What Are You Listening to Now? Part 9

I quickly finished a memoir: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher, read by the author. Funny and insightful. Name-dropping galore!
I'll be starting another type of memoir, True Compass by Ted Kennedy.

Nearly finished with Drums of Autumn and am deciding on A Thousand Splendid Suns or Rebecca.

I'm listening to The Man of Property by Galsworthy. The reader, David Case, has a lovely drawling, snooty voice which I like and which fits the story well although some of the proper names are not pronounced quite as I'd like. Fleur has been mentioned in the introduction even though she doesn't enter the story until the next volume and Mr. Case's version sounds more like 'floor' than a french flower to me.

I finished Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning, first time listening to it, but I've read it before. Narrated this time by two different narrators, Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross. Loved Phil's narration, but not as crazy about Natalie, she didn't sound Southern enough, but she was still pretty good. Now, I can't wait for the next and last in the series, Shadowfever. I'm now beginning to listen to Life: Keith Richards, narrated by Johnnie Depp, I've been dying to hear this one.

I've been having a wonderful time with The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. The narrator is excellent, the best I've ever heard. I'm not sure what his name is so I'll have to look that up. But the book is just such an incredible joy. It feels like someone has presented me with the most wonderful gift.

Alan, I see two productions narrated by men, one read by George Guidall (Recorded Books) and one by Anthony Heald (Blackstone Audio); those links will take you to narrator pages on AudioFile Magazine's website where you can listen to samples and figure out which one you're listening to :)
Also, Hilary Spurling recently released Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth (she narrates the audio herself), and Anchee Min's Pearl of China, a fictionalized account of Buck's life, also came out earlier this year (narrated by Angela Lin; Recorded Books).

Just finished Fallen by, Lauren Kate narration by, Justine Eyre she did a good job but the book was just ok.

Now listening to Wolf Hall by, Hilary Mantel narrated by, Simon Slater

The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks - interesting format as he reads the preface and the one chapter of his own experience, as well as brief introductions to the other chapters, which are read by Richard Davidson.

I'm listening - listening hard - to The Ambassadors.

Tough going.

I'm listening to Rebecca. Not long, less than 3 hours. Enjoying it so far.

I just started Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland. Interesting story of a man investigating the deaths of the Romanovs for Stalin. Great start with compelling narration by Paul Michael.

I'm listening to Home in Time For Christmas by Heather Graham which is a departure from her usual writing. I'm glad it's short because it's so far fetched. Hopefully it will get me a little more into the holiday spirit than in years past.

About halfway through The Witch of Portobello and, oddly enough, am loving it!

>susiesharp- I'll be interested in your thoughts on the audio of Wolf Hall. That might be a good way to finally get to that book!

>14 msf59:-msf59- I actually won the book through ER and just couldn't get into it but really liking the audio so it'll still get reviewed.

14, 15 - I got an ARC of the book, but wound up listening to it instead and really enjoyed it as well.

I'm listening to Oliver Twist read by Nadia May. It's my first by her and I see (or hear) why she is so praised.

Just finished one. I'll never listen to an abridged version of a book again! I felt cheated. Listened to Rebecca which was 3 hours long. I knew the story well already which probably made me feel even more cheated. Live and Learn.

Am saving A Thousand Splendid Suns (which I've read) until a long plane flight mid December. So will listen to A Traitor's Tale next.

I can recommend the version of Rebecca read by Anna Massey. I've recently finished it and really enjoyed it. It's about 8 hours long (I think) and is definitely unabridged.

Ditto 19! One of my favorite audiobooks ever.

I am about half way through Never Call Retreat. This is the third volume in a very well written series on the Civil War.

I'm partway through Time's Magpie: A Walk in Prague by Myla Goldberg - she narrates this one (barely two hours, more like an essay) quite well; her novel Bee Season was one of the few examples of successful author narration. Definitely recommended (esp if you're looking for something shorter) - hope she does more travel pieces!

Wow, I lost the whole November thread. Thanks Storeetllr for the link. I'm listening to Remarkable Creatures about 19th century fossil hunters. So far I'm loving it.

Finished Wolf Hall really enjoyed the narration by Simon Slater

Now listening to Keeper of the Keys by, Janny Wurts narrated by, David Thorpe

I'm listening to George Guidall read Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower. This is the third book I've listened to Guidall narrate and he's probably my favorite.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I'm starting Disk 3. Chinua feel free to start the plot whenever you want. I'm just sayin.

Finished Worth Dying For last Monday and have to admit to being somewhat disappointed in it. I have loved most of the "Reacher" books and Dick Hill does an excellent job at reading them. 61 Hours was a real cliffhanger so I was naturally expecting great things from this one. Unfortunately, not enough issues are resolved, both from the last book as well as this one. :-(

Immediately started Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich. Needed some mindless stuff for back country roads where my mind needs to be more on conditions (and deer) than the book. It's light but fun and, of course, well read by Lorelei King.

I'm loving 1776 by David McCullough, narrated by the author. I was deeply disappointed that he didn't narrate his John Adams, so this is a real treat.

Susie- I will be requesting the audio of Wolf Hall from my library. Unfortunately, my audiobooks have started backing up as well! We are a crazy, obsessed, bunch, aren't we?

Joanne- I recently heard George Guidall do American Gods and it was very good. I think it was my first time hearing him. I have to add Mayflower to my audio list. Did Guidall do The Last Stand?

I finished the excellent True Compass and speaking of the Mayflower, I'm well into The Wordy Shipmates. It's been pretty good.

>29 msf59: Mark ~ You are so right about the obsession to keep adding books & audiobooks & ebooks to our stashes. I now have enough audiobooks in my iTunes and Audible.com libraries to last me about two months of nonstop listening. And I continue to add more books.

I doubt I have enough years left to finish listening to everything I want to listen to before I kick the bucket. Maybe I should leave instructions to be buried with earbuds in my ears and my iPod turned on. Sheesh.

Still listening to The Witch of Portobello.

>29 msf59: & 30- I hear you there I have so many on my wishlist and its so hard deciding and now I signed up for an out of the area library card at one of the libraries in my state that has overdrive library2go audiobooks and keep getting ones from there too plus about 4 on my ipod I haven't even listened to yet!
I might have to steal your idea Storeetllr and put that in my will LOL

>29 msf59: He did, Mark. And I think you'd really like it!

Just started Working with you is Killing Me.

> 29, 30, & 31: Having just downloaded five more tonight (and not counting the five that I picked up at the Penguin Warehouse Sale on Saturday), I am definitely in agreement with you all.

Finished Wicked Appetite today (light and mindless but reasonably well read - although King did have trouble maintaining the Southern accent of the heroine). Am now debating whether to do Way Station (Clifford Simak) or The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy) next.

Just finished listening to the best audio, Life: Keith Richards by Rolling Stone Keith Richards. Amazingly insightful autobiography of the backbone and soul of the Rolling Stones. Narrated by Johnnie Depp - amazing. If you're a Stones fan this is a must read (or listen).

Now, on to something completely different, Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig, narrated by Kate Reading.

Julie- That's great to hear! I have Life: Keith Richards locked and loaded. I'm nearly finished with Wordy Shipmates and that's next!

I've just started The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. Although I quite like Ripping yarns of this era (pre WW1) I bought this for the reader, Anton Lesser. He is as marvellous as ever and the book is better than I had expected - the first person narrator is self-deprecating and funny.

Finished listening to Are You There Vodka,It's me Chelsea on the weekend, read by the author Chelsea Handler. A lot of it was a lot of fun, some hysterically funny, but after a while I tired of Handler's nastiness. She's an equal-opportunity misanthrope and racist somewhat too. Overall the parts that were bearable were amusing but the thing as a whole was a bit tiresome.

Help! Which audio version of Anna Karenina is the *best*? There are about five on audible all with different narrators. I know people have spoken highly of Davinia Porter, should I go with her?
And does anyone know if any of the audio version use the new Richard Peveartranslation, or is that asking for too much?

If Davina Porter is one of the choices I would go for her she is fantastic!

Thanks susiesharp, I think I'll probably go with her.

