What are we listening to? (audiobooks) - Page 172

Catlady · 05-20-2019, 06:27 PM

I loved Liv Constantine's first book, The Last Mrs. Parrish, so I had high hopes for the second one, The Last Time I Saw You, narrated by Julia Whelan. What a disappointment.

Mrs. Parrish was elegant, well-crafted, twisty fun, but The Last Time I Saw You is a run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, Lifetime movie-type book. It's competent and entertaining enough, but it's not top-tier suspense. The usual tropes of the genre are all trotted out, without any of the cleverness that elevated the first book.

The characters are all mostly unlikable as well, and I spotted the villain of the piece early on.

Oh well. Maybe the next person on the long library waiting list will be more impressed than I was.

pwalker8 · 05-23-2019, 09:09 AM

Finished up the Crown Tower. I had read it before as an ebook and liked it. I was a little off put by the narrator at first. He was using stereotypical British accents that really weren't quite what I was expecting, but he grew on me fairly quickly. He puts a lot of emotional content in his voice. When a character is joking around, he sounds cheerful. This may sound basic, but it's the problem that I have with a number of readers, they just don't seem to get into the mood of the scene. Anyway, he did a good job.

I haven't decided what the next book will be - I have a number of series at the moment. The latest Mercy Thompson book - Storm Cursed is out. I read the ebook when it came out at the beginning of the month and liked it. I have the next Alexis Carew, The Little Ships and I have the next Gemmel book, Waylander II. Decisions, decisions.

Bookworm_Girl · 05-25-2019, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

I loved Liv Constantine's first book, The Last Mrs. Parrish, so I had high hopes for the second one, The Last Time I Saw You, narrated by Julia Whelan. What a disappointment.

Mrs. Parrish was elegant, well-crafted, twisty fun, but The Last Time I Saw You is a run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, Lifetime movie-type book. It's competent and entertaining enough, but it's not top-tier suspense. The usual tropes of the genre are all trotted out, without any of the cleverness that elevated the first book.

The characters are all mostly unlikable as well, and I spotted the villain of the piece early on.

Oh well. Maybe the next person on the long library waiting list will be more impressed than I was.

Thanks for the info, Catlady! I really enjoyed The Last Mrs. Parrish too. I'm sorry to hear the next book was a disappointment. I just finished listening to Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. I liked the teenage secret club and bullying themes but wasn't fully satisfied with the ending.

I'm currently whispersyncing the audio and ebooks of The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins for the Literary Club. The multi-cast Blackstone version is a very enjoyable listen. It won an Audie Award for Best Classic Narration.

My library hold just became available today for Normal People by Sally Rooney, a 2019 Costa Book Award winner. I'm looking forward to this book as my next listen.

sun surfer · 05-29-2019, 09:17 PM

I'm now on to Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, the first of a trilogy. This is an historical fiction about the opium production and trade centring on India with a wide cast of characters and separate storylines, with a major one being the voyage of the ship Ibis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

My library hold just became available today for Normal People by Sally Rooney, a 2019 Costa Book Award winner. I'm looking forward to this book as my next listen.

That looks appealing; I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on this book when you've finished!

CRussel · 06-03-2019, 01:59 PM

Just finished reading the latest Bosch (and Ballard) book from Michael Connelly, Dark Sacred Night. Excellent, and one of the few times I have thought that having two readers was better than one.

I've also been listening to the Alexander Kent Bolitho series, mostly while swimming. Currently on Passage to Mutiny. These are narrated by Michael Jayston, and while not quite up to the Aubrey/Maturin series from O'Brian, they're still quite enjoyable. And perfect for a swimming read.

Next up, I'm going to start reading (well, OK, re-reading) the Jeeves and Wooster stories from P. G. Wodehouse, hopefully in mostly publication order, starting with The inimitable Jeeves. The version I have is read by Martin Jarvis.

ApK · 06-03-2019, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

Just finished reading the latest Bosch (and Ballard) book from Michael Connelly, Dark Sacred Night. Excellent, and one of the few times I have thought that having two readers was better than one

I just finished it, too, and I agree. Both readers were good* and it helps that each section of the book is clearly indicated as to which character's POV will be used.

