What are we listening to? (audiobooks)

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Catlady

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing, narrated by David Pittu, is a suspense thriller that's demented, twisted, and just plain sick. I loved it!

You've convinced me. Just bought it from Audible.

[melmac]

Currently listening to Sweet Pea by C. J. Skuse loving it, I haven't been this entertained by an audiobook in a long time narration is also excellent imo

[sun surfer]

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I'm listening to Mrs Dalloway. I had got a cheap secondhand CD version. Though the narrator is listed as Virginia Leishman, when I began listening I realised the voice was Lisette Lecat, which is one of my favourite narrators and I was so excited. I thought this must be an alias of hers. The excitement was short-lived however, as she only did the introduction. The actual narrator was okay but wasn't my favourite, so I was tempted instead to go with an Audible version I listened to a sample of- the one with actress Juliet Stevenson.

I'm a short ways in and very happy I did go with the Stevenson. She is incredible with the different voices and characters and accents (Scottish, Irish and Italian so far in addition to her normal English accent), and this is even more noticeable since the narrative switches to various characters' perspectives, and she switches to their accents for narration in their perspective, not only the dialogue. It's impressive.

[ElspethB]

I'm also a big fan of Juliet Stevenson. I listened to all 35 hours of Middlemarch a couple of years ago, and it was one of the best books I ever heard. Here's my capsule review from my book journal:

Over the years, I'd tried and failed to several times to read this. It was one of those classics that I always thought I should read and that many have named the greatest 19th-century novel, perhaps even the all-time greatest novel in the English language. But I had little success until I decided to listen to the unabridged audiobook (all 35 hours) during my commute. Juliet Stevenson was a phenomenal narrator, easily personifying the dozens of characters, both male and female with a dizzying array of voices and appropriate accents. She even read the chapter epigraphs in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Middle English. But most importantly, she made those characters come alive to me: Middlemarch became a very real place populated by an intriguing array of admirable, selfish, kind, opinionated, intelligent, narcissistic, generous, ambitious individuals. There were times when I laughed out loud and other times when I gasped in surprise or sorrow. Such a wonderful novel. I now fully agree with all the praise and will most definitely read and/or listen to it again.

[CRussel]

I finished listening to The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey, and narrated by Derek Jacobi. This is the New Leaf Book Club selection for this month, and I went back and forth between eBook and audio book. I like Derek Jacobi, but I found his narration a bit confusing at times. Sometimes the American voice sounded American, sometimes it sounded like the horrible English misconception of what Americans sound like, and sometimes it sounded exactly like Inspector Grant. Overall, 2 stars for the narration.

Next up, the latest Maise Dobbs mystery from Jacqueline Winspear. These are read Orlagh Cassidy, and her narration is excellent. The current book is The American Agent, and is set starting in 1940, in London. I'm quite looking forward to it.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by ElspethB

I'm also a big fan of Juliet Stevenson. I listened to all 35 hours of Middlemarch a couple of years ago, and it was one of the best books I ever heard. Here's my capsule review from my book journal:

That's a great review, ElspethB! I also love Middlemarch. Reading your review, I can imagine how well Stevenson would do with it.

One interesting thing about listening to audiobooks is hearing actors that I usually see in more supporting screen roles really blossom when taking on the task of narrating a book. Another one that comes to mind is Fiona Shaw (widely known as Aunt Petunia from the Harry Potter films) who I think is an excellent narrator (I almost posted her name as Fionnula Flanagan, another great Irish actress, but caught my mix-up at the last minute, heh).

[pwalker8]

Finished up The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend. Another solid performance and a good book. Highly recommended.

Next up is Mutineer, book #2 of the Alexis Carew series by J.A. Sutherland. J.A. Sutherland is one of the better indies out there and he managed to land a pretty good reader.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by ElspethB

I'm also a big fan of Juliet Stevenson. I listened to all 35 hours of Middlemarch a couple of years ago, and it was one of the best books I ever heard. Here's my capsule review from my book journal:

She's also a great actor, probably best known for her role in Truly, Madly Deeply, playing alongside Alan Rickman. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I'm currently listening to the children's classic The Jungle Book read by Michael Page. I think it's my first time listening to this narrator, although he's done books that I know and have read by ebook.

