What Are You Listening to Now? Part 7

continued from here.

I officially called the time of death on the Hunchback of Notre Dame - I couldn't listen any longer. I'm bummed that I gave up on a classic but life is too short and books are too plentiful.

Good idea. Thanks!

Still listening to First Among Sequels (almost done) and enjoying it very much.

#2 "I'm bummed that I gave up on a classic"

Don't feel too bad -- I gave up on The Golden Bowl by Henry James when I realized that not only did I not care about the characters, I disliked some of them!

I'm almost half way through Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, narrated by David Case (aka Frederick Davidson). (Audible link here)

It's an absolutely delightful listen. Case captured Hugo's lyric style and sly humor very well, and his character voices are convincing too. I experienced the whole gamut of sentiments, admiration, adoration, pity, fascination, contempt, disgust, even hatred toward the characters, all because of the way Hugo described and Case dramatized them.

Seajack - thanks! Funny cause I really like the Disney film.

Booksontrial - 57 hours!?!?!? wow - that had better be a good book. I may have to try that one day, but I don't know if my ADD can withstand a book that long.

I started the audio of The Historian. There are a male and female reader, which is an excellent idea. Big book, though!

Started (in the car) The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. Could take a while since I don't have any road trips coming up in the near future but we'll see....

Just finishing up Collision by Jeff Abbott

finished An Academic Question by Barbara Pym narrated a bit strangely by Angela Pleasance. it was published posthumously and was supposedly an attempt to avoid writing another "cozy" British novel. I've never really thought of Pym's works as "cozy" though i understand why they could be seen that way.

i found this my least favorite of Pym's works although i did rather like the ending, which surprised me. i thought she tied together a lot of straggling bits in a wry and, for me as a woman and one-time academic, fitting way.

feeling the ending of one book coming on, i started Joachim Neugroschel's lauded translation of Thomas Mann's A Death in Venice and Other Tales last night. it's narrated beautifully by Paul Hecht.

i was captivated by Neugroschel's introduction discussing some of the problems inherent in translating not only between two such stylistically different languages as German and American English but also from a book written in 1900 into the English language of the 1990s.

if you're interested at all in translations and translating, I'd recommend picking up the book somewhere like Borders or the library and just reading the intro even if you're not interested in Mann. it's fascinating, stimulating and raises issues that would never have crossed my mind. excellent piece to tickle the brain cells.

*edited for syntactical errors of the grossest sort, e.g. omission of subject. *sigh* it's late.

I'm one disc into Writing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston - an American post-doc in London is drafted unwillingly into finishing a longlost fragment of the beginning of a story authenticated to be Austen's writing, not exactly the most original plot (see: Emma Brown by Clare Boylan), but serves the function of filling time between books.

update:

I'm nearly half finished, and am wondering now whether this was supposed to be a YA novel? Not that I dislike the genre, but here were have a 27 y/o protagonist with a PhD! I'm sticking with it out of fascination as to how Aston's going to handle Our Heroine writing a 120,000 book in the 7 weeks remaining to deadline (bear in mind that said protagonist has never read a word of any book *about* Austen, let alone one of the ones by her!)?

I'm listening the In the Company of a Courtesan. The story is good, the voice is meh. Too bland, I think.

I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I highly recommend it, Simon Vance narrates, he's great with all the accents and pronunciations in Swedish as well. Riveting macabre mystery over disappearance of teenage girl in 1966 and how 50 years later a reporter and a young introverted genius hacker get to the bottom of it. Set in Sweden, interesting plot and characters, I loved it!

Now, I'm beginning The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss, narrated by Christopher Lane. I've never listened to a book with him narrating before - anyone familiar with him?

hmmm. never heard of Mr. Lane. i usually like Blackstone Audio's narrators. anyhoo, here's a snippet i found on some site or other. he must be tolerably good to have rec'd 4 earphones awards and 4 Audie nominations and an Audie.

"Christopher Lane has received four Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine as well as four Audie Award nominations. His narration of Charlie Wilson's War earned him an Audie Award for unabridged nonfiction for in 2004. He performed and directed for the stage for twenty years in Washington, D.C., and he has been a teacher of acting for Boston University's School of Theatre Arts. He now makes his home in Rhode Island."

I'm listening to Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin about a female forensic pathologist in 12th century Cambridge England, kind of a medieval Scarpetta. I don't like reading about crimes against children, but this book does grab me right from the beginning. It's read very well by Rosalyn Landor.

Oh, and I just finished listening to The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich and read by Kathleen McIrney and Peter Francis James (she does a much better job than he, I think). This is the first book I've read that just cries out to be on audio. Perhaps because she's Native American herself, Louise Erdrich writes her stories as if they were be told in a family gathering.

Simon Vance also narrates His Majesty's Dragon which I've been listening to on my way to work this week. I love it and will finish this weekend. I love hearing the voice of the dragon. Already bought the sequel for next week.

Checked out Solar from library but haven't started it yet.

I had a relaxing, easy listen to The Wind in the Willows and now I've gone on to The Hobbit read by Rob Inglis.

I really do usually avoid abridged books like the plague. Or Ebola. Or Legionella pnuemophilla. Or Syphyllis. Aw, you get my point.

One can never know what one has missed, and it is therefore unfair to the author to try to provide a review.

I just finished a severely abridged version of Three Men in a Boat. Eh.

I am also finishing up on A year in the life of Shakespeare. This was a very clear, understandable, accessible narrative of a single year in Shakespeare's long career. The format works well. There are plenty of discussions of what is going on in England at this time, and how it directly affected Mr. Shakespeare's plays.

I'm probably skipping the entire last CD. It comprises excerpts from plays written in 1599. Strange. Wouldn't it had been better used for material that made it to the cutting floor?

Overall it was a wonderful version. The author-narrator's inflective, husky voice was perfect and I think I "read" plenty of material.

It's time now for Down and out in Paris and London. Unabridged.

The narrator for In the Company of a Courtesan is Stephen Hoye. It seems he's done some other popular books including The Blind Side.

In celebration of the arrival of the English cricket season, my current audiobook is Fatty Batter, read by its author Michael Simkins.

I got a little more into Mistress of the Art of Death today. I'd said that the narrator, Rosalyn Landor, did a good job, and she does, except for one thing.
At the point in the book when our 12th century pathologist is interviewing the accused Jews she reads them as if they're Jews from 21st century New York City. I guess this is an audio book's version of anachronism.

Haha, I didn't notice that when I listened to Mistress of the Art of Death. An audio anachronism. Love it!

I'm listening to Garden Spells by, Sarah Addison Allen I've read it before but have never listened to it .Its one of my favorites so I am enjoying it!

I'm listening to Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson, narrated by George Guidall. I searched for him on AudioFile and saw that he also narrated American Gods; I think I might try that one next.

The first time I heard George Guidall he was narrating A Widow for One Year, and I couldn't help but be entranced by the voice. It's not at all the type voice you'd think would be marketable, but after that initial "what?" reaction I've looked for his narration when choosing audio books.

I just finished American Gods narrated by Guidall. I thought he did a great job. If I had been 100% reading the book (instead of ~70% listening and 30% reading), I might not have finished it. I think it is better outloud.

I have The Gunslinger narrated by Guidall but haven't listened yet.

The Collectors by David Baldacci

I'm listening to Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear. This is the first Maisie Dobbs mystery I've listened to. I'm really enjoying it, which is a relief after the horrible rendition of The Hallowed Hunt.