I'm eagerly awaiting the next Bosch and Ballard book, and I also went back to the beginning: I'm just about to finish Bosch #1 (Black Echo).

I guess I like Mike Connelly. I may have to try the Lincoln Lawyer stuff too.

ApK

*I liked Titus Welliver reading Bosch, so I tried the Bosch TV series on Amazon where he plays him. TW is fine, but I don't care for the show overall.

CRussel · 06-03-2019, 08:07 PM

I rather enjoy the Amazon series. As for the Lincoln Lawyer books, I liked them. But they won't be a part of the Amazon Bosch series, even when the original book had him in it. Amazon doesn't own the rights to those books.

I ran across an interesting article on the process of narrating audio books: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radi...gLsqVhofKL49II

Charlie.

Bookworm_Girl · 06-05-2019, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I'm now on to Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, the first of a trilogy. This is an historical fiction about the opium production and trade centring on India with a wide cast of characters and separate storylines, with a major one being the voyage of the ship Ibis.

That looks appealing; I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on this book when you've finished!

I loved Sea of Poppies. I should read the second book before I forget too much of the first!

I did not enjoy Normal People. It did not live up to my expectations given the critical acclaim that it has received. It was like a young adult coming-of-age university novel, infused with class issues, and told in the manner of brunt realism typical of Irish literature. I think I would have preferred more sentimentality in this "is but isn't" a love story. I had trouble engaging with the characters emotionally.

ElspethB · 06-05-2019, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I did not enjoy Normal People. It did not live up to my expectations given the critical acclaim that it has received. It was like a young adult coming-of-age university novel, infused with class issues, and told in the manner of brunt realism typical of Irish literature. I think I would have preferred more sentimentality in this "is but isn't" a love story. I had trouble engaging with the characters emotionally.

Thanks for saving me a credit! I had borrowed the ebook from my library, but I have an aversion to books in which dialogue is not indicated by quotation marks (or at least an em-dash in front) so I returned it after only reading a few pages. I toyed with getting the audiobook because I figured then I wouldn't be put off by the lack of punctuation, but I was still on the fence. Your review helped me decide to go in a different direction.

taosaur · 06-06-2019, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

I ran across an interesting article on the process of narrating audio books: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radi...gLsqVhofKL49II

Thanks for the link, it was interesting!

I'm most of the way through Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's a worthwhile sequel to Children of Time, and solid sociologically-driven space opera all around. I did decide to start The Player of Games, one of Ian M. Banks' Culture novels, in text around the same time, and Tchaikovsky suffers a bit in the comparison. His strokes just seem a bit broader where it comes to both character and world-building. I usually try to keep my eyeball reads and my audio reads in different genres or with more thematic separation to avoid those kinds of comparisons, but I'm still enjoying both novels.

pwalker8 · 06-06-2019, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

...
I haven't decided what the next book will be - I have a number of series at the moment. The latest Mercy Thompson book - Storm Cursed is out. I read the ebook when it came out at the beginning of the month and liked it. I have the next Alexis Carew, The Little Ships and I have the next Gemmel book, Waylander II. Decisions, decisions.

Went with The Little Ships. It was well done and quite enjoyable. Just started on Storm Cursed. It will be interesting to see how differently I perceive the book given that I just read it a month ago and it's still fresh in my mind.

Apache · 06-06-2019, 09:02 PM

Waylander was one of my favorite David Gemmell books.
Apache

Bookworm_Girl · 06-07-2019, 12:52 AM

I’m 8 hours into The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, the 2014 Pulitzer fiction winner and also 2014 Audie Award winner. At ~33 hours, it is the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to! So far ok although I think there’s a lot of extra detail that could have been edited out.

pwalker8 · 06-07-2019, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apache

Waylander was one of my favorite David Gemmell books.
Apache

That's up next.

