What Are You Listening to Now? Part 18

I just started The Fishermen: A Novel (by Chigozie Obioma; narrated by Chukwudi Iwuji.) Set in Nigeria, the story features four boys whose father has recently been transferred away to a high-risk city in the North. At home with only their mother to supervise them, they start looking for things to do, the last being to take up fishing in a reputedly dangerous river. Caught, their father returns home to mete out punishment... While what they are doing sounds innocuous enough, one senses that disobedience and slacking off have ramifications that are far more reaching than the immediate infraction of the rules themselves. It's early yet; but one senses that the scope of the narrative will broaden. The narrator, clearly Nigerian himself, relates the tale with the native cadence, and reads all the contextual cues expertly. Though a finalist in the LitFic category for the Audies, this doesn't have that naval-gazing introspection that I've come to associate with the genre; and I wonder if this wouldn't simply be better categorized as excellent fiction. I guess I'll see as the story spools out...

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I finished Cryoburn. I had forgotten the terrible blow at the end of the book.

Since I love Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series, I thought I'd try his Star Wars submittal. Thus far, Heir to the Jedi doesn't stand out.

Started today, A Permanent Member of the Family, a collection of short stories.

Listening to Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer. This is a story I've read before in print. The reader is good for the most part, but I'm not convinced by her voice for the hero, although it may grow on me.

I've just uploaded Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger with an Introduction by Larry McMurty; narrated by David Aaron Baker, Scott Sowers, and Henry Strozier.) I admit to a certain amount of trepidation on this one as I'm not big on Westerns, and I really didn't like the movie; but maybe this will change my mind about both!

>5 aviddiva: I've just started and given up on Faro's Daughter. It's not one of my favourite Heyers so I wasn't prepared to make much effort! Instead I've gone onto a new version of Pride and Prejudice, narrated by Rosamund Pike.

>7 CDVicarage: Let me know how you like it. It was on sale a while back and I didn't buy it , now I regret it. It's supposed to be a really good reading.

Just finished Erik Larsen's Dead Wake narrated by Scott Brick. This history of the sinking of the Lusitania is well written and richly narrated.

Comfort read. The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts. I'm fascinated by the true to life details she inserts. The Montgomery boys are renovating an old inn. Roberts has to have background in the construction trades. She's got the sequence and terminology down pat.

(Though come to think about it, in the first trilogy I read, it bothered me that floor sanding and wall painting were going on at the same time, different rooms.)

>8 aviddiva: Unfortunately another abandon. I have another audio version of Pride and Prejudice, narrated by Emilia Fox, which is OK but she is not as good as Juliet Stephenson who narrates the other five Jane Austens, and this is 13 hours long. The Rosamund Pike version is 11 1/2 hours long (both are unabridged, of course) and Rosamund definitely reads too fast. Her character voices are good, on the whole, although Mrs Bennett is too 'quiet' for me, but the narration of the non-dialogue parts is too fast. Anyway, I've returned my copy to Audible and I'm now going on with Bleak House - I'm nearly 15 hours of the 37 total done.

Finally, John Lenahan has released The Sons of Macha in audio format. And, so it it that I have started listening to the weekly podcast of the last book in The Shadowmagic Trilogy at long last.

I'm just finishing up The House of the Spirits but Isabel Allende (okay old recording), and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett.

I'm definitely starting Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City next, as it's a library loan that will expire soon. Not sure what I'll start next for my kitchen audiobook.

Finished "Permanent Member of the Family" and started " The Perfect Ghost ".

I'm 1/3 of the way through Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger with an Introduction by Larry McMurty; narrated by David Aaron Baker, Scott Sowers, with the Introduction narrated by Henry Strozier.) It's rather curious: The section that Scott Sowers narrates sounds really old, like it was taken from an old master. Not only is the sound bed noisy, but there is booth noise, page turns, and even a repeating sentence! I wonder if this is actually an old recording with new material (the Introduction by Larry McMurty, which is tacked onto the end.) As for the story itself, I don't really get the humor: It's like pseudo-Twain satire of the old West; but I'll persevere. Maybe it will grow on me.

I just started Way of Kings, very good so far. I just discovered audible, delighted!!

Tried to start See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid, but it's read by the author and she's full of those sibilant hisses that cause me pain (in a very literal sense, unfortunately). Starting Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women instead.

I've also started The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld book. I just listened to the book that preceded it (in the subseries about Tiffany Aching) and Stephen Briggs' voice has certainly aged just in the six years between the recordings.

Enjoying The Incredible Human Journey written and read by Alice Roberts. Fascinating look at human evolution and how humans spread across the world, adapting to the various environments and adapting the environments to themselves.

I'm listening to Between the World and Me which is narrated by the author as though it were one long poem. I am enjoying it, although the reader's lack of inflection makes it a bit difficult not to drift off now and again. It is a very short book, and may be worth listening to a second time.

Listening to Illuminae, which is working well for me as an audiobook, even though it is a very visual read. I expect there will be parts I will want to see, but since I generally find it more difficult to read visually variant text like this (or graphic novels) it seemed like a good way to go. Will report back after I've finished.

Finished The Perfect Ghost and today started Think of a Number.

Yesterday, I finished Be Frank With Me: a novel, which was well written, with excellent narration, after getting used to Frank's robotic (autistic) voice. Unfortunately, however, the storyline required a significant amount of suspension of disbelief. I'd read another by the author, as this was her first book.

>22 Seajack: I've sorta been noticing books with autistic spectrum voices. Will look for that one.

I've just started Bolivar: American Liberator, which is read pretty well, and I'm still listening to The Shepherd's Crown.

23 2wY: Tavia Gilbert's interpretation of Frank's voice makes sense. I got the book from the library, but I'd recommend an Audible credit if you can't get it that way. After a while, to let Frank know she was joking, Alice takes to saying "knock, knock!" to a literal followup from him.

Just started Commander in Chief by Mark Greany. It is the latest in Greany's Tom Clancy continuation of Jack Ryan adventures.

Sloughing off as sampled, not finished

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Tried it because the film version is coming out, but I found Anne Rice wordy, repetitive, boring and inaccurate, as I did when I read one of her vampire novels, back when my adolescent daughter was enthralled by her.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I like her Raven Cycle, but found this one unengaging. No real meat to the story in the first disc.

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, also by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce. SUPER annoying narrator's voice and a cast of characters that seem stolen from Saturday morning cartoons.

Which drops me back to only one audio book in reserve. Just started The Poisonwood Bible. Kingsolver is jaw-droppingly awesome. I recall this every time I read her stuff.

Re-listening to Beauty Queens (written and narrated by Libba Bray.) After having listened to it earlier this year, I knew it was something I wanted my own 13-yo daughter to listen to; and this Spring Break road trip has been the perfect opportunity! She's loving it (and so am I!) There's a lot more I'm catching now, the second time around, both good and bad: I'm catching more of the jokes; but I'm also hearing more mistakes as well (e.g. mispronunciation of the word, "wizened.") Still a solid 4-star listen!

Had a quick listen today with Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman. I've been a Cushman fan since I was a kid, and was over the moon with her considered portrayal of disability. It's one of the best portrayals of disability that I've read, and certainly the best with a historical setting (the main plot has nothing to do with the disability, though it impacts how she goes about things).

I'm going to focus on my kitchen audiobook The Shepherd's Crown before I start anything else on audio.

I have just finished Way of Kings, AMAZING!!!

I'm listening to Silas Marner now, and Shadows of the Workhouse.

I'm listening to Extinction Horizon by Nicholas Sansbury Smith and narrated by Bronson Pinchot. Pinchot is fine, although I've preferred him in other books he's narrated, but the book itself is really bad. Sort of a man-made zombie apocalypse book, which you have to take with a grain of salt ordinarily, but this is just too much. Flat characters and the whole premise becomes eye-roll inducing. I won't be continuing in the series. I'd have given it up if I wasn't close enough to the end. He'd have been better off explaining it with magic than trying to use science.

I'm enjoying Brooklyn by Colm Toibin,

>28 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I loved Beauty Queens, although I read it instead of listened to it. I expected it to be pure, escapist fluff, but it was both bitingly funny and surprisingly insightful.

I'm working through Shadows of the Workhouse, read by Nicola Barber, who I'm not a fan of as she tends to lower her voice far far too much. Audio publishers really need to teach readers about stage whispering (and stage yelling).

Also planning to start Bellwether by Connie Willis today. The reader is Kate Reading, and she sounded good in the sample.

>34 mabith:, Bellwether is a very good listen. It's one of a few I go back and revisit when I want something with both humor and intelligence.

Finished Illuminae, which was a very satisfying listen. Even though there were a few places where I rolled my eyes at the purple prose, the story is well told with twists you do not see coming, and the audio version, with its multiple cast, is excellent. It's composed of many short segments, so was really good for listening in the car because it was suspenseful but easily interrupted. I liked it enough that I went and bought the hardcover, because I wanted to see the visual presentation, which is also really well done.

