What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Wow - thanks!

I haven't been reading much in the way of ebooks lately, and when I did it was on my Kindle Fire tablet. However, I finally broke down recently and purchased a refurbished Paperwhite 4, so decided to come back here to learn more about the Kindle scene in general.

Funny you should mention the House with the Clock in its Walls, as I recently listened to a later book in the series The Letter, The Witch and the Ring, which featured Rose Rita (Lewis is largely absent). George Guidall is a great narrator here, but owing to the popularity of the recent Clock movie, the audio book for that one has a significant hold queue. I'm considering using an Audible credit for it, but the cheapskate in me is holding out for now.

I'm also going through John Bellairs' series featuring Johnny Dixon as library ebooks; a bit heavy on the religious aspect, but otherwise entertaining. Tried the first Anthony Monday story, which was okay, but no interest in the others.

Wow! What an unexpected coincidence. Thanks for sharing the information on the other books. I agree that George Guidall did a great job on this series.

These days I alternate between Kobo and Kindle and Scribd on my iPad Mini for ebook reading.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I have the Pimsler course from an earlier sale on Audible. I might give them a try.

Charlie.

Pimsleur are one of the better ones I'd say - I did a Portuguese course of theirs, though I am finding the Collins one better in their learning approach. Very basic level so far though.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'll be interested to hear if you recommend this. Brushing up on my schoolgirl French is something I'd like to do, but I never get around to committing to it.

It's pretty good - very basic levels covered so far (hello, thank-you, please, directions etc.) but the learning technique is quite good (listen, repeat, review), with explanations, context, hints on pronunciation etc. etc.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Also, currently listening to Blott on the Landscape, from Tom Sharpe, read by Hercule Poirot. (Well, OK, read by David Suchet.)

So far, positively delightful. I'm quite enjoying it.

When I am reading books with Poirot it is always David Suchet I see. I now hate watching any Poirot movie that does not have David Suchet as the lead.
Apache

[Catlady]

I listened to two books by Tom Hunt: Killer Choice, narrated by Ray Porter, and One Fatal Mistake, narrated by Erin Bennett.

Killer Choice has a good premise--husband of terminally ill woman needs money for experimental treatment that might save her; lowlife will pay him if he kills a cop. The fatal flaw here is that it's pretty hard to root for a protagonist who would even consider murder for hire. The setup reminded me a bit of Daniel Palmer's Stolen--though there the crime is theft, not murder, which made Palmer's protagonists a bit more palatable.

Still, the book seemed good enough for me to dive right into Tom Hunt's second book, One Fatal Mistake. In this one, a mother and son covering up a fatal hit-and-run collide with a pair of fleeing bank robbers. This one just didn't work for me--I thought the book would explore the moral dilemma of the coverup and its corrosive effects; instead, the story was mostly about escaping the bank robbers.

Spoiler:

I expected some twist about the victim of the hit-and-run, but it never happened. The accident was pretty much just a device to set the story in motion and to keep the mom from trusting the police.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Apache

When I am reading books with Poirot it is always David Suchet I see. I now hate watching any Poirot movie that does not have David Suchet as the lead.
Apache

Hugh Fraser (Hastings) reads many of the Poirot books.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I am almost finished with The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. Colin Firth does an excellent job on the narration and captures the emotional angst of the characters well. The book won the 2013 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year. This book has a great first line, “A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look forward.” That sums up the problem I had with this audiobook. It was too difficult to follow the non-chronological, shifting timeline while listening via audiobook during my daily commute or exercise. I definitely plan to read this one via ebook in order to fully delve into the Greene’s beautiful writing and character development to appreciate the many layers of this book.

From Amazon:

The End of the Affair, set in London during and just after World War II, is the story of a flourishing love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah Miles. After a violent episode at Maurice's apartment, Sarah suddenly and without explanation breaks off the affair. This very intimate story about what actually constitutes love is enhanced by Mr. Firth's narration, who said "this book struck me very, very particularly at the time when I read it and I thought my familiarity with it would give the journey a personal slant."

"I'm grateful for this honor," Firth said when this production was recognized by the Audie Awards as Audiobook of the Year for 2013, "and grateful for the opportunity to narrate one of my favorite stories. A great novel told in the first person makes for the best script an actor could imagine. None better than The End of the Affair.... Theater and film each offer their own challenges and rewards, but narration is a new practice for me and the audiobook performance provides exhilarating possibilities for both actors and listeners. I'm thrilled to be involved in bringing this remarkable work of fiction to a wider audience, and thankful to Audible for offering me the opportunity to perform it and to engage with so many who share my passion for storytelling."

