and sociopaths, and lots of twistedness. This one joins The Girl on the Train as my favorite thrillers of the year.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I listened to The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson. This was a quite satisfying thriller, filled with liars and sociopaths, and lots of twistedness. This one joins The Girl on the Train as my favorite thrillers of the year.

Thanks for the recommendation. I enjoyed Girl on the Train a lot, so will add this to my TBRL.

EDIT: Hmmmm. Not available on Audible UK, at least not yet...

[tilia]

I just about stop reading last fall, basically turned into a non-reader I read a couple of books over the winter, but no audio. Then in march I started a relisten of The Hobbit, and then went on to The Lord of The Rings. Then Terry Pratchett died and I listened to the three first Tiffany Aching books. I have read them before(in paper), but it's been a while. It was so great, both to be back in Pratchett's world, and listening to books again. Stephen Briggs does an excellent job reading the Discworld novels.

Never did finish The Return of the King (I know how it ends ), but now I'm back to listening, and it seems also reading books. Yay!

So I've listened to:
The Outlaw Demon Wails, the 6th Hollows book, I wonder why there is a different narrator for this one book? Still not sure if I like Rachel or not, but hope to finish the series this year.

Soulless by Gail Carriger, first in The Parasol Protectorate. Steampunk set in Victorian England. Fun, fun, fun.
Looking forward to the rest of these. Liked the narrator a lot, so will continue in audio. I've already bought two and three, and the library have 4&5

The Iron Duke by Meljean Brooks. More steampunk, but this is also PNR. There is a plot, and a pretty interesting world, but the male lead/romance part of the story did not work for me. Partly the narrators fault I think, she made everything he said sound ridiculous. I do read some romance, but I'm extremely picky and tend to avoid PNR. If I end up reading more of these I'll skip the audio.

Skinwalker by Faith Hunter. First of Jane Yellowrock. Started this as ebook some time ago, stopped when Beast showed up. Been meaning to try again, and decided to try the audio book when I found out that Khristine Hvam reads these. I loved her narration of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. She does a good job here as well. I didn't have a big problem with Beast this time, but still not sure if this is a series for me. I'm not a big fan of vampire politics.

Bring It On by Laura Anne Gilman, third in The Retrivers, a series I started some time ago. Didn't love it, so got put on the back burner. Meh. Ok narrator, but rather boring book. Not sure if I'll continue the series.

Lucky You. Another reread. Carl Hiassen's books are predictable, but fun. I reread Nature Girl as audio last summer, and I think I'll reread more this summer. I often listen to audio books when hiking, and these are perfect for that.

At the moment I'm listening to Grimspace by Ann Aguirre. Not sure what I think yet. Narrator not among my favourites, but not horrible either.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by orlok

Thanks for the recommendation. I enjoyed Girl on the Train a lot, so will add this to my TBRL.

EDIT: Hmmmm. Not available on Audible UK, at least not yet...

I hope you enjoy it. It's not similar to Girl on the Train in its tone--I don't want you to be misled about that.

I'm trying to decide what to listen to next--I feel like something trashy and familiar: maybe Peyton Place or Flowers in the Attic.