What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[ApK]

I just finished John Grisham's "The Firm." It is universally categorized as a "legal thriller."
It is NOT a legal thriller by any meaningful definition I can come up with.
It's a crime thriller at best. The fact that it was set at a law firm and the protagonist was a lawyer was incidental. It could have been about a stock broker, an accountant, or just about any white collar type who deals with client's money. There was no legal wrangling, no law arguments, no court room drama.
Aside from that, I found the first 3/4s of the book very slow. Not any kind of a thriller. It may have been due partially to the narrator, Scott Brick, who I found a bit blah.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ApK

I just finished John Grisham's "The Firm." It is universally categorized as a "legal thriller."
It is NOT a legal thriller by any meaningful definition I can come up with.
It's a crime thriller at best. The fact that it was set at a law firm and the protagonist was a lawyer was incidental. It could have been about a stock broker, an accountant, or just about any white collar type who deals with client's money. There was no legal wrangling, no law arguments, no court room drama.
Aside from that, I found the first 3/4s of the book very slow. Not any kind of a thriller. It may have been due partially to the narrator, who I found a bit blah.

Who is the narrator and how was the narrator?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ApK

It may have been due partially to the narrator, Scott Brick, who I found a bit blah.

I’m not a Scott Brick fan, but I find him more tolerable when I goose up the speed.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ApK

It may have been due partially to the narrator, Scott Brick, who I found a bit blah.

Originally Posted by issybird

I’m not a Scott Brick fan, but I find him more tolerable when I goose up the speed.

That's exactly what I do! I've run into him several times, and he's OK but needs a bit of speedup. I usually go for 1.2x or so.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’m not a Scott Brick fan, but I find him more tolerable when I goose up the speed.

Originally Posted by CRussel

That's exactly what I do! I've run into him several times, and he's OK but needs a bit of speedup. I usually go for 1.2x or so.

I wish I'd thought of that. I'll try it if I have another opportunity.

[DiapDealer]

I recently finished Claire North's Ithaca (first in her Songs of Penelope series) and can't say enough about it. A knowledge of The Odyssey (and possibly The Iliad) is recommended since most characters are introduced with little to no backstory.

Catrin Walker-Booth does a fantastic job of reading, and while the book may not be action packed by any means, there are some fantastically memorable moments if you let the book come to you on it's own terms (in my opinion anyway). The snarkiness of Hera in her protection of many of the women of Ithaca; Electra's dressing-down of the room when Penelope's death-shroud-weaving deception is suspected by the suitors; and the death of Clytemnestra spring to mind (sorry folks, I'm not going to worry about "spoiling" ancient myths).

The only strikes against the book I have are 1) I didn't always pick up some of the POV changes very quickly, and 2) being part of a series, there's not a ton of resolution at the end.

I highly recommend it to any who have an interest in retellings of classic mythology.

[Catlady]

Thanks for sharing your opinion of the book. My current plan is to start the new year with Bulfinch's Mythology, and then listen to some retellings. While Ithaca certainly sounds interesting, I do wish it wasn't part of a series!

[Paperbackstash]

If you like fun and not too cheesy, and character well-done, shark monster type books, I highly recommend audio for Thresher by Michael Cole. Actual story and gets to know the main characters. Narration by Matt Godfrey is very good. 4/5 for book and audio narration

[Paperbackstash]

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand is a little over four hours and gaining in popularity due to full cast narration and music discussion, similar a bit to Daisy Jones and the Six. I stayed invested once I got used to some of the viewpoints being very short - it's all told interview style - and British accents. As enjoyable as the story was with some scenes, the end is extremely weak. Still fun due to the narration, though. 3 on story, 4 on narration mix

[astrangerhere]

Doing a re-read of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood via the estimable Scott Brick's narration. I've not read the book in some years and it seemed like a nice, bleak, winter read.

[Tarana]

Just finished Circe by Madeline Miller. Excellent book and Perdita Weeks was a wonderful narrator.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Just began Claire North (Catherine Webb)'s Ithaca. Narrated by Catrin Walker-Booth.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I certainly will. It's been quite enjoyable so far (though I've only just started). I've found the narrator to be excellent, and I like the pacing and thoroughness of the writing.

This finally came up for me on OverDrive. While I like the book, I disagree on the narrator who I find to be expressionless much of the time and off in the rest. Shortly after I started I was considering switching to text; her pronunciation of Telemachus might be the proverbial straw. Highly irritating. But I’ll stick with it for a bit more, as it serves a purpose (listening in bed).

Originally Posted by Catlady

I hope you will let us know what you think of it. I've decided I'd like to sample a couple of the recent retellings of Greek myths; I am planning to first revisit Bulfinch's Mythology as a foundation.

Retelling of Greek myths appeals to me a lot in the abstract, but there are a lot of IMO duds out there. Although there are some I greatly enjoyed, I’ve DNFed several highly praised ones. I’ve been thinking of starting a thread in the Reading Recommendations forum; I’ll get around to it today.

Originally Posted by Tarana

Just finished Circe by Madeline Miller. Excellent book and Perdita Weeks was a wonderful narrator.

Agree! This was one of the good ones. I DNFed her Song of Achilles, though.

[DiapDealer]

Listening to Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. The story is fine, the narration is good (Simon Vance -- whose reading of Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea I enjoyed), but there's an audio artifact that's driving me a bit bonkers! I believe it's a poorly adjusted noise gate of some kind that results in a sort of "sucking" noise after every pause. It's a hiss that sort of sucks quickly to silence is the best way I can describe it. It's subtle, but now that I've heard it, I can't seem to unhear it. Anyone else experience that sort of thing?

[ApK]

I've recently started working through Robert B. Parker's "Jesse Stone" books. I'm enjoying them quite a lot. Short, but not overly simplistic,. Decent amount of action, sex and violence, but not gratuitous or cartoonish. Interesting and engaging police stories, somewhere between procedurals and character driven mysteries, at least as I think of the terms.
I came to know of Jesse Stone through the Tom Selleck TV movies, which I like a lot. Compared to the movies, the books, both in stories and in the character of Jesse, are just similar enough to be recognizable, but different enough to be quite separately enjoyable.

[Tarana]

Just finished Dark World by B V Larson. Book 8 (I think) of Undying Mercenaries series. Always love James and his ways of getting out of trouble. Military scifi. Entire series narrated by Mark Boyett who just does a great job on this series.

Currently listening to book 8 of Bunburry Mystery Series by Helena Marchmont. This one is Sheep Secrets. Picked all these novellas up at the last big Audible member's sale. Read by Nathaniel Parker. Man moves into inherited house in the country after the death of his fiance. He ends up taking on mysteries.