Audiobooks discussion

Starting the month with a great nonfiction title: The Restaurant: A 2,000-Year History of Dining Out.

I'm just finishing up the autobiography of Tan France, it's been marvelous: Naturally Tan.

Kicking off June with Menewood!

I’m listening to Captain's Fury - I’m traveling for work so haven’t had my normal audiobook commute time

Ashley Marie wrote: "Kicking off June with Menewood!"

Have you read book one yet - Hild? I want to read/listen to that first and then listen to Menewood. They are on my TBL, but a bit too far down!

Kathleen wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "Kicking off June with Menewood!"

Have you read book one yet - Hild? I want to read/listen to that first and then listen to Menewood. They are o..."

I did, earlier this year, and liked it very much!

Clocking in at 45 hours, Southern Man by Greg Iles is read by Scott Brick. Wow, the author really lets you know how he feels about Trump, QAnon, and MAGAs in chapter one. That is to weed out readers I think, Trump supporters won't get past that and will put the book down. So far it is great (10% into it).

My review of The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting House of Glass by, Sarah Pekkanen narrated by, Laura Benanti Pub Date Aug 06 2024

Finished up Class Mom this week!

Along with Menewood at the office, I'm taking the immersion route with Neverwhere before bed. I love Neil Gaiman's voice so much.

The audio for Dust Child is excellent because you get the Vietnamese pronunciations. Same for this author’s earlier book The Mountains Sing.

Listening now to The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War this is read by one of my favorite narrators Will Patton. Excellent so far.

I've been reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for the last month, and Im ready to be done. Its a long one, I have 15 hours left, from 55.

Gypsy12 wrote: "I've been reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for the last month, and Im ready to be done. Its a long one, I have 15 hours left, from 55."

I love The Fiery Cross, but then I'm a bit of an Outlander superfan. I look at each book as a its own saga.

Gypsy12 wrote: "I've been reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for the last month, and Im ready to be done. Its a long one, I have 15 hours left, from 55."

I like long books once in a while, but I understand getting bogged down and wanting a good book to end already. I have 18 left in Southern Man which is 45 to start with. That is about 3x the length of most of the books I read, at least. I'm not really intimidated by long books, but I will be reading some shorter ones after I finish this.

I read and loved all of the Outlander books too, but not in a row.

I finished The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi and enjoyed it.

Currently listening to The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf. Fascinating!

Just finished a fun rom-com The Paradise Problem. Not a life changing book but I wanted to post it here because the audio production was so good. The narrators were both a perfect match for their characters. Well done.

Robin P wrote: "The audio for Dust Child is excellent because you get the Vietnamese pronunciations. Same for this author’s earlier book The Mountains Sing."

I taught English to two brothers who were the grandchildren of a black American soldier and Vietnamese woman. The other Vietnamese students in the class had a distinct dislike of their biracial classmates. I had quite an educational experience understanding the 'bui doi' in Vietnamese culture. I'm putting this book on my TBL list. Thanks!

I have not enjoyed the few Plantagenet and Tudor books by Philippa Gregory. However, I really liked The Little House even though it's not a book I would typically like. I felt that the characters were mostly despicable and not even pitiable, but somehow it kept me engaged. 4*.

Also finished was The Italian Ballerina. This was an interesting WWII tale of saving the Jews in Rome. If it wasn't based on real events and places I probably wouldn't have liked it so much. I did find the narration confusing at times. 3.5*

I just started A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci and I'm hooked.

Listening to I Was Told It Would Get Easier this weekend!

Working on Sub Rosa: A Valerius Mystery, first in an ancient Rome series along the lines of Falco and Medicus. At 13 hours, it's quite long, and I'm a bit confused by the cast of characters, but managing. Valerius' sexuality could be handled a bit better, but interesting to see how the author deals with his crush on the cop (aedile) with whom he's working.

John wrote: "Working on Sub Rosa: A Valerius Mystery, first in an ancient Rome series along the lines of Falco and Medicus. At 13 hours, it's quite long, and I'm a bit confused by the cast of c..."

Thanks, John, I didn’t know about this series.

Robin P wrote: "John wrote: "Working on Sub Rosa: A Valerius Mystery, first in an ancient Rome series along the lines of Falco and Medicus. At 13 hours, it's quite long, and I'm a bit confused by ..."

I stumbled across it checking out new mysteries at Hoopla.

I finished up Captain's Fury - so glad I finally dug the first book in this series of my TBR

Next up is Symphony of Secrets

John wrote: "Robin P wrote: "John wrote: "Working on Sub Rosa: A Valerius Mystery, first in an ancient Rome series along the lines of Falco and Medicus. At 13 hours, it's quite long, and I'm a ..."

It's in the current Audible sale for 2.51 so I got it. That's the only one they have.

I am on a run of ho-hum books. Not bad but not good.

Home Is Where the Bodies Are - fine

After I Do - not the Taylor Jenkins Reid book I was hoping for

The Lions of Lucerne - meh.

I hate it when I get in a rut like this but it is what it is.

Listening to Love, Theoretically - which is light and so far cute.

My review of NecroTek by Jonathan Maberry

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finally finished I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons. It was okay, not what I was expecting at all. Surprisingly a little dark. I’m now listening to Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison

The narration of The Rachel Incident is very good, but I found it hard to be sympathetic to a 21-year-old making bad decisions about working, drinking, and sex, and not dealing well with the consequences.

