What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[ApK]

I abandoned "Armor." It just wasn't keeping my attention.
I'm listening to "A Breach of Security," a short story by Susan Hill today. It's very short...should just last my commute home...and then I need to choose something new. Not sure what I'm in the mood for.
"A Breach of Security" is introducing me to a lot of British-isms. And it's showing me that Cricket is every bit as incomprehensible as it seems.

[issybird]

I finished Caesar: Life of a Colossus which was fantastic and Doyle's Memories and Adventures which started out charming and ended up irritating. Truly, Doyle was insufferable. He knew everyone and everything and whenever his advice wasn't taken, it was a mistake. He also was the perfect prognosticator, which made some of his predictions giggle-worthy, a slight saving grace. Not recommended.

So it was past time for a fun romp, which I've achieved by listening to Sharpe's Havoc read by Patrick Tull, and oh, it's good to listen to Tull doing Sharpe again; it's like coming home. Frederick Davidson read my last Sharpe and much as I like him, he couldn't compare. Sharpe's Havoc is my fourth listen in the series and so far, it's shaping up to be the best yet. A welcome change after two lengthy non-fiction works.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

So it was past time for a fun romp, which I've achieved by listening to Sharpe's Havoc read by Patrick Tull, and oh, it's good to listen to Tull doing Sharpe again; it's like coming home. Frederick Davidson read my last Sharpe and much as I like him, he couldn't compare. Sharpe's Havoc is my fourth listen in the series and so far, it's shaping up to be the best yet. A welcome change after two lengthy non-fiction works.

Tull is a pleasure, isn't he. I have always loved his O'Brian narrations. I think it's about time to try some other stuff he's narrated. I see he's done a bunch of Dickens, and even some Rumpole of the Bailey books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Tull is a pleasure, isn't he. I have always loved his O'Brian narrations. I think it's about time to try some other stuff he's narrated. I see he's done a bunch of Dickens, and even some Rumpole of the Bailey books.

And Brother Cadfael, too; although I've not listened to any, I think he'd do a good Cadfael. He does an excellent Holmes, as you'd expect.

[taosaur]

Bands of Mourning ended solidly, connecting with the first Mistborn trilogy while also opening out into Sanderson's larger Cosmere in a most satisfying manner.

I'd interrupted the second of Gene Wolfe's New Sun books, Claw of the Conciliator, to take advantage of the library loan, and now I'm back into it. These are the first books I've heard/read by the author, and certainly they're problematic--Wolfe, or if we're generous, his narrator, is obsessed with women as "the other." Many observations of the narrator/protagonist's relations with women are presented as profundities when they more closely resemble descriptions of a small, dark, odoriferous space that marks the extent of the protagonist's (and again, possibly the author's) horizons. It's also hard, if one is conversant with the effects of hallucinogens, not to see their influence writ plainly on the text. That said, the conceit of the excessively reliable narrator contrasted against the premise that it's a far-future manuscript largely "lost in translation" works well, and what we end up with is a fairly unique succession of fantastical fugues that bear revisiting even if they only just might add up to a story. There are echoes of Camus and Hesse here, both of whom also used protagonists who had trouble registering other people in general, and certainly women, as much more than stimuli.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by issybird

And Brother Cadfael, too; although I've not listened to any, I think he'd do a good Cadfael. He does an excellent Holmes, as you'd expect.

I listened to the first of the Brother Cadfael books, A Morbid Taste for Bones, read by Patrick Tull. Very well done.

[WT Sharpe]

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights, and here is the email I just sent to my daughter concerning it:

I just finished Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë, and now want everyone else in my world to read it. It was a marvelous tale of love and revenge centered upon Heathcliff and his thwarted love for Catherine. Heathcliff is a boy done wrong, and it warps his personality so extensively that, as an adult, no one trapped within his sphere of influence remains unscathed.

I read this as an audiobook from Librivox.com. If you decide to download it from them (it's free, no strings attached) I HIGHLY recommend version 2 narrated by Ruth Golding. She's a great narrator, and if you know anything about Librivox, you know that isn't always the case. (In their defense, the site is run by volunteers and it would be wrong to complain too loudly about something that is free.)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

So it was past time for a fun romp, which I've achieved by listening to Sharpe's Havoc read by Patrick Tull, and oh, it's good to listen to Tull doing Sharpe again; it's like coming home. Frederick Davidson read my last Sharpe and much as I like him, he couldn't compare. Sharpe's Havoc is my fourth listen in the series and so far, it's shaping up to be the best yet. A welcome change after two lengthy non-fiction works.

