Audiobooks discussion

New month - new thread!

Continuing from last month:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Clockwork Princess

Still loving every minute of H is for Hawk with about an hour left to go.

I just started Lolita, read by Jeremy Irons. Time to see what the fuss is all about.

I finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. It was just ok - not great, not bad. I didn't feel like the narrator's voice went with the character??

Next up is Black-Eyed Susans. Change of pace.

I tried Lolita but could NOT get into it and DNF....

Only a couple more hours to go on Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark narrated by, Jan Maxwell

Nancy,
Black-Eyed Susans is a great thriller and they are making a movie!!!

http://www.star-telegram.com/living/a...

Oh - good to know Susie!!! I've got an extra hour+ tacked on to my commute because I'm going to watch my daughter play basketball :-)

Listening to Blame It on the Mistletoe. It is really good and Jason Frazier is doing a marve!ous job of narrating. His voices are so distinct it actually sounds like multiple narrators instead of just one. Even his female voices sound like women and not a man trying to voice a woman. I will post my review later today. It is less than three hours long.

Jeffrey wrote: "Listening to Blame It on the Mistletoe. It is really good and Jason Frazier is doing a marve!ous job of narrating. His voices are so distinct it actually sounds like multiple narrat..."

I LOVE that book. Haven't listened to the audio yet though. Cute story.

finishing up A Christmas Carol

debating between Brave New World and The Return of the King next

Chrissie, in answer to your question about Atonement and "metafiction". That term can include a lot of techniques where the author reminds you in some way that you are reading a story, rather than leaving you totally inside it the way traditional fiction does.

I'm currently listening to The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader, and the narration by Madeleine Leslay is excellent.
This is the Bolinda version which isn't the same as the Audible one which has different narrators.
I'm in the middle of painting the bathroom and I needed a book which didn't have too many characters so I could still listen and keep track while also paying attention elsewhere.
This is perfect and even though I'm not at all religious myself, I'm really enjoying this and find the idea of it fascinating.

Just started Cleopatra: A Life on audio. it's really interesting however there is a strange pause on the scribd app its so long it makes me think the audio has stopped and then she starts back.

I started The Winter People this morning. I'm not far in but it's already suspenseful.

I finished A Touch of Crimson from the Renegade Angels series. It was a decent PNR read well by Luke Daniels, but Audible only has the first 2 books in the trilogy and the second isn't read by Luke Daniels. It's the sort of story I wouldn't mind having someone tell me how the trilogy comes out, but I'm not willing to invest the time necessary to read two more books even if the third was available.

Robin wrote: "Chrissie, in answer to your question about Atonement and "metafiction". That term can include a lot of techniques where the author reminds you in some way that you are reading a story, rather than ..."

Robin, I am reaching the end now and I understand exactly what you are referring to now by the term "metafiction". :0) I didn't know there existed such a term. Thanks.

Chakara wrote: "Just started Cleopatra: A Life on audio. it's really interesting however there is a strange pause on the scribd app its so long it makes me think the audio has stopped and then she s..."

I have considered Cleopatra: A Life many times. Still thinking! What worries me is that so little is really known about her, but I liked the author's Vera.

I'm about half-way through Stinger by Robert McCammon.

Here I was thinking this would be a pulpy 80s horror novel. It is, rather, a book about people with some prominent horror/SF elements. That's a good thing. I should have known, given it's McCammon.

HBJ

Finished a fairly good Librivox rendition of Growth of the Soilby Knut Hamsun.

I'm about to start M Train by Patti Smith. Really looking forward to this one. Seems like she reads really sloooowww.

I'm still reading The Secret Place by Tana French. Wow. This one is blowing me away. It's one of those novels that transcends its genre; not just a murder mystery but a character study. Although I'm still on the edge of my seat waiting to find out who the murderer is!

Finders Keepers. Stephen King, halfway through and it is very good thus far. Will Patton's narration is outstanding.

Re-listening to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, read by Stephen Fry, because it belongs in December. :)

Also, My Sister's Keeper.

Briar Rose wrote: "I'm still reading The Secret Place by Tana French. Wow. This one is blowing me away."

That's great to hear! I'm a Tana French fan, I've read all her previous books, but not this one yet and I have this one already to go on audio. She sure knows how to keep the suspense up until the very end.

Just finished Across the Universe by Beth Revis which overall including the dual narration was excellent.

Downloading as I write The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George.

Powder River Rose wrote: " Downloading as I write [book:The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George...."

I hope you like it more than I did! I was so excited for this one and ended up not liking it at all.

I finished Nightmare in Pink from the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. The writing is so good and I like the series, although I can't say this was a favorite. The drug-induced nightmare sequences were well done, but I like it better when McGee is on his feet and his brain is working.

I cannot get Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley, so instead I am listening to The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein. The audiobook narration by Susan Duerdon is just terrible! Of course that is just my personal pov. I tell myself I have to listen to the words and NOT how they sound. The narrator goes up in all the wrong places. One of the worst narrations I have ever heard.

I am determined to read about Mary Shelley(author of Frankenstein), her mother Mary Wollstonecraft(feminist) and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I have been listening to The Gargoyle. Some pretty graphic descriptions in the beginning, so I wasn't too sure about continuing. However, the narrator, Lincoln Hoppe, does a great job & I'm now about halfway in.

Jeanie wrote: "I finished Nightmare in Pink from the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. The writing is so good and I like the series, although I can't say this was a favorite. The drug-induced nightmare se..."

Yes! Glad that you enjoyed the book. IIRC, I also felt the nightmare sequence was particularly well-done.

Started The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith, narrated by,Cynthia Darlow, Julia Gibson and Christina Moore

Keep saying I'm sick of Harry Potter and Jim Dale yet I keep going and am well into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I'm a little less than halfway into the Black Dagger Legacy: Blood Kiss by J. R. Ward and narrated by Jim Frangione. It brings in a new group of younger vamps who are in training but includes a story involving Butch and Marissa. So far so good.