>35 aviddiva: Great to know! I've loved everything I've read by Willis, though I don't think they've been gifted with the best audio readers (a couple really really annoying voices in Blackout and All Clear, and an agonizingly slow reader on Doomsday Book though luckily I could speed that us).

>36 aviddiva: I'm eager to try that one but the local library doesn't have audio or hardcopy of it. Which version do you think is best? It may have to move higher up the wishlist.

>38 Peace2: Depends what you like. There is a visual dimension to the hard copy that the audio just can't include, and if you are intrigued by non-standard page graphics you will want to read this, since it really adds to the story. If you are like me, and have trouble reading graphic novels and divergent text formatting, you may prefer the audio, which is very well done, and gives distinct voices to the characters and tasteful sound effects that really help the listener picture the action. Both are very good.

I finally wrapped up Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger; narrated by David Aaron Baker and Scott Sowers; with an Essay by Larry McMurty narrated by Henry Strozier.) I almost bailed about 1/3 of the way through; but I'm really glad I stuck it out and listened to the whole thing! The story is about Jack Crabbe, a sort of Zelig-like character who lives through life in the 1850s-1870s alternately with the Cheyennes and with white people. His life culminates with his taking part in, and surviving, the Battle of Little Big Horn. Berger wrote a satirical novel about the American Old West that was meant to deride or mock the myth of that particular era of American history; and in a way he succeeds by turning over a few rocks in his research and incorporating them in his story: The avarice, ugliness, the moral equivocations, the dirt and smells. But while he tarnishes the myth, he makes those same historical events more real and relatable. The figure of Custer in particular takes on more depth than the cartoonish character that he is often portrayed as. At the end of the story, there is an essay by Larry McMurty that validates many of the thoughts I had about the book, and is definitely worth a listen (Don't worry, it's short!) The narrators do a great job of conveying their respective characters; and Scott Sowers especially turns in a remarkable performance. That said, there were production issues that drove me a little crazy: There are booth noises, mouth noises, page turns, breathes, and a repeating sentence in Sowers' section (the main part); and Sowers' section also doesn't quite match up quality wise with that of David Aaron Baker (who plays the role of the interviewer - small sections at the beginning and at the end of Crabbe's story) and of Henry Strozier (the McMurty essay.)

Now I'm listening to Sweetland (by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) - It's lit-fic novel about a Canadian on an island. The government is attempting to buy everyone out; but Sweetland (the name of the man and the island) is one of two remaining holdouts. John Lee seems to be clipping through the narration at a brisk pace. I'm not sure how I feel about that right now. I can't make up my mind if he's saving me from getting bugged down; or if he's getting in the way of my savoring the language.

I finished China in Ten Words, which was read well. I'm most of the way through Vengeance Road, a historical YA western, which diesnt have a bad reader but I'm pretty sure she's not native to the setting so the accents are very stereotypical cartoonish. Really fun book though.

I just started The eye of the world.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. Not thrilled with the narrator, but I suppose he suits the main character, who is a smart-mouthed teen.

Been out of town for several weeks; my dad was in the hospital. I lent him my portable dvd player so he had something to entertain himself while laying in bed. So, got off track on The Poisonwood Bible. With 99 tracks on a disk and my new Sylvania machine incapable of saving my place, I'm giving up on it for now. Listening to Under the Tuscan Sun, and glad I snatched it up from the library's discards, as I have nothing borrowed on disk at present. I so so want to visit Italy before I die!

I finished listening to The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff, and found it more interesting than some other readers did. On another popular review site, readers seemed to think it was a boring novel. I'm glad I listened to it despite some negative reviews.

I've just started Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, and it is off to a good start.

I finished up Sweetland (by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) last night. When all was said and done, it was just an "okay" novel. A seventy-year old man, Moses Sweetland has lived on an island his forefathers founded many generations ago. Faced with the prospect of resettlement, he lives with his memories and ghosts. Present-day scenes merge nicely with the flashbacks; but overall I can't say that it was as evocative, sad or even comic as the publisher's blurb made it out to be. 'We, the Drowned' (by Carsten Jensen) and 'The Solitude of Thomas Cave' (by Georgina Harding; coincidentally narrated byJohn Lee as well) immediately came to mind in terms of the tie-in between land, sea, and man; and there were some stylistic points that the three books share as well (though I can't divulge them as that would be terribly spoilerific!) John Lee's narration was rather brisk, and at one point I had absolutely no idea WTF he was talking about despite having rewound the audio several times! I had to go to the print edition to figure out what he was saying as he had barrelled right through the passage :-/

I've just queued up 'Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated By Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin.)

I've started My Brilliant Friend for my main audiobook and Tombs, Temples, and Hieroglyphs (read by Lorna Raver, who I quite like) for my kitchen book.

I just got back from a really hard trip, so I'm not doing well with my audiobook listening, in terms of being able to pay close enough attention.

I'm listening to the sixth Flavia de Luce mystery The Dead in their Vaulted Arches written by Alan Bradley and narrated by Jayne Entwistle. This is the first time I have listened to one from this series; I've read the others. Entwistle sounds very much like I expected Flavia to sound although she is maybe just a tad too mature. Mind you, Flavia is a very mature 11 year old. I'm loving it.

I gave up on Lilac Girls, just not the right book for me right now despite a beginning I liked.

I'm ready to start Fangs Out, the second in a mystery series by David Freed. Not great literature, but fun. I enjoyed the first book, Flat Spin, which I read rather than listened to.

I'm listening to The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. This is one of my favorite series and listening to the audio is such a nice way to revisit it.

I started the second book in a YA fantasy trilogy, The Cracks in the Kingdom. Moriarty has built a pretty original world, which I really appreciate. I meant to listen for an hour or so and then start my print book, but it caught me so I've been listening all afternoon.

>51 mabith: Sounds interesting.

I got to the section on recipes midway in Under the Tuscan Sun. If I recall, the second half of the book is a travelogue and food/restaurant review. The renovation of Bramasole is the best part of the book, for me. Quitting it for now as my supply of library audios has been replenished.

Starting the third Inn Boonsboro - The Perfect Hope and then I'm done with Nora Roberts for a good while.

I've started listening to 'Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated By Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin.) The novel is set in Trinidad in the post-war (WWII) era; and he story so far (I'm about 25% of the way in) is about a young woman struggling to make ends meet while she takes care of her two younger brothers. She has a suitor, an Indian policemen who has turned to the local obeah for a love potion of sorts, to help him win over the woman. The narrators are okay. Neither sound like they are native; but not for lake of trying. It's kind of weird: While I'm listening to it, I'm totally into it; but once I turn it off, I feel this reluctance to return to the story. I'm not sure why that is exactly...

Listening to Shonda Rhimes's Year of Yes: How to Dance it out.... It is entertaining and good for drive time listening.

I had a brilliant listen to Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America, and it was largely a positive, cheerful book (unlike so much LGBT related stuff, even among more modern fiction).

Now really enjoying The Battle of Hastings by Harriet Harvey Wood, which is helping put the Anglo-Saxon period in England into better focus.

Finished The Ghost Brigades and I'm now listening to Before Midnight by Rex Stout.

Started a vampire fantasy, Blue Bloods. Narrator is Christina Moore, whom I really like. So far, she makes up for a few of the author's shortcomings. Characters are likable, but not truly believable; and plot premise is deliberately and annoyingly obscured.

Almost done with Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare, not read all that well by Vikas Adam (difficulty doing a variety of voices and women's voices especially).

I get so discouraged by how few books in translation are made into audiobooks. This was the only full length novel by Kadare I could find in audio, and I don't know of any place to easily search for this specific category of audiobook. Audible is semi-useless beyond France and Germany. They have "World Literature" category, but it includes all of the books also in their European Lit, British Lit, Greek and Roman lit which vastly overwhelm everything else (particularly anything beyond western Europe).

Finally getting around to Lost Lake by Sara Addison Allen. It's not my favorite of hers, because I think it has a few too many subplots, but the narrator is good, and the evocative quality of her descriptions always catches me by surprise.

Finished Philomena by Martin Sixsmith this morning. Now I have Queen Elizabeth II: her life in our times by Sarah Bradford in the car and starting Johan Theorin's The Asylum in the house (which I'm not sure is going to be a good fit for me).

I'm listening to The Paris Wife which is the fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway's marriage with Hadley Richardson. Most of the action takes place in Paris or other European locales. There are some fascinating accounts of the expats who lived in Paris in the 1920s like Gertrude Stein, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, John dos Passos et al. The Hemingways seemed to be very much in love at first but, although I am not yet finished, I gather Ernest developed other interests. I'm not really a fan of Hemingways writing and this account isn't changing my mind.

I've started a re-listen to Blackout by Connie Willis, which I'm enjoying just as much the second time round.

>62 mabith: I really enjoyed the audio of Blackout. Glad to know it holds up to a second listen. I read All Clear in hard copy because I was too impatient to find out what would happen to go at an audio pace.

I finished Lost Lake, which was sweet, but rushed a bit at the end to wind up all the different subplots. I still think there were just too many parallel story threads going on, and as a result none of them were quite developed enough, which is a shame because they were all quite interesting. Janet Metzger did a lovely job reading it, though.