I finished this morning Three Weeks to Say Goodbye by CJ Box. It is my first Box novel and I would listen/read more of his stand-alone novels. He has a long-running series about
a cop that don't interest me as much. The highlight of this listening was the narrator John
Badford Lloyd. His narration was exquisite. Very calm intelligent reading of the text. I looked him up on adubile and apparently he has read many, many books, a lot of which are very well-known.
At lunch today I started a Karin Slaughterthriller and the protagonist is a woman, but it
is a male narrator and his voicing of the female is
dreadful. He makes her sound silly and shrill.

I'm listening to The Secret Life of Bees by, Sue Monk Kidd the narration is really good!

I'm a bit into Under the Dome by Stephen King. Loving it!!!!

I'm listening to The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I can hardly bear to be at work.

just finished the good soldiers, which, if it were up to me, I'd make every literate voter read before they cast a ballot in a national election. 5 stars. outstanding narration.

coupled that with Atwood's the blind assassin, the first book i can remember in a long time--a long, long time--that left me weeping for some reason.

gasping for emotional breath, i moved on to the last report on the miracles at little no horse by Louise Erdrich after seeing her conversation with Bill Moyers during which she mentioned that Father Damien is her favorite character. Anna Fields (aka Kate Fleming) is a wonderful narrator who does Father Damien superbly and sounds as if she may actually be able to speak Ojibwa. not that I'd know if she didn't. i was terribly distressed to learn that she died in 2007. we lost a very fine voice.

I'm making periodic sorties into Death in Venice and other tales by Thomas Mann. it's a 'new,' and well-received translation. it's been a long time since I've read Mann. i keep thinking i don't really like it but can't stop. hmmmm. narrator tolerable. i really didn't understand the story 'Tristan' at all. possibly because I've never read, or listened to any version of, Tristan and Iseult?

also continuing at a very slow pace, endless forms most beautiful: the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom
by Sean B. Carroll. amazing but very diffy in audio. been on this one awhile as i have to keep going back over it.

rereading O'Brian's master and commander when i want a familiar, fast past read i don't have to listen to with great attention. and lastly, Dennis Lehane's the given day. i got it because i like Lehane and wanted to try out my new digital player from NLS and that was the only one of his they had in. it didn't sound appealing but i decided just to use it to try out the player and I'm hooked.

it's a mystery that takes place just post WWI and has amongst the cast of characters Babe Ruth, W.E.B. Dubois, Emma Goldman, Eugene O'Neill, a young J. Edgar Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and a cast of, apparently, thousands.

my ears are very busy.

*eta HTML for Death in Venice due to broken touchstone

I'm also listening to The Given Day. I wanted to try it out to see if my son would like it because he loves baseball. The first part about Babe Ruth was great, but the part I like about the flu epidemic probably won't do a thing for him. He also won't be at all interested in the politics, but I'm liking it quite a bit. It's quite eye opening to see an America with no social security, no workman's comp, no unions. That Lehane tells a good story.

Just finished listening to The Help. Great narration, good story, interesting and entertaining.

Finished Secret Life of Bees it was really good.
Now Listening to 9 Dragons by, Michael Connelly

I'm flying through The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. Great science, well-told in conversational way--not at all textbookish. Narrated by Dawkins and Lalla Ward. The way the two narrators alternate back and forth is very helpful. In a non-fiction book like this it helps convey where the transitions between sections are, in the absence of the visual cues that you get from the hard copy, and it also demarcates quotations, some footnotes, and the occasional digression.

I know Dawkins has become a controversial figure in recent years as one of the "new atheists" or "four horsemen", but this book is not like that. This book goes back to his roots--biology--and it is all about the science (at least so far, disc 9 out of 14). The scope is quite wide, from molecular biology to paleontology and everything in between, and Dawkins is insightful everywhere he directs our attention.

Anyone have any other relatively recent science audiobooks worth recommending?

#38 hey Anaxagoras, how about endless forms most beautiful: the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom by Sean B. Carrol? I'm reading it now and enjoying it. though I'm having to repeat some parts, a sharper mind might not have to do so.

#38,

Thanks for the description, anaxagoras. I'll keep an eye out for that one. I had recently finished reading the God Delusion.

Right now, I'm listening to an abridged version of Blue Latitudes, during the commute. But I picked up the book at the library, so I will sail along with both media, in order not to miss anything.

I started the audio of The Elegance of the Hedgehog. There are 2 readers and the one doing the older woman, Renee is excellent. Interesting listen!

I've just finished The Loop by Joe Coomer - narration made the story, I doubt I would've stuck with it in print.

I just finished The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss, narrated by Christopher Lane. At first I wasn't crazy about the narration, it would have been much better if they'd had two different male and female narrators, but by the end I loved his narration, he did a great job, particularly with the male protagonist, Ethan Saunders.

Now I'm beginning The Girl Who Played with Fire, narrated by Simon Vance (!) in anticipation of the third book coming out this month!

I'm listening to The Ice Queen by, Alice Hoffman narrated by Nancy Travis pretty good so far!

I just started The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. The narrator is good, but it's off to a slow start. I've read good things about it, though, so I'll stick with it.

I'm listening to Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The unabridged is 43 (!) hours long. So far, it really has me intrigued. The narrator is Humphrey Bower who is new to me. This should keep me busy until The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is released at the end of the month. I have it pre-ordered from audible.

Last week I finished Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris. I thought it was an excellent addition to the Sookie Stackhouse series.

My current audiobook is Alexander McCall Smith's Love Over Scotland, the third in the 44 Scotland Street series. It is slightly disappointing that it is not being read in an Edinburgh accent.

I've been listening to Never Let Me Go. I think I will finish it in the next few days. The narrator, Rosalyn Landor, is fabulous. I feel like someone is just telling me a story. =) This is only my second encounter with a professional audiobook, I was listening to only librivox before, and I'm falling in love. It's so much more fun to listen to a book on long car rides.

I've been listening to The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. It isn't what I was expecting, but I've enjoyed it. Next up: A Fountain Filled with Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming, the second in the Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne series.

Listening to Made in the U.S.A. by, Billie Letts

I'm racing through the Three Pines mysteries by Louise Penny, read fabulously by Ralph Cosham, in the car; and I have Song Yet Sung by James McBride in my MP3 player, read by Leslie Uggams. Extremely well done!

I'm on the second part of Fracturedby Karin Slaughter. This is the first thriller I've listened to that has dealt so extensively with forensics so it is really
interesting. But the male narrator's take on the female
cop is pretty dreadful. The cop sounds like everything she says is a question..the voice always rises toward the end of a sentence. Very irritating and it makes it difficult for me to like her.
Poor me though..I just ran out of juice on my ipod and
I have a forty minute walk home without being able to listen to my audio book. I think I will cry all the way home.

tried to add Julia Spencer-Fleming's In the Bleak Midwinter but got 2 cds into it and decided i was wasting my time.

i like the narrator, Suzanne Torren, but know her from her narrations of all the Anna Pigeon books for NLS. in A Superior Death, one of my favorites and listened to many times, she uses a particular voice for one of the bad guys. unfortunately, she uses the same voice for the sheriff in Bleak Midwinter.

and i didn't like how the female protagonist was being handled. she doesn't act like someone who was a military, and potentially combat, chopper pilot.

glad i dropped it as i found Louise Penny's Still Life. what greater felicity can there be than finding oneself at the beginning of a book by a good writer one knows one likes with a good narrator and the prospect of a series yet to read?

I love Penny's audiobooks with Ralph Cosham! I can't imagine actually reading any of them and not listening to them. You're in for a treat!