Chrissie wrote: "I cannot get Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley, so instead I am listening to [book:The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mar..."

I want to read as well..... my library has the ebook but not the audiobook... sigh

decided to start The Return of the King - so far enjoying it MUCH more than The Two Towers!

I just recently finished Circling the Sun by Paula McLain. I have not read The Paris Wife and only picked this up because my best friend really liked West With The Night back in the 80s. I thought the book was good, though I can't say I loved it. It's certainly worthwhile I suppose though the leading characters (real people I think) were pretty frustrating all around.

Now I have moved on to Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I read (in print) Gone Girl and liked it well enough. So far Dark Places is holding my attention. Not quite the (pretty abhorent) character types from Gone Girl.

The Bloody Jack series is definitely a better listen than read, I must say. Reading Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady on my Kindle just made me kind of annoyed. Oh well.

Finished Blame It on the Mistletoe and enjoyed it. Took one star off because of an explicit sex scene that was unneccessary IMO, but gave the narrator, Jason Frazier, five stars for his outstanding narration.

My review is up on Audible and Goodreads as well as my blog.

Grumpus wrote: "Finders Keepers. Stephen King, halfway through and it is very good thus far. Will Patton's narration is outstanding."

I had A LOT of problems with Patton's narration. I tried to listen to this book while on a treadmill and at the mall, two noisy places, and was very frustrated because he kept changing his volume. I was constantly cranking the volume on my phone up and down. I will think twice about listening to Patton again. And that creates another problem because King starts his next book in this series near the end, and Patton will probably narrate it!

Kristie wrote: "The Bloody Jack series is definitely a better listen than read, I must say. Reading [book:Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady|29..."

That particular book was probably my least favorite of the series, even on audio, because it's all about a girls' school, no sailing!

Crystal, please tell Audible you want them to make Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley accessible in an unabridged version. Maybe they will do it if many request it. And I hope it is also made available to those of us not living in the US or Canada. I always mention where I live when I request a book.

Robin wrote: "That particular book was probably my least favorite of the series, even on audio, because it's all about a girls' school, no sailing!"

Yeah, I wasn't a fan. I dropped it, and I probably won't pick the series back up unless my library gets the audio on Overdrive. (I don't tend to stick with many series' anyway...)

Kristie wrote: "The Bloody Jack series is definitely a better listen than read, I must say. Reading [book:Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady|29..."

I refused to read any of that series in print and even asked my library to buy one of the audiobooks for the library so I could listen to it instead :)

Kathleen wrote: "Grumpus wrote: "Finders Keepers. Stephen King, halfway through and it is very good thus far. Will Patton's narration is outstanding."

I had A LOT of problems with Patton's narratio..."

I do notice some production issues where his voice does seem louder at different points, but I don't think that's a narration issue. I'm listening at 2x speed and have not encountered anything that was a major problem. Maybe because this means I have only half the time to notice it.

Elmer Gantry Sinclair Lewis

Last month I finished Elmer Gantry. This book written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 is as meaningful now as when it was written. Having been raised in a Southern Baptist, full immersion, hell fire and brimstone, sweat and stomp church, I can easily identify.

For those that have not seen the movie, it is a good and fair representation of the book. The movie stops about half way through the movie with story of Sister Sharon Falconer. It is the perfect transition from novel to film. Burt Lancaster is Elmer Gantry. Shirley Jones does a remarkable portrayal as seduced flock member/fallen angel Lulu Baines.

Pines Blake Crouch

I am on the third book of the Wayward Pines trilogy. This was one of those audible sales that was recommended to me on this forum. Good Sci Fi series about suspended animation. I actually read it out of order and read the middle book first by accident. It is the best out the 3 and it is written well enough that I picked up the back story and didn't realize what I had done till I finished. If you like SciFi, I recommend this series.

Chrissie wrote: "Crystal, please tell Audible you want them to make Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley accessible in an unabridged version..."

Chrissie, They do have the book in the unabridged version http://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoir...

My library doesn't have it to borrow but audible does have it. I may use a credit to get it.

Bill, I love Sinclair Lewis. Main Street, Elmer Gantry and Arrowsmith were all great, and Babbitt was very good. Great works that expose hypocrisy.

I finished The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader and really enjoyed it. I gave it 4 stars.


There's a TV bookshow here (Au) and this week they had their top 5 selections for the year (in no particular order):
The Whites by Richard Price. Cop stories aren't really my genre, but I might give this a try if I can get it at the library.

Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski
She's an Aussie comedian, her father was an assassin in the war and she recently came out. I have this on hold at the library.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I'm definitely going to give this a listen, they said it was traumatic and you'd probably need counselling afterwards and several panel members said they cried. I'm definitely getting this one.

Relativity by Antonia Hayes. This one sounds fascinating too but it looks like the audio isn't out until May.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I've already listened to this and thought it was just OK.

❆ Crystal ❆ wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Crystal, please tell Audible you want them to make Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley accessible in an u..."

I get so damn mad. It is not available to people who live in Europe!!!!! Grrrr.

Chrissie wrote: "❆ Crystal ❆ wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Crystal, please tell Audible you want them to make [book:Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley|22294061..."

It looks like a new addition to me... There aren't any audible.com reviews yet, only Amazon reviews. So... maybe check back in a few weeks and they could have it.

Julie, no, they prohibit that too. I thought of getting around it that way and asked. They explained that if you try to give a particular audiobook and the person is not within the correct area the person can instead buy a book that IS available to them but not that particular book. My idea had been that I could give a present to someone and they give me a present, each of us using one credit. But it doesn't work. :0(