I've just started Leviathan Wakes by James Corey, which is a different sort of story altogether. So far, so good! Only complaint is when they speak in a made-up dialect, I find it hard to figure out what the "words" are without the visual cues provided by the written language.

After two weeks of avoiding my iPhone player, I finally decided to DNF ‘Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated by Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin) just shy of the half-way mark. It was the story of a seamstress and a policeman in Trinidad in the 1950s and 1960s who seemed unable to disentangle themselves from each other, even when they didn't seem to really like each other. It just wasn't working for me: The story had a couple of dramatic scenes, but whatever dramatic tension or energy those scenes had, was short-lived; And too I felt like I was sorting through the characters' dirty, sordid laundry. The audiobook narrators were clear in their delivery; but neither were native Trinidadians; so their accents, while providing some color, seemed a bit forced.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
Fellside (by M.R. Carey;narrated by Finty Williams)

Fellside (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Willams) - A modern day ghost story about a woman convicted of murdering a little boy. She is sent to Fellside, a maximum detention prison on the Yorkshire moors where she is haunted by the little boy's ghost. Though it has more psychological elements than 'The Girl with All the Gifts,' there's plenty of action (And yes, at one point, I was screaming at my iPod, "NO JESS! DON'T DO IT!!!" - so I think it's pretty safe to say I was pretty engaged with the whole thing!)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (written and narrated by Neil Gaiman) - I read thins in print a couple of years ago; so there will be no surprises plot-wise; but a performance by Neil himself is always a pleasure!

I'm listening to Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost and narrated by Tavia Gilbert. The story is pretty interesting so far and the narration is amazing.

I finished Leviathan Wakes and am now listening to Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey. Liking this series a lot.

Had my granddaughter with me this weekend and we've been listening to Peter and the Starcatchers while in the car. She's much more engaged than I am. I'm finding the story too drawn out, and the back story of the Starcatchers is awfully thin. Halfway through I'm thinking this is not a worthy addition to the Peter Pan universe.

Started Rebels and Traitors by Lindsey Davis (one of her only breakaways form Ancient Rome, it's about the English Civil War). Finally starting The Warmth of Other Suns after a few years on the to-read list.

Having a slower simul-listen re-read with a friend, Mister Monday by Garth Nix. I love this series SO much.

>66 tottman: I got stuck on that series and had to listen to them all, even the spinoffs! Though a lot of it was very silly and paranormal romance is not for me, Tavia Gilbert was great. A not-guilty unpleasure.

>70 wifilibrarian: I picked it up on one of audible's "first in a series" sales. I'm liking it enough I'll probably continue the series, but I will definitely seek out more books narrated by Tavia. She did a Q&A on GR a while back and was very generous with her time, answering a lot of questions. She seems like a very interesting person.

My daughter fitted me up with an old iphone and her husband's audible account. Yay! I can finally listen to James Marsters reading Ghost Story.

And then a grueling session at my local library, where the techie librarian helped me download the OverDrive app so I can borrow audio files and listen to them in the car.

I thought all this new technology was supposed to make our lives easier.

I'm listening to The End of Your Life Book Club and it is really good, other than the fact that my reading "wish list" has expanded exponentially as a result. Many of the books that they talk about I have read, but many more I have never heard of, and they all sound excellent!

Last night I listened to the first few minutes of The Fever of 1721, which I was lucky to win from LTER. It sounds like it is going to be both interesting and informative.

I just finished The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, which gave me several crying fits. It's a long book, but well worth reading and I would highly highly recommend the audio edition. Robin Miles is such an excellent reader, able to do so many distinct voices.

I am currently listening to Alice Munro's The View from Castle Rock. Since it is based upon stories from Munro's own family, the Laidlaws, it is more autobiographical than other books although I know I have felt that many of her other stories were based on her own life. I was not keen on the narrator for the first couple of hours because she persisted in trying to give a Scottish accent to much of the dialogue and it wasn't a very good try. Now that the Laidlaw family has been in Canada for a few generations there is no need for the accent and I am enjoying it much more.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (written and narrated by Neil Gaiman) - I read this one in print a couple of years ago, and thought it was okay; and was convinced to try it in audio as it is a favorite of a friend of mine's. This is one of those audiobooks that's actually better in audio than in print. NeilHimself narrates with all the poignancy, nostalgia, and Other Worldiness that the story needs to make it truly breathe to life. The audiobook is so much more than the slender novel, which I admittedly had underrated as an adult reiteration of 'Coraline'!

I'm currently halfway through The Troupe (by Robert Jackson Bennett; narrated by Luis Moreno - This was another favorite (of yet another friend of mine); but I'm not as enthralled with it as he is. The author apparently hasn't met a simile he didn't like. The heavy usage of "like," "almost as if," "Seems as if, " etc. is like the hammering of those little tiny IKEA nail-tacks into my listening soul... Still, it is a unique plot involving a Vaudevillian troupe and the remnants of a primordial song... The narrator reminds me of a younger Malcolm Hillgartner (narrator of Neil Stephenson's, 'Reamde').

Sycamore Row (The Jake Brigance) - narrated by Michael Beck. Great book - Love Grisham but this one might at the top of the list. Michael Beck is also a great narrator! I will look for more books read by him. :)

The Troupe (by Robert Jackson Bennett; narrated by Luis Moreno) - The story is a bildungsroman about a sixteen-year boy who joins the Vaudeville circuit to find his father. Based on picture on an old flyer, he tracks the man down and joins his father's troupe of players. The group has four acts, the last of which is the performance of a unique song; and this song is the *raison d'être* for the troupe's existence... Man, when it was good, it was really good; but when it was bad it drove me crazy! The story was original, fascinating, and challenging; but the heavy-handed use of similes vandalized the plot. The narrator did a great job with a couple of the male character's voices; but seems to be sort of out of sync with the internal meter of the book (maybe because of the way the story was broken up with all the similes?); and a couple of the voices didn't ring true, especially that of the young mulatto girl from New Orleans (She sounded just like the protag of the story both in tone and style.)

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing; narrated by Simon Prebble - The true story of Shackleton's Trans Antarctic Expedition is an amazing story. Lansing's compelling narrative and Prebble's masterful narration are a perfect match. This will not only become a part of my own personal Pantheon of All-Time Great Audiobooks; but one that I know I will re-listen to again; and recommend without reservation to everyone.

I am now listening to The Water Seeker narrated by Will Patton. Patton does James Lee Burke's audiobooks and he is so perfect that now when I am reading Burke's books I hear Patton's voice in my head. This book is about settlers along the Platte and Missouri Rivers so Patton's voice is again perfect.

The Warmth of Other Suns was amazing, with Miles being a perfect narrator choice!

I'm Tavia Gilbert's #1 fanboi, so all praise for her excellent to hear.

40 Tanya: I loved Strozier's reading of Goodbye to a River.

I've started The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma, which is read well so far, as my kitchen audiobook.

Also started (and nearly done with, it's very short) the early vampire classic Carmilla, which is read by Megan Follows, the actress who played Anne in the 1980s Anne of Green Gables mini-series. She's a good reader, but I think it was a weird choice. The narrator has always lived in Germany but her father is English and it would have made more sense to have an English narrator. I looked up other books she's narrated and I'm sad to see she did an abridged version of a few Anne books (I'm a judgy book person about abridged books, particularly when the originals aren't all that long and don't really have extraneous information, like with some super-long classics).

Agree about abridgements. Why mess with perfection? It's usually a botched edit.

Finished We Never Asked for Wings this week. It was an odd novel, hard to categorize, but it did make me tear up several times.

Now listening to Dresden Files 14 Cold Days. It seems bloated with too much description and departures. Very different from the sleeker Ghost Story.

>81 Seajack: Many, many years ago, I worked at Arena Stage; and got to see Henry Strozier perform in some amazing plays, including 'A Walk in the Woods.' He left Arena the first season I was there though, and I hadn't thought that much about him until the Ocean Spray commercials started airing! Now that I see that's done a bit of work for Recorded Books; I'll see what else might appeal! :-)

I just finished listening to Heart of Darkness (by Joseph Conrad; narrated by Kenneth Branagh.) The story was much more caustic in tone and raw in setting than I remembered it as having been; and it's hard not to picture 'Apocalypse Now' while the story spools out; but it's a rich evocative story more than capably narrated by Kenneth Branagh. I know celebrity narrators can be an issues; but he told the story with just a touch of color, without over-doing it.

I'm now listening to SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (by Mary Beard; narrated by Phyllida Nash.) The material is fascinating, carefully examining the "evidence" that we have for the narrative as we know it inre Ancient Rome. Unfortunately, the text obviously has illustrations (references to painting, statues, etc.) that can't be accessed while you are driving; and in taking a peek "Inside the Book" on AMZN, there are other pictures, and lengthly captions that are missed in the audio edition :-/ Phyllida Nash has a rich, cultured voice not unlike Judi Dench's; but the audio file has been processed poorly - sometimes stripping out some of the richness of her voice; and applying the "gating" a bit too heavy-handed (this is when the ends of the words may sound complete, but there 's a "snip" effect right after.) I'll continue to listen; and at the same time put a hold on the print copy at the library.

