Audiobooks discussion

I'm starting off with two audiobooks in progress, liking both quite a bit ..

Nonfiction: The Germans and Europe: A Personal Frontline History

Fiction: The Other Side of Mrs. Wood

i also have 2 books in progress:

Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen and I, Robot

today I finished up Love and Other Words as well as Relic

Starting off the month with

Starting the month off with a non-fiction We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle narrated by, Janina Edwards

I'm finishing up Emma, as narrated by Wanda McCaddon. I'm fairly certain Wanda has narrated every Jane Austen audio I've listened to, and I'm more than content to keep the trend going; she really nails the various character voices :)

I am listening to Uncommon Type, read by the other who is Tom Hanks. As usual, the quality of the stories is uneven, but as somebody said after listening to The Dutch House, "Tom Hanks should narrate ALL the books."

I finished up Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid and narrated by Julia Whelan. Very interesting concept as the book follows what happens after a decision is made on night - BOTH ways. I will admit it was confusing at times and I had to rewind in a couple of places several times to figure out what was going on. But to hear how each path turned out was intriguing and the ending was very good.

Next up is The 6:20 Man - I love a good Baldacci book and this is a new series for me.

Audiobook: Hemlock by Kiersten Modglin

Ebooks: Awry by Meghan Ciana Doidge & To the Nines by Janet Evanovich

I really like one of Nicholas Sansbury Smith's sci-fi series, but I haven't been able to stomach any of his (many) others. The newest was no exception. Will I ever learn?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am also slogging through the fantasy Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, which seems like it should be delightful. It's going very slowly, although I might stick with it a bit longer.

I loved Tress, which is so much like the movie The Princess Bride. But I read it in print, so I don't know what the audio is like.

I finished Jane Austen’s Emma (3.5 stars, not my favorite but charming nonetheless) and picked up Katie Ledecky’s new memoir today in preparation for the Olympics!

Still listening to The House of the Dead. I didn't realize that this is a fictionalized memoir of Dostoevsky's life in prison.

Salvation war comes the closest to any book scratching that itch the Illiad did, its truly a work of Homeric art crossed with independence day and Carl Sagan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bise0...

I just finished Pageboy by Elliot Page—chosen because of Pride Month and Canada Day. Not the most exciting narration and a lot of explicit sex towards the end which is not my cup of tea but a story worth reading.

For non-fiction: I had started reading Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters but I ironically can't seem to remember much of it once I put the book down. I might switch to All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians as that just became available at my library.

For fiction: I'm about to start The Guest List by Lucy Foley.

Over the 4th of July I finished listening to What We Find; Robyn Carr delivered another emotion filled book.

I also started to listen to A Girl's Guide to Moving On; it has been awhile since I did anything by Debbie Macomber.

Usually we carefully plan what we are going to listen to in the car when traveling. Yesterday was no exception as we both agreed on X. He’d already read it and agreed to listen to it and I had saved it for trip. We tried it out two days in advance and found the heavy, very deep accent too difficult with road noise. After much searching of titles and negotiations we chose The Railway Man, the book version of a movie he enjoyed. The British accent was clear in the car when we tested it the day before.

Thursday morning we left home happily listening to it. Then the Audible app stopped playing it and said download error. Oh, oh. Over and over we tried to play it and even restarted the phone. We don’t have unlimited data so we couldn’t redownload it.

Now we’re driving and renegotiating the listen based on the personal choices on each of our phones. After agreeing, starting and then stopping two audio books because the narrator’s voice was not right with the road noise - we’d taken the older vehicle - we finally discovered an excellent book with an appropriate narration, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. We frequently stopped the audio just to discuss the stunning story.

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. We both highly recommend it.

Once we were in our hotel he redownloaded our original choice and I also downloaded it on my phone as a backup. We will test it today for our return trip tomorrow. So, instead of one long book, we will hear two shorter ones on this trip.

Kathleen wrote: "Usually we carefully plan what we are going to listen to in the car when traveling. Yesterday was no exception as we both agreed on X. He’d already read it and agreed to listen to it and I had save..."

Audiobooks can make travel seem faster, but your travel woes remind me of a few of the trips I've had and how technology and other factors so often conspire against us. Happy motoring and may the technology gremlins allow you to enjoy your book!

Yesterday I finished The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories, a Mage Errant Anthology by John Bierce. These are set prior to the events of the Mage Errant series and have little or nothing to do with the times and characters of the series, but these stories flesh out the world and sometimes give background on long-lived side characters. I enjoyed these stories and found the creativity of the world building and the stories themselves to be excellent in their own right. Except for the magic system I don't think anyone needs to know the Mage Errant books to enjoy these.

Kathleen wrote: "Usually we carefully plan what we are going to listen to in the car when traveling. Yesterday was no exception as we both agreed on X. He’d already read it and agreed to listen to it and I had save..."