Alans #39:

Sounds rather like Sloane Crosley's stuff (schtick) to me.

just finished Ken Follett's Jackdaws from NLS. it's only passable and quite predictable yet kept me punching the play button for 13 hrs. i confess to having f-fwded through the romantic bits as they were cliche and broke the tension.

also finished in the last 2 weeks Maugham's The razor's edge, which was quite fine and absorbed my interest completely, and Chandler's The high window, which in audio, at least, was just so-so.

i'm half way through E. M. Forster's Where angels fear to tread. disgusting that he wrote this at 26. also still mousing along in Anne of green gables. i periodically get over her continual fits of passion. oh, and about half way through Bloodsucking fiends by Christopher Moore and still much amused.

for non-fiction, have started The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales by Diane Ackerman. thus far, WOW!

>40 alans:: alans,

I enjoyed Anna Karenina narrated by Nadia May for BlackStone Audio (translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude). It's free from OverDrive and available through our library system.

You could listen to and compare the samples at Audible.com, and find the version you like best.

>36 ktleyed: Oh man, Johnny Depp reading Keith Richards. That sounds awesome!

I'm not even interested in the Rolling Stones, and it still sounds good.

Keeper of the Keys by, Janny Wurts was really great David Thorpe is a fantastic narrator

Also finished Hachet by Gary Paulsen narrated by Peter Coyoye it was a really good book don't know why I haven't read it before
Now starting The River by, Gary Paulsen

I'm listening to Great House by Nicole Krauss. George Guidall is one of the narrators. His voice and inflection are so weird you can't resist them.

>49 Citizenjoyce: I'm listening to George Guidall read Mayflower. I'm tempted now to try Great House on audio!

Guidall is only one of the narrators of intertwined characters. The story so far is fascinating.

44 - mirrordrum, I read The Moon by Whale Light several years ago and loved it. Diane Ackerman has a wonderful way with words and I loved reading about her experiences learning about the different animals. Who's the narrator of the audio version?

Joyce & Joanne- Now, it looks like you have me very interested in the audio of Great House. I love this domino effect!
I'm loving Life: Keith Richards! It's a big book, but so entertaining! This may rank as one of my favorite narrators. Johnny Depp is brilliant.

msf59 - glad to hear you're loving Life: Keith Richards too! I didn't want it to end!

I finished Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig, narrated by Kate Reading. Sweet and I totally loved it and Turnip! Now I'm beginning Shadow of the Wind. I attempted to read it in print two years ago, but gave it up, so I'm giving it another try on audio this time. Narrated by Daniel Philpott.

>kyleyed-The narrator of Shadow of the Wind was fantastic!Loved that audio!

Just starting The Virgin's Knot.

Another round of J.D. Robb's series. I think I have about 27 of them now on tape or CD. I listen to the series about once every year or so. Gotta adore Roarke.

Here at work listening to Germinal by Zmile Zola.

I am now listening to The River by, Gary Paulsen narrated again by, Peter Coyote I think Brian really needs to stay out of the woods!

Am almost finished with The Lace Reader and all I can say is wow, I just love it! I still don't quite know where it's all going, but the journey itself is well worth it!

Finished Dexter is Delicious on Saturday. I really like the Dexter thrillers on audiobook, and this one is also good, but I don't care as much for the reader (Jeff Lindsay, the author) as I did for the reader of the first two I listened to.

Still in the middle of The Witch of Portobello. I am enjoying it, but it takes more attention than I have had lately, so I put it on hold for a bit until I can settle down and really pay attention to it.

Finished The River Now listening to Brian's Winter a little mad that its not Peter Coyote again I really liked him this one is read by Johnboy ...Richard Thomas

finished Where angels fear to tread and loved it. was deeply grieved when i went looking for another David Case/Frederick Davidson narration to find that he died in 2005. what a loss.

finishing up Bloodsucking fiends by Christopher Moore and as much as anything, am enjoying the San Francisco setting. :)

still creeping along in Anne of Green Gables. she's such a passionate child that i find her overwhelming at times.

have started A great and terrible beauty by Libba Bray with a good narrator from NLS, A duty to the dead by Charles Todd, which is marvelously done by Rosalyn Landor, Kingfishers catch fire by Rumer Godden and, for going to sleep, Rex Stout's Might as well be dead by Michael Pritchard. i won't listen to anyone else voice Nero Wolfe!

I'm sorry to hear about David Case/Frederick Davidson as I have just started to listen to his reading of the Forsyte Chronicles, and Audible has only eight of the nine volumes. I had hoped that the final one (actually volume 6) might be in preparation but obviously not.

The Forsyte Saga comprises 4 of my favorite books. i've listened to The man of property but not any of the succeeding ones and it's been awhile since i played that. it would be nice to revisit the Forsytes with David Case. i expect he couuld put the "sniff" in Soames' voice beautifully.

i'm so very sorry he's gone. he's a great favorite and what a tremendous gift he left us.

there's a nice page on him at audiophile.

he had apparently undertaken to read the entirety of Remembrance of things past starting in 2002 but i gather he was unable to complete it as i can't find it in audio. if anyone can, please point me to it. how wonderful that would have been.

one of his favorite contemporary authors was Peter Mayle, of whom i'd never heard, and i've found a David Case recording of one of his books at the local library so i'm going to try it.

I'm partway through The Sunday Philosophy Club by A. McCall Smith -- worth it for Davina Porter's narration, but the plot itself is mighty slow, and I'm not sure I really like the protagonist, Isabel Dalhousie, all that much.

I've been a fan of David Case/Frederick Davidson for years - if you haven't heard him do Trollope's Barset series, you've really missed a lot!

David Case/Frederick Davidson's renditions of Victor Hugo's novels are very good too. I listened to and enjoyed all three of them. (Audible links here)

I like Isabel Dalhousie very much. Maybe by the end of the book you will too. I like the way she thinks.

Message 65: Seajack

thanks for the recommendation on Trollope.

i recently finished Barchester Towers, the 2nd novel in the Barchester chronicles, which until just now i thought was the first, beautifully read by Timothy West.

fortunately, the local library has a copy of the Warden, which is the first book in the chronicles, read by David Case, so i've put a hold on that.

all of audible's Trollope readings are by either Simon Vance or Timothy West. i was awfully happy with West so would be willing to go that route if i can't readily get DC's versions. he just does, or did, women so wonderfully that it delights me.

as for Isabel Dalhousie, i like her when i'm in the mood for something sort of cozy and dozy. and i love Davina Porter.

I thought Timothy West's reading of Beryl Bainbridge's story Injury Time was brilliant! I put his narration of The Eustace Diamonds on my TBR pile after that.

Davina Porter does her usual splendid job with Muriel Spark's Aiding and Abetting, by the way.

I finished and loved Life:Keith Richards. It is now one of my favorite memoirs and Johnny Depp did a fantastic job. Next up: Little Heathens. I've had this one on my radar for awhile now. Looking forward to it.

Couldn't help myself ~ last night I started Indulgence in Death, read by Susan Ericksen, one of my favorite narrators. I just felt like I needed something light and relatively mindless after The Lace Reader before I go back to listening to The Witch of Portobello. So far, just a little ways in, it already made me cry. And laugh out loud. I didn't want to stop listening to go to sleep.

I highly recommend Susan Ericksen's reading of Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress - anyone else find she sounds a lot like the actress Jane Curtin?

Thanks, Seajack. Added to my TBLT list.

I just started Supersense: why we believe in the unbelievable by Bruce M. Hood which seems like it's going to be interesting, but the narrator, Kerin McCue, reads with the inflection he'd use for a third grader. Annoying.

FYI- didn't know where else to post but audible is having a $4.95 sale right through Nov.30 at 11 am some good ones including Outlander by, Diana Gabaldon

>75 susiesharp:: susiesharp,

Thanks for the tip. There are some good ones indeed.

Half way through (The Rembrandt Affair) by (Daniel Silva). Loving it.

I ended up picking up these titles from the audible sale

Abby Cooper,Psychic Eye by, Victoria Laurie

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton

The Forgotten Garden Kate Morton

Heat Wave Richard Castle

Paper Towns John Green

And Outlander Just to have for my collection I've listened to it about 3 times but have always gotten it from ILL so will be nice to just have it.

