What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[CRussel]

My wife and I started the Aubrey/Maturin series 3 or 4 books books after it started, so had to wait every year for a new one. Originally read the Books on Tape versions, read by Patrick Tull (my favourite of the several narrators available), and then almost immediately read in pBook. Then, when the eBooks became available, read all over again. And then when issybird started reading them, read yet again. And about time to start all over again once more. Though I'll likely skip Master & Commander.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by issybird

I listened to Ivanhoe as read by David McCallion and he mispronounced Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert from first to last, which really spoiled it for me. Sometimes I wonder where the qc is on audiobooks. In any case, a consistent mispronouncer is someone whom I'll never listen to again (assuming I remember, and I'm pretty sure I remember the most egregious).

Maybe he used one of these other non-french pronunciations?
https://www.pronouncekiwi.com/Sir%20...0Bois-Guilbert

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I listened to Ivanhoe as read by David McCallion and he mispronounced Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert from first to last, which really spoiled it for me. Sometimes I wonder where the qc is on audiobooks. In any case, a consistent mispronouncer is someone whom I'll never listen to again (assuming I remember, and I'm pretty sure I remember the most egregious).

I listened to the sample of McCallion when choosing and liked it; I'm glad I didn't select it!

Originally Posted by melmac

Currently listening to The Likeness by Tana French Narrated by Heather O'Neil from audible US, I could listen to this on repeat forever the narrator is a joy to listen to. The Audible AU version is narrated by Grainne Gillis and sounds terrible in comparison. Ever since accidentally purchasing an Iron Druid book not narrated by Jeff Daniels I always check a sample from both regions

I've been meaning to try Tana French out. Crime/police-focused mystery is not normally the go-to sub-genre for me, but I do like mysteries and I like the description and Irish aspect of these, and have heard good things. There's also now a television series coming out based on the first two books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Maybe he used one of these other non-french pronunciations?
https://www.pronouncekiwi.com/Sir%20...0Bois-Guilbert

He did not. While my preference is for the French pronunciation especially in the context of Ivanhoe's twelfth century setting, I'd have given him a pass for any standard pronunciation, French or modern British. Alas, he pronounced the G in Guilbert as "zh" which is wrong everywhere and absolutely.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ElspethB

I admire your restraint in confining your Aubrey/Maturin listening to summers only! I flew through the series in about 7 months. Of course, it was at a time where I was traveling long distances by car daily to care for my ailing mother-in-law; sailing with Jack, Stephen, and the gang was my joy on those long rides during a bleak time. I will always be grateful to Patrick O'Brian (and Simon Vance) for allowing me that escape.

When I started listening to the books, it was because I couldn't stand the morning news during my commute any more; the hard news was dire and the soft news was pure fluff. But then I realized they were too good to squander for such a plebeian end.

Originally Posted by CRussel

My wife and I started the Aubrey/Maturin series 3 or 4 books books after it started, so had to wait every year for a new one. Originally read the Books on Tape versions, read by Patrick Tull (my favourite of the several narrators available), and then almost immediately read in pBook. Then, when the eBooks became available, read all over again. And then when issybird started reading them, read yet again. And about time to start all over again once more. Though I'll likely skip Master & Commander.

I read Master and Commander when I started the series; it wasn't until Post Captain that I started the audiobooks. But then I went back and listened to Simon Vance. And then I listened to Patrick Tull. So, I hear you on M&C fatigue! (Although that first scene in the music room is so very delicious.)

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I listened to the sample of McCallion when choosing and liked it; I'm glad I didn't select it!



I've been meaning to try Tana French out. Crime/police-focused mystery is not normally the go-to sub-genre for me, but I do like mysteries and I like the description and Irish aspect of these, and have heard good things. There's also now a television series coming out based on the first two books.

You should try Tana French. This series has excellent writing. I have read pbook/ebook formats. I haven’t tried the audiobooks so can’t comment on the narration quality.

[taosaur]

I'm on the second-to-last (or chronologically, first) Craft Sequence book, which seems to be a pretty direct prequel to Two Serpents Rise, while filling in backstory on a character who appears to some degree in all the other books. This whole series has been resetting my expectations several times in each book. I'm in a bit of a rush to get to the last (but technically penultimate) book based on the characters I expect to be involved, but I'm also enjoying the deeper delve into what I would have called the least interesting setting in the series (crypto-LA).

I don't expect this series to end up anywhere, which makes it even harder to give many impressions without having heard the whole thing and reflected upon it. I can say the first (numbered three) book is a find standalone, and the books numbered 1&2, published opposite, would make a super satisfying duology for a different reader than myself (they are mainly interesting within the context of the series to me). The most similar experience I've had with a series is Ian M. Banks' Culture novels, which similarly have more of a thesis in common than a series of events, but don't take their thesis too seriously.

[Catlady]

Got The Testaments (Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale) from my library at midnight (I was number one on the waiting list) and am starting it now! Excited!

[melmac]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I've been meaning to try Tana French out. Crime/police-focused mystery is not normally the go-to sub-genre for me, but I do like mysteries and I like the description and Irish aspect of these, and have heard good things. There's also now a television series coming out based on the first two books.

I'm really enjoying it the first I thought was a tad long and could have been trimmed but I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships the mystery was almost secondary for me. I always enjoy a good tv crime series so thanks for the heads up

[orlok]

Originally Posted by issybird

Where's a forgetter when you need one?

That is so annoying. I find this works for me on the forgetting front...

[issybird]

Originally Posted by orlok

That is so annoying. I find this works for me on the forgetting front...

Attachment 173377

I've been applying in copious quantities but it hasn't worked yet. I haven't given up, though.

[Tarana]

Just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Fabulous!! I highly recommend even if you prefer scifi! It is currently free if you have an Echo in the US. Just ask Alexa to play "Life of Pi". I don't know how long it will be free (has been several months now).

[SeaBookGuy]

Sometimes you get what you wish for! Last night I decided to pull a book off my TBR pile under the theory that I wanted one that I would be able to get into fairly quickly, which seemed a possibility from the Audible sample of Jane Harris' The Observations. Within minutes I was dreading that there was "only" 15 hours left of the book. Bessie, the young Irish maid, is hilarious in describing the new world around her, with the voice of her upper-class English employer, Arabella, an excellent counterpoint. Usually, authors readng their own stuff doesn't tend to work out well, but in this case it's a terrific listen!

[Bookworm_Girl]

I just finished Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield and narrated by Juliet Stevenson. I loved it. Very enchanting. Lots of stories within stories with a Dickensian cast of characters. It's a character-driven mystery and is more about the journey than the destination. One of the main characters is a fictional representation of Henry Taunt, a real-life Victorian photographer of the Thames. Not recommended for people who like fast-paced mysteries.

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.

Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.

[CRussel]

I don't know whether to post this here, or in the V&R thread! Just finished reading (and TRYING to listen to) the 4th "Palladin's Legacy" book from Elizabeth Moon, Limits of Power. Narrated, HORRIBLY, by Angela Dawe. Who apparently never met a name she couldn't mispronounce. And the pacing was horrible and choppy. Really, why do publishers DO THIS?! They had tried two previous narrators, both of whom were reasonably similar and had obviously agreed about how to pronounce place names and characters names. But now they introduce an new narrator, who would have been awful even if she hadn't changed the pronunciation of every single name. Sigh.

On to the fifth (and final) book in the story arc -- Crown of Renewal. Which fortunately uses one of the narrators from the first 3 books in the series. Not, perhaps, the one I would have preferred, but at least she's better than Dawe.