What are we listening to? (audiobooks) - Page 171

ApK · 04-30-2019, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

A fact is a fact, and a false "fact" isn't a factoid, it's a falsehood.

Perhaps Mailer coined the term to allow for the possibility that some of the items printed may happen to have been true....
Nonetheless, I doubt the researchers who collected the data the term was applied to in the book would appreciate their work being classed the same as the gossip pieces Mailer was referring to.

It's a good word. A lot of import. It's wrong to relegate it to just another synonym for fact.

sun surfer · 05-05-2019, 02:13 PM

In the Heart of the Sea was fantastic. One of the best nonfiction historical books I've ever read. It was right up my alley to begin with since I like adventures, ocean/sea/sailing stories, survival stories and desert island stories, but wow was this impressive and all the more so since it's a true story. I can't believe I'd never even heard of the story until the last few years, and I can't believe it took me this long to finally read it. It does get macabre near the end but hey, that's what really happened, and the book warns of it from the beginning. And now I want to visit Nantucket, as well as Henderson Island, heh. It's a shame I hear the film version isn't so good.

Next up is A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz and translated by Nicholas de Lange, with narration by Stefan Rudnicki who has quite a deep voice and an accent that sounds appropriate. The book is basically the memoir of the author as he grows up in Israel just as it's been formed, with very cultured but now lower-middle-class parents who relocated there from their home countries. The audiobook is only a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 23 hours and 52 minutes.

Sweetpea · 05-05-2019, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

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.

They are available on Storytel. But I did buy the kindle books too... (couldn't add the audible book cheaply, so I didn't buy those).

I started Sunstorm (the second book of the Time Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter). Narrated by John Lee.

pwalker8 · 05-05-2019, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApK

Perhaps Mailer coined the term to allow for the possibility that some of the items printed may happen to have been true....
Nonetheless, I doubt the researchers who collected the data the term was applied to in the book would appreciate their work being classed the same as the gossip pieces Mailer was referring to.

It's a good word. A lot of import. It's wrong to relegate it to just another synonym for fact.

I've seen factoid used to imply trivia, i.e. something that is true and perhaps interesting, but not particularly important. I have also seen it used to mean something that is not actually true, but is repeated so much that most accept it as truth, for example, various quotes attributed to famous people that probably were not said by them. Fake news tends to imply something that either is known to be false, or can easily be shown as false, but it reported as truth.

pwalker8 · 05-05-2019, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

They are available on Storytel. But I did buy the kindle books too... (couldn't add the audible book cheaply, so I didn't buy those).

I started Sunstorm (the second book of the Time Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter). Narrated by John Lee.

Storytel doesn't sell in the US. Both books are available in the UK kindle store and likely UK audible store. I apparently can buy the CD's on Amazon from third party stores in the UK. I'll just wait until it shows up on audible or iTunes.

CRussel · 05-06-2019, 12:41 AM

Neither is available in the UK Audible store. If either were, I'd see if I could help. But sadly, the only version there is Mythos in German.

pwalker8 · 05-06-2019, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

Neither is not available in the UK Audible store. If either were, I'd see if I could help. But sadly, the only version there is Mythos in German.

That is weird. Like I said, I can buy the CD set.

pwalker8 · 05-06-2019, 03:45 PM

Finished up Quarter Share. A pleasant enough listen. The narrator was a bit on the dry side for my taste, but not bad by any stretch. The book was only 6 hours long, then they include the first hour of Half Share. I skipped that.

Next up The Crown Tower by Michael J Sullivan, read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, whom I can't say that I've heard before. I like Sullivan's Rythiua series. Hopefully, the narrator does it justice.

FizzyWater · 05-10-2019, 07:36 PM

Well, holy cow, I'm not listening to anything at the moment, but I'd better get started!

I just got my monthly "reminder" from Audible telling me how many credits I have left and when my next one will be coming.