Audible will glitch if you don't have the latest version downloaded. But the app doesn't remind you that there is one. I run into this a lot because I rarely listen through the app (I am one of the dinosaurs who downloads onto my computer and puts the book on a tiny iPod.) The times when I listen from the phone can be months apart so I have run into this several times.

My husband is a visual learner who doesn't enjoy audiobooks like I do. But years ago, I did get him hooked on the whole Aubrey/Maturin series that starts with Master and Commander. We will be taking a road trip in November and I hope I can find something he would like to listen to. Driving without a book seems like a waste of time to me, I even listen during 5-minute errands.

Kathleen wrote: "...Now we’re driving and renegotiating the listen based on the personal choices on each of our phones...."

I would love to listen to audiobooks in the car with my husband, but he insists he doesn't like audiobooks. However, per Robin's idea, he might go for the O'Brian novels, as he's read them MANY times. I can only try! :-D

Robin P wrote: "Driving without a book seems like a waste of time to me,"

Same here Robin.

I tried to get my husband to listen to audiobooks in the car on trips for several years. It finally worked after he started listening to podcasts on his own. He typically doesn't listen to audiobooks on his own, but this year he's listened to two so far. That makes me even happier.

Good luck Jan! Staring with a book he loves sounds like a great idea to win him over!

Ha ha, we are addicts trying to get others hooked.

For those whose husbands like O'Brian, they might enjoy these excellent audio books which we recently listened to:

Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Might also try C.S Forester if he liked O’Brien - the Horatio hornblower series

Finished We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle this was a tough one but important because I had never heard about this before and I'm guessing I'm not the only one!

Now starting Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts Narrated by Bahni Turpin Pub Date Jul 16 2024

5 stars to Just Add Water: My Swimming Life!

And now back to The Creation of Eve.

I'm listening to The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, the 1st book in the Marcus Didius Falco detective series set in ancient Rome.

I'm enjoying it, but as usual also have a paper copy to reference / read when I want. In this case, I'm very glad of that, as I sometimes get the Roman / Latin names of the characters mixed up. Easier to keep those straight when I am "reading" the book.

I really liked the section when he took a trip to Roman Britain, as for some reason Roman Britain has always fascinated me. I've made a few trips to England and try to search out Roman ruins when I go. Although I still haven't made it to Hadrian's Wall. Bucket list!

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "I'm listening to The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, the 1st book in the Marcus Didius Falco detective series set in ancient Rome.

I'm enjoying it, but as usual also have a paper copy t..."

If you haven't listened to the series starting with Medicus, I recommend it. It takes place almost all in Roman Britain with a couple books in Gaul and Rome.

Both of the books which I listed in message 16 are excellent and painful. After driving 400 miles of our return trip, I suggested that we listen to something lighter for our remaining hour plus, but that idea was turned down.

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "I'm listening to The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, the 1st book in the Marcus Didius Falco detective series set in ancient Rome."

Robin P wrote: "If you haven't listened to the series starting with Medicus, I recommend it. It takes place almost all in Roman Britain with a couple books in Gaul and Rome."

Both of these stories are most enjoyable.

Somewhere (I forget now) there is a change in narrators for the Marcus Didius Falco series? Still great stories tho.

The Silver Pigs is currently a free listen on Audible Plus, though not the sequels.

I finished White Wolf, a supplementary novle of the Demon Accords series by John Conroe. It seems an odd addition as it's from the POV of the side character stacia and covers about the first half of the series and then just seems to peter out. Maybe its point is to explain a relationship that develops, but that was covvered in a recent book--with less words--so I'm not sure what the point was.

Jan Mc wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "...Now we’re driving and renegotiating the listen based on the personal choices on each of our phones...."

I would love to listen to audiobooks in the car with my husband, but he ..."

Somehow I got my husband to listen to audiobooks in the car. He normally listens to news, sports radio or comedy. However, one year he was so engrossed in listening to Shantaram that he drove through a 'slow down men at work area' on a highway in upstate New York without slowing down. This resulted in a fine that was so costly he ended up getting a lawyer to get it reduced. Be careful what you wish for!

I agree with Robin - I listen on short errands too.

The 6:20 Man was a good Baldacci book - interesting storyline and characters (even if a few were a bit of a stretch to believe). Will continue with the series for sure.

Next up is The House of Eve

James is excellent on audio. An important point is that the diction and vocabulary of the character changes depending who he is with, and that is conveyed perfectly.

Robin P wrote: "James is excellent on audio. An important point is that the diction and vocabulary of the character changes depending who he is with, and that is conveyed perfectly."

The holds list at my various libraries is so long that I will probably end up using an Audible credit for it. I listened to Huck Finn in preparation since I originally read it eons ago. It was an Audible Plus book.

Recently started The Dalai Lama's Cat.
Book: The Dalai Lama's Cat

5 stars to Judi Dench's Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, beautifully narrated by Barbara Flynn and Judi's cowriter, Brendan O'Hea, with some lovely monologue interjections from Dame Judi.