Patricia Briggs : Masques.
K. Kellgren doesn't read badly but I didn't like the tone of her voice (specially when she says the name of the principal character! - hundreds of time). I'll make sure to "read" the 2d volume.
Light story but Briggs knows how to make her characters stick.

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, read by Susan Lyon (sp?). Not crazy about Lyon's reading voice, but it's not irritating enough to make it unbearable. The story is interesting, told from the viewpoint of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV and mother of the Princes who were allegedly killed by Richard III in the Tower. History-lite.

Bought Empire Falls by Richard Russo with my audible credit this month. Can't wait to start listening!

Well, I finally finished The Sunday Philosophy Club - looks like that's it for that series for me, as I didn't care for the characters at all; I stuck with it to see whether the suspicious death at the very beginning was an accident or a murder.

Regarding Smith's Botswana series, I saw the TV pilot today on DVD ... took quite a lot of getting used to! The characters seem younger to me - I had imagined Precious and J. L. B. to be about a decade or so older. They're less formal (stuffy) on television, but I suppose that's to be expected. Mma Makutsi is done over-the-top for comic effect at first, but does come into her own later. There are a couple of recurring characters who aren't from the books, and the Agency itself is in another neighborhood, not next to J L B's place. The villainess Violet Sephoto made a brief appearance (she was "hipper" and less slinky than I'd expected), but I was disappointed there was no Mma Potakwane from the orphan farm (yet).

finished a duty to the dead by Charles Todd. i'll be sticking to Maisie Dobbs, thankee.

added Dick Francis's In the frame for something short and mindless.

>#82- Seajack- I listened to one of his books too and wasn't impressed either I've never went back to the series one was enough!

#82, 84 I read (in print) the first one and wasn't particularly enthused and then much later found the others and have enjoyed them much more. They have seemed quite different from the first one. In fact, I'd advise starting from number 2 in the series and ignoring the first one. Others of my friends and family who have read them have agreed with me.

That's exactly how I feel about the first book of Trollope's Barchester chronicles: The Warden.

I finished and loved Little Heathens. I started a quickie, Jon Stewart's "Earth", featuring The Daily Show cast. It's amusing.

Message 86: Seajack

oh? i'll bear your view in mind. i've put a hold on the warden from the library. i'll try to approach it with an open mind anyway.

I finished Brian's Winter I think if you are going to read this series read this one second before reading The River I think it would have flowed better if I had.Even if Brians Winter had the wrong narrator it should have been Peter Coyote instead of John-boy.

I also just finished Heat Wave by, Richard Castle narrated by, Johnny Heller I liked him but could help wishing it was Nathan Fillion narrating. However if Johnny Heller narrates anything Noir I'll be getting it he has the perfect old style detective voice.

Now listening to :Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by, Victora Laurie narrated by, Elizaberth Michaels

I'm seriously tempted to rant about how great this one is, but I won't. Instead, I'll touchstone it, and hope everyone who clicks seriously considers listening: Life without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic.

Just began Brideshead Revisited read by Jeremy Irons. I love his voice and love his interpretation. I do wish he would drink some water now and then.

Had to postpone listening to Abby Cooper since I have Wild Ride by, Jennifer Cruise checked out from the library's Overdrive. Its narrated by, Angela Dawe its really fun!

I liked Brideshead Revisited, too -- I think it was read by David Case (Frederick Davidson) though.

I loved the Jeremy Irons Brideshead Revisited too!

I'm wrapping up Nadia May's reading of Oliver Twist (brilliant) and will then move on to the Focus on the Family drama of A Christmas Carol.

For lots of Mark Twain titles, John Greenman on Librovox is a wonderful narrator. Hard to believe it is all free: http://tinyurl.com/2c88gs9

Nadia May (a/k/a Donada Peters and Wanda McCaddon) is brilliant at most everything she does - a real Midas Touch of the tongue.

i loved Brideshead Revisited and read the Jeremy Irons version. i'll have to see if i can find the David Case version. i'd like to compare.

um, i just finished Bloodsucking fiends. Christopher Moore is too twisted for color tv, in the very best sense (the last phrase spoken as Alan Rickman spake it in Sense and Sensibility or any Alan Rickman will do. he has such silky sibilants. ;)

also finished In the frame by Dick Francis. the narrator was Geoffrey Howard and he made a nice change from Simon Prebble. Francis has always been fairly predictable so it was nice to have a new voice.

have now started Death in holy orders by P. D. James. the narrator is Charles Keating whom i know only for a turn he did as Zeus on Xena: Warrior Princess. he's an interesting narrator who, thus far, hasn't attempted to make women sound like women by raising his pitch but rather by delivery. he's good at dialects, though. or at least i guess he is. being a yank i guess i really wouldn't know but it doesn't sound like generic 'mummerset' to me.

Finished The Riddle of the Sands a good enough Ripping Yarn even for a non-sailor (I don't know the difference between a jib and a mizzen and the only tacking I've done is on the curtains I've just made...) but Anton Lesser's reading made it most enjoyable.

I'm treating myself to more Anton Lesser now - I've started his reading of A Christmas Carol. I read it last year for Christmas too, and with that and the two feet of snow we have here in Southern England I feel ready to put up the Christmas decorations!

I've got the Jeremy Irons version of Brideshead Revisited waiting, perhaps I'll move it to the top of my TBLT list.

Finished Wild Ride by, Jennifer Cruise narrated by, Angela Dawe it was really fun!

Now listening to Jane Eyre narrated by, Juliet Stevenson

I am listening to Hogfather and I am enjoying it alot. Many many lol moments and Im only an hour or so in the book.

Message 101: ALWINN

you might enjoy the dvd of hogfather as well. it's a fine cast and Sir Ian Richardson's turn as Death, that is, as the voice of Death, was marvelous. i was a great fan of Sir Ian's and his sense of humor shines through wonderfully.

HAPPY HOGSWATCH!

I'm finishing up Queen Lucia read by Nadia May -- story of how she wears out her welcome in Riseholme, later heading to Tilling, and the confrontations with Miss Mapp.

Finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, very good, I loved the narrator, Daniel Philpott. Now, it's back to Elizabeth Peabody in Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters. Always amusing with Barbara Rosenblat narrating.

>104 ktleyed:- One of my favorites I was disappointed the the The Angel's Game wasn't the same narrator he was not near as good as Daniel Philpott!

I just finished Jane Eyre Narrated by, Juliet Stevenson it was Great!

I am now listening to The Kitchen House by, Kathleen Grissom Narrated by Orlagh Cassidy, Bahni Turpin

I just finished Islam by Karen Armstrong, a very concise history of Islam and very good. Now I'm listening to Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown, which is at the other end of the universe. Fun but not complete fluff due to her pro gay, feminist casual stance.

I just finished The Kitchen House by, Kathleen Grissom it was Fabulous!I loved it and the narration by Orlagh Cassidy, Bahni Turpin was wonderful!!Highly recommend it. It is sad but still a great story!

Am now starting The Custom of the Country by, Edith Wharton narrated by, Grace Conlin

I finished the audio of Let's Take the Long Way Home. An excellent memoir by Gail Caldwell. Next up: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

With the kids in the car, we finished The BFG by Roald Dahl and really enjoyed it (read by Natasha Richardson). We're now listening to The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.

For myself, I haven't had as much luck. I finished Hominids (1st in The Neanderthal Parallax) by Robert J. Sawyer. I enjoyed it, but not enough to continue the series.

I listened to Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben (read by Jonathan Marosz) and I really enjoyed that one. It might be the last one in that series that I listen to, though, if the next one is the one that the author reads. I heard nothing good about his rendition . . .

Then I tried listening to Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein. DH is a big Heinlein fan and we'd bo't it in an audible sale over 2 years ago and never had time to listen together, so I decided that I'd do so on my own. I knew it was an older book, so thought I was prepared for some dated attitudes but I couldn't get past some of them or get into the story at all. Has anyone read or listened to it? Should I give it more of a chance?

Now I'm listening to The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. I'm starting to enjoy it, but I am reminded that sometimes with fantasy I need to give the author time to build their world. I don't even know what this one's about, really. It's another that I bo't for dh's enjoyment and darn those kids in the back seat! We haven't been able to listen together.