[taosaur]

The Raven Tower was another fascinating narrator from Leckie: a well justified mostly second person perspective from the point of view of a god speaking, mostly unheard, to a mortal who has caught its attention. There were two main narratives, with deliberate ambiguity as to which was plot and which sub-plot, and I did prefer one over the other. The narrator went a little over the top sometimes, with some accents being a little hard to understand, but certainly preferable to a monotone.

For my next listen I went into my backlog and pulled out The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which so far is as good as everyone said it was. I'm also a sucker for messing with time, which this novel does in a fairly unique way.

I did also listen to one of the April freebies, Dispatcher by John Scalzi, narrated by Zachary Quinto. Story and performance 3/5. It was an interesting, if fanciful, premise, explored with workmanlike competence, and narrated with same. I think it's the first Scalzi I've read, and wouldn't inspire me to seek out more. Granted, I'm biased against the tendency to turn any and every premise into a police procedural.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

The Raven Tower was another fascinating narrator from Leckie: a well justified mostly second person perspective from the point of view of a god speaking, mostly unheard, to a mortal who has caught its attention. There were two main narratives, with deliberate ambiguity as to which was plot and which sub-plot, and I did prefer one over the other. The narrator went a little over the top sometimes, with some accents being a little hard to understand, but certainly preferable to a monotone.

For my next listen I went into my backlog and pulled out The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which so far is as good as everyone said it was. I'm also a sucker for messing with time, which this novel does in a fairly unique way.

I did also listen to one of the April freebies, Dispatcher by John Scalzi, narrated by Zachary Quinto. Story and performance 3/5. It was an interesting, if fanciful, premise, explored with workmanlike competence, and narrated with same. I think it's the first Scalzi I've read, and wouldn't inspire me to seek out more. Granted, I'm biased against the tendency to turn any and every premise into a police procedural.

Try Redshirt as an audible book before giving up on Scalzi. Wil Wheaton is a top notch narrator and the premise of the book is pretty interesting.

[CRussel]

Just finished listening to The American Agent, the latest Maise Dobbs novel from Jaqueline Winspear. The narrator for all the Maise Dobbs books is Orlagh Cassidy, and she's really quite good.

This story has Maise Dobbs going back and forth between London, during the early days of the Blitz in the late summer/early fall of 1940, and her home in Chelstone, Kent, where she is waiting anxiously for the hearing on whether she will be able to adopt Anna. The case involves the murder of a young, American, journalist who has been reporting on the war, and Maise has been asked to work with Mark Scott, the American agent she met in Journey to Munich.

A solid read, and an excellent narration. Quite enjoyed.

[ElspethB]

Originally Posted by orlok

She's also a great actor, probably best known for her role in Truly, Madly Deeply, playing alongside Alan Rickman. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

One of my favorite movies ever! I recently re-watched it and loved it as much as I did when it first came out. Both Stevenson and Rickman are wonderful in it.

[sun surfer]

I haven't seen Truly, Madly, Deeply. I know her from films like Nicholas Nickleby, Bend It Like Beckham, Emma and some television roles. I finished Mrs Dalloway and she did an excellent job all round!

Now I've started In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick and read by Scott Brick (a duo of bricks!). It's a non-fiction book about, well, the title says a lot of it. The ship was sunk by a whale in the middle of the South Pacific in the early 19th century and the crew had to try and survive for months.

I'm really excited to finally get to read this. The book has a lot of notes and things like that so it's going to be a little odd listening to it (the notes section at the end is apparently about two hours by itself, lol) but it will be interesting to see how it goes. I already had the ebook so i can always refer to that if needed.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I haven't seen Truly, Madly, Deeply. I know her from films like Nicholas Nickleby, Bend It Like Beckham, Emma and some television roles. I finished Mrs Dalloway and she did an excellent job all round!

Now I've started In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick and read by Scott Brick (a duo of bricks!). It's a non-fiction book about, well, the title says a lot of it. The ship was sunk by a whale in the middle of the South Pacific in the early 19th century and the crew had to try and survive for months.

I'm really excited to finally get to read this. The book has a lot of notes and things like that so it's going to be a little odd listening to it (the notes section at the end is apparently about two hours by itself, lol) but it will be interesting to see how it goes. I already had the ebook so i can always refer to that if needed.

Just as a note, the Essex was the basis for Moby Dick.