>84 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Phyllida Nash is one of my favourite readers - she does an excellent job on many Georgette Heyer's - but I changed to print for SPQR, too. There are quite a few illustrations and maps that you miss on audio. On the whole I don't find audio to be a good medium for non-fiction.

>85 CDVicarage: I agree about NF not being great in audio; and I usually shy away from NF audio for the lack of the illustrations and maps. That said, three NF audiobooks that I would recommend without reservation: In Cold Blood (by Truman Capote; narrated by Scott Brick); Columbine (by Dave Cullen; narrated by Don Leslie); and Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (by Alfred Lansing; narrated by Simon Prebble) - Though admittedly, during and after listening to those audios, I did look at a lot of other related materials online, especially images. I think I may bail on SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. I feel like I'm missing too much as this point :-/

>85 CDVicarage: & >86 Tanya-dogearedcopy:. I listen mostly to non-fiction on audiobook. Granted most of what I listen to is popular nonfiction written by journalists. I listen while I am driving, and I miss a lot of nuance listening to fiction. Whereas the journalistic style, stating the main premise and then providing increasing levels of detail, seems to lend itself well to that kind of listening. You don't miss much if you have to turn your attention away for a second or two.

>86 Tanya-dogearedcopy:. I'm putting Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage on my wishlist. Thanks!

>87 vwinsloe: Recently, I've felt a need to "level up" in my reading and listening. I read/listen to a lot of Western material (i.e. Books written in English not specifically Westerns!) I'm starting to turn to more translations, Classics, and Non-Fiction. I like author-narrated autobiographies; but really groove on the narrative NF over the expository. With the expository material, I do better with documentaries. Maybe as time goes on and I listen to more in this genre, I'll be able to train my listening brain to it! For awhile though, I might need the print to go along with it.

I find non-fiction and fiction pretty equal via audio, but it depends on the book. Some fiction with frequently shifts and a zillion characters is just too hard. Likewise non-fiction history that's very un-chronological. I bought SPQR from Audible, but I'll probably keep it, assuming the narration is something I can listen to. I figure I'll check out the print edition from the library when I start it and have that to refer to.

Almost done with 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea, and I've gotten a bit farther into The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma.

I've listened to some great non-fiction audios and some that really haven't worked for me at all. A recent success was Queen Elizabeth II Her Life in our times by Sarah Bradford which suited the style very well. Sometimes I don't get all the detail but it depends on what I'm listening to on how important that is. In that respect it's the same as fiction - sometimes missing a detail or two is crucial to the whole thing, other times less so.

I'm currently struggling with Flight by Elephant by Andrew Martin and is the account of Gyles Mackrell and various others as they escaped from Burma to Assam via the Chaukan Pass using elephants during World War II. I'm not overly enjoying the narration. I think the actual style of writing isn't working for me either at the minute - constantly jumping around between different people, locations etc. I don't want to give up on this but it's a bit of a struggle to convince myself to continue each time.

Recently finished"finder's keepers" by Stephen King then " A purple place for dying" . Now into " The water seeker".

>86 Tanya-dogearedcopy:. I've started listening to Endurance Shackleton's Incredible Voyage and I am captivated. Thanks for the recommendation!

Finished Magna Carta by Dan Jones, started The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters (I largely adore Barbara Rosenblat's reading of this series), and I'm getting near the end of The Fishermen and a re-listen to Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix.

Phew.

I started Far From True by Linwood Barclay. Very engrossing.

I am listening to The Twelve narrated by Scott Brick. I read this when it was first released but needed a review in anticipation of the final book of the trilogy The City of Mirrors.

I've just started The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir. It's my year for extra long audiobooks, I guess.

Also have a re-listen to Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix, which a friend.

I'm almost done with The Life We Bury. It's sad and has violence, but it's also very good.

Having enjoyed the author's book The Lonely Polygamist, I enthusiastically started listening to Brady Udall's The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. I'm only a few minutes into it, but liking it so far.

I wasn't sure about Walking the Kiso Road, author's travels along a famous historical Japanese route. However, Brian Nishii's narration is really brining the story to life!

I found the discussion about fiction vs nonfiction in audio interesting. I just did a quick check of the audiobooks I have catalogued on LT and only about ten percent have been nonfiction. Having said that those ones are some of the books I have remembered the best including The Soloist, Tipping Point, The Outliers and Being Mortal. However I think it really does depend on the subject. I recently started the audiobook of Missoula, an exploration of sexual assault in a college town in Montana, and after listening to about an hour decided I could not stand to hear any more. I do still want to read the book but the audio format just was not going to work for me.

Right now I am listening to As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, the seventh in the delightful Flavia de Luce myster series. Absolutely delightful.

I finished Far From True by Linwood Barclay which was outstanding. Now I'm listening to The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence and narrated by my favorite narrator, Tim Gerard Reynolds

I listened to the very short Find the Good but was underwhelmed. Last night, I listened to the first few minutes of Stephen King's End of Watch, and it's getting off to a good start. I enjoyed both the earlier books in the trilogy.

After The Historian, I listened to The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (very good), and The Argonauts, a series of essays by Maggie Nelson revolving around motherhood, gender identity, and labels.

I've reached the halfway point in my kitchen audiobook, The Life of Elizabeth I, and I'm about a third of the way through The Bell Jar, which is read well.

I've finished Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. The story was good, but it was narrated by a multiple cast, which was somewhat problematic. There are six main characters and seven readers, who change by chapter. This makes for a somewhat uneven reading. Most of the readers are very good (there was only one whose overacting I found annoying) but the change in voices from chapter to chapter is distracting. I thought it would have been better to have one (or at most two) male readers and one female reader. I did become invested in the story and will probably listen to the next book when it comes out. Now I'm listening to a delightfully whimsical children's fantasy by Andrew Peterson called On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. If you took a traditional fantasy about three normal children who may be more than they seem, add a tiny bit of Tolkein, a dash of Neal Gaiman or pinch of Lemony Snicket, lightened with a decidedly quirky sense of humor, you might get this book. Although where it's headed seems fairly predictable to an adult reader, the way there is quite enjoyable. It's very well read by Peter Sandon, and it's the first of a series.

Finally finished listening to The Graveyard Book (by Neil Gaiman; Performed by a Full Cast) - This is a story about a toddler who escapes his death at the hands of a murderer, and ends up in a local graveyard where he is raised by its inhabitants. All the elements were there: A star-studded cast (including Derek Jacobi and Neil Gaiman himself,) original music and, an interesting story; but it fell short of being a great listen for me. The pacing is very deliberate and even, lacking a liveliness that I would have expected from a British production. Some of the lines are difficult to discern because of special effects; and the music, composed by Tori Amos is performed on a banjo (a uniquely American instrument.) It was okay; but in this case, I think I would have liked to have read it in print and imagined everything instead.

Currently listening to Shroder (by Amity Gaige; narrated by Will Collyer) - This is the story of a guy who assumes an elite American surname, and eventually kidnaps his daughter. Basically, this is a thinly fictionalized account of a chapter from the real-life story of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller.) I just started, but the narrator is doing a great job so far.

I finished listening to End of Watch, the last of the Stephen King trilogy, and was not disappointed I am now listening to Inkheart, read by Lynn Redgrave. I love her reading but am not enthralled by the story, at least not yet.

About halfway through The Curve of Time, which is DEFINITELY better as an audiobook, one of those where the narrator does such a great job that I keep forgetting it's not the author herself (who'd be around 120 years old now).

Just started listening to A Man Called Ove last night and it really hooked me. Pretty sure I am going to love this one.

>108 gypsysmom: I was prepared to not even like that book and NOPE. Sucked into it and loving it pretty much right away. I thought the audio edition was quite well read.

I've just started A Brief History of Seven Killings, despite feeling like I wanted a break before starting anymore really long audiobooks (it's 25 hours...). Also currently listening to The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire and having a simul-listen of Lady Friday by Garth Nix with a friend.

Just started Hyperion, multiple readers, so this will be different for me.

I finished Inkheart, and loved Lynn Redgrave's narration, but didn't love the story as much as I thought I would. I've started listening to Watership Down, which I read years ago but have never listened to. I needed a comfort read.

>111 TooBusyReading: I would be interested in hearing your reaction to Watership Down. I listened to it a couple of years ago and I had also read it years before. I won't tell you my reaction but only say I had a different response to it as a mature reader than I had as a younger reader.

>112 gypsysmom: So far, I am enjoying it, and I think the narrator is very good, but it isn't having the impact it did when I first read it. I do enjoy hearing the words I didn't know how to pronounce when I read it.

>110 davisfamily: just finished Hyperion, really enjoyed this production and think I wouldn't have enjoyed reading the book as much. If you do enjoy the multiple readers then the Dune audiobook has some amazing voice actors, and a little but of atmospheric music, but I really liked it.