Penn

I'm listening to Religion, Myth, and Magic: The Anthropology of Religion by Susan A. Johnston. It's a series of 14 lectures read by the author. Very basic anthropology, but there are some interesting concepts.

110> I've read Podkayne of Mars just because I, too, am a Heinlein compleatist. But it was written for juveniles, and actually is not as good as those with male protagonists. In itself, it is un-memorable.

finished Libba Bray's A great and terrible beauty. i found it rather like a combination of morality tales for young women. it took me about 2/3 of the book to get invested and i doubt that i'll finish the trilogy although i do like the titles.

Might as well be dead by Rex Stout and Death in holy orders by P. D. James also were completed this week.

Death in holy orders was intriguing. i like reading these later James' books as she increasingly deals with issues of mortality. i also thoroughly appreciate the use she makes of her vast stores of experiential knowledge and wisdom and her almost complete lack of sentimentality. she brings to death and its aftermath the eye and clinical sensibilities of a forensic pathologist, which she was at one time.

i enjoy the collisions she so often creates between the realities of death and murder and the social institutions we use to protect ourselves from mortality. she often uses religious institutions and her view strikes me as both jaundiced and, sometimes, maybe even a bit wistful.

i've switched from the audio version of Rumer Godden's Kingfishers catch fire to the large print version, so that's out of the audio loop.

have started Remembrance of things past, superbly narrated by John Rowe and Tipping the velvet by Sarah Waters, which is a knockout as narrated by Juanita McMahon. she has a great time with it and her delivery is, when appropriate, smooth as velvet. hoping that soon they'll put Fingersmith in audio format but till then, 'Velvet' is starting out as a great read.

am also having my ritual holiday fest with Patricia Ann and Mary Alice in Ann George's Southern sisters Mystery Murder on a bad hair day.

oh and still moving along with Anne of Green Gables and The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians and Whales. i'm about 2/3 of the way through the first and half way through the second.

i think that's a great, and somewhat oddly mixed, sufficiency.

The Third Policeman

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon : a few lenghs on occasion but enjoyable and sometimes gripping ; very well read by Jeff Woodman.

Finished The Custom of the Country by, Edith Wharton Narrated by, Grace Conlin it was really good!

Also got the free Short stories by, O'Henry from Audible they were really good Katherin Kellgren's reading of The Cop and the Anthem was great I wish she would have read the Gift of the Magi too!And The Last leaf I don't remember reading before so enjoyed that one!

Now listening to The Forgotten Garden by, Kate Morton Narrated by, Caroline Lee

I just started Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable read by Mary Woods. I know several people reading Stones for Ibarra, and now I know to what that refers.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb, read extremely well by the author. It's hard to imagine Lamb narrating his other, more serious books, but his depiction of Felix Funicello, the book's 10-year old hero, was dead on. I found myself laughing out loud at this delightful Christmas tale, which was a gift in itself.

I'm listening to The Messiah of Morris Avenue. It's kind of growing on me.

For my final book of 2010, I've started Life in Year One ("What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine"), which I can't say I'd recommend, but will stick with it. Constant Author's Note (footnotes) and disclaimers of "We can't be certain, but ..." have been annoying.

(edited to add)

I gave up halfway through -- grim, grim, grim

My final audiobook of the year is Bloodroot by, Amy Greene with multiple narration by, Lorna Raver, Kirby Hayborn,Jesse Bernstein,Rebecca Loman,Emily Janice Card & Richard McGonagal . I only have 2 hours left so will have this one done before the new year!

My next book will be Room by, Emma Donoghue downloaded it from the library last night.

I've been away for a bit!

I've listened to Invisible Man (loads of symbols of symbolic symbolism), Holy Cow (an excellent, snarky primer on Indian religions), Good Dog. Stay (a mere 45 minutes or so), The Guinea Pig Diaries (more of AJ's hilarious antics).

And, currently Stumbling on Happiness. Keep listening!

just finished the short story/novella The winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis. not necessarily the book one wants to read on one's 67th b'day, but it's Connie Willis and an interesting notion. won a Hugo, i believe.

much of the story takes place in the contemporary London underground. i learned that the tube stations in and around London were used as shelters during the Blitz and many were hit resulting in a high number of casualties. i'd no idea. i'd have thought they'd have been safe shelters.

have also finished Remembrance of things past: Swann's Way, Part 1 from audible.com. good narrator in John Rowe.

finished almost at the same time The Moon By Whale Light and Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales by Diane Ackerman. marvelous book, if you like learning oddments about bats, penguins, crocodilians and whales. ;)

tipping the velvet is still ongoing. I've gotten to a hard part and am balking because i find it painful.

Anne of Green Gables is still going inexorably from one drama queen episode to the next. she cracks me up. i can't imagine how she'll end up though i only have about 3 hours left out of 11.

finally, i'm reading City of thieves by David Benioff, a fictional piece about two young men, 18 and 20, trying to survive during the siege of Leningrad. i like it alright but, about 1/3 of the way through, have reservations about the tone.

I finished Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable and was so impressed by so much research in one work that I had to download it to my Nook to have as a reference.

Now I'm almost finished listening to Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher read by Tavia Gilbert. The book really takes you into the heart of what it means to be bi polar; however either the author comes off as quite obnoxious or the reader makes her sound so. Probably appropriate, manic people can tend toward the obnoxious on occasion.

I finished listening to Replay by Ken Grimwood a really good time travel novel of a man who keeps dying and repeating his life, learning from his mistakes. Great story and narration was well done by William Dufris. Now I'm beginning The Hunger Games by Suzanne Colllins narrated by Carolyn McCormick.

I've just finished The Shadow in the North, the second Sally Lockhart story, read by the wonderful Anton Lesser. A good exciting story although it tailed off at the end. I've got the next in the series in my TBR (virtual) pile but I'm listening to My Cousin Rachel now. I've seen a TV adaptation but I've never read the print version (at least, not that I can remember). The reader is Jonathan Pryce and it's going well.

Ooh, I bet My Cousin Rachel is excellent! It's a very good story.

I've started Laura Ann Gilman's Weight of Stone, second in her Vineart War series. Anne Flosnik is the reader. I'm only one disc in so I don't have much of an opinion yet.

I've got a (library) YA book, Wild Things by Clay Carmichael, going on one device, and one I purchased from Audible, Priceless, memoir of an FBI agent who recovered stolen art, on the other.

Finished Brideshead Revisited during the holidays. A very different book from what I expected. Beautifully read by Jeremy Irons though.

Listening to George Guidall reading Crime and Punishment. I loved the way he read Notes from the Underground and he is doing an excellent job with this one too.

I finished The Worst Hard Time. This is a great audio experience and a 5 star book all the way! I started A Death in Belmont and it's been very good.

I finished that pop-psychology primer, Stumbling on Happiness and am changing gears a bit. I've started No Country for Old Men. I haven't seen the movie so this should be interesting. I bet old Llewelyn Moss doesn't exactly stumble upon happiness.

I finished Madness: A Bipolar Life. It was very informative. Now I start on Flawed Dogs: The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster. Ach, it starts with a 3 legged dachshund being placed in a dog fighting ring with a pit bull. I hope it gets better soon.

Don't think I could listen to that audio book #132 Citizenjoyce. I hope the description of the fight isn't too graphic. I have just finished The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and excellently narrated by Jeff Wood. His accented english was just perfect for the character of Pi Patel.

#116 susiesharp, I did some bargain shopping at Audible too. I'm now listening to The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton and read by Grace Conlin. I also purchased Framley Parsonage narrated by Timothy West, Jane Eyre narrated by Juliet Stevenson and a lesser known Henry James novel whose title escapes me.

>#133- I hope you enjoy it I sure did! I also Loved Jane Eyre I thought Juliet Stevenson did a very good job.

