What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Catlady]

I'm reading Shirley, by Susan Scarf Merrell, a novel about a young married couple, Rose and Fred, who live with Shirley Jackson and Stanley Edgar Hyman while Fred is a grad assistant at Bennington.

It's a odd book. Rose is telling the story, and while it's interesting--I like the way references and parallels to Jackson's writing are woven in--even though I'm about halfway through, I really don't quite know where it's going.

The narrator is Lesa Lockford, and she's fine for Rose's first-person narration, but I'm not too fond of the voice she uses for Shirley Jackson

[connie2000]

I just finished The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham. I have listened to 4 of his books and enjoyed them all.

[Tarana]

I'm listening to Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stephenson and read by Alfred Molina. Great narrator, I think. Currently, you can get it for 99c read by Neil Hunt, also a good reader. There are several other versions for very low cost as well.

[tuesday630]

Originally Posted by Mjaydakid

I am just starting the Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia. I am in the middle of "Monster Hunter International". These are tiding me over till I get my hands on the new Dresden novel, "Ghost Story". I am disturbed by the reviews of Ghost Story (folks don't like the new narrator), So I am not in a hurry to listen to it.

I'm listening to book 2 of the Monster Hunter Series. I became a fan after reading the Grimnoir Chronicles trilogy. Also, Jim Butcher's Dresden files are my favorite. I've read them all.

[Hampshire Nanny]

I'm about 1/2 way through Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It was one of the free audiobooks from SYNC in summer 2014.

[Marbles]

I am listening to Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.

[issybird]

I'm listening to Matterhorn, a novel about a Marine platoon in Vietnam read by Bronson Pinchot. Combat novels are not my thing, but this had excellent reviews at Audible and when I saw it at Overdrive I took a chance. Pinchot does a wonderful job with the various characterizations and the narrative flows. A terrific and heartbreaking story.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

If you started with Simon Vance, the chances are you'll continue to prefer him. Having started with Patrick Tull, I have a preference for him. But I've listened to the Simon Vance versions, and they're really quite good, so I don't see a strong reason to change. That being said, there is at least one other reader out there, and I was not impressed.

I finally got around to trying Patrick Tull reading Master and Commander, which I read earlier this year before I started listening to the Vance versions of the next six novels. He is, of course, excellent and I think you nailed it with going with the one you listened to first, as I'm going to stick with Vance as the voice in my head (cheapness is also a factor here, as Overdrive has the Vance versions).

Parsing the differences between the two, I'll note that while you snarked with reason about Vance's Maturin, I think he does a better Aubrey. More young and vigorous, while Tull's is more grizzled seadog even though Aubrey is still in his twenties in the first book. And I think Vance is funnier, giving more measure to the humor in the stories, although Tull does an excellent narration in the raconteur style.

So yes, ultimately it's a you-pick-it situation. The dream version would have Vance reading Jack and Tull reading Stephen.

[taosaur]

I'm giving the Mistborn trilogy a re-listen/re-read. No, I didn't pick up the Graphic Audio productions, partly due to cost and partly because they haven't finished the series. Based on my experience so far, I think these books will be better the second time through. Having a stronger (if somewhat hazy with time) grounding in the world and the story is making it more fun to fill in the details.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I finally got around to trying Patrick Tull reading Master and Commander, which I read earlier this year before I started listening to the Vance versions of the next six novels. He is, of course, excellent and I think you nailed it with going with the one you listened to first, as I'm going to stick with Vance as the voice in my head (cheapness is also a factor here, as Overdrive has the Vance versions).

Parsing the differences between the two, I'll note that while you snarked with reason about Vance's Maturin, I think he does a better Aubrey. More young and vigorous, while Tull's is more grizzled seadog even though Aubrey is still in his twenties in the first book. And I think Vance is funnier, giving more measure to the humor in the stories, although Tull does an excellent narration in the raconteur style.

So yes, ultimately it's a you-pick-it situation. The dream version would have Vance reading Jack and Tull reading Stephen.

I'd agree with your assessment of a dream version IF we could get Simon Vance to slow down just a bit. I much prefer Patrick Tull's pace for this book. It's not measured or slow, but it does have pacing which is, as you put it, "in the raconteur style". There are actual dramatic pauses.

But you're right, both are actually quite excellent and enjoyable, so by all means go with the one you can get from the Library via Overdrive. I don't think all the Patrick Tull ones are easily available in North America right now, anyway. Which just makes me happy I have them all, while reminding me how very much I hate geo-restrictions!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently reading Venetia, by Georgette Heyer, and read by Phyllida Nash. A delightful bit of fluff. (Be warned, there are two versions on Audible, and one is abridged. You want the unabridged one read by Ms. Nash.)

Oh, this was FUN! A superb bit of fluff, and highly recommended. One of my favourite Georgette Heyer Regencies, read by an excellent narrator.

Next up, another Heyer, but this one a contemporary (1930's) mystery, The Unfinished Clue, read by Ulli Birvé. I'm enjoying the story, though her mysteries are nowhere near as good or as witty as her Regencies, but the narrator is painfully stilted and slow.

[booklover6]

I'm listening to Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton, via my KU subscription. It is a fascinating science fiction story. Still hoping for a romancey ending, but not holding my breath.

[Cheval]

I'm listening to Death Masks, book 5 in the Dresden Files series. I liked the short-lived TV series, but love the audiobooks. It took me a bit to get used to his style, but I now think narrator James Marsters is the perfect Harry Dresden.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Oh, this was FUN! A superb bit of fluff, and highly recommended. One of my favourite Georgette Heyer Regencies, read by an excellent narrator.

Next up, another Heyer, but this one a contemporary (1930's) mystery, The Unfinished Clue, read by Ulli Birvé. I'm enjoying the story, though her mysteries are nowhere near as good or as witty as her Regencies, but the narrator is painfully stilted and slow.

I won't ever buy another book read by Ulli Birvé. Just awful. I'll finish this one, but that is officially IT.

[Catlady]

I'm listening to That Night, by Chevy Stevens, a novel about a woman falsely convicted of killing her sister. It alternates between the present, when she's getting out of prison on parole, to 17 years earlier, when the sister was murdered. It takes a while to get to the particulars of the murder and the trial, and there's a lot about her life in prison that I think could have been edited out, but I'm enjoying it. I think I know who really killed the girl, but ...