What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I didn't expect it to be so amusing.

I love it when that happens. I heard many people talk about how good the Three Body Problem was, but I don't recall anyone mentioning it could be downright hilarious at times.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm currently reading Trust by Hernan Diaz.

I finished this one up this morning and rather enjoyed it. It's not really about what all the synopses focus on (or not only about, anyway). There are four distinct sections in the book--each with a different narrator. They are all connected, but that may, or may not, be immediately obvious. My mild confusion did not stop me from enjoying the different perspectives, and all was satisfactorily connected eventually. I never resent having to "be patient" in that regard--and it paid off here. It's possible that the audio format left me at slight disadvantage. Not actually "reading" the chapter titles may have led to me missing some obvious connections until later in the book.

I'd recommend it. Especially to those who don't mind wandering a bit aimlessly around a lovely garden before finally being invited in for tea.

[issybird]

^^Thanks. It should be coming up for me soon at OverDrive; I may put it on my waterproof MP3 player, depending on the timing. Or listen to it in bed. I'm winding down on my current water and insomniac listens.

In the meantime, for walking/driving, I've started a biography of Nero by Anthony Everitt; ancient imperial biographies are his usual schtick. Entertaining as always; he finds the common ground between popular and scholarly history. Read by Greg Patmore who is fine.

[DiapDealer]

Even at 1.25x, Tim Curry and Jules Verne are conspiring to bore me to tears with Journey to the Center of the Earth. So, so dull.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Even at 1.25x, Tim Curry and Jules Verne are conspiring to bore me to tears with Journey to the Center of the Earth. So, so dull.

Life's too short.... Sometimes I stick with boring nonfiction if I'm learning something, but boring fiction gets heaved at some point unless I'm under compulsion. But that's me, of course. I've only slogged through one Verne, 20,000 Leagues, for the old MR Book Club and nothing would get me to read another.

I'm listening to the entirely delightful Uncle Dynamite by P.G. Wodehouse, read by Jonathan Cecil. Uncle Fred is the best of all Wodehouse creations, which is a high bar indeed.

[DiapDealer]

Around the World in Eighty Days is the only other Verne work I've read. It's positively whimsical by comparison. Not great, but certainly not the drudgery I'm listening to (for) now.

[neil_swann80]

50 shades of gravy - A love letter to those who appreciate sauces, stocks and dressings.

[DiapDealer]

Started to listen to The Wager by David Grann (of Killers of the Flower Moon fame).

I'm usually a sucker for a good Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (especially one based on actual history), but something seems off from the get-go. I'm not nuts about Dion Graham's narration so far, but I'm not sure I can blame the lackluster start entirely on him just yet. We'll see.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Started to listen to The Wager by David Grann (of Killers of the Flower Moon fame).

I'm usually a sucker for a good Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (especially one based on actual history), but something seems off from the get-go. I'm not nuts about Dion Graham's narration so far, but I'm not sure I can blame the lackluster start entirely on him just yet. We'll see.

My goodness, what a waste of a credit! At least I didn't pay the full $22+ for this audiobook. This is embarrassingly bad. Even for people who aren't very knowledgeable of nautical terms, this awful spoon-feeding of "lessons" would be condescendingly terrible. The over-excitable narration only contributes to the misery. I'm utterly gob-smacked that this is a bestseller.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My goodness, what a waste of a credit! At least I didn't pay the full $22+ for this audiobook. This is embarrassingly bad. Even for people who aren't very knowledgeable of nautical terms, this awful spoon-feeding of "lessons" would be condescendingly terrible. The over-excitable narration only contributes to the misery. I'm utterly gob-smacked that this is a bestseller.

Thanks. I was undecided about this book, but put it on hold at a library with a long waiting list, so I'd have plenty of time to make up my mind. It sounds like a dud.

[CRussel]

I've been re-reading, via Audible, to the Paladin's Legacy series from Elizabeth Moon. The first book, Oath of Fealty, is read reasonably well by Jennifer Van Dyke. The second, barely acceptably, by Susan Ericksen. The third is again read by Jennifer Van Dyke, but the fourth is read by Angela Dawe and is just HORRIBLE. Absolutely unlistenable. Not only is her presentation choppy and stilted, with individual sentences separated by such pauses as to make every sentence a declaration, but she has completely changed the pronunciation of virtually every place or person name to be practically unrecognizable. Incredibly awful. So much so that she's made me positively look forward to the fifth book, again read by Susan Ericksen, who seems practically wonderful by comparison.

Now I understand that commitments and contracts sometimes make it necessary to change a narrator, but can't they at least have the new narrator listen to enough of the earlier books in the series to understand how place names are pronounced? Or ask the author? Or just use a better narrator. Truly, Angela Dawe goes on my list of NEVER to buy or listen to.

[Tarana]

Listening (and reading) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. Excellent narrator and chose this edition because I've liked Ballerini for other works. I'm 1/3 of the way through the story and enjoying it.

The one I'm listening to is War and Peace AmazonClassics edition. You need to include Amazonclassics (one word) to get it to come up in the search on Audible.

[Catlady]

My reading is way down this year, for a variety of reasons, and my reading satisfaction has plummeted. The latest go-to authors who've disappointed are Samantha Downing (A Twisted Love Story), Shari Lapena (Everyone Here Is Lying), and Laura Lippman (Prom Mom).

Downing's latest is the best of the bunch, but that's not saying much. Unlikable, unrealistic characters behaving badly. Twisted sociopaths, but not interesting. There's a mild late surprise, but by that point it's hard to care.

Lapena's novel is also populated with unlikable, unrealistic characters. Would a father whose daughter has disappeared really obstruct police and risk her life to hide an affair? And the daughter herself? Lordy!

Lippman's book was the biggest disappointment, as a story about a teen who gave birth at prom in 1997 seems to have potential, but most of the story was set in 2020. Why 2020? So Lippman could include covid and the 2020 election and Target runs for toilet paper, all for no discernable reason. I kept listening to the book in hopes of figuring out what the story was, but there is no real story until the last few chapters. And, of course, the novel featured unlikable characters.

Honestly, I don't need to love all the characters, but I'm tired of books where every character seems to be seriously warped.

[DiapDealer]

Listening to Nick Offerman's Tom Sawyer. I find I rather like being read to by Ron Swanson. I've even been able to sip some Lagavulin from time to time while listening.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Listening to Nick Offerman's Tom Sawyer. I find I rather like being read to by Ron Swanson. I've even been able to sip some Lagavulin from time to time while listening.

Well that would tend to improve almost any book.

Meanwhile, I've started and abandoned several books not worth listening to. I think I'm in a slump here.