I'm listening to A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh which is so-so. Next up is The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware.

I'm listening to His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. Yay! I've found a new series to love.

Finding eerie similarities to current events in the audiobook that I am listening to now. In the Garden of Beasts.

>116 2wonderY: This is a great series to listen to on audiobook. Simon Vance, the narrator, does a wonderful job.

I am now listening to The Dressmaker which is the story of a young survivor of the Titanic. It is quite interesting.

Just over halfway through Troublemaker, actress Leah Remini's story of leaving Scientology. I can only listen in 30 - 60 minute increments (it's six hours total), as she has a very ... intense delivery, but that's not a bad thing at all!

Started The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. Not particularly happy with the reader, but he'll do. Also having a re-listen to Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier and on to Superior Saturday by Garth Nix in the on-going Keys to the Kingdom series re-listen.

I think I'm going to make all my kitchen audiobooks re-reads for the rest of the year.

Listening to the novel The Long and Faraway Gone, parallel stories stemming from two (real life) incidents that happened in 1986 Oklahoma City; story is set in 2012. Excellent narrators, although I think I prefer the male protagonist a bit more. Reviews indicate the narratives converge near the end of the book. Style is very close to that of Gillian Flynn, so her fans should get into this one.

>122 Seajack: I've got the paperback version of this one sitting on the shelf to be read, so I'm interested to see your thoughts on it.

How to Train Your Dragon (How to Train Your Dragon series, Book #1; by Cressida Cowell; narrated by David Tennent) - Hiccup is the less-than robust son of a Viking chieftain. His hopes are simple - simply not to be embarrassed when it comes time to capture and train a dragon; and to be an ordinary hero of the clan. The story plays out a lot differently than the movie of the same name; but is no less entertaining! This is definitely a children's book; but its humor and narration by David Tennent make this a fun listen, and appropriate for a family road trip. The only caution here is the the variance between the narrator's whispering and the interstitial music between chapters is so great that you may feel a need to ride the volume control to make sure you hear everything or don't get your ears blasted out respectively!

I started listening to The Last Colony by John Scalzi. These books are a comfort read/listen for me. I love this universe.

I've got three on the go -
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is my in the house listen (when I'm ironing or pootling around doing things that are not brain intensive)
Summer Daydreams by Carole Matthews is on my mp3 player for when I'm walking home from work (unfortunately due to inclement weather of late this is progressing slowly)
Russia A 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith is in the car - makes me want to spend more time in the car, so it'll probably come into the house before too long.

I'm listening to The Secret History by Donna Tartt which is read by the author. I think she does a good job even though five out of the six main characters are male. Set in a college in Vermont in some time before cell phones and internet the plot involves a group of friends who are studying Greek literature. We learn right at the beginning that the rest of the group kill one of the members and the remainder of the book (at least as far as I have gotten in it) is the back story about what made them do it. I think I would find these kids impossibly vain and stuck up but Tartt gives them enough human foibles to make them acceptable (if you discount the fact that they are murderers).

I finished The Long and Faraway Gone recently. Wyatt's story was excellent, Julie's was "meh" I'm afraid. The plotlines don't converge at all, except for a couple of chance run-ins between the two characters. Otherwise, they're stand-alone, more united on the theme of Oklahoma City then vs. now.

Now I'm partway through Miss Hargreaves, an inter-war British comedy (almost farce). Story drags a bit when the title character is offscreen. Narration is good, except ... he tends to speak in almost a whisper for text and main character's interior thoughts, suddenly reverting to normal volume (which seems LOUD) whenever dialogue appears!

I am listening to My Life on the Road which is Gloria Steinem's memoir. It is read by Debra Winger, although I am not sure why, since Steinem herself does an excellent job of reading the introduction.

So far it is exceeding my expectations.

I'm half way through Lilac Girls and I may give it up. The American, Christina, is given too much coverage in her tame New York life, compared to the other two characters, and I don't really care for her. The emotional tone of the other two women is bizarrely monotonous as well.

There are several minor factual inaccuracies that make me less willing to suspend my unbelief in the rest of the tale.

It's an odd un-likable book.

Started listening to Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. Liking it so far. Just getting into the story.

About two-thirds of the way through the novel Not Working, often compared to Bridget Jones though the main character isn't as likeable.

I've listened to the first two Temeraire series books, His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade. Characters are lovable and the writing is solid. Simon Vance is always a pleasurable listen.

Just now finishing Magic Bites. Yikes! Very full of gore and blood. I like the characters though, so I will try the second book in the series.

My daughter gave me an iphone and I'm getting the hang of downloading - even on the road. Less likely to run out of audio choices.

I am listening to Time Untime by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I never really listened to fantasy but found her books to be good reads for my commute :) Love the narrator too! Holter Graham

Schroder (by Amity Gaige; narrated by Will Collyer) - Eric Kennedy isn't exactly who he says he is, and as he extends his custodial visit with his daughter, his past comes down to bear on his present. The story holds up very well until the final section, which did not tie in well with the rest of the narrative, and included a metaphor about glass that is rather bemusing. It's a story very closely similar to that of Clark Rockefeller, and it is surprising to see that the author neither acknowledged the case, and very pronouncedly included the Fictional Character disclaimer. The narrator did a great job of inhabiting the character in this story told from the first person point of view; and voicing the character of a little girl as well. (3 stars for the story; 4 stars for the narration)

I just started The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen.) I knew nothing about it going in, other than GuildedEarlobe named it as one of his #AudiobookPantheon titles, "A book and a performance I cant forget." I'm an hour in, and it seems that the protag is a Christian missionary about to head into space! So far, it's more religious than I like; but we'll see how this rolls out. The narrator is British, and in portraying the British main character and one American character so far, shows an amazing facility with both characterizations.

I've also started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (by J.K. Rowling; narrated by Jim Dale) - My daughter actually intensely dislikes Harry Potter, but has hate-read the first four books in the series because she wants to know what other kids are talking about. When it came to book five however, she just couldn't deal with it; so asked if we could listen to the audiobook edition in the car rides home from school. We're only about an hour into this one as well, and I have to say, Harry is behaving badly enough to make be want to bitch-slap him; but I'm sure it will all work out :-)

>135 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I think everyone hates Book 5 Harry. And really, that's when I think Rowling starts getting too concerned with making the books more literary. I like how the first coupled retained the feeling of having been told rather than written.

I'm re-listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for a new bookclub I've joined. I've also started the novel The Mathematician's Shiva.

I've just started listening to The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. The reader, Robin Miles, is excellent.

I got this audiobook from the library, but I also own the hardcover. I am thinking about trying to listen/read the book in tandem, since I only listen in the car a few hours per week. Has anyone done that? Is it too hard to find your place when switching from the written to the audio materials and back?

If this works out, it is something that I may do more frequently with long books.

>135 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I liked that Harry was a normal hormonal adolescent. His impatience and attitude rang true.

>137 vwinsloe: I've tried that, especially with long involved plots with lots of characters. But mostly, I will visit the hard copy after finishing a full listen, to pick up on fine points and find the quotations that I admired.

I've just finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll read by Scarlett Johansson who did a pretty good job of it - I enjoyed this relatively quick listen (less than three hours) while I was baking and cooking yesterday. My current walking audio book is The Crow Road by Iain Banks by Peter Kenny which is okay so far.

Next up will probably be The Crowded Shadows by Celine Kiernan which is the second part of a trilogy that I started listening to earlier in the year (March).

I'm listening to Emma at night for comfort, My Time (a cycling memoir) during commutes, and Pimsleur German 1 on dog walks. I recently finished The Gravity Between Us and The Climb (another cycling memoir).

>130 2wonderY: I'm late to the party, but I gave up on reading Lilac Girls because it just didn't appeal to me at all, and I was bored. I didn't make it halfway.

I was bored (see a pattern here?) and not impressed by Stephen King's book The Gunslinger, the first book in his The Dark Tower series, but I was encouraged to give the second book a try, and now I'm hooked and listening to the third book, The Waste Lands.

I'm giving The Aeronaut's Windlass a second try and enjoying it. First time around there were too many similar fantasies on my shelf. I particularly like the occasional feline POV.

Since my last post I finished The Secret History by Tartt, listened to and finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman which was also read by Gaiman, started Heart of Darkness while knitting and started One Summer: America, 1927 written and read by Bill Bryson while driving in the truck. All of them have been terrific with the biggest surprise being Heart of Darkness because I was turned off Conrad by having to read Victory in high school.

I just recently listened to Heart of Darkness (narrated by Kenneth Branaugh) earlier this year. I grabbed it when audible was having one of their sales. I was wary of a celebrity narrator; but I was pleasantly surprised!

I also listened to The Ocean at the End of the Lane (this one I used a scribd credit for) right before Summer began. I had read it in print before; but was kinda "meh" about it. I listened to it because a friend of mine had listed it as one of her favorite audios so I thought I would give it a second chance. I'm so glad I did! I thought Neil Gaiman lent it just the right touches of nostalgia and sincerity without going overboard. I don't automatically like everything NeilHimself narrates; but this time I did :-)

I've just started Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama and Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution.

