What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Tarana

During Stay-at-home, I've been binging on the entire Chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor. A total riot. Zara Ramm is a quite wonderful narrator and has great comic timing. I only have a couple of books left plus some novellas. The audiobook for the next in this series has been delayed from release in April to August.

Loved the narrator. Enjoyed the first book. And the second. Got old after that, and I abandoned after the third. But you're right about Zara Ramm.

Currently still working my way through a re-read, via Audible, of the Bruno, Chief of Police novels by Martin Walker. The narrator is Robert Ian MacKenzie and he does an excellent job. Nearing the end, now, at #11, A Taste for Vengeance.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Started Excellent Women by Barbara Pym yesterday - great narration adds to the humor.

I listened to this in January and greatly enjoyed it. I’d not heard anything read by Jayne Entwistle before.

[taosaur]

I finished Dawn of Wonder this week, and enjoyed it quite a bit. The imagery stayed strong and the characters and relationships were engaging, even if not all that multi-dimensional (I'd rate them 2.5 dimensional). The plot was nothing special; supporting characters commented a couple of times on how often the main character overheard crucial information or found himself in the middle of events. It was enough to get us from one cool scene to another and give the characters some kind of growth. On the whole, a good "comfort food" fantasy story.

I knew going in that some people objected to Christian themes in the story, and I also object to some of those themes (humans are garbage, criminals are double garbage, you can only overcome your faults through awe and terror of a perfect being), but they set the stage for some enjoyable scenes, even the big "witness" moment. If people want to use their deepest heartfelt beliefs as fodder for a fantasy story, more power to them as long as they do a decent job of it.

I was still feeling like fantasy, and contemplated an Elantris or Name of the Wind re-listen, but poked around Audible and ended up with Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia, also read by Tim Gerard Butler. It's darker than Dawn of Wonder, but still solid sword-and-sorcery comfort food for my inner adolescent. I'm not up for much more than that in present circumstances. I actually started reading Cixin Liu's sequel to The Three Body Problem and had to put it down as too bleak.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by issybird

I listened to this in January and greatly enjoyed it. I’d not heard anything read by Jayne Entwistle before.

She does (the American production of) the Flavia Deluce mystery series.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Started Excellent Women by Barbara Pym yesterday - great narration adds to the humor.

Your post reminded me to do one of my periodic checks for additional Barbara Pym audiobooks--and Audible has another one: Less Than Angels! Yay! Not narrated by Jayne Entwistle, alas, but by an unknown-to-me: Mary Sarah.

[sun surfer]

I'm listening to A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters, narrated by Stephen Thorne. I'm enjoying the book and Thorne's narration.

[Tarana]

I tried really hard to enjoy Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice. After an hour, I gave up - just couldn't get into it. Will try later this month and if it still doesn't appeal, I'll return the trilogy. Sometimes I have to be in a mood for a particular style of writing or it just doesn't appeal to me. Obviously, not a bad book.

I received a lot of audiobooks for free in exchange for reviews last year. Still have more than 40 to get through (yeah, didn't realize they piled up like that). Just finished Mermaid Fins, Winds and Rolling Pins by Erin Johnson and narrated by Hannah Sommerville. This is totally not my genre (paranormal cozy), but the first two books were a fun read. This is book 3. Love the characters, but the plot was like a Saturday morning cartoon. Narrator is excellent.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I'm listening to A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters, narrated by Stephen Thorne. I'm enjoying the book and Thorne's narration.

I've got that one. I enjoyed it. I thought the narrator's voice sounds like an old monk should sound.

[sun surfer]

Yes, that's true, and I think he does a good job with the Welsh accents.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm listening to one (Home Run by Nathan Lowell, narrator Emily Woo Zeller) where the narrator said "esso" for 'S-O-S'. I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, so had to go dig out the book and check.

I'm half way through Home Run, and I must say, I'm not minding EWZ too much at all. Her men's voices are a bit over the top...or bottom, with that exaggerated bass, but her overall narration has been fine, and her Nat and Zee voices have grown on me.
I've not run into the "Esso" thing. I'm writing this post because I just heard Zee say "S.O.S." for the first time, and she said it correctly. (It actually reminded me of Sting singing it in 'Message In A Bottle.')

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Yes, that's true, and I think he does a good job with the Welsh accents.

I'll admit that my knowledge of the Welsh accent is limited to "How Green Was My Valley" which I suspect was about as authentic as the Georgia accent in "Gone With the Wind" (Though as a whole, Brits do accents much better than US actors).

[sun surfer]

Well it's hard to describe but a Welsh accent can be kind of sing song-y and the vowels can be long and even sort of paused into different syllables. But someone from there would probably be the best at describing it!

[CRussel]

I've started listening to the Stephen Fry narration of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's been years since I read and listened to this book, and I'm quite enjoying the re-read.

[sun surfer]

I finished A Morbid Taste for Bones and liked it, 4 stars for the book and for the narrator.

Spoiler:

It was a too-simple mystery in that as soon as Columbanus said he'd fallen asleep during his night with the other brother, which led to the other brother being a suspect since he could've left while Columbanus was asleep, I thought that the other brother could've instead been asleep and Columbanus was the culprit, and put the brother to sleep with the drug he had.

Well, that was exactly the case, but while I didn't mind solving it immediately so much, I wasn't a fan of the trope of the smart Cadfael considering every suspect possibility EXCEPT that, until the end of course. Is there a word for that, when an author makes a detective in mystery fiction consider all possibilities except the actual one even though the actual one is rather obvious too?

Still I ended up really liking the read because of the location, time period and characters, and though I'd solved the mystery I did not see the denouement coming and thought it was very well done.

Now I'm onto A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, narrated by Juliet Stevenson. I've already heard Stevenson narrate Mrs Dalloway and she was great. The book is only five hours long so I'll probably be done with it quickly.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I finished A Morbid Taste for Bones and liked it

It took me several seconds to parse those words in a way that didn't end up way creepier than it needed to be.