CRussel · 06-08-2019, 04:22 PM

Currently listening to The Body in the Castle Well, the latest Bruno, Chief of Police book from Martin Walker, narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie. As always, a delightful listen, and an excellent narration. Though I do find his voice for the Americans in this one a bit too broad and flat. Really, I know we sound like that to those whose English originated in the U.K., but don't overdo it!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
What Are You Listening to Right Now?	RWood	Lounge	10492	Yesterday 03:54 PM
Publishers are listening...	davidhburton	General Discussions	34	07-27-2010 09:47 AM
PRS-900 Sony, if you're listening	chiefwili	Sony Reader	22	01-02-2010 11:17 AM
Reading or listening? I need both!	jetreader	Ectaco jetBook	9	09-02-2009 10:27 AM
Listening to Music ???	Stu Segal	Sony Reader	7	10-14-2007 12:19 AM

05-20-2019, 06:27 PM	#2566
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,419 Karma: 52613881 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	I loved Liv Constantine's first book, The Last Mrs. Parrish, so I had high hopes for the second one, The Last Time I Saw You, narrated by Julia Whelan. What a disappointment. Mrs. Parrish was elegant, well-crafted, twisty fun, but The Last Time I Saw You is a run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, Lifetime movie-type book. It's competent and entertaining enough, but it's not top-tier suspense. The usual tropes of the genre are all trotted out, without any of the cleverness that elevated the first book. The characters are all mostly unlikable as well, and I spotted the villain of the piece early on. Oh well. Maybe the next person on the long library waiting list will be more impressed than I was.

05-23-2019, 09:09 AM	#2567
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Finished up the Crown Tower. I had read it before as an ebook and liked it. I was a little off put by the narrator at first. He was using stereotypical British accents that really weren't quite what I was expecting, but he grew on me fairly quickly. He puts a lot of emotional content in his voice. When a character is joking around, he sounds cheerful. This may sound basic, but it's the problem that I have with a number of readers, they just don't seem to get into the mood of the scene. Anyway, he did a good job. I haven't decided what the next book will be - I have a number of series at the moment. The latest Mercy Thompson book - Storm Cursed is out. I read the ebook when it came out at the beginning of the month and liked it. I have the next Alexis Carew, The Little Ships and I have the next Gemmel book, Waylander II. Decisions, decisions.

06-03-2019, 01:59 PM	#2570
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,296 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	Just finished reading the latest Bosch (and Ballard) book from Michael Connelly, Dark Sacred Night. Excellent, and one of the few times I have thought that having two readers was better than one. I've also been listening to the Alexander Kent Bolitho series, mostly while swimming. Currently on Passage to Mutiny. These are narrated by Michael Jayston, and while not quite up to the Aubrey/Maturin series from O'Brian, they're still quite enjoyable. And perfect for a swimming read. Next up, I'm going to start reading (well, OK, re-reading) the Jeeves and Wooster stories from P. G. Wodehouse, hopefully in mostly publication order, starting with The inimitable Jeeves. The version I have is read by Martin Jarvis.

06-03-2019, 08:07 PM	#2572
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,296 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	I rather enjoy the Amazon series. As for the Lincoln Lawyer books, I liked them. But they won't be a part of the Amazon Bosch series, even when the original book had him in it. Amazon doesn't own the rights to those books. I ran across an interesting article on the process of narrating audio books: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radi...gLsqVhofKL49II Charlie.

06-06-2019, 09:02 PM	#2577
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,280 Karma: 90000484 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	Waylander was one of my favorite David Gemmell books. Apache

06-07-2019, 12:52 AM	#2578
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,873 Karma: 36536965 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	I’m 8 hours into The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, the 2014 Pulitzer fiction winner and also 2014 Audie Award winner. At ~33 hours, it is the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to! So far ok although I think there’s a lot of extra detail that could have been edited out.

06-08-2019, 04:22 PM	#2580
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,296 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	Currently listening to The Body in the Castle Well, the latest Bruno, Chief of Police book from Martin Walker, narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie. As always, a delightful listen, and an excellent narration. Though I do find his voice for the Americans in this one a bit too broad and flat. Really, I know we sound like that to those whose English originated in the U.K., but don't overdo it!