I loved The Humans which is about an alien coming to Earth to stop us from progressing so we don't muck up the rest of the universe but he begins to enjoy our species despite our contradictions and violence. The narrator was great and it was really fun book too, I love the way he disdainfully says "humans" over and over.

I just finished fifteen dogs about Hermes and Apollo giving a group of dogs human level intelligence. It sounded super fun but I did not like at all. It was read by the author which was good for the dog poetry part but I thought he really got dogs wrong. They were incredibly violent and much of the book was spent explaining how each dog died horribly.

I just learned Amazon Prime members can now get some Audible books for free so I'm trying to decide which of those next.

>146 fikustree: He certainly got dogs and humans wrong. Where was the love? Definitely an over-rated book.

Hmmm. Now I have to find The Humans.

I'm listening to The Innocents Abroad, read by Grover Gardner. It's one of Twain's travelogues. He doesn't get up a real head of steam till they reach Rome, and then it's hilarious. Gardner also reads The Complete Autobiography of Mark Twain, but the key word is "complete." Done with disk 2 and we're still in the introduction. Sigh. Too much scholarly effort there.

And I'm listening to Black Powder War, book 3 of the Temeraire series. Simon Vance lends his wonderful voice.

I'm in the middle of The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen.) It was recommended to me by a hardcore sci-fi audiobook listener, so I was completely caught off guard by this story of a Christian missionary sent to an outpost somewhere "out there." There is a sense of unease underlying the mission, and is all the more underscored by the slow pace thus far. I have to admit I'm a little weirded out by the religious tenor of the story; but I think I'll stick with it anyway. The narrator has a calming British voice that handles the accents demanded of the American characters extremely well. The voices of the other species are challenging and sometimes difficult to understand; but that's the way it's supposed to be, so no complaints per se other than you have to listen closely to those lines of dialogue.

> 2WonderY IIRC, the first section had a lot of the editorial history; but there are also smaller stories like "Joan of Arc" imbedded in it. Some people want to blow past the first part, finding it boring; while others find it helpful when they get to the rather haphazardly-constructed Autobiography itself. I found it a mix of both boring and interesting... In volumes two and three of the print edition there are Introductions as well; but in the audio they don't bother anymore...

>fikustree Now I want to check out 'The Humans' too! ;-)

>148 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Yeah, I gave up on the print version of the autobiography, but it did have the benefit of being able to thumb through and skip what I wanted to skip. Less facile on audio, but I hoped to enjoy some cranky Twain.

> 2wonderY Hmmm. Now I have to find The Humans.

There is actually a fantastic minor dog character in The Humans and I enjoyed the book even more because of him.

Just finished Ghost by Alan Lightman and have started Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver.

I finished Hidden Figures about the black women computers at NASA (there's a tie in movie or tv mini-series or something), which was very good, and the audio was well done.

Now I'm into Hitler's Forgotten Children, about the Lebensborn program which took children away from parents in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere and gave them to German parents. And I'm still working on my kitchen audiobook, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution.

I finished The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen) - This is a story about a Christian missionary sent to an outpost on another planet in order to proselytize to the natives there. Because of this premise, it is tempting to draw a comparison to Mary Dora Russell's novel, 'The Sparrow' ("Jesuits in Space"); but TBOSNT is more firmly seated as Christian fiction. The thoughtfully-written prose is mesmerizing, if a bit slow in tempo (albeit, this underscores the sense of unease you intuit from the start of the novel.) Pastor Peter Leigh not only must minister to a population whose comprehension of the Gospels is difficult to assess, there are the added issues of his handler, the sponsoring corporation who eliminated his wife from coming along, the wife who sends messages of Earth's developing collapse embroidered with her own insecurities, and the question of what happened to the last pastor... The novel requires a bit of patience in accordance with how secularist you are; but it's hypnotic and intriguing. Michel Faber has stated that this is his last novel, which is a shame. I think I would actually like to have seen a sequel or companion piece to this one. As far as the audio goes, Josh Cohen (British narrator) performs the role of Peter and his American colleagues (both male and female) with consummate skill. The Oasans (the natives of the planet) present a unique challenge: Their physiological makeup makes communication difficult. The studio that produced the audio took a risk by slightly enhancing Cohen's voice in some places and it pays off more or less. You have to listen carefully, and you still might not catch on to what exactly they are saying; but it works in context.

I'm just about to start The Shining (by Stephen King; narrated by Campbell Scott) - It's been decades since I read the book or saw Kubrick's film (I don't think I watched the TV series) so my recall is sketchy: A snow-bound hotel, Cab Calloway, REDRUM, and Jack Nicholson trashing a door with an ax... So basically, it's been so long, that it's all new-to-me now!

Just finished Halfskin boxed and started Shogun.

I finished listening to Nothing Short of Dying which was pretty good.

Now I'm listening to Too Like The Lightning which is a little more involved and demands some concentration to understand the world and what's going on.

Listening to These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman. Interesting having 3 narrators. I am enjoying it very much... a great way to spend the 1.25 hr commute to and from work. :)

Finished H is for Hawk which was read by the author but felt pretty meh about the whole thing.

I'm onto The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, which doesn't have a great audio edition but it's bearable. Also started Spectacles, Sue Perkins' memoir, as my kitchen audiobook.

I wrapped up The Shining (by Stephen King; narrated by Campbell Scott) - The iconic horror story of a man who heads to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He's a recovering alcoholic attempting to salvage his writing career and dignity while also providing for his wife and son. This is a potent admixture of the real and the surreal, of madness and sobriety. This is #VintageKing, the guy who makes you live the dream and the nightmare, and wondering which is which! There are some pop psychology references, dated social conventions, and some cringe-worthy pejorative terms or expletives - all sustained within the book's context; but showing the story's age a bit. Campbell Scott delivers the story with a subtle but effective range.

Currently listening to (half-way through) The Underground Railroad (by Colson Whitehead; narrated by Bahni Turpin) - This is the story of a slave named Cora who runs away from the owners of a slave plantation in Georgia. I usually wait about 5 years before hitting up an Oprah pick or hyped bestseller; but for some reason, I thought it was important to read/listen to this one now. At first, I was like, "WTF?! The Underground Railroad wasn't literally a subterranean train! And a thriving progressive safe haven for blacks in the Antebellum South Carolina?!" It's like all the horrible things you think can't be true are really true, while all the great things are too good to be true... Oh. Wait. Got it. Well played Mr. Whitehead, well played! Bahni Turpin narrates with a slightly clipped and measured cadence. There are a couple mispronunciations that the narrator makes (e.g. "victuals" should be pronounced as /vit'ls/) which is a little distracting.

>159 Tanya-dogearedcopy:. Thanks for the mention of The Underground Railroad. I saw another passenger reading it on my commuter train and wondered about it. I think that I will have to give it a listen.

I am currently listening to To See Every Bird on Earth which is in part a biography of the author's father, but mostly a fascinating view into the world of birders and "big listing." Birding is something that I have recently become interested in, and I had no idea about what a fanatical following it has.

>159 Tanya-dogearedcopy: My daughter gave The Underground Railroad a rave review, so despite Oprah, I'm gonna have to read it.

I've begun Listen Liberal —or— What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? Interesting stuff, but maddening.

Today I decided to keep my temper and listened to fiction. The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam is just okay. It seems I've been encountering a rash of modern books which have main characters that don't engage me.

>161 2wonderY: I'd heard good things about The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam, but was disappointed by it. I didn't really care what happened to anyone in the book.

I'm listening to my LTER win, The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin, and am thoroughly enjoying it.

>162 TooBusyReading: Wow, that book looks promising!

Yeah, I let the electronic title expire from my device unfinished, with no regret.

Fikustree: I gave up on H is for Hawk eventually myself.

About an hour into the (YA) novel Mosquitoland - good narration, but not sure how I feel about the main character?

I'm thoroughly enjoying A Town Like Alice. I truly don't know why I waiting so long to read this book. BTW, I see that it's been narrated more than once. Mine is by Neil Hunt and he does a great job of it.

>165 2wonderY:. I loved that, too!

I am listening to And the Mountains Echoed. I'm almost to the end and despite initial misgivings about the accents, the readers were very good. Particularly the woman, an actress named Shohreh Aghdashloo, who has a lovely voice.

I've just started Doctor Sleep (by Stephen King; narrated by Will Patton) - The sequel to 'The Shining' that features Danny Torrance, now an adult and an alcoholic. There's a supernatural cult involved in this somehow, though it's a bit early to know its role in the story. Will Patton, who I adore as the narrator of the Dave Robicheaux series (by James Lee Burke) narrates a bit over the top (Seriously, Danny is just eating a sandwich! It's not that sinister!) but I'll get used to it ;-)

>157 fikustree: That's going to be my next listen! I'm part of a postal book group, and the book that I was sent was 'H is for Hawk.' Looking at the text, I really think that it's a story I would like to hear in the author's own voice, so I'm going to give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, I'll have the print on hand after all!