#53 On the other hand, I've just started A Fountain Filled with Blood, the second in the Clare Ferguson-Russ Van Alstyne series and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'll see if my library has Still Life as an audiobook. I know it's on my TBR list.

#54 i love Cosham and Penny's writing is complex enough, imo, to avoid being truly 'cozy.' i like her people. i'm having to force myself to read (listen to) Death in Venice, the last of the tales in the collection instead of sticking with Dennis Lehane and Penny.

#55 i know it's a popular series, JG, and i loved the idea. it just didn't work for me. i think i could probably have done it visually as a sort of 'skim the bits you don't like' read, an option audio doesn't offer. I'm glad you like it, though. :)

i also started Blue Nile by Alan Moorhead. my mom recommended White Nile to me in the early 60s. sad to say, she died way too young and before Blue Nile was published. she was right, i do like Moorehead.

a librarian with omnivorous tastes, she was always right when it came to books. and she was smart. she never discouraged me from reading, let alone forbade me to read, any book that caught my fancy.

in the late 50s, all my other friends were trying desperately to sneak peeks at their mothers' copies of Peyton Place, which were strictly forbidden to them and thus of passionate interest.

mom's reaction was very offhand. 'read it if you want to, honey,' she said, 'but frankly, i think it will bore you senseless.' so i had no interest in it. indeed, when i found a copy in a friend's house, i cracked it and mom was right. it was boring: no mystery, no swashbuckling, no adventure and no humor that i could grasp. blech! ;)

#56 mirrordrum "mom's reaction was very offhand. 'read it if you want to, honey,' she said, 'but frankly, i think it will bore you senseless.' so i had no interest in it."

That was pretty much my parents' whole method of child rearing, at least with me. I was never told to get my homework done, no one checked to see what I was reading. I was a good student and could do whatever I wanted in the academic department. When I had children of my own, I pretty much did the same thing, except with my son's trumpet practice. I'd read how important it was to encourage/force your child to practice his musical instrument and how they'd thank you for it later; so I enforced the 1/2 hour a day rule. My son loved to play in the concerts but hated to practice. Due to my nagging, he gave up the intstrument. There's such a big push toward complete parental involvement in one's children's lives these days. I think if it's working, leave it alone. If your child is doing OK, then be a resource, not a pusher.

Citizenjoyce ~ Same thing happened with my daughter and the piano, except she didn't get far enough to play any concerts. Now, though, at age 27 (her, not me), she berates me for not making her learn how to play the piano.

Sometimes a parent just can't win. :)

Storeetllr "Sometimes a parent just can't win"

Oh, too often.

I started Welcome to the Monkey House today.

Well, see you all later, I'll be sure to check in sometime in the future. I've started Against the Day. 42 CDs of the ol' Pynch. How sublime and surreal.

Listening to The Lady Elizabeth by, Alison Weir .
The last one I listened to by Alison Weir Innocent Traitor was read by, Davina Porter but this one isn't and I wish it was!

I'm getting ready to start the audio of The Big Short by Michael Lewis. I've heard great things about this book. BTW, the audio of Henrietta Lacks was excellent and I highly recommend it!

I just finished listening to The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. The narrator, Michael Boatman, was an excellent actor and had a wonderful ability to speak in various accents. Now I'm listening to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel and the narrator, Doug Ordunio, is not theatrical at all. He sounds more like a professor giving a lecture which is the correct treatment of the subject.

I'd put "The Tudors" on hiatus, switching to The Tale of Halcyon Crane for a change (modern fiction). I'm nearly finished that one, which is well-written (in terms of characters, setting, etc.), though the author went a bit overboard with the convoluted gothic/ghost-centered plot. Narration is good, so probably better heard than read.

Started listening to Black Hills by Dan Simmons, narrated by Erik Davies. The parts narrated by Paha Sapa, the Native American protagonist (the name in the Sioux tongue means Black Hills), are amazing, but the one part so far in Custer's voice seemed odd and a bit off-putting. Still, the whole of it so far is very good, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it tonight (if I can put The Secret Magdalene (not on audio) down).

I'm listening to Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper. It's nice having someone pronounce all that Welsh.

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Saw it at library and thought it looked interesting.

I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire with the yummy Simon Vance narrating (excellent, as usual) and am now beginning A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick, narrated by Mark Feuerstein.

bouncing between The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and Alan Moorhead's The Blue Nile. wow. i don't want to stop either one.

also dipped an ear in Geraldine Brook's People of the Book and think I'm in hog heaven. my first Aussie narrator and she's amazing. it's wonderful to hear a true Aussie accent.

I'm almost done with Great Expectations, read by Simon Vance. It has been simply excellent and I will be looking for more from Vance! I've also started the full-cast production of The Screwtape Letters, with Andy Serkis as Screwtape. He is, of course, brilliant in the role! It's a different sort of audiobook for me since the plot really is secondary to the musings on the psychology of temptation, but I'm liking it quite a bit. It helps that I've read the printed book several times before.

I've just started The Poet by Michael Connelly. It's my first non-Bosch book of his. So far, so good.

Has anyone listened to Anton Lesser as a narrator? He is so good. He did Christmas Carol among others which I ordered through Naxos Audiobooks. Also like Jim Dale.

I've never experienced Jim Dale, but Anton Lesser did a good job reading Philip Pullman's Sally Lockheart trilogy.

Just minutes away from the end of Karin Slaughter's Fracturedand will be thrilled to be done with this book. The crime elements were interesting but the narration is so full of repetitive statements that I tended to roll my eyes a lot while listening to it. I kept thinking..here she goes again. Phil Gigantedoes the narration and for the most part he is good, although his women tend to be shrill and silly-sounding.
Next up for me I'm planning to try my first non-crime book,Edward Rutherford's door-stopper New York. This is thirty discs. I don't know if I will live until Ellis Island as the book starts off with the Iriquois in New Amsterdam.

75: I promised my sister I would read some James Michener this year. Talk about door-stoppers! I want to start with Chesapeake and thought I would see what the audiobook version looked like. It was 32 discs — yipes! I think I'll stick to the paperback :-P

I like Jim Dale's narration a lot. His read of Around the World in Eighty Days was fabulous, especially his voice for Passepartout!

I just started Horns by Joe Hill. Pretty good so far.

Just finished The Lady Elizabeth it was really good!
now listening to Deep Dish by, Mary Kay Andrews.

#64 i love Michael Boatman. i first saw him on China Beach in which he was one of my favorite characters. well, he was tied for third with Boonie after McMurphy and KC from KC.

i was reading a bit on him t'other day and learned that as well as a narrator, he's also an author and screenwriter and apparently writes a lot of splatterpunk.

much as i admire Boatman and his narrations, I'm not really ready for "'hyperintensive horror with no limits.'" the BP catastrophe and The Good Soldiers have been quite sufficient unto the day in that regard.

I've also just finished the given day, wonderfully voiced by NLS narrator Nick Sullivan. I'd give him 4-1/2 thumbs up as a narrator if you run across him.

Yesterday, I started The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner. Can't say as the story itself has grabbed me (yet), but Edward Hermann's narration is quite good.

I just finished Song Yet Sung by James McBride, read by Leslie Uggams. Excellent story, great narration!

I just finished listening to Dirty Job by Christopher Moore and read by Fisher Stevens, I thought he did a good job, he tone matched the irreverent humor in the book. This book has a lot of profanity, just fyi!

Next I'll be listening to The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, read by Caroline Lee.

