What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[taosaur]

I tore through the Ryira Revelations pretty quickly, enjoying them clear through, but they fully satiated the comfort food jag I had been on since shortly pre-lockdown.

Casting around for something with a little more bite, I saw Max Gladstone put out another Craft Sequence book last year, so that was an easy call. I'm almost done with Ruin of Angels, which is mostly a heist/caper, and like the other books, the city where it takes place is as much a character as the people (and other sentients). Cindy Day's reading is for the most part stellar, with great character voices, pacing and intonation. She does cover a wider dynamic range than most, which sometimes made it hard to find a comfortable volume where everything was intelligible and nothing was shouted.

It does feel more like Gladstone is zeroing in on a formula in this volume, and this city struck me as less allegorical, more grounded in his world than a riff on ours. The earlier books were clearly alt-NYC, alt-LA and alt-Honolulu, and this one is probably alt-San Francisco, and it's not like any of them were full-tilt allegory, but this city, Agdel Lex, seems the least tied to its counterpart in our world. Maybe I just don't know enough about San Francisco.

I'm also listening to a Great Courses lecture series from the Audible sale, How Great Science Fiction Works. I'm 3 or 4 lectures deep, and the one I heard tonight, about the intersection of historical fiction and SF, did a number on my TBR list. I suspect there will be more of that, going forward.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I tore through the Ryira Revelations pretty quickly, enjoying them clear through, but they fully satiated the comfort food jag I had been on since shortly pre-lockdown.

Casting around for something with a little more bite, I saw Max Gladstone put out another Craft Sequence book last year, so that was an easy call. I'm almost done with Ruin of Angels, which is mostly a heist/caper, and like the other books, the city where it takes place is as much a character as the people (and other sentients). Cindy Day's reading is for the most part stellar, with great character voices, pacing and intonation. She does cover a wider dynamic range than most, which sometimes made it hard to find a comfortable volume where everything was intelligible and nothing was shouted.

It does feel more like Gladstone is zeroing in on a formula in this volume, and this city struck me as less allegorical, more grounded in his world than a riff on ours. The earlier books were clearly alt-NYC, alt-LA and alt-Honolulu, and this one is probably alt-San Francisco, and it's not like any of them were full-tilt allegory, but this city, Agdel Lex, seems the least tied to its counterpart in our world. Maybe I just don't know enough about San Francisco.

I'm also listening to a Great Courses lecture series from the Audible sale, How Great Science Fiction Works. I'm 3 or 4 lectures deep, and the one I heard tonight, about the intersection of historical fiction and SF, did a number on my TBR list. I suspect there will be more of that, going forward.

It sounds interesting. Back in the late 70's, there was a series on older books that influenced modern fantasy - Eric Brighteyes, The Well at the World's End, The King of Elfland's Daughter. The Worm Ouroboros. One can find a lot of interesting books that way. Some of them can be difficult for the modern reader to get into, simply because of the different style and different attitudes. I have the Worm Ouroboros in audiobook, but it's still in my to be listened to list.

I have Tim Curry reading Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's excellent. It would be pretty neat to get some of Verne's books done by really top notch voice actors. There are a lot of Verne books on audible, but a lot of times, I don't recognize the voice talent. A lot of the early audiobooks aren't all that great, it took a while before they figured out the best way to do audiobooks.

[SeaBookGuy]

Since my library offers the audio of Pym's A Glass of Blessings, I decided to try it. Is the dubious Mary Sarah an American, trying for an English accent? At one point she read the word clerk as an American would (not "clark"). However, once used to her I wouldn't call the experience a complete failure, but more "OK, if not great." I feel she does men fairly well. What I thought at first native vocal fry seems to be that she pauses too thoroughly at many commas in text.

[Tarana]

Since I last posted, I listened to Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook by Terry Pratchett and narrated by Penelope Keith, Michael Fenton Stevens. It's a travel log while traveling on the Diskworld train. It's funny, but not hilarious.

I both read and listened to The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lee Child (Prendergast series) and narrated by David Colacci. I very much enjoyed it. FBI agent from the South comes north to investigate murders that match up to some he had in cold case files.

Finished my relisten of Side Jobs by Jim Butcher narrated by James Marsters. Loved every story.

Currently listening to Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks (Shannara series) narrated by Scott Brick. I skipped a couple of months, so back to this series. I hate to do too much of a series in a row, most times, because all the stories blend together. I have not read/listened to this trilogy before so all new to me.

[pwalker8]

Finished up Mage Provocateur by Glynn Stewart, narrated by Hillary Huber. Huber did a much better job than did the duo in book one. Now to decide if I want to listen to Peace Talks, or give it another week or two and listen to something else first. I leaning towards something less serious. Maybe Red Pyramid or Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Now to decide if I want to listen to Peace Talks, or give it another week or two and listen to something else first. I leaning towards something less serious. Maybe Red Pyramid or Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.

