What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I just finished listening to The Clicking of Cuthbert by P.G. Wodehouse during my semi-daily walks. Now it's on to The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant; a book that's going to take a lot of walks with Norton to finish.

I got both books as well as several others from that invaluable free source of public domain audiobooks, Librivox.

Well, that certainly defines a broad range! Wodehouse to Kant - I'm impressed.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, that certainly defines a broad range! Wodehouse to Kant - I'm impressed.

I have to throw something in from time to time that challenges me to stretch the boundaries of my understanding and open my mind to new ways of thinking. But enough about the Wodehouse; it's time to take a break with some Kant.

[issybird]

I've only started to listen to audiobooks in the past couple of months, motivated both to kill the hour and a half I spend in the car (NPR, my former solution, is just too much fluff during my drive times; it was Story Corps that was the final blow) and to consume more content. I'm currently listening to Catastrophe 1914 by Max Hastings, as narrated by Simon Vance. It's a very listenable account of the events leading up to and the intial months of the Great War, with lots of personalities interacting, not just a dry recital of incident and battles. I had liked Vance's reading of Post Captain and he's equally good with this.

[sakura-panda]

Currently (about halfway through) listening to Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon. It feels like a refreshing break from the Outlander books (I've listened to the first three) and have decided to alternate the rest of the Lord John series with the rest of the Outlander books.

[taosaur]

I started in on Hugh Howey's Sand on my Easter road trip. It's not nearly as compelling as the Wool books and has just a little too much in common with them, but it's still a fun read. The reader for the audiobook is likewise just okay.

[covingtoncat73]

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt! It is very, very good. Blissed-out-by-language good. I will have to buy the Kindle eBook as well (I used an audible credit to get the audio)!

[gabby98]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt! It is very, very good. Blissed-out-by-language good. I will have to buy the Kindle eBook as well (I used an audible credit to get the audio)!

My co-worker has been swooning over that book..maybe I'll gift her both

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt! It is very, very good. Blissed-out-by-language good. I will have to buy the Kindle eBook as well (I used an audible credit to get the audio)!

Originally Posted by gabby98

My co-worker has been swooning over that book..maybe I'll gift her both

That sounds very good; it has great reviews, and a Pulitzer Prize to book. I just downloaded a sample from Amazon.

Side note: I'll bet Donna Tartt heard even more jokes on her last name growing up than Tom Sharpe.

Side note 2: Know what's the best thing about making jokes on someone's name? They're always so original! We've never heard any of them before! How do people think these things up?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Side note 2: Know what's the best thing about making jokes on someone's name? They're always so original! We've never heard any of them before! How do people think these things up?

Don't I know it! My surname is one of those - I went to 14 different schools growing up (on 3 continents) and every time the "humourist" thought they had come up with a great new joke, I'd just have to roll my eyes and say "very funny, never heard that one before...".

Just finished listening to The Twelve by Justin Cronin (indisputably breath-taking in it's sheer scale), and just started listening to Conspiracies by F. Paul Wilson, the third in the repairman Jack series.

[melmac]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt! It is very, very good. Blissed-out-by-language good. I will have to buy the Kindle eBook as well (I used an audible credit to get the audio)!

I ended up disliking this book immensely. To start with I was in love with the language and the character but by the last third I disliked the main character and just wanted it to be over and don't even get me started on

Spoiler:

the ending

. It would've been a cracking book had it been severely trimmed by an editor say by half!

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by melmac

I ended up disliking this book immensely. To start with I was in love with the language and the character but by the last third I disliked the main character and just wanted it to be over and don't even get me started on

Spoiler:

the ending

. It would've been a cracking book had it been severely trimmed by an editor say by half!

Same, it started well but I lost interest halfway through. Other people must have appreciated it though, since it got the author a Pulitzer. Judge for yourself.

Currently I'm listening to John Irving's In One Person, which is a 'find out who you are/coming of age' book not dissimilar to The Goldfinch and I'm enjoying it much more. I admit to loving a few other Irving novels, so not a big surprise. There are sexual references, so be warned if that squicks you out.

In other news, I'm in love with Gerard Doyle's Irish lilt. He narrated Adrian McKinty's The Troubles Trilogy (just listened to the last two back to back). Swoon. Now I'm buying more of McKinty's books just to listen to Doyle.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up is #3 in the Amelia Peabody series from Elizabeth Peters. The Mummy Case, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt. I'm very much enjoying this series, and like the voice of Ms. Rosenblatt. It's especially important to have a good and appropriate voice for this series, since it is always told from the perspective of, and with the internal comments from, Amelia Peabody. So you would not want an narrator with an American accent, for example. (And yes, sadly, there is another narrator available for the series, but please, do yourself a favour and avoid her versions.)

Finished. I really enjoyed this one. Ms. Rosenblatt is an excellent reader, and the series is just getting better and better. In The Mummy Case, we get the introduction of Peabody's and Emerson's son, Ramses, who is an incredibly precocious child, but a wonderful character. And, of course, his cat Bastet, who is clearly going to continue to play a role in the books. I'm looking forward to the next one, Lion in the Valley. But first, a digression to an even earlier era, with The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer, read by Eve Matheson. This should be fun!

[taosaur]

Sand was satisfying as kind of a pulp, b-movie experience. I'm overdue for something with a bit more substance, but I finished Sand not long before bed and was in the mood for something more easy-listening, so I went with The Magic of Recluce.

Recluce has been better than expected so far. While I enjoyed Gravity Dreams, I have reservations about Modesitt's work due to his seeming preoccupation with Randian Objectivism, an ideology I find alternately abhorrent and laughable. He doesn't necessarily endorse Objectivism, but he does place more or less Objectivist societies (rigidly enforcing achievement and social responsibility) at the center of his works. Also, all signs pointed to Recluce being textbook sword-and-sorcery, which has limited appeal for me.

Nevertheless, Recluce has been just what I like in an audiobook--engaging but relaxing. The reader, Kirby Heyborne, is very good. He does a wide range of character voices and even handles Modesitt's arguably excessive sound effects without falling into corny caricature as too many fantasy narrators tend to do. Modesitt has many quirks on display, like the above-mentioned sound effects, but for me they're holding together as a style rather than growing tiresome. The story so far has some of the better elements of The Belgariad, but with more competent prose, pacing and imagery. I don't know how the series holds up, but book one so far has been solid.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

But first, a digression to an even earlier era, with The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer, read by Eve Matheson. This should be fun!

And what a lovely digression it is. Though I have the reader wrong, it's Phyllida Nash. IAC, very well read, and a delightful romp as always. I'm definitely enjoying this.

[Hampshire Nanny]

I'm listening for sheer entertainment. Currently about 1/4 of the way into The Serpent's Shadow, the final book in Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles trilogy. His Percy Jackson series was built on the Roman and Greek pantheon. Kane Chronicles is based on the Egyptian gods.