I didn't notice last month if it had the total number of "Titles in your library" - but this month it does, and it say I have 1,002 titles!

I had no idea!

SeaBookGuy · 05-10-2019, 09:40 PM

If you look under My Account, you can also see the expiration dates of each credit now. I can vouch that when you return a book for a refund, the new credit is good for one year thereafter, not the underlying, original purchase date.

taosaur · 05-11-2019, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I started Sunstorm (the second book of the Time Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter). Narrated by John Lee.

I really enjoyed that series. Clarke's ideas often fare better in someone else's hands.

I just finished up Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson, and it was a lot of fun. YA is usually not my thing, including Sanderson's other YA work, but this one had solid characters, a world you want to learn more about, and real-feeling stakes. The sci-fi is decidedly soft - basically the technology is magic. Not indistinguishable from magic: just magic. Still, the result is more of a fun Saturday-morning-cartoons vibe, rather than a "You're lazy and don't understand what people like about science fiction" vibe (*cough* Star Trek Discovery *cough*). There are strong echoes of Ender's Game, though things turn out very differently.

I'm also most of the way through The Quantum Magician, which I started on audio and ended up switching to print. I can't say there's anything wrong with the narration - I just found myself zoning out and losing track of the story. Maybe it will wow me with the ending, but so far it's a 3-star read/listen. It seems strongly influenced by both Seveneves and The Culture, which should be good news, but the result seems like less than the sum of its parts.

haertig · 05-14-2019, 09:59 PM

Just started into "Good Omens", a BBC radio play of the Pratchett/Gaiman book.

Not sure if I'm going to like it. I'll have to dedicate a little more listening time before deciding. So far the voice actors are witty, but the whole thing seems a bit disconnected and difficult to follow. Jumping around a little too much for me to keep up perfectly.

CRussel · 05-17-2019, 11:53 AM

Currently reading/listening to Command a King's Ship by Alexander Kent. This is #8 in the Richard Bolitho series of British naval adventures, and is read by Michael Jayston. A perfect book to listen to while swimming, and Jayston's narration is good, though not up to Patrick Tull's narration of the O'Brian books. But then, Kent isn't really up to O'Brian either. Still, a good read.

taosaur · 05-18-2019, 07:14 PM

The Quantum Magician did finish strong, so I'll bump it up to four stars, but I never did return to the narration - just finished it in text. Now I'm listening to the Fables novel Peter and Max, which is a satisfying bit of light meta-fiction so far. I'm eager to get into the new Adrian Tchaikovsky, but I started Peter and Max the day before it released, and now I'm hooked.

Catlady · 05-19-2019, 03:55 PM

I listened to two novels about Hitler's food tasters--women whose job it was to sample Hitler's food in case it was poisoned: The Taster by V. S. Alexander, narrated by Carol Monda, and At the Wolf's Table by Rosella Postorino, narrated by Polly Stone.

These two novels offered divergent depictions of the tasters; both apparently drew on the experiences of Margot Woelk, though each used different elements of her story and adjusted different details for dramatic effect. Alexander's book invents more scenarios and is more melodramatic and exciting than Postorino's; Postorino's book is melancholic and seems to hew closer to the reality of the tasters' experience.

I wish I'd read these in reverse order--Alexander's novel created certain expectations that weren't part of Postorino's focus. But I liked both books.