Just finished Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due (multigenre historical fiction/modern fiction/ghost story; lots of great writing about music) and started Lifeblood by PN Elrod, the second in a paranormal noir series about a vampire journalist and his detective sidekick (fun, not too serious).

I finished A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick which was a big disappointment, I didn't care for it at all, reminescent of the movie "Days of Heaven" which I liked, but this had none of the poignancy and genius. I had to roll my eyes over much of this novel and the constant preoccupation with sex in all it's flowery glory by all the main characters. A waste of time and can't understand the rave reviews, just a lot of sexual hooey and wishful thinking with a predicatable outcome. The narrator, Mark Feuerstein, had a flat tone throughout the entire story, that didn't help, whiich made it nearly impossible to distinguish one character from another, plus they all came across as incredibly unlikeable. Cannot recommend.

Now onto something completely different, Deanna Raybourne's, The Dead Travel Fast narrated by Charlotte Parry.

Jonathan Coe's The Closed Circle, the sequel to The Rotters' Club.

I started Columbine by Dave Cullen. The first hour is excellent!

#84 I'll be interested in knowing what you think of The Dead Travel Fast, ktleyed. The reviews were mixed, to say the least.

#87 - where they? I didn't even realize that. It's been on my TBR list and I really enjoyed her Lady Julia books, so thought I'd give this a try, so far so good, and the narrator is very good with the accents. I'm still really early on in it.

#84 great review, kt. all my fave things: gratuitous flowery sexual hooey, wishful thinking, predictability and flat narration. think I'll pass. chuckle

near the end of the blue Nile. i love that it's narrated by Patrick Tull, who does the Aubrey/Maturin series for Recorded Books so splendidly. as it's set in approximately the same time frame as that series, it makes a wonderful compliment.

it would be better read visually, i believe, largely because of the amount of information conveyed. it's a stunning work, for all its inevitable ethnocentrism.

moving along in People of the Book. i find it a heart wrenching read and an enriching one. there are so many things i like about it.

trying to get through Kazuo Ishiguro's Never let me go in the next week as it's been recalled by the library. what a strange work. it's a book that requires my closest attention so i may have to stop and let the next reader have it and then come back to it.

about 2/3 through The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. total fluff. i can listen to it and mess about in Photoshop at the same time. not sure I'll read any more of the series.

in a fit of madness, i started The Odyssey last night as my bedtime read. it's the George Herbert Palmer translation. i like Robert Fagles' translation of The Iliad and would rather have his translation of the Odyssey but can't find it in audio.

i wonder if I'll find 'rosy-fingered dawn' and 'strong-greaved Achaeans.' a large print version would be a nice supplement.

oh, and for brainless moments when i know I'll fall asleep listening, I'm trifling with The Two Towers for the umpteenth time.

I liked "Sweetness" and have the sequel ripped to mp3 from library CD's.

#88 I just looked at the reviews of it on LT, kt. Like all reviews read anywhere, I take them with a grain of salt (both the praise and the raspberries) unless I know the reviewer and unless our tastes are similar (as I believe yours and mine are).

Finished The Spectator Bird last night - Edward Herrmann does a great job narrating, glad I read this one!

I finished The Poet by Michael Connelly last night. I stayed up to finish it, something I don't do often. Started The Help this morning and I think I'm going to love it.

On the last disc of The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. I'm very disappointed it's boring, boring, boring - the characters are stodgy and pompous and the storyline is non-existent. On the plus side, the narration by James Wilby is very good.

#94- 2 of my Favorites The Poet got me hooked on Michael Connelly and I Loved the audio of The Help!

Finished Deep Dish wasn't too impressed.

Now listening to Gone by, Lisa Gardner (had to touchstone author too many books called Gone)

finished The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead, an excellent book, and Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the bottom of the pie, which i found only moderately amusing. too many similes for my taste.

i think I'll start The shape of water by Andrea Camilleri. i'm still reading People of the book and Endless forms most beautiful as well.

I finished Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, what an impressive brain that guy has. I've started Welcome To The Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. Some of the stories are very good, some remind me why I stopped reading Vonnegut when I was younger. He's creepily misogynistic, his women are oppressive and/or weak. The best thing a woman has to offer is her beauty and it kind of belongs to any many willing to degrade her enough to get it. I'm on the 3rd CD and don't know if I'll finish. Maybe it'll get better?

I'm listening to A bullet in the ballet by Brahms and Simon. It's an elderly copy from the days of tapes. The reader is good but the editing is odd - lots of big spaces between paragraphs. I've complained about the reverse before - the next chapter beginning before the final word of the last one is quite finished.

I've recorded the tapes to MP3s and listen with headphones on an ipod. Perhaps it's the headphones but in some places I can hear paper rustling and, in the last chapter, I'm sure I heard a door gently closing.

Haha weird sound effects!

There was one production that had *such* a long gap between chapters (Margaret Maron's Judge Knott books I believe) that I had the time to get my mp3 player out of my pocket, to check if it'd been accidentally jogged into "pause" mode, before the next one began!

I finished The Dead Travel Fast and cannot recommend it, a bit too gothic and I just wasn't taken in by any of it. Plus, the narration by Charlotte Perry was not the best, she often mispronounced words and her accents came and went - her main character was supposed to be Scottish, yet never once did she pronounce Edinburgh right - drove me crazy!

Now I'm beginning The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, narrated by Simon Vance - yes!

I finished Columbine and it was outstanding! Highly recommended! The audio & reader were excellent too!

#103 I'd be grateful to know how the narrator incorrectly pronounced Edinburgh lest, being from across the pond and beastly ignorant, my pronunciation (eddinburra with a slight burr in the rrs) is also wrong. i'd think narrators would check, or would have someone who would check, things like that.

mirrordrum - I'm from NJ - so I'm no expert, but a good friend of mine who is from Edinburgh has always made it plain to me that yes, the correct pronunciation is the way you say it, "eddinburra". The narrator kept saying "edinburr." I kept wanting to correct her every time! But, she pronounced lots of words wrong, things like "chagrin" and "idyll." Not the worst I've ever heard, but it was distracting.

I am listening to Certain Prey by, John Sandford
before that I made quick work of listening to Rebecca by, Daphne Du Maurier even when you know how it turns out it's still a great book!

107: was that the one read by Anna Massey? I LOVED that audiobook! And yes, I was already familiar with the book and movie when I listened to it on CD. What a brilliant reading.

I'm about to start Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. I started Eva Ibbotson's A Countess Below Stairs and it just didn't grab me. Meh.

I'm still listening to, and being constantly irritated by Welcome To the Monkey House. The narrators, aside from David Strathairn are mostly just goofy. Maria Tucci did a good Russian accent, but her women characters are whiny. I realize that this is probably how Vonnegut wrote them, but yech. Two of the other guys are annoying but I don't know if it's Tony Roberts, Bill Irwin or Dylan Baker. This is a book that, because it is so dated and sexist, needs competent narrators to make it palatable. Alas, they're not there.

I'm almost done with The Help. I could barely keep from calling in sick, I'm enjoying it so much.

#110 - jennieg - I loved The Help, it was the best audiobook ever! One of those books that I think is even better on audio than in print!

I've listened to a lot of audiobooks over the years, and I am really impressed with The Help. They did a beautiful job.

I'm just over an hour into Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife by Lisa Miller, thorough research and great narration.

#108- Yes I do believe that was the one,I enjoyed it!

#110,111 & 112-I agree The Help is a wonderful audio I'm so glad that I listened to it.