I am just finishing up Paper Towns by, John Green narrated by, Dan John Miller only about and hour left on that one then I'm going to be listening to Revolution by, Jennifer Donnelly Narrated by, Emily Janice Card, Emma Bering

The narration of Flawed Dogs goes to a flashback before any fighting takes place in the dog ring. I've been assured that I needn't worry for the dog's safety. We'll see. He does have 3 legs, after all. In his flashbacks I think we're going to find out why. Anyway, so far, nothing terrible has happened.

finished Anne of Green Gables at last, at last, as well as completing City of Thieves.

have now started Sahara: a natural history by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle from NLS narrated wonderfully by Lisette Lecat.

i think i'm also going to start Jane Gardam's Old filth narrated by Graeme Malcolm. i loved her Flight of the Maidens and Old filth gets a smashing review from the NYT.

Ellie, as a fellow Anglophile I'm sure you'll love Old Filth. Jane Gardam is going on a book tour in the States in February. I'm hoping to go and hear her read.

i suppose i am a bit of an anglophile, although i resist the sobriquet. i never meant to be. i blame it on my mother who was always wittering on about the, then, 'king's English' and who introduced me to an inordinate number of British authors, starting with A. A. Milne when i, like CR, was very young.

i'm already smitten with Old filth and, it being audio, i've barely dipped a toe. i like the narrator, Graeme Malcolm a lot and have enjoyed him on other books as well.

//eta about time the US discovered Gardam! and you're a lucky so and so to have the chance to hear her. report please? :)

Just started Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and am really enjoying it so far.

I finished the terrific a Death in Belmont and will be starting Angelology.

>Mirrordrum- What do you think of City of Thieves? I loved that book!

Just started The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell but am also 3/5 of the way through Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.

#139: I loved Travels with Charley narrated by Ron McLarty. I've listened to several of his books since. He's a master.

Just finished Nora Ephron's I Remember Nothing read by the author. Driving home, laughing out loud and nodding wistfully in agreement. She speaks my language. Sorry it's over.

I have, and keep thinking I should listen to, Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck. Maybe I should get to it.

Yes, Citizenjoyce, I Feel Bad about My Neck is delightful too. There's a whole chapter on that blissful feeling of getting lost in a book and transported to another place and time.

I'm listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by myself and Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke with the kids in the car. I'm tuning out a lot of Igraine. It's not a kids' book that keeps me engaged (unlike other kids books that I enjoy as much or more than the kids).

Penn

I finished the slightly-funny re-make of Noah's Genesis, The Preservationist. Plenty of loyalty, love & marriage, loyalty, faith (of course) and juman nature. I especially liked the naturalis/paleontologist daughters-in-law.

Revolution by, Jennifer Donnelly was Fantastic!It deserves all the awards and accolades it has gotten I highly recommend it!!

I'm now listening to Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by, Helen Simonson its really good so far

#141 Grammath. How are you finding The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet? I read this book and found it difficult to keep track of all the characters. I had to keep going back to earlier chapters but maybe this says something about my attention span at the time of reading. Do you find listening to a book or reading a book easier when there are a lot of characters invovled? I sometimes have a copy of the book beside me as I listen.

I am listening to The Help and it is wonderful.

I just finished listening to The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold and loved it. A fantasy book with engaging characters and a unique plot.

I'm currently listening to Frederica by Georgette Heyer and enjoying it very much.

Deleted - duplicate post

A while ago, I ripped Joyce's Dubliners from CD's, and have been listening to the stories one-at-a-time every so often. The writing is beautiful, but I can't see as I get a lot of "meaning" from them - they're more vignettes to me.

Listening to Anansi Boys right now by Neil Gaiman and narrated by Lenny Henry... fantastic job by the narrator!

#148

I'm halfway through disc three (there's 17 altogether) and I can follow the central plot but can't remember how some of the more peripheral characters in the story relate to it. My girlfriend tried the paper book and abandoned it because of character confusion so I was sort of prepared for it.

It perhaps wasn't an ideal choice for audiobook but I hope that won't spoil things as I think Mitchell's a very talented writer. I need to use audio at the moment as paper book time ought to be devoted to my studies, which I'm currently avoiding by being here.

//Message 140: msf59

i loved the ending and, having been swept up into the first-person narrative, didn't anticipate it as i might have w/ a non-audio version. :)

oddly enough, though, i liked city of thieves more two days after finishing it than immediately afterward. i originally gave it 3-1/2 stars. two days after finishing the book, i found myself still thinking about the story and missing the characters, especially the two endlessly horny young men for whom i felt a great maternal affection. at that point i said to myself, i said, 'ellie,' i said, 'you've short-changed the book.' so i went back and amended the rating to 4 stars.

i LOVE Jane Gardam and am besotted with Old filth. more than half through, too, more's the pity. well, nothing lasts forever.

Audible has The Man in the Wooden Hat, too

yes, seajack, i'd found that but thanks anyway for letting me know. they had the flight of the maidens and it's no longer available although i got it into my library ere it vanished. but only two they have? pah! i'm ordering MitWH now before they remove it.

i just found two large print books on amazon.uk, which isn't as easy as audio but is at least accessible. for everything else, i'm SOL, at least for the present. too tarsome. lordy i'm spoiled.

>155 mirrordrum: mirrordrum, I loved City of Thieves. It's a book I read that I plan on rereading on audio.

I just finished listening to Pat Conroy read his My Reading Life. It was wonderful!

just finished audible's American Gods. Absolutely brilliant novel, absolutely brilliant reading. Never would have made it through reading the actual book, so the audiobook is a true gift to this novel. Dont miss it.

I just started listening to I Feel Bad About My Neck written and read by Nora Ephron. So far I'm not particularly thrilled by either the writing or the reading. It's pretty much upper class New York frou frou. She won't go to Africa because there aren't enough hair dressers there. Please. Maybe it'll get better.

I just finished the short, depleted-uranium-dense biography, Buddha. That unfamiliar topic is probably worth a second-listen.

I'm currently listening to The Seashell on the Mountaintop, a fascinating bio of the Galileo-of-earth-science, Steno. It is an amazing story of a delicate disectionist, careful anatomist, astute geologist.

Hmmm... it's been awhile since I have been here.

On the MP3: listening to Way Station. Dated but still good.
In the car: finished Angels Fall (so-so); currently listening to I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas (as rabid as ever).

Dividing home time between print and ebooks - so many books, so little time.

//Message 162: Sandydog1
you set off quite a sequence of events, sandydog. i've ordered seashell on the mountaintop from the library and anticipate it. i looked up Buddha and found that it's in process by NLS. intrigued by her work, and though i'm an agnostic, i looked for more Karen Armstrong. i've downloaded her book The great transformation. i also found a talk by her on The Charter for Compassion. i was inspired to go and sign it. you, and Karen Armstrong, truly made my day. thank you. :)

I finished Patience with God by Frank Schaeffer - a skewering of strident atheism and religious fundamentalists as being two sides of the same coin, followed by memoir that relates (at least tenuously) to the theme of thoughtful, rather than unquestioning, belief as the key. I had my doubts about its being author-narrated, but decided it probably works best that way.

Very much enjoying Faithful Place by Tana French.
This showed up on New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin's five best books of 2010 and since she also listed two of my top books, The Imperfectionists and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, I figured we probably had something in common.
Turns out that's a pretty good way to come up with new titles!

//Message 166: NarratorLady

i liked Tana French's first Dublin murder squad book in the woods and am gearing up to start the second as soon as i finish Old filth, probably tonight. i'm delighted to read that her 2nd and 3rd books in the series are considered even better than the first, with Faithful Place being the best.

i've been dabbling in a print version of The imperfectionists for 'a silly book game' whilst waiting for NLS to finish recording it. it's just been completed so i can now listen to it in toto.

#164 Thanks, mirrordrum, for posting Karen Armstrong's TED talk. She is always interesting. You could ease into her gradually with A Short History of Myth. Short, as stated, comprehensive and giving much food for thought.

I've begun the latest from S. J. Rozan in her Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series: On the Line, read by a narrator I like quite a lot, William Dufris.

164,
How refreshing! I've been so inspired by LT members, that my TBR list is hovering around 1,000.

I'm more a fan of St. Richard Dawkins and St. Christopher Hitchins myself. But Sister Karen Armstrong has a lot of wonderful works.

You'll enjoy St. Nicolas Steno, as well.