05-05-2019, 02:13 PM	#2552
sun surfer languorous autodidact ✦ Posts: 4,235 Karma: 44667380 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: smiling with the rising sun Device: onyx boox poke 2 colour, kindle voyage	In the Heart of the Sea was fantastic. One of the best nonfiction historical books I've ever read. It was right up my alley to begin with since I like adventures, ocean/sea/sailing stories, survival stories and desert island stories, but wow was this impressive and all the more so since it's a true story. I can't believe I'd never even heard of the story until the last few years, and I can't believe it took me this long to finally read it. It does get macabre near the end but hey, that's what really happened, and the book warns of it from the beginning. And now I want to visit Nantucket, as well as Henderson Island, heh. It's a shame I hear the film version isn't so good. Next up is A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz and translated by Nicholas de Lange, with narration by Stefan Rudnicki who has quite a deep voice and an accent that sounds appropriate. The book is basically the memoir of the author as he grows up in Israel just as it's been formed, with very cultured but now lower-middle-class parents who relocated there from their home countries. The audiobook is only a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 23 hours and 52 minutes. Last edited by sun surfer; 05-05-2019 at 02:19 PM.

05-06-2019, 12:41 AM	#2556
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	Neither is available in the UK Audible store. If either were, I'd see if I could help. But sadly, the only version there is Mythos in German. Last edited by CRussel; 05-06-2019 at 05:03 PM.

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05-06-2019, 03:45 PM	#2558
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 Quarter Share. A pleasant enough listen. The narrator was a bit on the dry side for my taste, but not bad by any stretch. The book was only 6 hours long, then they include the first hour of Half Share. I skipped that. Next up The Crown Tower by Michael J Sullivan, read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, whom I can't say that I've heard before. I like Sullivan's Rythiua series. Hopefully, the narrator does it justice.

05-10-2019, 07:36 PM	#2559
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	Well, holy cow, I'm not listening to anything at the moment, but I'd better get started! I just got my monthly "reminder" from Audible telling me how many credits I have left and when my next one will be coming. I didn't notice last month if it had the total number of "Titles in your library" - but this month it does, and it say I have 1,002 titles! I had no idea!

05-10-2019, 09:40 PM	#2560
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	If you look under My Account, you can also see the expiration dates of each credit now. I can vouch that when you return a book for a refund, the new credit is good for one year thereafter, not the underlying, original purchase date.

05-14-2019, 09:59 PM	#2562
haertig Wizard Posts: 1,899 Karma: 31522252 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3, Fire HD8 Gen7, Moto G7, Sansa Clip v2, Ruizu X26	Just started into "Good Omens", a BBC radio play of the Pratchett/Gaiman book. Not sure if I'm going to like it. I'll have to dedicate a little more listening time before deciding. So far the voice actors are witty, but the whole thing seems a bit disconnected and difficult to follow. Jumping around a little too much for me to keep up perfectly.

05-17-2019, 11:53 AM	#2563
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 reading/listening to *Command a King's Ship* by Alexander Kent. This is #8 in the Richard Bolitho series of British naval adventures, and is read by Michael Jayston. A perfect book to listen to while swimming, and Jayston's narration is good, though not up to Patrick Tull's narration of the O'Brian books. But then, Kent isn't really up to O'Brian either. Still, a good read.

05-18-2019, 07:14 PM	#2564
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	The Quantum Magician did finish strong, so I'll bump it up to four stars, but I never did return to the narration - just finished it in text. Now I'm listening to the Fables novel Peter and Max, which is a satisfying bit of light meta-fiction so far. I'm eager to get into the new Adrian Tchaikovsky, but I started Peter and Max the day before it released, and now I'm hooked.

05-19-2019, 03:55 PM	#2565
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,419 Karma: 52613881 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	I listened to two novels about Hitler's food tasters--women whose job it was to sample Hitler's food in case it was poisoned: The Taster by V. S. Alexander, narrated by Carol Monda, and At the Wolf's Table by Rosella Postorino, narrated by Polly Stone. These two novels offered divergent depictions of the tasters; both apparently drew on the experiences of Margot Woelk, though each used different elements of her story and adjusted different details for dramatic effect. Alexander's book invents more scenarios and is more melodramatic and exciting than Postorino's; Postorino's book is melancholic and seems to hew closer to the reality of the tasters' experience. I wish I'd read these in reverse order--Alexander's novel created certain expectations that weren't part of Postorino's focus. But I liked both books.

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