What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Tarana]

Finished Deadlier Than Fiction by Helena Marchmont and narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Another good cozy. Book 9 of Bunburry Mysteries.

Also completed The Secret, Scone and Book Society by Ellery Adams and narrated by Cris Dukehart. It's ok, but not really for me. Narration was difficult for me due to tinnitus. Some voices are hard for me.

Today I will be continuing to listen to my sewing room ipod featuring Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain and narrated by the late author. It's been interesting so far.

[Catlady]

My reading/listening dropped off a cliff for the last two months of 2022, but now I've started 2023 with the novel Katherine of Aragon, the first book in Alison Weir's Six Tudor Queens series. (Each book is about a different wife of Henry VIII.) My plan was to listen to all six books in a row, but this first one is moving rather slowly, and the narrator, Rosalyn Landor (who reads all six books), isn't a favorite. So plans are subject to change!

[Tarana]

Listening to The Long Shadows by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Book 6 of the Morland Dynasty. Narrated by Terry Wales. Still listening to Medium Raw when in sewing room.

[CRussel]

I've been working my way through the Kate Shugak books from Dana Stabenow. They're all read excellently by Marguerite Gavin. This is a re-read for me, I don't think there's any of her Alaska based books I haven't read, and really, in all of them, Alaska is as much the main character as the protagonists. I'm finding that I'm enjoying them quite as much as I did the first time around, especially since it's been many years in most cases.

[astrangerhere]

Years ago, issybird recommended (via goodreads) John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. I noticed it was available on my local library's Hoopla, so it has become my commute book for the foreseeable future. The reader is less than stellar, but the content is interesting enough to overcome it.

[DiapDealer]

Just started Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead. Narrated by Charlie Thurston.

The reviews are very mixed (and I mean very mixed, not just love/hate). I take that as a good sign.

I enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible, but haven't tried anything else of hers.

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival.

[Tarana]

Finished Another Time, Another Place by Jody Taylor and narrated by Zara Ramm. I highly recommend this series if you enjoy history. Science fiction - time travel.

Currently listening to Spellbreaker by Charlie Holmberg and narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden and Joel Froomkin. Elizabeth is a good narrator. Joel puts a little too much drama in his narration, but I'm starting to get used to it (I'm on chapter 4). Fantasy. Land with magic and a little girl taken from the workhouse is likely going to be the important figure here eventually. This was an Amazon First offering in 2021 (book free, audiobook $1.99).

[Paperbackstash]

Twelve Nights at Rotter House was a fun Premium Plus for the most part, although slower paced and a horrible ending. I really enjoy Matt Godfrey as a narrator, which is one reason it drew me in. 3/5 story, 5/5 narration

I'm starting The Haunting of Hill House by David Warner. I like his voice for the story and chosen him over Bernadette Dunne as he was higher in recommendation and reviews.

Started the EC Comics Presents...The Vault of Horror!, it is cheesy fun but a mixed bag so far. Didn't enjoy the first story but the second is better. Not far into it. Radio drama style

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Just started Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead. Narrated by Charlie Thurston.

I was unaware this was billed as an Appalachian David Copperfield (learned it from a Jeopardy question, actually), but I can see the parallels, now. Kingsolver herself is from rural Kentucky, I understand.

I'm enjoying the book quite a lot so far. Close to wrapping it up.

[Tarana]

I enjoyed the story Spellbreaker by Charlie Holmberg and narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden and Joel Froomkin. I far preferred Elizabeth's narration. This is a YA book and surprisingly, I really liked it. This book has a second part to it so I have it in my wishlist. I give the book a 4 star.

Just finishing War Brides by Helen Bryan and narrated by Tavia Gilbert. This book is hot and cold - I'm not sure I like the characters, but section of the plot is excellent and riveting! Fictional WW2. Chronicles 5 women from different countries, different social strata in the early stages of WW2 in England.

Still deciding on next book - short 8 hours or long 25 hours?

[DiapDealer]

I really enjoyed Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead. This was basically a fictitious recovery journal of the protagonist in question. So those who dislike first-person narratives should definitely stay away.

Not quite sure why so many found it overly depressive. Sure, it's not all unicorns and rainbows, but there is some hope and redemption if you stick with it long enough. And humor still abounds. I found it very engaging.

[issybird]

I’m listening to the first Patrick Melrose novel by Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind, narrated by Alex Jennings. It’s terrific, but you have to have a taste for extremely black humor and not mind reading about a couple of trigger issues, as the characters, one in particular, are monsters. This is a short listen, but I don’t think I’ll go right on to the next. I’d like to stretch them out.

I gather it’s been made into a tv show with Benedict Cumberbatch. What hasn’t he been in?

[DiapDealer]

Just starting Percival Everett's The Trees.

[DiapDealer]

First time with Everett for me. Reminds me a good deal of Vonnegut. Maybe not in style, but in general approach. In my opinion, he did a grand job of balancing dark humor with powerful messaging RE the subject of lynching in America. Probably lots of violence triggers from the get-go for some folks.

I definitely had to bump up the narration speed on this one.

[JSWolf]

I'm listening to The Truth (Discworld #25) by Terry Pratchett narrated by Stephen Briggs.

Stephen Briggs is excellent. He really gets the voices very well. Plus the fact that Discworld is excellent. Combine the two and you have a really enjoyable listen. 10-stars out of 5-stars.