I just finished Marcelo in the Real World which leans toward the Armstrong view of religion that action is more important than belief. Now starting Revolution which I've heard so many good reports of.

On the Line was fun, if not a bit silly.

I'm about 90 minutes into Old Filth - not exactly what I'd expected, but interesting.

I just finished the most gently abridged audio of The Last River. I had the hard copy and found the Random House audio version was remarkably complete.

Very good, along the lines (pardon the kayaking pun) of Shadow Divers and into Thin Air.

//Message 173: Sandydog1 "gently abridged." i like that. :)

last night i finally finished Tipping the velvet. egad! what a struggle to get through. i loved the narrator, Juanita McMahon, who slipped effortlessly amongst what seemed an inexhaustible stream of regional accents or dialects or whatever.

the book itself was a fair disappointment and i'm at a loss to understand why the NYT and Library Journal found it so notable.

i wonder if everyone would have been so excited about it had it been about the lives of non-lesbians. shrug

i liked Waters' writing well enough when she wasn't lost in erotica. i loved her accounts of Whitstable and of life in the music halls but i found her imaginings about lesbian life in late 1890's London pretty much unbelievable, especially given what i know of life as a lesbian from the 1960s to the present. i could never suspend disbelief sufficiently to get well into it.

it's nice to find interesting lesbian characters in books, though, so i'll probably try again with a later book of hers, perhaps Fingersmith.

i've started Tana French's The likeness and thus far find it even better than In the woods, the first in the series, which i liked. it's quite gripping. excellent narrator in Heather O'Neill!

>#174. What a shame that you didn't enjoy your first Sarah Waters. I've only read one so far and was lucky enough to happen on Fingersmith which I just loved. If you can bring yourself to return to Waters eventually, I highly recommend it.

Just finished A Northern Light by, Jennifer Donnelly it was good but not near as good as Revolution!

Now listening to Storm Front by, Jim Butcher narrated by, James Marsden and of course I used a credit on it 2 days before the 4.95 sale ;(

still working on crime and punishment. disc 15 of 21. losing interest. must. finish.

I just finished The Help which I loved and I highly recommend. I also just downloaded The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott haven't started yet probably tomorrow.

Just finished Old Filth a few minutes ago - I am sooooooooooooooo glad I waited for the audio version to be produced!

I'm listening to What distant deeps by David Drake read by Victor Bevine. Fun as usual.
This is the 8th in the series and it feels familiar and comfortable - which is really pleasant as I am a bit tired at this time of the year.

I finished I Feel Bad About My Neck. If the first half of the book had been anywhere near as good as the last 1/3 it would have been wonderful. Nora Ephron's reading did it no service.

I also finished Revolution which was a great story of the French Revolution marred by the story of a spoiled rich kid. All in all, the revolution triumphed over the whine.

Next up is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle which I've been trying to get to for ages.

Joyce 181:

I didn't feel too sorry for Lady Megabucks Ephron when her landlord figured out a way to get around the rent control on her huge Manhattan apartment - I was more tempted to send him a "Congratulations!" card.

The rich are very protective of their riches. Though I imagine she would say she's upper middle class.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Mary Roach's Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, the only one of her books whose premise interests me. Second half is proving an improvement over the somewhat dry beginning, and though others have disliked the narrator, having heard Roach interviewed I'd say she's conveying the tone well. I'm glad I've stuck with it, but probably wouldn't recommend the book. She's quite a popular author, but I don't think I'm her target audience (in general).

I'm listening to Final Theory by Mark Alpert.

#182 & 183: Riches aside, my favorite chapter in I Feel Bad About My Neck was the one in which she talks about getting lost in a book, entering a time and place that you know nothing about until you're lying on your favorite couch and an author transports you there. She mentions several books that have done that for her (Doris Lessing's The Notebook was one, I remember) and then said that the one she was currently reading that gave rise to the essay was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Since I had exactly the same experience with that book, I've always felt at one with Nora.

//Message 179: Seajack

so glad you liked Old filth. i thought it a fine read.

I listened to and loved Composed by Rosanne Cash. It was read by the author and she did a great job. I started The Graveyard Book, also read by the author. Gaiman does a perfect narration.

I'm being a silly old guffin, and am listening to How Right You Are, Jeeves.

The wordplay is so, so Wodehouse.

Just finished Storm Front by, Jim Butcher Narrated by, James Marsden it was pretty good

I am now listening to You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon narrated by Cassandra Campbell the first paragraph had me hooked since I am an Air Force brat I have a feeling I'm going to love this one!

Don't know whats wrong with touchstones today!

I'm really sorry, I hate being the pedant, but as a long-term Buffy fan I just have to say it! James Marsters (who played Spike in Buffy and Angel) is the one who reads the Jim Butcher novels. He was offered the Harry Dresden part in the swiftly cancelled television show based on the novels, but refused because he didn't want to relocate to Vancouver where the show was filmed.

James Marsden is the irritating speccy git from the X-Men movies.

(I apologize - I really do! - but my inner geek just had to break free and say something!)

Spike was my favorite character from those shows!

But James Marsden was hilarious in death at a Funeral!

Heh, I do actually like James Marsden, and he was hilarious in Death at a Funeral. His character in X-Men was just badly written, I think.

And isn't it amazing how different James Marster's voice sounds in the Dresden Files compared to how it sounds in Buffy? He's an excellent narrator, and I admit that even though I love Spike I didn't expect to like his reading. However, I think his narration totally made the books for me!

Have just finished Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge and read by Paul McGann. Below average novel but great narrator. I just loved his voice and will be looking for more books that McGann has narrated.

I'm now listening to The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner and read by Laurel Lefkow for a change of pace. An abandoned nine year old girl is adopted by a family whose own daughter was brutally murdered by a serial killer who targetted children. Is the adopted child the natural daughter of the very same serial killer? I'll let you know!

I'm listening to Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning narrated by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross - finale of her Fever series.

just finished the warden by Anthony Trollope narrated by our beloved David Case. wish i'd read it afore i read Barchester Towers. too tarsome to be so ignorant.

i feel that i must read one more book by Trollope before i can justly list him as one of my favorite authors. Mr. Harding, however, already sits easily amongst my most beloved characters right along with Old Jolyon Forsythe, Lucia, Mapp, Georgie and Quaint Irene (from E. F.Benson's Lucia series), Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, early Anna Pigeon and Granny Weatherwax, to name a few. oh, how could i have omitted Winnie-ther, Eeyore, and Tigger?

finished crime and punishment. strong ending. some very moving scenes. some really annoying scenes. overall glad i hung on. just got the notification today that i can pick up life by keith richards.

Just started The Investment Answer. Great so far!

> mejix- I loved the Keith Richards memoir! I hope you enjoy it!
Speaking of memoirs, I started the audio of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I like the beginning. Opinion is rather divided on this one, so we'll see.

Just finished Left Neglected by, Lisa Genova narrated by, Cassandra Campbell if you liked Still Alice you'll like this one.

Now listening to The Sherlockian by, Graham Moore narrated by, James Langston really good so far!

finished The likeness by Tana French narrated wonderfully by Heather O'Neill. i like French's male characters a lot and also like Cassie Maddox, the protagonist in this one. the main character, though, is a house, or, well, i think it is. French does some really neat, twisty things in this one. of course, twisty and complex are her metier.

think i'll start Storm front by Jim Butcher. got it on sale from audible and what fun to hear James Marsters. i thought he was arguably the best actor on Buffy.

>mirrordrum - Even if you don't care for the books, I think you'll like James Marsters' reading of them. He does the noir voice perfectly! And I haven't met anyone yet that hasn't enjoyed the books, either. They're good fun!

It seems everyone I know is reading the Keith Richards memoir. I'm listening to something a bit similar (!): Einstein: His Life and Universe.

I see the similarity. Einstein did rock.

Having a hard time seeing the similarity between Ketih Richards and Einstein, but it did give me a chuckle.

Just finished My Cousin Rachel. The reader, Jonathan Pryce, was excellent, unfortunately Audible doesn't have anything else with him as reader and I find I'm choosing audiobooks by reader as much as by writer these days. The story was good, too. I'd seen a TV adaptation long ago and so had a vague idea of what happened. It was one of those books when you want to hear the last line and then think about it in silence. Fortunately I knew it was the last line and was able to turn off my ipod before the ghastly Audible announcement destroyed the mood.

