What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Just as a note, the Essex was the basis for Moby Dick.

Yes! And I still haven’t got to the ebook of Moby Dick I downloaded that pynch so nicely prepared in the MR Library. I can already tell though that In the Heart of the Sea is going to help me out when I get to Moby Dick as I’m learning a good bit about whaling and all that.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Yes! And I still haven’t got to the ebook of Moby Dick I downloaded that pynch so nicely prepared in the MR Library. I can already tell though that In the Heart of the Sea is going to help me out when I get to Moby Dick as I’m learning a good bit about whaling and all that.

Philbrook is a good writer. I have a couple of his American Revolutionary War books.

I'm odd in that I actually liked Moby Dick, even in eighth grade when it was one of the books we studied in English. For some reason, a lot of people don't.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Also, the latest Safehold book Through Fiery Trials is the same price. That's cheap enough for me to five Oathbound a shot and to add Through Fiery Trials to my collection as well. The downside to the Safehold book is they have a new narrator, Jonathan Davis. Can't say that I've heard of him.

Originally Posted by CRussel

The reviews have been abysmal for Davis. Apparently there is no continuity of accent or pronunciation. Readers are panning him. So, I've got the book, but I'm not likely to listen to it, but will wait until I can download from the library.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Could simply be because Oliver Wyman did most of the other books and he's one of the best, IMPO. Quite a few readers would pale in comparison and anytime you are use to a specific reader, anyone else can sound wrong. Or it could be that the audiobook was $8 rather than $50 because the reader stank.

So I read the thread on Weber's site, and Wyman is out because David Weber said he'd never allow him to narrate another of his books. Apparently, the Safehold book before this one had an insertion into the dialog that was NOT part of the book as written.

IAC, I'm now listening to Through Fiery Trials, and while the reader is not at all like Wyman, the narration is fine. It's only getting panned because it's _different_. Now, I agree, it would have been good if he'd been able to listen to one of the Wyman ones so he could get pronunciations to match, but honestly, I don't really notice because I don't remember how Wyman did it.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

So I read the thread on Weber's site, and Wyman is out because David Weber said he'd never allow him to narrate another of his books. Apparently, the Safehold book before this one had an insertion into the dialog that was NOT part of the book as written.

IAC, I'm now listening to Through Fiery Trials, and while the reader is not at all like Wyman, the narration is fine. It's only getting panned because it's _different_. Now, I agree, it would have been good if he'd been able to listen to one of the Wyman ones so he could get pronunciations to match, but honestly, I don't really notice because I don't remember how Wyman did it.

Hum, I think if Weber said that then he's cutting off his nose to spite his face. No idea what dialog was inserted or whose fault it was, but Wyman is normally very good.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Hum, I think if Weber said that then he's cutting off his nose to spite his face. No idea what dialog was inserted or whose fault it was, but Wyman is normally very good.

yes, he's normally very good. The thread is here, if you care.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CRussel

yes, he's normally very good. The thread is here, if you care.

Kind of sounds like it was one of those situations where someone was joking around, the wrong edit got put in and then Weber over reacted. Anyone who has seen a good blooper reel knows this sort of thing happens.

Too bad.

[pwalker8]

Finished up Mutineer. It was good enough that I listened to the last half at home rather than just listen in the car, something I very rarely do. What's next? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I'm leaning towards Lowell's Quarter Share, but that's kind of similar to Mutineer. I could go for the next Gemmell, or I could go for Michael Sullivan's The Crown Tower. I'll see what I'm in the mood for when I get in the car tomorrow.

[SeaBookGuy]

In an effort to clear my backlog of Audible titles, I've started the novel 600 Hours of Edward. So far, a mix of annoying and sad, but outstanding narration keeps me going.

[Sweetpea]

Just started on Heroes by Stephen Fry (read by Stephen Fry). It's the second book of a series about the Greek mythology. I just love Stephen Fry! He's an awesome teller.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Just started on Heroes by Stephen Fry (read by Stephen Fry). It's the second book of a series about the Greek mythology. I just love Stephen Fry! He's an awesome teller.

For some reason, neither Mythos nor Heroes is available in the US Kindle or audible store. Major bummer. It really seems odd that they haven't made it to the US yet.

I've always wanted to get the Stephen Fry versions of the Harry Potter books. I'm not sure why they are so stubborn about selling those in the US.

[ApK]

In my first session of listening to Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - and Where It's Taking Us Next, Audiobook – Unabridged, by Luke Dormehl, I have already "learned" that Edison invented his light bulb in California, not here in New Jersey where we have the town named for him, and the monument built on the spot, and that "factoid," a word coined specifically to mean false facts published in gossip rags, actually just means 'fact,' and that at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker was a super-capable Jedi master.
With this degree of ignorance and lack of fact-checking in the first few chapters, why should I believe anything else this so-called journalist says? He should avoid science writing and stick to fiction and politics.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ApK

In my first session of listening to Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - and Where It's Taking Us Next, Audiobook – Unabridged, by Luke Dormehl, I have already "learned" that Edison invented his light bulb in California, not here in New Jersey where we have the town named for him, and the monument built on the spot, and that "factoid," a word coined specifically to mean false facts published in gossip rags, actually just means 'fact,' and that at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker was a super-capable Jedi master.
With this degree of ignorance and lack of fact-checking in the first few chapters, why should I believe anything else this so-called journalist says? He should avoid science writing and stick to fiction and politics.

I guess I won't be listening/reading that one.

Yea, I've run into this sort of thing before. A friend recommended a book on the Darknet to me and it had several howlers just in the intro. The big problem with this sort of thing is that once you discover that you can't trust an author, you have to take anything they say with a grain of salt.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

... and that "factoid," a word coined specifically to mean false facts published in gossip rags, actually just means 'fact,' ....

Though I don't like the usage, a secondary definition of "factoid" is a trivial/unimportant fact.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Though I don't like the usage, a secondary definition of "factoid" is a trivial/unimportant fact.

Dictionaries record usage. Just because lots of people misuse a word out if ignorance and laziness doesn't mean we all have to accept it.
The suffix -oid has a meaning: resembling a thing, but not the thing. Asteroids may resemble stars in the sky, but they are not stars.

When language changes to reflect new ideas, to become more expressive, to improve communication, those are good or at least expected changes in a living language.
When it changes just to become more ambiguous with no added value, out of only laziness and ignorance, those changes should be resisted.

I have spoken.

ApK

*Need a new word for trivia? I propose "factlet" or "factette" or some other logical, or at least original, neologism.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

Dictionaries record usage. Just because lots of people misuse a word out if ignorance and laziness doesn't mean we all have to accept it.
The suffix -oid has a meaning: resembling a thing, but not the thing. Asteroids may resemble stars in the sky, but they are not stars.

When language changes to reflect new ideas, to become more expressive, to improve communication, those are good or at least expected changes in a living language.
When it changes just to become more ambiguous with no added value, out of only laziness and ignorance, those changes should be resisted.

I have spoken.

ApK

*Need a new word for trivia? I propose "factlet" or "factette" or some other logical, or at least original, neologism.

Hey, take it up with the Merriam-Webster people, not me. I don't like the word at all because of the ambiguity. A fact is a fact, and a false "fact" isn't a factoid, it's a falsehood.