[SeaBookGuy]

Working on Agatha Christie's They Came to Baghdad, stand-alone suspense novel. Outstanding narration adds to the experience!

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I am almost finished with The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. Colin Firth does an excellent job on the narration and captures the emotional angst of the characters well. The book won the 2013 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year. This book has a great first line, “A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look forward.” That sums up the problem I had with this audiobook. It was too difficult to follow the non-chronological, shifting timeline while listening via audiobook during my daily commute or exercise. I definitely plan to read this one via ebook in order to fully delve into the Greene’s beautiful writing and character development to appreciate the many layers of this book.

From Amazon:

Honestly, I don't like general fiction and only listened to it because Colin Firth was narrator. He actually made it enjoyable!

I'm currently listening to Calamity, the third book in the Reckoner's series by Brandon Sanderson. Bought the 3 books on a great deal in January. Very much enjoying.

[Catlady]

Latest listen: Peter Swanson's Before She Knew Him, narrated by Sophie Amoss and Graham Halstead (Halstead narrates only two brief segments). I think it may be Swanson's best since The Kind Worth Killing.

Here, a bipolar woman obsessed with a cold murder case believes her new neighbor is the murderer; trouble is, she once made a false accusation and was arrested for assault, so no one believes her. But what if she's right?

The story plays out creepily with several surprises along the way--things I didn't see coming, yet made perfect sense in the story, the setups having been carefully hidden in plain sight. This was great twisted fun.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Latest listen: Peter Swanson's Before She Knew Him, narrated by Sophie Amoss and Graham Halstead (Halstead narrates only two brief segments). I think it may be Swanson's best since The Kind Worth Killing.

Here, a bipolar woman obsessed with a cold murder case believes her new neighbor is the murderer; trouble is, she once made a false accusation and was arrested for assault, so no one believes her. But what if she's right?

The story plays out creepily with several surprises along the way--things I didn't see coming, yet made perfect sense in the story, the setups having been carefully hidden in plain sight. This was great twisted fun.

Thanks for the tip. I enjoyed The Kind Worth Killing (I see I gave it 4 stars) so I just went to UK Audible to buy it, but it's not there .

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by orlok

Thanks for the tip. I enjoyed The Kind Worth Killing (I see I gave it 4 stars) so I just went to UK Audible to buy it, but it's not there .

Oh, that's a shame. Hope it turns up eventually.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Quite enjoying The Diary of a Bookseller. I get the impression his place may be a bit... quirkier than others, but that largely adds to the charm.

I am more than halfway through this book. It is quite charming with a dose of biting humor. I am enjoying the colorful descriptions of customers, employees and townspeople. Also interesting is the insider's account of how the book-selling industry has changed quite dramatically in the last two decades. I am familiar with the book town of Hay-on-Wye, Wales but did not know about Wigtown, Scotland. Now I want to visit there!

I am also listening to Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult (2013) & Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2016). This book is similar to The Book Thief where it is categorized as YA but also enjoyable for adults. Female pilots and spies in France during WW2 - my kind of story!

From Goodreads:

Two young women become unlikely best friends during WWII, until one is captured by the Gestapo. Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted to each other.

But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in “Verity’s” own words, as she writes her account for her captors. Truth or lies? Honour or betrayal? Everything they’ve ever believed in is put to the test…

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I am also listening to Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult (2013) & Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2016). This book is similar to The Book Thief where it is categorized as YA but also enjoyable for adults. Female pilots and spies in France during WW2 - my kind of story!

I thought that book was excellent. There's a follow-up book called Rose Under Fire; both audiobooks have been SYNC freebies. Wein has written several other books about female flyers that I haven't read yet--including A Thousand Sisters, nonfiction about Soviet female pilots during WWII.

[sun surfer]

I have finally finished Zorba the Greek! I paused it to start listening to Frankenstein in Baghdad and in turn paused that to start listening to Eva Luna. I've had more listening and travelling time lately to start catching up on multiple audio so Zorba was hot on my list. I really liked the book. It was an interesting mixture of high-minded ethereal philosophy and a more hedonistic approach and the question of which is really better, set mostly on a lovely Cretan beach. I do question some of the chauvinistic and homophobic elements of the book - even for its time, there are very strong opinions contained here - but in the end I look past that because I enjoyed the other aspects of the book so much.

This leaves me listening to the two Lit Club books. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi is a sort of retelling of Frankenstein, or perhaps a story inspired by Frankenstein, set in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein and with violence all around. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende is about an orphan girl growing up mid-20th century in a South American country during various governmental upheavals, and the girl has a gift for storytelling and a very active imagination and the book also concerns all the various eccentric characters that come into her life.