Indy’s Comments (group member since Feb 15, 2022)

Indy’s comments from the Tower Library group.

I'm starting to work through your recommendations using my library and the Overdrive app. My library didn't have "The Aleph and Other Stories", but they had "Collected Fictions" by Jorge Luis Borges. I just finished listening to "The Library of Babel" and was struck by the similarities to "Invisible Cities". I've listened to your reading of that soooo many times. Anyway, I just wanted to say I appreciate your work putting together this list.

Ann wrote:

"The narrator for Harry Potter was amazing."

I love Stephen Fry, but Jim Dale's version of Harry Potter is the definitive version and I will die on that hill.

Ann wrote: "I am not sure if I understand. Are you asking about a book set up in the audiobook format or what? Sorry.

I will say this...I listen to audiobooks daily on my drive or when I am cooking. I love th..."


Ann, the way you described Dracula is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! Thanks for understanding me even when I wasn't too clear. I listen to a lot of non-fiction books where there isn’t much dramatic emphasis, but you’re right. A good narrator makes all the difference. I appreciate it when a book is read by the author. I feel like they’re probably delivering the lines the way they hear them in their head. It’s also handy for all those words I don’t know how to pronounce. I recently finished Braiding Sweetgrass which has a lot of words and names from many indigenous North American languages. It was a rich experience to hear the author speak the words correctly and reverently.

I totally relate to what you said about audiobooks making dense books more accessible. I have a biography on Simone Bolivar that is a freaking breast. I couldn’t make it past the first few pages. A couple of years later, I ran across the audiobook version of it and found it very enjoyable.

What you said about listening to books you’ve already read is interesting. Do you revisit many of the books you’ve read or would you say you have a handful that you keep going back to?

Does anyone else listen to audiobooks? I'm listening to a collection of Katherine Mansfield's short stories (Had to after that Wellington Holidate). I really enjoy the stories, but the audiobook is kind of lacking. The chapters and stories aren't set up quite right so I thought I was listening to "The Garden Party", but it was "At The Bay". I didn't appreciate just how much goes into a great audiobook. So I was wondering, have any of you experienced an audiobook you think really does well in that format?

Thanks for getting the conversation started, Dawn! I'd recommend Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore. If you're not familiar with Christopher Moore, I'd describe him as a comedy writer with a mystical horror bent. Sacré Bleu uses some of the great impressionist painters as main characters. It's been almost 10 years since I read it and I still think about some of the facts and bits about painting included in the story when watching art documentaries.