Just started The Ice Limit, with Beyond the Ice Limit waiting in the wings! Just finished up Black River by S.M. Hulse, narrated by the excellent George Newbern. Best thing I've 'read' in a long while. Recommended.

Enjoyed A Man Called Ove immensely. Great cast of characters.

Now listening to Empire of Ivory.

I just finished Doctor Sleep (by Stephen King; narrated by Will Patton) earlier today! Stephen King's sequel to 'The Shining' features Danny Torrance as an adult. He's a recovering alcoholic, hospice worker, and fated to another large-scale Shining event. At first, and through the first third of the book, I wasn't so sure about it, wondering if SK should've have left well enough alone; but by the closing credits, I had to admire the thoroughness of the story (King picks up details and themes from the first novel and expands them); and brings in a new terror to keep you up at night... I really loved Will Patton in the couple of Dave Robicheaux titles that he narrated; but here, he was a bit over the top, and pardon me for saying so, but a bit long in the tooth for my taste.

I just dnloaded H is for Hawk (written and narrated by Helen MacDonald) :-)

I just finished a biography of Thomas Cromwell by Tracy Borman which was interesting but very fact-filled and there was one of the narrators whose voice annoyed me (not the main narrator but one of those who read the 'quotations' of other significant figures).

Now I'm listening to When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall, I'm almost halfway through and while the narrator is fine (not great) I wouldn't rave about the story yet.

I just finished listening to The White Lioness, one of the Wallander series by Henning Mankell. Given that it is set before the end of apartheid in South Africa I treated it more as historical fiction rather than a mystery and that was just fine. In fact, there isn't much of a mystery to it; I guess I would classify it as a police procedural.

I am now listening to The Kitchens of the Great Midwest and although I haven't listened to much more than an hour I think I am going to like it.

Just finished The Girls From Ames (non-fiction about a group of ten women's decade long friendship). A good way into Marriage, A History by Stephanie Coontz.

Also over halfway through a re-listen of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, which I'm enjoying even more this second time around.

Listened to the first two disks of an urban fantasy, Defending Angels, but I'm not impressed. I'll give it another disk before moving on.

On my phone, I'm listening to The Geography of Bliss, read by the author. I'm dismayed by his generalizations, stereotypes and logic gaps. I've got the print book in front of me, and it makes better audio than print. Since Weiner is a radio correspondent, that certainly makes sense. But the material is, I think, meant to be ephemeral and entertainment, filling those program minutes with wordage. It certainly doesn't deserve it's popularity, in my humble opinion.

The reader for Marriage, a History has some ...interesting... ideas about pronunciation. If I were a reader coming across the name Pepys, I'd probably look up how to pronounce. Names especially are often not phonetic and when you're dealing with the English you know it's likely to be different. (I have ancestors with the surname Tallioferro, only they're totally English and it's pronounced like Tulliver.) I really hope Pepys stays out of the rest of the book, I can't handle another Pep-iss pronunciation.

Thank you to whoever mentioned downloading the app Overdrive!!! I have been baffled as to how to download audio books from the library and TA DA!! Now I can....thank you!!

I am currently listening to The Fireman by Joe Hill read by Kate Mulgrew, who has done a fantastic job. I have been listening to this on CD.

I just downloaded Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster - I'm a fan of hers and always enjoy her audio books. I also downloaded The One and Only Ivan which I hope doesn't involve tears!!

I'm so excited I can now listen to audio books from my phone for FREE!! Yay! Audible is expensive. Thanks again!

Finished The Ice Limit and its sequel... meh. Started Finding Jake.

>177 kittenfish: It wasn't me, but I do have an iPhone and OverDrive now too. My daughter thought I needed a second phone, so she gave me one on her plan. I just fumble along with it, but now I can be almost in the middle of nowhere and downloading audio books.

-the reluctant dinosaur

(I still keep my $30/month 'stupid' cell phone which I use for PHONECALLS.

I recently finished listening to The Daily Coyote which is a memoir based on a popular blog by a woman living in Wyoming who raised an orphan coyote. It raised some interesting ethical dilemmas and highlighted some differences in assumptions and perceptions of country versus city folk, but on the whole it was light and positive. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in wildlife or rural living.

Wrapped up Finding Jake and started Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis. I recently heard a movie is being made from another story in this collection, hence the re'read'.

Finished a quick listen of Jim Butcher's Storm Front. I finally got to the end of the Harry Dresden series, and tried both of his other new series. Wasn't caught by either and I was curious to discover what makes the Dresden story shine.

Started Pilgrim's Progress, but I think I'll be happier to read this one in print, going at my own speed.

I'm also considering that it might be the narrator, Robert Whitfield, I'm not particularly liking, so I've ordered three or four other versions from the library. I found, with The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, that the reader was important in getting the proper flavor of the book. I see that Whitfield is an old nom de voce used by Simon Vance. It doesn't have his distinctive voice yet.

I started The Secret Chord and really wondered whether to continue since it was so difficult to follow between the stilted arcane language and the unfamiliar names. I was one disk into the CD version borrowed from the library, when I found that CDs 2 and 3 didn't play, although 4 did. That was enough for me to return it to the library, and scratch it off my audiobook list. I have listened to several books by Geraldine Brooks and have liked them a lot, but this one was just too hard to get into on audiobook.

I finished H is for Hawk (written and narrated by Helen Macdonald) late last week.- It's a grief narrative and memoir that pulls the reader into the author's world of hawking/falconry. Helen MacDonald moves through her sorrow with a beautiful, mellifluous voice that recounts her time training a goshawk and through the layers of her psychic healing. Hypnotic, and truly interesting despite the seemingly esoteric nature of the subject matter. The author's voice is mesmerizing, the cadence echoing the action and rhythm of wrapping a wound with gauze: The narrative is in layers around the original hurt. Sometime the hurt bleeds through. Sometimes the narrative obscures. You can sometimes peek through the layers... It is perhaps no coincidence that Helen Macdonald mentions the wound on her fathers arm; or the scars on her own hands at the books conclusion. I had the print in hand; but went for the audio thinking that I would really love to hear the author's voice; and I made the right decision. The narration adds to the story. In print, it would be too easy to skim past some of the material about falconry and T.H. White (which are important layers); and break the internal meter of the text. There is something spell-binding about the author's voice in and of itself as well, keeping you with her and the story together.

I just started The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) - This one very well take me to the end of the year!

>184 Tanya-dogearedcopy:. I agree completely with your thoughts on H is for Hawk although I know that others disagree.

I've started The Emperor of Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which is maybe a little too emotional right now after re-reading the letters my maternal grandmother wrote when she was being treated for malignant melanoma which killed her when my mom was 14 or 15. The letters also deal with her older sister who died about a year before also due to cancer. I feel like I've always been holding my breath for the cancer to pop up in her descendants. It's read well by Stephen Hoye.

Also nearly finished with A Daughter's Memoir of Burma, which is read by the author.

Almost finished with About Grace by Anthony Doerr. Really enjoying it.

I've started Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. It's read by Patrick Lawlor, who would normally be fine, but even 60 seconds in I think his pronunciation is going to irk me. He keeps saying Appalachia just as spelled (within most, if not all, of Appalachia the last syllable is just pronounced -cha, not -chia). Being a West Virginian I find this so incredibly grating, and I don't know I've ever really heard it before. I've traveled over a good bit of the US and had friends from everywhere, plus being a documentary and US history book fan, so I hear it said by non-Appalachians pretty frequently.

My mother's family has lived in Upper Appalachia for generations (since 1887); and I had always heard it as /a-puh-LAY-ch(y)uh/; but have been often corrected since by others, both from other parts of the mountain range and outside, on at least three other "right" ways to say it, including /a-puh-LA-chuh/; /a-puh-LAY-chuh/; and /a-puh-LA-chee-uh/... TBH, this is one of those words, that so long as I know where/what the person is talking about, it doesn't bother me anymore :-/

Ha, my guess was actually that if they went with -chia anywhere IN the Appalachias, it would be in the upper areas. I'm not saying there's a RIGHT way, just that it's so grating to me personally and I really don't think I've heard it said that way before. I have a -latch/-laytch preference, I think most people do, but it's so common to hear both depending where you are within Appalachia that I wouldn't complain about that.

Though obviously since WV is the only state entirely in Appalachia our preferences should be heavily (Definitely kidding about that.)

I just finished listening to Darktown by Thomas Mullen which was very good!

Next up is The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. This one is narrated by Zachary Quinto and I'm really looking forward to it!

I just finished Dead Wake Wonderful!

Just borrowed Dark forest Cixin Liu from Overdrive looking forward to starting it.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling and I just finished Amy Schumer's....and I'm listening to another audio by Jen Lancaster

I guess I'm in a female comedic memoir kinda grove.....