I finished Rune Seeker 3 by J.M. Clarke and C.J. Thomson. I have liked the narrator in the past, but his limited character voice range is a problem for this series. Also, the story in this third book had a few uneven places and one that even made me stop reading the book for a while... nothing bad, just a section that felt so off within the story that I lost all momentum toward finishing. I did finish and it was good overall so I'm continuing reading on Royal Road but might not get the next audiobook.

I started a new audiobook on the border between apocalyptic fiction and nonfiction, Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

I finished The Silver Pigs. I give it 4.0*, and would have moved right on to the second book in the series ... because I THOUGHT that I had it in my library. But nope. I picked up the first four books in the series as free for my Audible subscription several years ago. However, as Robin said only the first book is free from Audible now. So even though the books were in my Audible library, I could no longer download them.

So I wishlisted the audiobook from my library and moved on to The Lost Apothecary.

I read Margaret Atwood's second book in the MaddAddam trilogy The Year of the Flood and found the music and singing to be just weird. The whole book had a strange feel to me, but the singing was over the top. I really liked book one, Oryx and Crake.

Then I read the Kwame Alexander trilogy The Crossover including The Crossover, Booked, and Rebound and liked that quite well for the age group it was aimed at. As an adult I generally don't read a lot of middle grade books but these were short and I finished them all in a day.

I'm currently finishing The Iron Druid Chronicles with Scourged by Kevin Hearne. I am ready for this series to end, but I have read this far so I will read book 10. That talking dog stuff is not fun anymore.

I'm listening to Hang the Moon written and read by Jeannette Walls. One of the few read by the author audio productions that I haven't hated.

A Touch of Malice has been a very interesting book!

Finished Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts narrated by,Bahni Turpin I enjoyed this one a lot! Vandy is an ex-cop now private detective whose cases are mostly boring until the murder of a young woman and Vandy has the case of a lifetime. There is a lot going on in this book from family problems to racism.

Also finished Read at Your Own Risk by, Remy Lai narrated by Samantha Tan and Vikas Adam pure spooky goodness your kids are going to love!

Now starting the upcoming What Have You Done by, Shari Lapena narrated by, January LaVoy, Jorjeana Marie & Barrett Leddy--Releases July 30, 2024

Doug wrote: "I read Margaret Atwood's second book in the MaddAddam trilogy The Year of the Flood and found the music and singing to be just weird. The whole book had a strange feel to me, but the..." I hear you on the Iron Druid Chronicles!!! I thought it was pretty good but quit - and didn't last as long as you!!!

The House of Eve was a really good historical fiction. It follows Eleanor and Ruby - both struggling to succeed and both have issues involving pregnancy. The book alternates between the two story lines but excellent narration keeps it from being confusing. Really got engaged in this one - and don't skip the author's note at the end).

Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond is up next for me.

Just finished listening to Jillian Cantor's In Another Time. It was truly a wonderful listen! (check out my review here on goodreads!) I highly recommend it to women, especially. You won't be disappointed! Anyone else read this one? What did you think?

I finished up 2 audiobooks while on the road to Norfolk this afternoon.

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland - found on my lost on to be listened pile - i think i bought it back in like 2011 because Margaret is someone who has always interested me (I went to a parochial high school in Australia and Margaret was our Patron Saint). The story was interesting but the dialogue just felt very silted and distracting (I think it was supposed to indicate that she wasn't a fluent speaker in Gaelic).

I also finished up Wool - I loved the omnibus for this - but at the same time - I wish there was more background for how it came to be - i know he wrote about it in a few short stories - but there was a lot of stuff hinted at that it was like, is there another book i'm missing...

I'm currently listening to The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation, as well as Way of the Wolf (from my lost on TBL pile).

Dee wrote: "I finished up 2 audiobooks while on the road to Norfolk this afternoon.

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland - found on my lost on to be listened pile - i think i bought..."

About Wool, I'm not clear what the Omnibus includes but there are two more books - Shift and Dust. In Shift, it talks more about how it came to be, but I wasn't actually interested in that and didn't find it very convincing. I loved Wool and the characters, but Shift has a different set and a much darker tone. I found it so depressing, I never went back to read Dust.

Robin P wrote: "About Wool, I'm not clear what the Omnibus includes but there are two more books - Shift and Dust. In Shift, it talks more about how it came to be, but I wasn't actually interested in that and didn't find it very convincing. I loved Wool and the characters, but Shift has a different set and a much darker tone. I found it so depressing, I never went back to read Dust."

I really loved all three books, and one of my favorite quotes from a book came from Dust, when things look bleak in the future or in my present I remember this quote which alters my attitude.

“My only wish is that we leave room for hope. There is good and bad in all things. We find what we expect to find. We see what we expect to see. I have learned that if I tilt my head just right and squint, the world outside is beautiful. The future is bright. There are good things to come.”
― Hugh Howey, Dust