What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[sun surfer]

Lol! Completely accidental, but what can I say, I have a way with words.

[taosaur]

Son of the Black Sword and the sequel House of Assassins were solidly entertaining, much more Conan than LotR, and I like where the series seems to be going. I haven't read the Monster Hunter books.

I snagged Peter F. Hamilton's Great North Road from the library, but didn't realize it's a police procedural, which for me is only marginally more engaging than an accounting procedural or a banquet service procedural. I'm sticking with it at least a little longer, but not finding myself eager to return to it as I have been with the last several listens. There are some N.K. Jemisin books calling out to me...

[ApK]

I finished up "Home Run," the last of the Smuggler's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, and while the characters (and narrator) grew on me, I don't think it holds a candle to the Trader's Tale. Trader's Tale made making coffee and flea marketing exciting, while Smuggler's Tales made cracking a criminal conspiracy and fighting pirates seem dull. And there was virtually NO smuggling!

I just started the Firefly novel "Big Damn Hero." So far, good authentic Firefly tone, if rather heavy-handed on the fan service. Maybe not a bad thing. We'll see.

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Lol! Completely accidental, but what can I say, I have a way with words.

I notice the near-hidden quote in your sig. I didn't know those two characters had a crossover:

[SeaBookGuy]

Recently finished Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase narrated by Rupert Degas. Likely to start its sequel Dance Dance Dance in the near future.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Son of the Black Sword and the sequel House of Assassins were solidly entertaining, much more Conan than LotR, and I like where the series seems to be going. I haven't read the Monster Hunter books.

I snagged Peter F. Hamilton's Great North Road from the library, but didn't realize it's a police procedural, which for me is only marginally more engaging than an accounting procedural or a banquet service procedural. I'm sticking with it at least a little longer, but not finding myself eager to return to it as I have been with the last several listens. There are some N.K. Jemisin books calling out to me...

Hum. I don't think that I would compare Son of the Black Sword with Conan. It reminded me a lot more of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series in tone. I read it as an ebook and thought the first book was ok, I'm having trouble getting into the House of Assassins, but that might be more of a mood thing. I really liked Corriea's other stuff, the Monster Hunter Series and the Grimnoir Chronicles, plus some of his indie stuff. I have the audiobook in my to be listened to stack, which is getting pretty darn large now since I haven't been doing much driving since mid March.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Hum. I don't think that I would compare Son of the Black Sword with Conan. It reminded me a lot more of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series in tone. I read it as an ebook and thought the first book was ok, I'm having trouble getting into the House of Assassins, but that might be more of a mood thing. I really liked Corriea's other stuff, the Monster Hunter Series and the Grimnoir Chronicles, plus some of his indie stuff. I have the audiobook in my to be listened to stack, which is getting pretty darn large now since I haven't been doing much driving since mid March.

I wasn't remembering The Book of the New Sun very clearly, so I glanced over the wiki page, and yeah, wow, there are a lot of plot parallels. Still, I don't think Black Sword takes itself nearly as seriously as New Sun. The tone to me was just slightly camp, which was part of what brought Conan to mind, along with the stylized violence, and particularly the one-man-melee-army trope. It may well be that Tim Gerard Reynolds' reading imparted some of the camp aspect and also some of the appeal.

For better or worse, my quarantine has gone very free-form the last couple of weeks, and there definitely have been times where I just lay in bed or on the couch and sleepily listened to a book for 2-3 hours, if the book was holding my interest. I'll also turn them on just here and there - turning it on during a bathroom break turns into a 40-60min session while I do a little housework or grab some food. Right now I have a really engaging ebook (last book of S.M. Stirling's Nantuckett series) and a not so engaging audiobook, so it's more likely to be a reading jag on the couch or the balcony.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I wasn't remembering The Book of the New Sun very clearly, so I glanced over the wiki page, and yeah, wow, there are a lot of plot parallels. Still, I don't think Black Sword takes itself nearly as seriously as New Sun. The tone to me was just slightly camp, which was part of what brought Conan to mind, along with the stylized violence, and particularly the one-man-melee-army trope. It may well be that Tim Gerard Reynolds' reading imparted some of the camp aspect and also some of the appeal.