I'm listening to Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and really enjoying it.

I loved The Help. The first one or two chapters weren't that great, but I kept listening because the narration was so good and was glad I did. Super audiobook.

I'm finishing In the Time of the Butterflies (one and half CDs left). Just checked out Memoirs of a Geisha. It was either that or Year of the Flood.

I just finished listening to Memoirs of a Geisha. I liked the story but felt like I could hear the narrator reading the words, if you know what I mean.

I've just started The Thirteenth Tale. Lynn Redgrave is one of the readers, so listening is bittersweet.

I am pleased to say that I finally slogged through Welcome to the Monkey House and am now listening to a book about real people, Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.

#118 jennieg, The combination of The Thirteenth Tale and Lynn Redgrave sounds great, and if you like that book, let me recommend Affinity by Sarah Waters it has the same atmosphere.

I know it's kindly meant, Cityzenjoyce. Another for the TBR list!

#118 oh jeez. i didn't know Lynn Redgrave had died. i finished thirteenth tale in march and did so enjoy her part of the narration. what a wonderful legacy to leave: good work well done that brings enjoyment. thank you, Lynn Redgrave!

I was brokenhearted the day Lynn Redgrave died. I have listened to books that I wouldn't ever have chosen just because she narrated them. She was truly excellent and fortunately I haven't yet heard everything she recorded, so for me, she lives on.

If you find yourself in the mood for a fantasy novel, you can't do better than Lynn's superb reading of Inkheart.

That's good to know, NarratorLady. And my library has it!

Lyn Redgrave also narrated one of the books from Chronicles of Narnia and I thought she did a great job.

The Thirteenth Tale is one of my all time favorites.

I'm listening to Today Matters by John Maxwell.

I'm listening to The Woods by Harlan Coben.

I just started Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains, read by the author. He does a great job and so far it is riveting!

I just finished Feed, a gripping sci fi tale by M.T. Anderson, recommended by my daughter who is a true fan of the genre. It was fantastic - in all senses of the word - and I feel it was made even better by the superb narration by David Aaron Baker and production values of the audio book.

Murder on the Mind by L. L. Bartlett - mystery series featuring a fellow who is mugged in NYC, and finds himself recuperating in Buffalo - with new psychic powers. Narration is quite good; I'm glad I got the audio (from Audible), rather than reading the print book.

bouncing between the horrors of the Inquisition (People of the book), pre-revolutionary France (A Tale of two cities) and the 21st century gulf oil gusher (about 200 miles to the south), i decided i needed a break. to that end, i've started Rumer Godden's Five for sorrow, ten for joy.

bless the NLS readers. the narrator is a joy. she speaks what, to my untutored ear, sounds like fluent french. she also does a generic US accent and what i guess is a generic British accent. Godden always calms my spirit.

i also started a bizarre book entitled Gun, with occasional music by Jonathan Lethem. i got hooked by the title. it is comic in a Raymond Chandler meets Terry Pratchett kind of way, without being within a stone's throw of approximating either. it's really a very strange book. i haven't yet decided whether I'm completely wasting my time with it or not.

I've just started The game of kings by Dorothy Dunnett. I've read the print version many times and it's a dense book which requires a lot of concentration and as I have a tendency to read rather fast and miss details I felt the audio version would be good for me and make me 'read' every word. The reader, Samauel Gillies, whom I've not encountered before, reads with a lovely scots accent. It's not too broad (except for some characters) for my English ears. There are a lot of characters and Dunnett does not scatter around many he/she said's so sometimes I'm not always sure who is speaking but I think the writing is so good that, after a while, you know who is speaking by what is being said.

I got this from Audible and so far there is only the third episode (of a series of 6) available. I hope the others are on their way.

I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy read by the Wonderful Stephen Fry!

I also shared this on this week's "What Are You Reading Now" thread.

Am enthralled by Simmons' Black Hills* on my iPod but just discovered a big problem. I finished disc 15 but had to stop there because it skipped to disc 17. Somehow I didn't download disc 16 ~ but I've loaned the CDs to a friend and so can't get it back from her until next week. AARGH!

So started listening to The Sparrow as a consolation and am loving it ~ again ~ but oh! I want to get back to Black Hills so badly. When disc 15 ended, Paha Sapa was hanging to a ledge while dynamite exploded all around him. Talk about a cliffhanger!

*Touchstone for Black Hills is wonky. It goes to the Nora Roberts' novel and I can't seem to load the alternatives.

#133 here's the link to Simmons' Black Hills. you can always use HTML as an alternative if the touchstone doesn't work. :)

Just picked up War by Sebastian Junger on compact disc. I read the book about a week ago but was interested to see what is was like with Junger reading his own work.

So far I'm thrilled to pieces.

I'm enjoying Two of the Deadliest, short mystery stories compiled by Elizabeth George. There are several readers, a different one for each story. Problem is I don't know who's reading what. They were all introduced at the beginning of the audio but not with each story.

#134 Thanks, mirrordrum! I knew that but wasn't in the mood at the time to do it right. Just wanted to kvetch instead. lol

I love that LT people read Rumer Godden. Mention her in RL and people look at you like you've sprouted another head.

I'm listening to Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper. Very good narrator, but now that I download I'm usually unsure of who the reader is.

#137 you're welcome and i know what you mean, storeetllr. :)

#138 i know what you mean, Jennie. my love for Godden's books is another gift from my Mom who recommended her writing to me.

i think the first one i read was An Episode of Sparrows. isn't there a guy in that one who runs a restaurant that he loves? i can't find my copy. he's in one of her books anyway.

i remember when i was a teenager, mom, an adult friend and i used to drive yearly to watch my dad's HS basketball team play away games about 50 miles from where we lived.

we would always stop at the same little cafe out in the country for dinner on our way to the game.

after i read Episode, i would wonder if the people who owned that little cafe felt the same way about their place as the man in Godden's story. that caused me always to pay the closest attention to everything about the cafe. i was aware of its cleanliness, the simple but delicious food lovingly prepared, especially the pies, and the calm happiness, or so i imagined, radiating from the couple who ran it. i would wonder about it all the rest of the trip with the intensity only the young bring to such imaginings. riches beyond wealth.

what's RL?

Sorry. RL = Real Life, such as it is.

I listened to A Wrinkle in Time over the weekend, inspired by the recent group read. This version was read by the author. It was interesting to hear her version, but I won't listen to any of the other books in the series if she reads them. Enough is enough.

#141 oh, RL as in 'IRL.' well duh!

the only author I've read thus far whose narrations i like is Toni Morrison whose reading of Beloved was very fine.

for one thing, authors typically can't 'voice' their characters as pro narrators can. indeed, even few pro narrators can fully voice a book. Patrick Tull's probably the best I've heard. Davina Porter's also very good, imo. quite subtle.

Interesting jennieg that you mentioned Madeleine L'Engle's narration of A Wrinkle In Time. She was the first author I heard narrate her own work and I was amazed. Someone really should have told her to stick to writing. I didn't like the book anyway, but her reading is pretty spectacularly awful.

It was close to my own worst-reading-by-author standard, Robert Frost attempting his own poetry.

totally OT but a segue from #144, i suppose, if you like poetry in general and John Betjeman in particular, it's worth listening to Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams reading Death in Leamington on youtube. watching Maggie Smith's hands is an experience unto itself.