I think I'll go on to Brideshead Revisited read by Jeremy Irons next.

Finished up I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas which, although typical Lewis Black, was worth it primarily for the last chapter when he describes doing a Christmas USO tour in the Middle East with Kid Rock, Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong, etc. Very nice.

Now having fun with Clive Cussler's Skeleton Coast. A new series for me but still good ol' action (with unrealistic) adventure!

edited to add that the touchstones don't seem to want to work tonight...

Heyjude, I agree. The last of I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas is well worth reading or listening to. It's like I Feel Bad About My Neck in that the first half or so should just be thrown away.

finished Jim Butcher's Storm front. i did enjoy Jim Marsters' narration and i envisioned him as Harry Dresden, which worked nicely.

of course, i doted on Marsters in Buffy and his narration, or possibly my knowing it was he, was the best part of listening to the book. you were right, spoonfed, he does a good job.

i think i'm going to read Booked to die by John Dunning, which i believe to be the 2nd of the Janeway books, next.

i've got two nonfiction books going. still panting and gasping my way through Sahara: The Extraordinary History of the World's Largest Desert and moving slowly, but with interest, through The seashell on the mountain.

i'm also rereading Animal dreams by Barbara Kingsolver for the umpteenth time. the NLS narrator is very good and the book is my favorite Kingsolver. i'm savoring it.

weird not be reading anything British though Lisette Lecat's gorgeous narration of Sahara, at least gives me a nice break from US-speak. ;)

//eta well blast the touchstones anyway!

#210 mirrordrum - Animal Dreams better than Poisonwood Bible (which i just loved)?

I'm listening to my first Laura Lippman, Every Secret Thing narrated by Laurence Bouvard.

Last night I finished The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, which I mention here not so much because it's a good (though grim) book, but because Tavia Gilbert is such a terrific narrator.

I finished the audio of Full Dark No Stars. The book was just okay. His short stories have not been working for me lately. I started Snow Flower And the Secret Fan. The foot binding descriptions are stomach-churnng.

msf59, the foot binding descriptions are stomach-churning, but so informative. I loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan. It's one of my all time favorite books.

I just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and I guess I'm one of the few who wouldn't recommend it. In fact, I'm sorry I listened to it. Now I'm starting Cloud Atlas.

After the not-exactly-jolly "Tenth Parallel" I decided I needed something lighter, so am re-listening-to Bridget Jones's Diary read by Barbara Rosenblatt!

Johnny Depp was doing a great job reading Life by Keith Richards but the person that substituted him after disk five is a little bit over the top. The dude needs to pull back. Loving the book though.

Joyce- I'm not sorry I read Edgar Sawtelle but I was still disappointed. Cloud Atlas is such a terrific book, but be patient. I'm curious how the audio will go. Let me know!

finished booked to die, the first not second in the Cliff Janeway series as i'd posted earlier. George Guidall is the narrator and enjoyable as always.

Kirkus reviews thinks this should have won an Edgar. as an audio book, i found the plot a bit obfuscatory and found the segue from Janeway as cop to Janeway as book collector awkward and contrived and felt the same way about the ending.

it was interesting watching Janeway's character develop, esp. in comparison w/ the way he's presented in The bookwoman's last fling, a book i enjoyed much more.

i gave booked to die 3-1/2 stars but that was probably generous.

i started A house unlocked by Penelope Lively. already i like it!

meanwhile, i am still wand'ring round the Sahaaaahra with Lisette Lecat, who also narrates a house unlocked, and i never tire of her company. i've slowed down my reading as i need to sit down with it and open Google earth to find some of the places and to get my African and middle eastern countries sorted. . .again. it seems important in view of what's going on in those regions at present. also, the terrain Villiers describes wants looking into.

am also still ingesting the seashell on the mountaintop, which deserves the time i'm taking with it. so thought-provoking and relevant to some controversies in the present day.

i'm still doing some rereading: Animal dreams, Mary Renault's The friendly young ladies and Rex Stout's The second confession. i'm working my way through Stout's Arnold Zeck trilogy just for fun.

obviously, i'm keeping busy. :)

I'm listening to Case Histories. It is a very different type of mystery for me and I'm not sure if I like the format yet. I might like it more as the cases are tied together and the mystery revealed. I'll let you know.

New to Group. Listening to Case Histories by Kate Atkinson . Snap rxtheresa, and I never even saw your post.

currently halfway through moab is my washpot by stephen fry, a very honest and extremely funny autobiography. It's now got the stage where I'm listening to it wherever I go, even if it's just to the corner shop!

>220 bergs47: bergs47 - You haven't been sneaking into my minivan at night and listening to it, have you?? LOL

Just finshed Brideshead Revisited read by Jeremy Irons. It sounded gorgeous. I listened to most of it as my bedtime book so in bed in the dark. It had the same effect as lying in a warm scented bath! The story I didn't enjoy as much as when I read it, but I was younger then...

I'm going on to the third in the Sally Lockhart series Tiger in the Well, read by Anton Lesser, who is wonderful whatever the book is like.

I'm currently enjoying Derek Jacobi's reading of The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey which comes so highly recommended by LTers. Gorgeous voice once you get used to all the plummy vowels and consonants. And of course, a superb actor.

I'm halfway through Austerlitz, read by Richard Mathews. It's a very dense "listen". It's especially tough to glean all the life experiences out from the gobs of detail. Architecture, natural history collections, aviaries, books, homing pigeons, astronomy, paragraphs without end...

Correction. There are no paragraphs. The actual book is one 419-page paragraph.

I'm listening to The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag - the second Flavia de Luce mystery -- good job, if not a bit slow-moving.

Just started Six suspects by Vikas Swarup read by Lyndam Gregory.

Last night at a bookstore I was browsing a printed copy of Life by Keith Richards and noticed that the ending seemed different from the audiobook version.

Just in case: *spoiler alert*

The printed book ended with Keef talking about his mom. My audiobook version ended with Tom Waits talking about Keith Richards. Not sure whats going on. Need to investigate this.

I am currently listening to I Am Number Four by, Pittacus Lore narrated by, Neil Kaplan and I'm not sure I like the narrator , people kind of sound like Caricatures of the character if that makes any sense to anyone.
Honestly I'm just not sure what I think of the narration I got it through the library I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Its a pretty good story a bit more sci-fi than I like, I'm more of a fantasy lover but the narration is just a little odd.

I just finished Presumed Dead by Shirley Wells (pub'd by one of our imprints) and after I got used to the accents (took me about an hour - longer than it usually takes me to get used to accents) I really enjoyed it (it's a straight mystery - no romantic elements). Have started Look Me In the Eye by John Elder Robison. It's interesting ummm it's interesting in the usual sense of the word, but it's also interesting from an editing POV for how it's put together esp since I am close to some people with Asperger's and the way their brains work - sometimes I think that only someone on the spectrum would have put parts of it together in quite that way.

Penn

have just finished in the last two days The seashell on the mountaintop by Alan Cutler (thanks sandydog for bringing it to my attention) and Sahara: A natural history by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle narrated by the incomparable Lisette Lecat for NLS.

Seashell is a fine book, well-written and thought-provoking.

the main topic is the short, brilliant and tormented life of Nicolas Steno, considered the father of geology.

i most enjoyed the view the book provides into the sometimes uneasy but often productive relationship amongst religion, royal houses and natural science in 17th century Europe. there was a lot in the book that was relevant to current clashes between the findings of science founded on empirical methods and pseudo-science founded on. . .well, i'm never really sure quite what it's founded on. quite frankly, i think they handled these things much better in the 1600s.

Sahara was a ride and a half. the authors covered, among other things, the creation, types and movement of sand dunes, the geology of the Sahara in general, water in the desert, Saharan cultures, the centuries long history of the movement of Islam into Saharan Africa and the lives of the desert nomads, especially the Tubu and Tuareg.

i enjoyed all of it except the part on the various Arab invasions and the bringing of Islam and Islamic jihads to the Sahara. my lack of enjoyment of that part was largely because i was floundering in a sea of incomprehensible names of Imams and lords and kings and sultans and sheiks and towns and oases and peoples, many of them with multiple pronunciations. it was like reading Will Cuppy's chapter on pharaonic Egypt in The decline and fall of practically everybody only not so much funny.