I couldn’t get into Three Kinds of Lucky so I’m putting it aside for right now and starting up Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

I've finished A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci. I'll really enjoyed it. 4.5

Now I'm listening to Bad Debts by Peter Temple. It's an Australian mystery that was recommended in the NYTimes - I think. The Aussie colloquialisms are rapid fire and fun although I've had to do a bit of rewinding to make sure I heard them correctly. There is a lot going on with a number of characters and I'm thinking it might be a better read.

I finished Vagabond (Grail Quest book 2) by Bernard Cornwell this evening, read by Andrew Cullum. The narration was ok but the pauses between sentences did get on my nerves a little bit. The book was great.

Now I am reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban narrated by Stephen Fry. I have listened to the Jim Dale versions a long time ago, but the Fry versions were not available to me in the US, now they are on Audible. These are fun books. Stephen Fry is a great narrator.

i'm nearly done with Symphony of Secrets - never have I hated a character so much as Fred Delaney in this - to the point that I nearly wnated to skip every chapter that was his POV

I finished See No Evil, latest in the Abby Cooper/Psychic Eye mystery series by Victoria Laurie. It was well done and interesting but darker than usual.

I finished up Symphony of Secrets and am continuing with Bellwether. I'm about to start Running Home

Southern Seducer
by Jessica Peterson
Narrators Jason Clarke and Virginia Rose are good.

Cast into not-my-thing gulch.

I thought this would be sweet fun friends to lovers with characters finally both single at same time in mid thirties.

This is not fun. I was expecting fun.

She has post partum depression. He's retired football player looking at possible grim future because of head injuries. Both are on medication for depression. Good that they are being treated though I wish they would stay away from alcohol like they are supposed to.

Secondary characters, main characters to be in later book, arguing probably supposed to be funny but for me added to tension.

Even when things are going right, things go wrong often enough that I was never able to relax and just listen and enjoy.

After throughly enjoying the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz (and waiting for the next book in the series to come out in January 2025), I've started another enjoyable action/thriller series. I just finished book #4 in the Peter Ash series by Nick Petrie - see my review below, in case anyone else is interested in these types of books.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review of Codename Nemo: The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and The Elusive Enigma Machine by Charles Lachman

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

L J wrote: "Southern Seducer
by Jessica Peterson
Narrators Jason Clarke and Virginia Rose are good.

Cast into not-my-thing gulch.

I thought this would be sweet fun friends t..."

This sounds absolutely dreadful.

I finished up Bellwether - solid fiction - not her normal sci-fi which surprised me but the psychologist in me loved the concept of fads

James wrote: "L J wrote: "Southern Seducer
by Jessica Peterson
Narrators Jason Clarke and Virginia Rose are good.

Cast into not-my-thing gulch.
...
This sounds absolutely dreadful."

I looked at reviews after finishing the book and there were many praising the book.

I don't want "trigger warning" as such but depression and CTE/possible dementia future were major factors in the book and should have been mentioned in description. Have some empathy for those dealing with issues when doing description.

L J wrote: "James wrote: "L J wrote: "Southern Seducer
by Jessica Peterson
Narrators Jason Clarke and Virginia Rose are good.

Cast into not-my-thing gulch.
...
This sounds a..."

Yeah... it's a hard line. On one hand I don't want trigger warnings because it holds me in suspense. However, I read one once that in text, had extensive trigger warnings. In audio, had none. I barely made it through the opening chapter - so much physical abuse. It was God awful. I'm so glad I finished it, however, as it was a beautiful story.

We all have our issues that are triggering for us. Unknown to us is how therapeutic and healing some fiction books can be that we would otherwise avoid.

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "Gypsy12 wrote: "I've been reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for the last month, and Im ready to be done. Its a long one, I have 15 hours left, from 55."

I love T..."

Yes, It was so good towards the end. I'm ready for the next one!

My review of Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The audio of Whale Fall is wonderful. The narrator is a Welsh actress who has the right accent and can speak the few Welsh lines perfectly. It's a short book about an isolated island in 1938 and the outsiders who come to observe it. Interspersed are what seem to be recordings of island people telling folk tales and legends. I thought they were historical but they might just have been recorded for the book to sound echo-y like an early recording. I don't think this would be as effective in print.

Started Winter Lost by, Patricia Briggs narrated by, Lorelei King

I finished Neverwhere today - 5 stars, absolutely magical.

Onward to Project Hail Mary!

I finished Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs today. I started it last night and seriously wondered if I could finish. The early parts were a little confusing and then a lot creepy... trauma inducing creepy. Thankfully the story became more of what I expected and ended well.

I also finished Mean Ghosts by Danielle Garrett today. I enjoy the setting, the mysteries, and love the narrator. It had been a while since I read the last one so I had forgotten how aggravating the MC's ghost cat is. He is always snide and frequently obnoxious. The author apparently likes this character, but I find him so off-putting that I should drop this series. I find I don't enjoy stories about ghosts interacting with the main character who find it "hilarious" to startle them or talk to them with others around or show up at inappropriate times. I just hope I remember this fact the next time a book in this series comes out.