Yes, yes mirrordrum, I loved watching that! It's tacked onto the DVD of "The Millionairess" starring Smith and I was so delighted to have the extra treat. And Betjeman looks truly touched while listening to them - it was lovely.

ah, 'The Millionairess,' yes. :)

but my favorite Maggie Smith of all is in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads: Bed among the lentils. i've probably watched it 30 or 40 times and am awed each time.

just so that i can pretend there's a connection here to my listening life, i really did buy Triple Bill by Alan Bennett from audible quite recently. haven't started it yet. saving it for special. :)

THANKS for reminding me of Bennett's "Talking Heads"!

The first series was one of the first items I ever got from Audible; I just purchased the second part, and will get "Triple Bill" from the library in the near future.

Just started The Secret River by Kate Grenville.

Just finished Presummed Innocent by Scott Turow and will do the sequek, Innocent, shortly. However, right now I'm listening to Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Just started Neverwhere, read by Gaiman himself, and am absolutely loving it. That man is not only a wonderfully amazing writer, he's also an amazingly wonderful reader!

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson, narrated by Simon Vance - excellent! Now, I'm starting The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

Just finished Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy it was read by Stephen Fry and was very disapointed to find out he doesn't read the rest of the series.
Now listening to Just Take My Heart by, Mary Higgins Clark

Just started A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood -- a bit more difficult to get into than I was expecting - only 4 hours though.

finished A Tale of two cities and was very gratified.

finished People of the book and was somewhat disappointed. parts of it were 5 star and at points i simply wanted to get on with it. too much contrivance though many parts are brilliant.

i 86ed Gun, with occasional music by Jonathan Lethem narrated by Nick Sullivan. i read about 1/2 and realized i was losing the thread and really didn't care *who* dunnit. i wasn't ready to commit another 4 hours or so to finding out. life's getting way too short. i think it might have been an amusing visual read. nahsomuch in audio for me.

i also tried A cafe on the Nile from NLS but got to the first safari part and, given the gulf situation, just couldn't deal with more dying animals.

i'm still creeping through Endless forms most beautiful.

have decided to start An Abundance of Katherines by John Green narrated by Jeff Woodman as it's the lightest thing on my ipod at the moment.

on my NLS tape player, I'm starting Quite a year for plums by Bailey White. it's a delightful book I've been using in the large print version for 'a silly book game' and the tidbits i've gotten have me feeling very enthusiastic. she does bits on NPR's All Things Considered.

oh, and I've moved Godden's Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy to my digital NLS player now that 'Two Cities' is finished. at least i can hear it, which i couldn't with the taped version.

almost forgot. made the mistake of going to the library with my partner and stumbled on Much depends on dinner: The extraordinary history and mythology, allure and obsession, perils and taboos, of an ordinary meal by Margaret Visser and couldn't resist. it's fascinating.

it's narrated by Suzanne Toren, one of my favorite NLS narrators.

I just finished listening to Desert Lost by Betty Webb. I really liked the subject matter. I thought the narrator, Marguerite Gavin, did a very poor job with the men's voices, but the story was so engaging that I wasn't TOO annoyed. There were some loose ends that weren't tied up and for a person who wants closure, that is worrisome. So I'll just keep thinking about it and wait for her next book.

I just finished Master and Commander. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the narrator as I've already returned it to the library, but he was great. I fear it has launched me on to the entire Aubrey-Maturin series. I may take to the sea next. ;-)

Finished The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. Actually enjoyed listening to it more than the actual reading of it that I did last year. The reader, Katherine Kellgren, did a good job.

Starting 61 Hours by Lee Child.

#158 - heyjude, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, I'm still in the very early part of it and am finding it hard to find time to listen to it (very reminiscent of my own orals in school - I could so relate!) I am hopefull I will be able to get some good listening time in soon so I can get past this beginning part and into the "meat" of the book.

#157 hey varielle, if you were lucky, it was Patrick Tull who does the narration of the series for Recorded Books in the US. his narrations improve and grow steadily through the series and his voicing of Stephen and Preserved Killick are by far my favorites.

the first one i listened to was Desolation Island years ago and i think it must have been done by John Lee as it wasn't Patrick Tull. Lee records at least some of them for Books on Tape US. once i heard Tull, however, i couldn't go back.

i think Robt Hardy, whom i adore as an actor, may also do a version and probably does an admirable job.

what joys you have in store. O'Brian was a master craftsman! happy sailing. :)

I finished Cat's Eye and am once more overwhelmed by the complexity of Margaret Atwood. Now I've started A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray because I so loved Going Bovine, though the two books seem to have nothing in common so far.

Speaking of Canadian authors, I was forced to give up on The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews after roughly 90 minutes: the kids were horribly precocious and the story wasn't going anywhere.

i finished An abundance of Katherines by John Green last night. what a delightful book. narrator Jeff Woodman is excellent. his tenor voice suits this YA book beautifully.

i didn't read YA books as a young adult because i found them tiresome and incomprehensible. as an unaware lesbian teenager with very ill parents, i encountered little that spoke to my experience. what joy it is now, at 66 and with all that angst behind me, to be able to read contemporary YA literature with a 'light-adapted eye.'

I'm presently downloading a mess of books from my audible library and am preparing a sortie into the inimitable Pratchett's Men at arms. Sam Vimes, oh goody. :)

soooo many books, so little time. i must, therefore, away.

#163 mirrordrum a light adapted eye. Nice turn of phrase.

I'm one CD into A Great and Terrible Beauty and am able to feel the Libba Bray in it now.

Boy, it's very quiet over here! I finished the audio of WAR by Sebastian Junger. It was read perfectly by the author. This was an incredible book and I highly recommend it! Next up, will be Blockade Billy by Stephen King.

I'm finishing up Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton, second in her mystery series featuring Savannah lawyer Bree Beaufort, who on occasion is "hired" to work in the Celestial Courts on behalf of the damned.

Today I started American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies that the Government Tells Us by Jesse Ventura. Good narration, and interesting presentation, for folks interested in hearing what he has to say.

I am listening to Life,the Universe and Everything It's good I love the humour but the 1st one in this series was read by Stephen Fry and this is read by, Martin Freeman who played Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker's Guide Movie he's ok but no Stephen Fry.

I've just started Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman. It's my first Hillerman and I chose it because it's read by the fabulous George Guidall and Hillerman is such a fave among many LTers.

Hillerman's Chee/Leaphorn series and Guidall's narration are probably the most perfect fit in The Audio Universe (not to disparage the many fine authors and narrators out there at all).

#168 hey NL--Guidall narrates all Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee novels for Recorded Books. imo, the earlier ones are the best ones. here's a list by pub date. one doesn't have to, but I'd really recommend reading them in order to follow the development of the main characters Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee and Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito. jmho. :)

Hmmm....seems I've chosen one of the most recent. Does this mean that the still burgeoning romance between Chee and Manuelito has been percolating since 1970???

Nearly done with Family Tree by Barabara Delinsky, but finding it rather tiresome.

#171 the first 3 books in the series are about Joe Leaphorn, then Jim Chee is introduced. i don't remember Bernie in the early books and i don't remember whether Cowboy Dashee appeared before Chee showed up or not. i rather think not.

anyway, you shall have to read them for yourself to find out about Officer Chee's love life. ;)

I've not read Sinister Pig but hope that, even if you're not crazy about it, you'll still give one of the very early ones a try.

Master and Commander is a great one! Mine was narrated by Robert Hardy, who also read War of the Worlds, another favorite of mine.

I finished listening to Two of the Deadliest, a short story mystery compilation by Elizabeth George. A mixed bag. Some stories really caught me up, some were meh.

Now listening to Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston.