For better or worse, my quarantine has gone very free-form the last couple of weeks, and there definitely have been times where I just lay in bed or on the couch and sleepily listened to a book for 2-3 hours, if the book was holding my interest. I'll also turn them on just here and there - turning it on during a bathroom break turns into a 40-60min session while I do a little housework or grab some food. Right now I have a really engaging ebook (last book of S.M. Stirling's Nantuckett series) and a not so engaging audiobook, so it's more likely to be a reading jag on the couch or the balcony.

Hum, don't really remember it as campy per se, though I do see your point about the one-man-melee-army trope. Reynolds does the narration for the Michael Sullivan books. I like him a lot. Based on how he does those, I can see that as well. Obviously, I'm going to have to move the book up in my queue.

I really liked Stirling's Nantuckett series.

I mostly listen in the car. I'm going to start visiting my mother again this weekend (she's at high risk, so I've been keeping my distance since mid March). It's a couple hours each way, so I should finish off my current book and start a new one.

[SeaBookGuy]

I've begun Gary Corby's series set in ancient Greece with Socrates' older brother as sleuth, third book Sacred Games. Not sure how I feel about it. Had to bump up playback speed up a bit (1.2x) to compensate for the narration, only ever done that a couple of times before.

[Catlady]

I just finished listening to Airport by Arthur Hailey--it was extremely enjoyable and entertaining from start to finish. I read this long ago, but since the movie is much more familiar, I was glad to see that film was quite faithful to the source. Now I'm listening to Hailey's Hotel, which I also read back in the day but don't recall at all (never saw any adaptation).

[taosaur]

I gave up on Great North Road and tried Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair, but it's very slow so far, and the narrator's accent is a little muddy without a lot of variation, so this one may land on the discard pile, too. I haven't quite put it down yet, but I did borrow N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

[Tarana]

Out of my books that I received free for review, I did enjoy Ranger's Oath by Blake Arthur Peel , narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. I look forward to the next 2 books. I enjoy the alternating 1st person narratives. Sword and Sorcery.

Also listened to David Copperfield written by Charles Dickens narrated by Simon Vance. Quite excellent. It dragged a couple of places, but good chronicle of a man's life with very excellent characters. Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron and narrated by Vikas Adam was delightful and upbeat which is what I needed (death of one of my cats). It leans strongly to YA.

My audiobook listening has been down a bit in the last couple of months, between newswatching and sick pet. I usually get in 4 hours daily, so trying to get back to that again.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Out of my books that I received free for review, I did enjoy Ranger's Oath by Blake Arthur Peel , narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. I look forward to the next 2 books. I enjoy the alternating 1st person narratives. Sword and Sorcery.

Also listened to David Copperfield written by Charles Dickens narrated by Simon Vance. Quite excellent. It dragged a couple of places, but good chronicle of a man's life with very excellent characters. Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron and narrated by Vikas Adam was delightful and upbeat which is what I needed (death of one of my cats). It leans strongly to YA.

My audiobook listening has been down a bit in the last couple of months, between newswatching and sick pet. I usually get in 4 hours daily, so trying to get back to that again.

Sorry about your cat.

Hum, a $1 for Ranger's Oath as an ebook and $7.50 for the audiobook. That's worth a chance.

[issybird]

I had a rocky stretch where I didn’t much care for the books I listened to, so it’s a happy change to find myself right now listening to two entirely delightful books. Simon Vance narrating Trollope’s The Small House at Allington is excellent as would be expected and Trollope is a very good pandemic listen, mild in tone but absorbing and quietly witty. Also most enjoyable is Nigel Lambert’s narration of Wodehouse’s Lord Emsworth and Others; his Lord Emsworth is hilarious. I think this is the first time I’ve listened to a Wodehouse read by Lambert and he’s easily among the best of the narrators; I think he might be even better than Jonathan Cecil. Also good are Davidson and Vance, of course, but I listen to so much by both that they run together and a new voice is a good thing.

[SeaBookGuy]

Popping in for a Pym alert that A Glass of Blessings will be coming out at Audible U. S. next month. Since it's produced by Tantor, public libraries should be able to get it from Overdrive as well.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Popping in for a Pym alert that A Glass of Blessings will be coming out at Audible U. S. next month. Since it's produced by Tantor, public libraries should be able to get it from Overdrive as well.

Jane and Prudence, No Fond Return of Love, and Some Tame Gazelle are also scheduled for June release. Sadly, like A Glass of Blessings and Less Than Angels, they are all narrated by Mary Sarah. I listened to a sample of her narration of Less Than Angels, and it's horrible. I'm pretty forgiving of less-than-stellar narration, generally, but it's horrible.