I bought Peace Talks but I keep changing my mind when to listen to it. Right now, I decided mid-September.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I bought Peace Talks but I keep changing my mind when to listen to it. Right now, I decided mid-September.

I've found that for me, it's best not to have too many books that have a similar tone in a row. Looking back at what I've been listening to, the last five books have been fairly serious, so maybe it's time for something a bit more light hearted.

[taosaur]

After Ruin of Angels (which, thinking back on it, had so many cool ideas - that series is the fantasy equivalent of a Gibson or Stephenson cyberpunk story), I picked up the current Library Big Read, The Darwin Affair. Murder mysteries don't typically catch my attention, but I do like historical fiction, and particularly about science history. In some ways it was like picking up the next chapter after Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, but for the most part it focused on the inspector, the very dark villain, and the royals and other political players. Overall, it was a fun change of pace, and solidly narrated.

Right about the time I was wrapping that up, I stumbled into a conversation about Upton Sinclair and Theodore Roosevelt, and someone recommended Edmund Morris' three-volume Roosevelt biography, and particularly the audiobooks (at least for volumes 1 and 3...). So, now I'm listening to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, which is more fascinating than I could have imagined. So far it's a very novelistic read about a larger-than-life character, but gives every indication of being well-sourced.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

...

Right about the time I was wrapping that up, I stumbled into a conversation about Upton Sinclair and Theodore Roosevelt, and someone recommended Edmund Morris' three-volume Roosevelt biography, and particularly the audiobooks (at least for volumes 1 and 3...). So, now I'm listening to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, which is more fascinating than I could have imagined. So far it's a very novelistic read about a larger-than-life character, but gives every indication of being well-sourced.

I have that audiobook. It's excellent. Morris won the Pulitzer Prize for that one, and it's well deserved. I thought that Deakins did a good job as the narrator, though narrator for a non fiction book tends to be less oriented towards voice actor and more towards having a listenable reading style, if that makes sense. For some odd reason, the middle book Theodore Rex, has a different reader than the first and third. No idea why. I thought both narrators were fine.

It can be interesting to compare this book to David McCullough's book about Theodore Roosevelt during the same period.

[Apache]

I have read them, but now y'all make me want to get the audiobook.
Apache

[SeaBookGuy]

I've listened to the first hour of Becoming Dutchess Goldblatt by Anonymous. Not sure I'm the target audience, but will continue (it's only 5 hours). Apparently, the character is some sort of a social media phenomenon of which I was unaware until I saw the listing at Audible - are any of you fans?

(note: will ask for my credit back)

[ApK]

I've attended "YouTube University" during the COVID-19 cloistering, and learned some woodworking and welding. (I'm a maker!)
Along the way I got slightly addicted to Adam Savage's various maker videos, and so his book, "Every Tool's a Hammer: Life is What You Make It," jumped to the top of my listening list.
Four chapters in, I'm enjoying it, but I think unless you're already a fan of his, such a book might raise the question "who does this special effects guy think he is to give me life advice?!"
He does a good job reading his own work. Obviously, if I didn't find him to be a good presenter and communicator of his own material, I wouldn't have gotten hooked on his videos in the first place.

ApK

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ApK

I've attended "YouTube University" during the COVID-19 cloistering, and learned some woodworking and welding. (I'm a maker!)
Along the way I got slightly addicted to Adam Savage's various maker videos, and so his book, "Every Tool's a Hammer: Life is What You Make It," jumped to the top of my listening list.
Four chapters in, I'm enjoying it, but I think unless you're already a fan of his, such a book might raise the question "who does this special effects guy think he is to give me life advice?!"
He does a good job reading his own work. Obviously, if I didn't find him to be a good presenter and communicator of his own material, I wouldn't have gotten hooked on his videos in the first place.

ApK

Of course, one could ask the same question of anyone who gives life advice. I'm a big Mythbuster's fan and have generally liked most of the stuff that Adam Savage has done. I'm not exactly what one would call handy with tools, so I'm not a maker, but it sounds interesting. I think I'll give it a try.

[Apache]

I have always liked making and working on almost anything. As a kid I had Lincoln Logs and Erector Set and built models, mostly ships ands planes. As a teenager I liked to work on cars. As an adult I became an bench jeweler and also like to build computers. Now days anyone can learn anything they want to trough the Internet.
Apache

[Catlady]

I listened to Final Cut by S. J. Watson. What a disappointment! Watson wrote the terrific Before I Go to Sleep a few years back--featuring a woman with a form of amnesia. He's back to an amnesiac heroine in Final Cut, but it's a mess. It didn't help that the main female narrator did not do a good job of differentiating between the male characters in her sections of the multicast book, adding to the confusion. Early on, I knew instinctively where a couple of the plot threads were going, killing the element of surprise. Major let-down.