Currently listening to Sharpe's Eagle, read by Frederick Davidson (David Case). He's good! Of course, we knew that. But I think you're right - not quite as good as Patrick Tull. Unfortunately, Patrick Tull didn't do all of them, so we must make do. But having David Case as a fallback is certainly not _that_ difficult.

[booklover6]

Finished Turn Me Loose by Rosalyn James, book 3 in her romance suspense series. The narrator was not very good, pronounced multiple words wrong, and her pacing was off in parts. Made the whole story very disappointing.

Not sure which I'll start next, probably something by Catherine Asaro, Bobby Adair or Sara King.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights, and here is the email I just sent to my daughter concerning it:

Tom, I'm tickled to read your response to Wuthering Heights, one of my all-time favorite novels, but one I haven't reread in literally decades (after having darn near memorized it in my adolescence). I'm so glad to know that jaded age can have the same response. I've got a copy in my Audible account and mean to listen to it, eventually - possibly next year, when I think one of my challenges will be to reread old favorites. Based on such a strong recommendation, I shall give Golding a try before I settle on my choice. And I have preferred at least one Lbrivox book (The Prisoner of Zenda) to my Audible purchase.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently listening to Sharpe's Eagle, read by Frederick Davidson (David Case). He's good! Of course, we knew that. But I think you're right - not quite as good as Patrick Tull. Unfortunately, Patrick Tull didn't do all of them, so we must make do. But having David Case as a fallback is certainly not _that_ difficult.

Not that difficult, but.... It was also Sharpe's Eagles which was a letdown for me. I think it's partially that I didn't like as much the novel (one of the earlier ones in the written chronology, perhaps before Cornwell hit his stride), but also I didn't like Davidson as much as Tull.

Make do, certainly, since we have no alternative. Even if it feels a bit like having to listen to Tull read Aubrey/Maturin instead of Vance. I kid, of course; but it's nice that in the case of A/M, we can stick with our preferred narrator.*

*Or could! Now that the Vance renditions are no longer available to buy. Very fortunately, someone** coerced me into buying all of the Vance versions.

**Thank you!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

Make do, certainly, since we have no alternative. Even if it feels a bit like having to listen to Tull read Aubrey/Maturin instead of Vance. I kid, of course; but it's nice that in the case of A/M, we can stick with our preferred narrator.*

*Or could! Now that the Vance renditions are no longer available to buy. Very fortunately, someone** coerced me into buying all of the Vance versions.

**Thank you!

You're welcome.

Audio books go in and out of availability over time, as I've found out the hard way. With that sale on, it made sense to get all of them. Though I still prefer the Tull ones, the Vance are certainly very good indeed.

I haven't read Sharpe's Eagle before (though I did see the TV version with Sean Bean), and I've just started it, so no opinion yet. But it should be a good book for swimming.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I haven't read Sharpe's Eagle before (though I did see the TV version Sean Bean), and I've just started it, so no opinion yet. But it should be a good book for swimming.

LOL, that's how I listened to it! A late winter break when I spent hours and hours in the lovely saltwater hotel pool interspersed with immersion in the outdoor Jacuzzi as it snowed.

[CRussel]

Well, I'm hoping it encourages me to swim more! I'm going into an intense summer of work, and if I don't have something pushing me, it's easy to let go completely.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, I'm hoping it encourages me to swim more! I'm going into an intense summer of work, and if I don't have something pushing me, it's easy to let go completely.

I'm sorry! Work is far better than no work, I like my groceries, but your timing stinks. I'm lucky in that my office scales back in the summer and I have more free time. I also prefer to avoid the summer traffic on Fridays on the I-95 corridor, my normal commute.

My summer swimming treat, as I've mentioned before, is the afore-referenced A/M. The only way I've kept myself from bingeing on them to exhaustion of the series is the two rules I created:

• Only in summer
• Each book must be interspersed with something else

it's almost time! This will be my third summer and I'm not quite halfway through. I already have The Far Side of the World cued up on my Aerb.

[CRussel]

Unfortunately, I have no control over when books must be written. And lately, the software has decreed that I'm writing in the summer, and knitting and watching curling in the winter. Ah, well, I enjoy my curling, so I guess I shouldn't complain. But it would be nice to have a summer "off" for a change. (Off being relative - I'd still have my 1/2 time day job.)

I envy you your first time through A/M. They are such great books. I had them spaced out too, after the first several, simply because I had to wait for them to be written! (And at some point, I highly suggest reading them conventionally. There's a lot going on in them and I find the different mediums hit different parts of my brain.)

What I need now is a good non-swimming book to "read". I have to hold that Sharpe for swimming or I don't have any motivation. I've got several books on my TBR, but none of them are really speaking to me right now.