Robin P’s Comments (group member since Feb 20, 2014)

Robin P’s comments from the Audiobooks group.

Audiophile Archives wrote: "Started the year strong...group reading challenges speak to my competitive soul. Finished:

[bookcover:Tel..."

You might like the Seasonal Reading Challenge group here on GR. It has brought out my competitive side.

A Particular Kind of Black Man was well narrated but disappointing. The first section about the hero's childhood and his father's moneymaking schemes was interesting. But then it jumps to various times of young adulthood without much explanation. And in one chapter he tells us that he is an unreliable narrator, then he puts one chapter in 3rd person, while the rest is in 1st person, which is just confusing.

Many of us love the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn, delightfully narrated by Jim Frangione. Chet is an irrepressible canine who usually figures out the mystery before the humans do.

John wrote: " ...Guidall's reading the Jim Chee stories (via cassettes!) brought the Southwest "alive" for me long before I first visited.

Early in my audio days (on cassette) I listened to one of the series read by the author Tony Hillerman. He was so flat! Then I listened to George and it was a whole different experience. That's when I realized that great authors aren't necessarily great narrators.

Michelle wrote: "Kicking off the new year with First Frost from the Longmire series. Expertly read by George Guidall."

Yes, I only do that series on audio. I have liked Guidall since the 1990's.

I am starting Buckeye, which is a good, old-fashioned story, tracing several people over decades. The narration is very good.

Yes, I like the DC Smith series, and the audios are great. I have listened to 5 and bought all the rest at the recent Audible sale.

John and I both enjoy historical mysteries such as the Wrexford and Sloane series by Andrea Penrose and Detective Lavender by Karen Charlton.

I have been reading in print the legal thriller series about Andy Carpenter by David Rosenfelt. The audio would be great for capturing Andy's snarky but vulnerable personality.

I stayed away from the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French because they seemed rather dark, but at a friend's insistence I started them, and they are some of the best all around writing I have ever read/listened to. Each book can stand alone as they feature different main characters.

Earlier in the year I listened to Odd Partners: An Anthology. It's a collection of mystery stories from different series and with different narrators. I enjoyed the one with West Texas working-class Hap and his best friend Leonard, who is Black and gay. I finally got the first book of the series, Savage Season at the recent Audible sale. The narrator is great with the different accents.

Listening to Deadly Engagement - Mystery/Romance in Georgian England. I got it because I like the narrator, Alex Wyndham, and he is good, but the book has too many subplots - a murder, another suspicious death, a question of who is the rightful heir, blackmail, a second-chance romance, and a lot of characters. So I have no inclination to listen to more of the series.

The Second Chance Year is predictable but charming. On New Year's Eve, Sadie realizes it has been a terrible year, she lost her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend. Through a magical intervention, she gets a chance to relive the year and "fix" everything. Surprise - all her efforts end up as bad or worse, but she learns who she really is and what she really wants. The narration was excellent.

I love the Sebastian St. Cyr series, though I can never keep the titles straight because they all start with Who, What, Why, When, etc.

Her books can be quite different from each other, and vary a lot in length. The first book I read by her was The Bean Trees, is a coming of age story. The Poisonwood Bible is one of her most ambitious.

Her books always touch on social issues, some more obviously than others. She was questioned about why she did that and she said something about how she was writing about life and these issues are part of it.

When you have a credit balance and click on a book to buy. it subtracts the amount then, without telling you that's what it's doing. So a book was 2.99 and I had 1.11 left from my 15.00, it showedthe price as 2.88.

John wrote: "I believe the concern is that one must use every credit first, or they're lost."

That wouldn't be a problem!

Jan wrote: "Robin - I am not a member any longer and I have complete access to all my books and I'm able to download them to a device. Haven't tried downloading to my computer. I didn't realize you could do th..."

Thanks, good to know. I only put them onto the computer so that I can then download them to my iPod nano - best device ever for audiobooks, under 2 inches square, way less bulky than a phone while exercising, doing housework, etc. But it's a "dumb" device, I can't go from Audible to it. I used to keep all my audiobooks on my computer, but they take up a lot of space and I don't generally relisten. So I just download a few at a time and delete them afterwards.

I've been tempted sometimes to leave Audible for a while, as I have plenty of backlogged books, and see if they offer me some bonus or promotion to rejoin. If I leave, I would still have access to the books I bought, right? (Unless Audible decides to withdraw them, which is theoretically possible but rare). I wouldn't have access to the Plus catalog or current sales and specials, which is fine.

I wonder whether I would still be able to download books to my computer or if I could only stream them from the website.

There was an interview, I think on the Audible site, where Guidall explained that he randomly read a Western audiobook early on and after that he was sort of typecast. Tony Hillerman specifically told Craig Johnson to "ask for George" to read the Longmire books. Of course Guidall has done many other types of books as well.

When I was new to audiobooks (1980's on cassette), I got one of Hillerman's books read by the author. It was so flat! I learned that most authors aren't also great narrators. The same book was wonderful read by Guidall.

There is a LOT of talk about this around GR. I am in several groups where communication between mods and members or members themselves is essential to activities.

This particular group is less impacted but I can foresee issues where there is a problem and a member wants to privately contact a Mod, that won't be possible. It's still unclear if all links will be blocked in threads. I assume GR won't mind us linking to Audible, part of the empire. But linking to Audiobooks in the News and other outside articles might disappear.

In several of my groups, we did Zoom calls during the pandemic and some of us have even met up IRL. The community is what keeps us on GR, often multiple times a day.

The supposition is that GR doesn't want to devote resources to monitoring threads and/or related to the UK and some other countries passing new laws cracking down on minors getting on adult platforms and being targeted.

There is Mod Support group that has been discussing this at length. Some have tried to get straight answers from GR Help, only to be sent a bot message restating the original communication.

Yes, Guidall is the grandfather of audiobooks, I have enjoyed him since the 1980's.

I used my $15 coupon a week or so ago to get 2 books on sale. I should have been more patient!

If you like series, you may find some excellent buys.
The mystery series set in Laos 1970's by Colin Cotterill is 2.41 a book. Two modern English police procedural series by Peter Grainger are the same. Also 2 mysteries set in Fiji in 1914 by Nilima Rao.

In spite of my resolutions, I now have 28 books in my cart, averaging 2.75 a book. Not sure if I'll keep them all, or if I will find more!

Fine print - it is on till 12/8 - more time for me to add stuff and then reconsider!

Sale ends December 8, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. PT (US). Offer is available only to US Audible Premium Plus members (gift memberships and Silver plans included), is not transferable, and cannot be combined with any other offer. Percentage discounts based on non-member prices. Sale titles are not eligible for return. Offer is only available on Audible.com, Amazon.com, in the Audible Android App (versions 3.36+) and the Audible iOS app (versions 4.2+) for members. Audible reserves the right to modify or cancel the offer at any time. If you violate any of these terms, the offer will be invalid.