Now listening to So Long and Thanks for the Fish by, Douglas Adams

I just started So Cold the River by Michael Koryta. It has drawn me in nicely. This author is new to me and I like his style.

I'm listening to Lost in a Good Book and enjoying it in spite of the reader. She is fine for Thursday, but she has essentially no other voices. I wish she wouldn't try.

Listening to Guns, Germs and Steel. The narrator is fine but the subject matter is rather tedious.

Finishing up Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon. It's very good, but this is one that I wish I was reading on paper instead. It requires a bit of concentration; with a paper book I could flip back a page or two when necessary.

The Battle for America, 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election by Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson. I'd heard Dick Hill read a couple of different books, one I disliked and gave up on, but he does an okay job here.

180 SCR --

I had that problem with Reading the OED by Ammon Shea - I love William Dufris as a narrator, and found the book interesting, but it flew by so fast I couldn't really take in the examples (individual words).

Finished So Long and Thanks for All the Fish it was good but not the best of the series.

Now Listening to Mostly Harmless by, Douglas Adams almost have this series done now!

I finished The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, it was ok, nothing great. The narrator, Katherine Kellgren, was fine, but I just didn't really like the book itself, I feel it could have been much better, only seemed to skim what could have been a really good story. The villain was a caricature and the relationship between Sam and Connie was lightweight as well. The colonial time periods were too brief, it would have been more interesting if they were longer and more detailed in the plot and build up. This book just had no depth to it! Disappointed.

Now I'm going to be listening to Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, narrated by Janet Song.

#183- I so agree about Physick Book I thought the most interesting part of the whole book was the afterward that said she was related to some of the accused at the witch trials!

I'm listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I was afraid I would find it not worthy of all the hype, but I'm having a blast!

178 jennieg: I'm listening to Lost In A Good Book too, and I think Sastre's voices for the Red Queen, Granny Next, and Miss Havisham are pretty good. The male characters, not so much though.

I am re-reading first time listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Read by, Jim Dale he's good, Hagrid & McGonagal sound good but sorry nobody is Snape but Alan Rickman!

I am leaving tommorrow on a motorcycle trip and have filled my ipod with
And Another Thing... by, Eoin Colfer
You Can't Drink All Day if you Don't Start in the Morning by, Celia Rivenbark
Little Bee by, Chris Cleave

#186 I agree, wisewoman. It's a gripe, but not enough to keep me from listening to the series. Unlike, say, Madeline L'Engle's reading of her Wrinkle in Time series.

just finished a dramatized version of Lady in the van by Alan Bennett. wow. it's only about 1-1/2 hrs long and contains as much pith, character development, laughter, grief and unsentimental truth as many a lengthy classic. the gift of the genius playwrite, i suppose. of course, having Maggie Smith on board can't hurt.

i reluctantly finished Five for sorrow, ten for joy by Rumer Godden from NLS. the narrator, Laura Giannarelli, was exceptional.

while i was reading that, i stumbled on Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst on sale at audible.com and just plunged right in and finished it.

it was a good read. I'd never read anything about the Balkans during WWII. well, unless you count Guns of Navarone, which i don't, and i was quite fascinated. the narrator, Daniel Gerroll, was fine.

the story takes place predominantly in Salonika (Thessaloniki) in 1940 as Mussolini is preparing to attack, and then does attack, Greece. Furst has a nice understated style without a lot of pyrotechnics. I'll be reading more of his books i feel sure.

still too much on my plate. slowly reading Much depends on dinner by Margaret Visser well narrated by Suzanne Toren.

I'd recommend it with several caveats the first of which is to read it so you can skim, or skip, the bits about which you really don't want to know any more than you already do.

have Men at arms going on the ipod.

also listening to What was she thinking: Notes on a scandal by Zöe Heller narrated by Nadia May. i think it's probably the best piece of work I've ever heard her do. beautifully voiced. wish the novel itself were as good.

halfway through, I'd give the book a pass except that i want to see how the rest of it compares with the movie. it's rare for me to read a book in which i dislike all the main characters. i don't really see the point.

also wading through A certain justice by P. D. James, my least favorite of hers thus far. i keep at it because, well, she does have me curious to see if i can suss out the murderer and because i always envision Penny Downie as Kate Miskin and that's nice.

still haven't finished Endless forms most beautiful. i shall though. i just have to be in a seriously attending frame of mind. sigh

//eta: finished men at arms. the only Pratchett thus far to which I'm giving 3-1/2 stars. possibly b/c it's hard for me to keep track of all the characters and keep up with the plot in audio.

just found out that the version of the constant gardener that i had been listening to last week was abridged. no wonder. i had been enjoying it but then the last third of the novel just felt so abrupt.

finally applied myself and finished Endless forms most beautiful by Sean B.Carroll and might conceivably give one of my good chewing teeth to be able to read it visually. nah, probably not, but I'd recommend to others to read the print copy if you can. it's an excellent book, most fascinating but illustrations would be helpful. imo.

starting Cleopatra's sister by Penelope Lively from NLS narrated by Lynn Schrichte. she seems good thus far. being a book by Lively, it takes place at least partly in England and, naturally, many characters are British.

Schrichte is smart. she doesn't even try to do British accents. she just narrates very well and voices the characters nicely in standard US English. works much better than a narrator trying to sound British and failing.

David Hartley-Margolin, a generally excellent narrator for NLS, tried to use a sort of generic British accent on P. D. James' A certain justice. i was tolerating it until in full swing he pronounced 'clerk' as it's pronounced in the US rather than the typical British 'clark.' he did it twice and it was so jarring i stopped reading, sent the book back to NLS and got a proper British narrator from the library.

bless the man, he was doing his best and he really is quite good. I'm appreciative but also horribly picky and unbelievably spoiled. i was astounded by how jarring it was.

if i were reading it, I'd hear it in my head as 'clerk' just as I'd read 'lieutenant' as it's pronounced in the US. whereas if i were listening to a book by Patrick O'Brian and the narrator pronounced 'lieutenant' as 'lootenant' instead of 'leftenant,' i should feel as if I'd been brought up sharply with a round turn! fascinating thing, the mind.

anon!

I found the recording I recently heard of Jane Austen's epistolary story Lady Susan rather disconcerting with an all-American cast. Did women in Regency England really sound as though they'd been raised in Norwalk, CT or Winnetka, IL?

Just finished People of the Book, I liked the ending. Getting ready to start The Orchid Thief.

I'm on the thirteenth disc of a thirty disc set for Edward Rutherfurd'swonderful New York. So far I have been in the
middle of the Revolutionary War for what feels like weeks now. I'm not an American and I had no idea this damn war went on for so long. I thought Washington won in a hurry..this is taking forever. I don't remember the name of the narrator but he is excellent. After reading about thirteen hours I wonder if he is getting tired though. The book ends in around 2008 and since it's 1780 right now..I have a ways to go with the story.

Recently started Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron - not bad, but it's going to be a long 14 hours!

I'm listening to Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. It is an excellent book but it is 46 hours and change. I had to buy a print copy because I just can't keep track of all the material in the book. A lesson learned. For a break I picked up Burning Angel and got through it in two days.

Well I can relate, 'bill. Against the Day was about the same length, 42 CDs, and it only spanned about 20 years!

I also enjoy concurrently borrowing the book version, and having it on-hand to refer to, or just to speed up the pace.

I just finished the very brief, simple, eloquent Night. There were no surprises in terms of the Holocaust ordeal, but not since Johnny Got His Gun have I listened to something that touching.

