What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Tarana]

Just finished Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham and narrated by Hugh Ross. Excellent Midsommer Murder book! Unfortunately, pulled from sale at Amazon US again. Why? Never understood this. Midsommer Murders is as popular in US as in UK. Isn't the goal of the publisher to make money?

Now listening to A Morbid Taste of Bones by Ellis Peters and narrated by Patrick Tull. First book in the Brother Cadfael mystery series. I have all of these in ebook for my mom, so if I enjoy this, I'll get the matching audio for later books.

[Paperbackstash]

I purchased the Harry Potter series, except for the first, with credits from a bundle package. I have heard these before and loved them by Jim Dale. Re-reading the second now on audio form.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Just finished Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham and narrated by Hugh Ross. Excellent Midsommer Murder book! Unfortunately, pulled from sale at Amazon US again. Why? Never understood this. Midsommer Murders is as popular in US as in UK. Isn't the goal of the publisher to make money?

Now listening to A Morbid Taste of Bones by Ellis Peters and narrated by Patrick Tull. First book in the Brother Cadfael mystery series. I have all of these in ebook for my mom, so if I enjoy this, I'll get the matching audio for later books.

I have the first 3 of the Brother Cadfael books in audio read by Tull and really like them. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

[taosaur]

I started Kindred yesterday, and got in a fair bit of listening through a bout of insomnia. It's quite a contrast to the white guy power fantasy alt-histories I've been reading and hearing. Thorensen's chief bad guys and some other cultures on his world are conquest slavers, but it hits a little differently when it's "Let's brutalize these people in particular," and that activity happens to be the foundation of the nation where I'm standing, and ongoing in some respects. Butler's prose runs a little passive and bookish, including dialogue, which isn't awesome for audio, but the narration is solid and the story keeps pulling me along.

[SeaBookGuy]

Just an FYI that Stephen Fry's excellent narration of the entire 62-hour Sherlock Holmes canon is included with Audible Plus (for now).

[ApK]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Just an FYI that Stephen Fry's excellent narration of the entire 62-hour Sherlock Holmes canon is included with Audible Plus (for now).

Even without membership at the moment, that's a tempting use of one of the credits I've been trying to spend, just on the hours-per-credit scale alone.

But...every time I read a Sherlock Holmes story, I'm reminded that I REALLY don't like them...they are boring, and his so-called 'deductions' are wholly unbelievable. It's early competency porn.

I like the movies, TV shows and plays*, though.

ApK

*The play "The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner" with Frank Langella was excellent!

[ApK]

Speaking of Sherlock Holmes collections, I see Audible has several, with various readers. I know Stephen Fry has a following, but several of the others are good too, and the Stephen Fry version has many comments saying there is a problem with the chapter ordering.

Has anyone tried or compared any of the collections? Any opinions or recommendations?

ApK

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Just an FYI that Stephen Fry's excellent narration of the entire 62-hour Sherlock Holmes canon is included with Audible Plus (for now).

I'm currently reading it, but not straight through. Fits and stops as I wrap it around other books. A story here, a story there. One word of warning: Fry's collection, at least in the U.S., is not complete. It is missing the stories contained in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'm currently reading it, but not straight through. Fits and stops as I wrap it around other books. A story here, a story there. One word of warning: Fry's collection, at least in the U.S., is not complete. It is missing the stories contained in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

I hadn't realized those were missing! The chapter breakdowns seem to have been overhauled since the complaints.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ApK

Speaking of Sherlock Holmes collections, I see Audible has several, with various readers. I know Stephen Fry has a following, but several of the others are good too, and the Stephen Fry version has many comments saying there is a problem with the chapter ordering.

Has anyone tried or compared any of the collections? Any opinions or recommendations?

ApK

I have the Complete Sherlock Holmes narrated by Simon Vance and Sherlock Holmes narrated by Stephen Fry. The Complete Sherlock Holmes includes the Casebook. If I recall correctly, the Casebook was the last Sherlock Holmes to go into public domain in the US. The last story doesn't go into public domain until 2023.

I happen to like both versions. I don't think you would go wrong with either.

[ApK]

Good to hear the chapter issue was addressed.
To be fair, the title of the collection is just "Sherlock Holmes." It doesn't even claim to be "complete" or "comprehensive" or similar, so I guess 'Casebook' being absent is forgivable.
Nonetheless, does anyone think that any of the other similar collections with other narrators might be more worth the credit?

ApK

[taosaur]

I finished up Kindred. As the story advanced, I was less and less eager to get back to it, and the worst of it wasn't even the brutality, but the relationship between the time-traveler and her slaveholder ancestor, and the way his character developed. He reminded me too much of someone who was in my life by no choice of my own for many years, and imagining such a person having the power of life, death, torture, rape and petty torment over a couple dozen people, multiplied by thousands of slaveowners not so very long ago: not great for one's faith in humanity. And he wasn't even a "bad" slaveowner - the worst punishment for the people on his farm was being sold south to somewhere worse. It's a powerful book, and probably more so for being told as a straightforward sci-fi/horror story.

I also read the most recent Bobiverse book, Heaven's River, in text (I did the rest of the series on audio), and it was okay at best. It was more ambitious than the previous books, and the author clearly lost track of some of the balls he had in the air several times, leading to arbitrary or nonsensical events in the context of the narrative. It was also marked by some unnecessary sophomoric philosophizing and quantum woo (arguably the worst kind of woo) which did not much suit the material. It had its moments, but on the whole it was not nearly as much fun as the first three books, and fell flat where it tried to be more serious.

Now I'm listening to China Mieville's Embassytown, which is captivating so far, and a great change of pace from anything I've been reading recently.

[SeaBookGuy]

I've started God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet (nonfiction story of life as a doctor) - author does a terrific job reading her material! It's currently included as Audible Plus content.

[Tarana]

I finished A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters and narrated by Patrick Tull. I enjoyed the story but wow, did I get lost in the beginning. Restarted audio twice and on the third time, I read along (I got this via Whispersync deal originally). I think there were too many characters or something that I couldn't keep straight. Once I got 1/3 way through, I didn't need to read along any longer. This series is now available to me through the new combined library program so put myself on the wait list for audiobook 2.

Just finished McNally's Trial by Lawrence Sanders and narrated by Victor Bevine. I love this series - cozy with a male playboy as primary sleuth. This book focuses on funeral homes - something new for Archie. Victor Bevine is such a good narrator and perfect for this narration which is essentially written like a detailed memoir.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Just an FYI that Stephen Fry's excellent narration of the entire 62-hour Sherlock Holmes canon is included with Audible Plus (for now).

I'd like to hear Fry record some fin de siècle or 20th-cen art novels in that voice. Something by Huysmans or Edmund White, perhaps.

I'd also like to hear Edgar Oliver read ghost stories by M.R. James. Or Christopher Walken record Ligotti's My Work Here Is Not Yet Done. Or Michael Fassbinder read a translation of Houellebecq's Submission.

If Atlas Press got into audiobooks, what would they publish and whose voices would they use? Who would read texts by Unica Zurn?