I listened to Pacific: The Ocean of the Future written and narrated by Simon Winchester. Winchester is a great narrator and I already knew he wrote interesting nonfiction from The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything. Pacific was quite different from those two as it deals with the recent past. Winchester chose ten pivotal occurrences in the Pacific Ocean from January 1, 1950 on. That date is significant because it is when archaeologists consider the present as they date ancient objects using carbon-dating. Carbon-dating examines the presence of the Carbon 14 isotope which remained fairly stable on earth until the time atomic bombs started being exploded. That's just one of the nuggets of information I picked up from listening to this book.

I'm listening to Everyone Brave is Forgiven. It's my first Chris Cleave read. Wow! Skillful. Packs an emotional punch that feels authentic.

Finished listening to The Passenger by Lisa Lutz which was my first audio in a very long time. It really wasn't anything special, I guess a comic crime novel but a lot of wasted space. It took me a very long time to get used to the narrator and as usual I find when a narrator tries to do the opposite sex it often ends up sounding silly.

Now I am listening to a great audio book which is only three hours and I think it is a YA non-fiction book. It is called Stonewall and it is an account of the Stonewall riots in 1969 in New York. The
narrator is excellent and I am learning a great deal from the book.

About halfway through Bellman & Black.

Just finished Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's. Now working on Abhorsen, wonderfully read by Tim Curry, and Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women, a children's/middle grade non-fiction book.

Started today Bears Discover Fire, a collection of short stories.

Re-listening to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for my book club. The universe decided that I should do a lot of reading related to cancer this month.

>201 mabith:. I enjoyed listening to that as well as The Emperor of All Maladies.

Finished Bears Discover Fire and started Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Just finished Consciousness and the Brain, which was a bit too technical for my brain. Just starting The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba.

Also having slow-ish re-listens to Clariel by Garth Nix and Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier.

I'm Going Postal at the moment. It's kinda creepy reading about corporate and governmental machinations in Discworld while also listening to the news in ours.

Kittenfish: consider Agorafabulous as well if you're looking for funny female life stories (these galsarea bit young to have "memoirs"to me).

I'm tackling the 25-hour novel The Eustace Diamonds, which is going more slowly than I'd hoped, even with terrific narration. Alternating it with Everywhere I Look, which is interesting; author reads her own material well.

Currently into Revival by Stephen King.

Victory of Eagles was a swift listen.

I've got a wealth of choices next.

I don't ever like abridged books, but somehow ordered The Spellman Files (abridged) read by Ari Graynor and then, also clueless, ordered the full version read by Christina Moore. I'm so glad to have caught my error three discs in and switched to the longer version. Graynor's work was just okay with some occasional hitches and hesitations. I always love Moore. I associate her voice with younger characters than Izzy, but Izzy is immature for 28, so it works.

A little ways into Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. Not a great reader but bearable, and reads slowly enough that you definitely want to listen on a platform that lets you speed up the audio a bit.

Started today, Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker. Got the series, the ones by Parker, lined up. Read by Titus Welliver.

I'm struggling my way through Tell it to the Skies by Erica James read by Maggie Mash. If I wasn't so far into now, I'd probably give up, but as I'm regularly having to be out and walking and have gone to the effort of putting it on my player, I don't feel like I can give up at this point.

Not sure what's coming next (I need to go and look at my stockpile of audio TBR) but as the last few have been disappointments, i need to find something good.

I'm almost done with A Dog's Purpose. Is it an emotionally manipulative, overly sentimental tearjerker? Yeah, but I am enjoying it nonetheless. Any dog lover would.

I'm currently listening to Robbie Robertson's memoir Testimony. For a guy who dropped out of school at the age of 16 to play rock and roll he is very articulate. I've just gotten to the part where the musicians who would be known as The Band have split off from Ronnie Hawkins. Very interesting stuff.

Finished the Virgil Cole series by Robert B Parker. Started today"The Girl who drank the moon" which I won from LT early reviewers.

Working on Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation for a book club meeting tomorrow, and Liar Soldier Temptress Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

In the middle of Where It Hurts, first book in new series by Reed Farrell Coleman.

Halfway through Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which is as good as everyone says, and just started Farewell to the East End (one of the memoirs that Call the Midwife is based on).

I'm in the middle of Babylon's Ashes by James s. Corey, which is not my favorite in the series so far, but at least the characters evolve in this one, and since it's the sixth book, I'm invested. There are so many possible points of view by this time that it sometimes feels a bit scattered.

I am almost finished with VICTORIA by Daisy Goodwin. I am looking
forward to the PBS series presentation of this book which starts this
month. Apparently, a second season and a Christmas segment are
all ready in the works. I hope corresponding books will be available.

Almost finished with Make Me by Lee Child.

Also, working my way through: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

I'm in the middle of The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid which is really good so far. Great narration.

I've started Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South. Well done and filling in history that I should know, but don't.

Just started Catherine the Great, the big Massie biography, and I'm partway through my kitchen audiobook, Farewell to the East End.

Just finished Monica Dickens' story of being a (civilian) nurse during WW II: One Pair of Feet. Felt that the excellent narration carried the story over the content (okay, but not great), so advise listening to the funnier One Pair of Hands first (about her earlier jobs as a cook).

Moved on to the first in a new series Written in Dead Wax. Others have said they found the musical history and technical talk a drag, but I'm ok with those so far, with a likeable protagonist and good narration.

Finished Where It Hurts by Reed Farrell Coleman. Not impressed. Starting Canada by Richard Ford.

I finished one audiobook that I didn't think was very good (The Bridge of Sighs) but I have now started listening to The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood that has me hooked. Two narrators because alternate chapters are told by a husband and wife. Like much of Atwood's recent stuff it is a look at a future world where present conditions have lead to dire circumstances.

Finished Canticle for A Canticle for Leibowitz. I don't why it is so well liked. It was quite depressing, and very slow. Well read though.

Really enjoying Canada. Discovered a new talented narrator in Holter Graham.

I've started The Librarians and the Lost Lamp by Greg Cox and narrated by Therese Plummer. Seems like it's going to be a lot of fun. He seems to have captured the spirit of the characters from the TV show, but I don't think someone unfamiliar with the show would have trouble following along.

Started today, It Happens In The Dark by Carol O'Connell. Fallen behind in this series, got the next one lined up!

I'm working on Savushun a modern Iranian classic, and starting a quick listen of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.

Quickly finished The Princess Diarist, read by the author. It was only 4 discs. It was a enjoyable visit.

Just started Empire of Cotton, as kind of an adjunct inquiry stemming from my read of Our Man in Charleston

Listening to Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. I love Harry Dresden.. and the narration is wonderful!

'Just finished You Are Not Special In spite of the Debby Downer title it was incredibly inspirational. If you are interested in education, or have a high-school age child, read this one.

Working on The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and Reading Like a Writer. The latter was not given a thoughtful enough recording in regard to not being able to see spellings and such, so I don't recommend it via audio (but I'll be finishing it that way anyway).

Finished It Happens in the Dark. Somewhat disappointing so skipped the next one. Started yesterday, Tomorrow by Graham Swift.

Abandoned Empire of Cotton after the first disc. It was packed with information - too much for what I wanted.

Listening to Grave Peril and Born Standing Up.

This is a re-listen of the Dresden Files series. James Marsters is reaching his stride here. I noticed in the previous book that his enunciations were not as crisp as I've gotten used to. It may also be a better sound booth production.

Steve Martin reads his book, and I'm surprised at how monotone some of the sections sound. But then he brightens again.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. I love to listen to steam punk... and this has a full cast. Nicely done.... Enjoying this very much while commuting. :)

I've started the lengthy Middlemarch, the edition read by Kate Reading.

>240 mabith: Ah! Maybe I should have tried the version narrated by Kate Reading! I tried to listen to the version narrated by Juliet Stevenson a couple of years ago; but her beautiful, calm, cultured voice put me to sleep after a few minutes every single time! KR's voice has just enough of an edge to it that I could probably get past the first hour...

Finished Written in Dead Wax, which I'd rate as Highly Recommended. Promising start to a new series.

Now listening to the latest Gower Street mystery book The Secrets of Gaslight Lane. They've switched narrators for the U. S. edition, so am getting used to that.

>241 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I'm really enjoying Reading's reading of Middlemarch. She does some of the characters especially well.

Just finished Shakespeare, Bill Bryson which is narrated by Bryson and enjoyed it as much as his other books which is to say very much. Not very much is actually known about Shakespeare but Bryson fleshes out his life by talking about theatre design and Catholics and the Gunpowder Plot and Queen Elizabeth I and so on. Well worth listening too especially if you are a fan of the Bard of Avon.

Now I am listening to The Overlook by Michael Connelly, one of the Harry Bosch books. It is narrated by Len Cariou who is terrific.

Loved Middlemarch, and for an almost 32 hour audiobook it felt like it went by so quickly.

Now I've started Medusa's Gaze: The Extraordinary Journey of the Tazza Farnese and a re-listen of Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Into Robopocalypse now. Good narration!

I'm alternating between You are Not Special and The Half Has Never Been Told. Both good in very different ways. McCullough is mostly entertainment, with the occasional sharp point. The Baptist book is a devastating indictment of the roots of global capitalism.

Finished Robopocalyse and started The Light Between Oceans.