Ok, no titters of laughter now. I have never, ever read To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm on it now. Sissy Spasick's slow, lyrical storytelling is phenomenal!

Happy 50th anniversary, TKaM.

I'm listening to The Thirteenth Tale by Read by Bianca Amato and Jill Tanner and it's absolutely delightful. I don't know if I've been hearing Bianca or Jill but I'd be willing to listen to her read the phone book.

Sandydog: I listened to Sissy Spacek's To Kill a Mockingbird last year and it is one of the best audio books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I envy you!

Morphidea: In The Thirteenth Tale Margaret is voiced by Bianca Amato and Vida by Jill Tanner. Also a wonderful audio book!

Then it's Bianca, I haven't heard Jill Tanner yet. I have to go see if Bianca has done any other audiobooks. Her voice is like butter.

i also love Jill Tanner's superb alto voice. she voices characters more by diction, accent and phrasing than by changing tone. it works beautifully for me.

Ditto NarratorLady — I LOVED Spacek's reading of TKAM. Enjoy, Sandydog!

I'm listening to Lando, read by Josh Hamilton. It's my first L'Amour, and though there are a lot of clichés I can see the appeal of the genre. I ended on the perfect cliffhanger last night when I pulled into my garage. Good stuff.

I'm listening to The Bread of Angels and the narrator (Cassandra Campbell) does an amazing job of capturing the voice of a 27-year old woman and although she is not the author, her voice is a perfect match for the story.

I just got The Glass Rainbow. The audio book was released the same day that the print edition was released. Usually there is a one to two year wait after the release of the print edition for the release of the audio book. The publisher must want to sell as many copies as possible in as short a time as possible.

Forgot to mention, I listened to Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo narrated by David Case (aka Frederick Davidson), after Les Miserables by the same. I thoroughly enjoyed both books.

The dialogues in Ninety-Three are first-rate. Thought-provoking, witty, delicious, hilarious! I highly recommend it.

Now listening to On the Nature of Things by Lucretius narrated by Charlton Griffin (Audible link here). Another great listen.

I've just downloaded Ninety-Three from my library so I'm excited that #205 booksontrial gives it such a great recommendation. I didn't expect a humorous read.

At the moment I'm listening to the third book in Trollope's Barchester Chronicle, Doctor Thorne. I do enjoy Trollope's work and I'm slowly working my way through all the books in the Barchester series.

>206 socialpages:: socialpages,

Don't mean to promote my review of Ninety-Three, but I just can't say it any better.

It's not a humorous read as a whole, rather a tragic epic like Iliad, but there're scintillating dialogues throughout the book that showcase the characters and the ideas they embody, some of the best from Hugo's books that I've read. In fact, I enjoyed them so much that after I finished the book, I replayed the dialogues a few times just to savor them. :)

>207 booksontrial: booksontrial

Thanks for the link, excellent review. I'm devoting some of my July reading/listening to the French Revolution I am listening to The Scarlet Pimpernel via podcast from The Classic Tales as a comparison to Hugo's Ninety-Three.

I'm just over an hour (of eight) into 703: How I Lost More Than a Quarter Ton and Gained a Life by Nancy Makin - grim story, but good narration.

(The following day: I have given up as I don't really like the author much.)

oh goodness. have finished several since last posting, most recently Cleopatra's sister by Penelope Lively.

i'm reading an assortment, as always. first, The bookwoman's last fling by John Dunning. most enjoyable.

i may be reading The naked and the dead from NLS if i can hang in with the narrator.

also just started Atonement by Ian McEwan which may drive me right round the twist as my ipod gets an eccentric whim about every 15 minutes or so and decides i should be reading something else or should be at another point in the book. this means stopping about every 3 or 4 minutes to see exactly where i am and, since the chapter breaks are very long, an extended scroll to get back to where i was.

i also have Heinlein's The moon is a harsh mistress going as it's one of his i've not read. only about 20 minutes in but am already in love with Mike, the computer. :)

i usually also have a non-fiction book in the loop so am downloading Born to run by Christopher McDougall from NLS, bless 'em, because my partner keeps badgering me to read it. she insists i'll love it. depends on the narrator, of course, but i'm hopeful.

oh, and i've started Gone, baby, gone by Dennis Lehane from NLS.

that's it, that's all, that's enough. :)

//eta Lehane book

> 210 Mirrordrum, I'd be interested in your opinion on Born to Run as my friend and running partner highly recommends it. The book has changed her ideas about running, diet and life.

>211 socialpages:: socialpages,

Born to Run looks interesting indeed. What other books on running have you (or your running partner) enjoyed?

As I turned 50 this year, I thought 2010 would be a great year to challenge myself and run the Sydney Marathon so I've mostly been reading "how to" books like Marathon From Start to Finish, The Marathon and Half Marathon. A Training Guide, Teach Yourself Running, Galloway's Marathon Frequently Asked Questions and finally, Need to Know Running.

I love our training runs through the mountains near my house where we discuss what we're reading, sort of a on-the-run book club.

Listening to Derek Jacobi's narration of The Daughter of Time for the umteenth time. Derek Jacobi could read the want adverts aloud and make it sound like poetry. Also just finished George Guidall's narration of Dune. Absolutely loved it; wish he had recorded the other titles in the original Dune series.

I'm about half way through Beau Bridges' reading of Montana 1948 and he is fantastic.

I just finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox and started The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers read by Cherry Jones. I never heard of her before but she seems just right, voice in the lower octaves with just a bit of a southern accent. It such a powerful book, I'm sure I'll enjoy hearing it read.

Tomorrow I'll begin listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals narrated by Richard Thomas. I think I've been suffering from too much fiction so this should make a nice change. I've heard nothing but good things about this book.

Oh oh oh! Team of Rivals on audio is brilliant! But I don't think the reader of the one I listened to was a guy. Hmm, now I'm curious to know who read my version.

Be sure to let me know how Thomas does, okay?

ETA the reader was Suzanne Toren, and she was absolutely perfect. I'm definitely interested in knowing what you think of your reader.

I finished Shanghai Girls, it was okay, but I wasn't bowled over by it. The narration was fine, but the lack of emotion throughout made the book flat and I wasn't into it. I'm now starting Paul Is Undead by Alan Goldsher, narrated by the wonderful Simon Vance.

>219 Storeetllr:: Storeetllr: Richard Thomas' reading of Team of Rivals is excellent. It's like having John-Boy Walton read you a story. Oh, wait. It IS John-Boy reading to me!

And of course I'm completely glued to the story after one CD.

Hahaaaa! Good one, NarratorLady. I'm glad he's a good reader, because that book deserves the best!

I'm listening to Trunk Music by Michael Connelly. I'm not sure who the narrator is. I didn't much care for him at first, but he's done all the Harry Bosch novels so far and he's growing on me.

Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark - glad it's only 4 hours as the plot has shifted direction halfway through, featuring characters with whom I'm not particularly engaged. Davina Porter's narration is effective, though slightly harsh perhaps?

I finished The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. This was also read by the author, who did an impressive job with an excellent story. I started Bloodroot by Amy Greene. This is read by numerous narrators. I love those Tennessee accents.

I just finished Ghostwalk, by Rebecca Stott. Now I'm reading Lost, by Gregory Maguire.

Finished Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, read by Geoffrey Howard. It was my first Hornblower book and I enjoyed it very much. Now I am listening to Where The Red Fern Grows read by Anthony Heald. I'm not far in but it's pretty good so far.

NEW GAME STARTS HERE.