The best chapter at the end of the book was a description of a trip de Villiers apparently took with a band of nomadic Tuareg. it came alive, then, in a way the rest of the book hadn't.

i confess i spent a lot of time on google earth trying to find the Tibisti Mts. and then getting lost in them. i traced the route from Timbuktu (Tombouctou) north to Araouani, thence to Faoum el 'Alba and finally to the Tauodenni salt mines. i spent time in Tamanrasset and peering into the Atakor volcano and generally wand'ring virtually round the Sahara with my jaw dropped.

i enjoyed this book tremendously and would recommend it to anyone interested in Africa in general, the Sahara in particular or just a good non-fiction read. but dial up google earth. you'll be glad you did!

i have no idea what i'm going to read next. i've tried a number of things and have 86ed them all. will possibly dip into Mildred Pierce to prepare for HBO's impending mini-series.

Now that I've finished the second Flavia de Luce mystery The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, it's back to Travels in Siberia, which I didn't think I'd be able to get into being author-narrated, but it "clicked" after a couple of hours, so I think it might even be better that way.

Just started The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon. So far so good. I was going to try A Clockwork Orange but the dialect was beyond me.

Has anyone tried Haruki Murakami on audio? I have a chance to download a few of his titles and I was curious. How about the audios of Henning Mankell?

I have read Murakami on audio, enjoying After Dark and Dance, Dance, Dance; I have The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle on my TBR pile;
I spent an Audible credit on it as Rupert Degas did such a terrific job with "Dance". However, I gave up listening to Kafka on the Shore almost immediately - ugh!

Sorry, but I've never heard of Henning Mankell.

Seajack- Thanks! One of the titles is Dance, Dance, Dance, so I will give it a try. I have Wind-up Bird in book form, so I will read that one.
Mankell is a popular Swedish crime writer.

i keep making forays into a wild sheep chase but so far i haven't been able to get very far with it. it's a bit obscure. or something.

i've been considering dipping a toe into the Wallender series though Branaugh makes him seem an awfully dark soul. this might be the time to try one from audible.com. thanks for the idear.

if you're not restricted to audio, have you considered Janwillem Van De Wettering? his Grijpstra and de Gier mysteries are outstanding. hard to find in audio, though. i can get a few from NLS. i'd recommend him to anyone who likes mysteries set somewhere other than the US or UK.

Ven De Wettering's mysteries are intelligent and delightfully quirky with distinct, but not intrusive, Zen Buddhist undertones. the characters are well-realized and engaging. the dialogue is for to die. :)

Thanks Mirrordrum! That looks like a series I would like. I've added Outsider in Amsterdam to my WL.

After reading "Dance, Dance, Dance" I thought I might try "A Wild Sheep Chase", but couldn't get into it - try "Dance" instead.

//msf--i don't know that one. i read Hard rain last fall and thoroughly enjoyed it. it's not an easy audio read--or wasn't for me anyway--and i'd have loved to be able to read it visually. next on my list from him is The blond baboon, which gets great reviews.

//seajack--thanks for the suggestion. i got it because i liked the title. i listened to the teaser for Dance, dance, dance and it's immediately gripping. good narrator, too. oh goody.

If you want to wildly successfully narrated book featuring sheep - listen to Three Bags Full!

>231 mirrordrum:

You're welcome, mirrordrum! The Seashell on the Mountaintop was indeed fascinating.

I'm currently, finally, listening to Black Like Me. Simple prose, intense, a must-read.

//#241 i'll check out 3 bags, seajack. thanks.

i've gotten back to Penelope Lively's A house unlocked narrated by Lisette Lecat for NLS, which i'd put off in order to finish Sahara. the combo of Lecat and Lively is too good to be true. and a wonderful book as well.

ditched Mildred Pierce, at least for the time being. i think partly due to the narrator. have started instead Saturday by Ian McEwan and am so glad i did. beautifully written and gripping. one of those books to which i find myself saying 'yes' a lot.

I am listening to 'The Screwtape Letters' by C.S. Lewis. Narrator: Ralph Cosham. I am a bit disappointed in the Narrator. The story was told with a very mono tone voice. Good to sleep by. :(

I finally finished Cloud Atlas which I liked except for the fact that the narration made the obnoxious folk about 10 times as annoying as they would have been when read. Also, I thought the ending was weak. Now I'm starting on Special Topics in Calamity Physics which is also good, but I probably shouldn't have started quite so soon after Cloud Atlas. I keep putting my new characters in the old book.

Currently listening to A Game of Thrones and will hear the rest of the series in prep for Dance with Dragons

I've suddenly discovered Alec Sand as a narrator and am trying to download more or less everything that he's read on Audible. He doesn't seem to be a very popular choice, but I love his pacing and his slightly gravelly voice. I normally prefer British narrators and slower readers, but something about his voice contrasted with the achingly beautiful writing of The Prophet really worked for me, so now I'm moving on to his Heart of Darkness and then The Great Gatsby. I don't think his voice would work for every book, though - I wasn't much taken with the sample for his Alice in Wonderland, for example.

If anyone likes story collections, The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes is quite good! Timothy West reads most of the stories, while Prunella Scales does the ones written from a female point-of-view. My library had it on CD's, though Audible carries it as well.

244 arandow: I would recommend the new dramatization of The Screwtape Letters that Focus on the Family recently came out with. Screwtape is played by none other than Andy Serkis, and it's quite a fun listen.

I'm almost done with Weight of Stone by Laura Anne Gilman and will be starting Jane Austen's Persuasion (read by Juliet Stevenson) tomorrow. It will be my first Austen on audiobook.

#249 wisewoman: You couldn't have picked a better narrator than the wonderful Juliet Stevenson who has recorded many Austens. I own her narration of Emma ... that reminds me, I think it's time for a re-listen.

Speaking of Austen, I'm not generally a fan of full-cast book recordings; however, as her story "Lady Susan" is told through a series of letters among various individuals, that format works very well for it. I believe it was an L. A. Theater production (library download) that I heard.

Yes, Ms. Stevenson was highly recommended in the Monthly Author Reads group (reading Austen this month if anyone wants to join us!). I wanted to listen to Emma since I haven't reread it yet, but the library didn't have it. Maybe interlibrary loan...

Seajack, I looked for Lady Susan on audiobook and they did have an audiobook download for it. I'll have to see who did it. I prefer CDs but I imagine Lady Susan is worth the bother of getting it onto my Shuffle :)

I'm currently listening to Little Bee and I'm really underwhelmed so far by this novel. It's just so very dull. In pages I've listened to about 84 by now and the plot just feels like it's spinning it's wheels. But I'll soldier on to the end. The book has received rave reviews so maybe it will get better.

On another note,I'm listening to this audio on the newest ipod (it's my fifth one)and they way the player is set up is the worst for audio reads. It
keeps losing my place when I turn it off for a while or use other functions on the ipod and it jumps from chapter to chapter so abruptly without breaks. I have to keep readjusting my listening because it is so easy to get lost with this player.You would think that Apple would improve their devices with the
increased popularity of audio books, but it seems like they've applied the least care to this function on this model . I guess I'll be getting a sixth ipod when
the next generation comes out.

#253 I listen on my ipod and it's fine - there are some settings you can adjust in itunes so that it plays audiobooks better. If you download an audiobook from itunes or Audible these are set automatically but if you rip from a CD you need to tell itunes that it's an audiobook rather than music, which is the default.

I've just finished listening to A room with a view narrated by Frederick Davidson, whose snooty, drawling voice I love, and it just suits books set in this period. He does the Forsyte Chronicles too. I loved the listening but, although I've watched the film and therefore knew roughly what to expect by way of plot, I was disappointed by the way the last few chapters went - too much 'philosophy' (for want of a better word) and not enough 'action'.

>alans- I listened to Little Bee last year and had big problems with it. I really liked the 1st 100 pages or so and then it went down hill from there. Okay read, at best!

Listening to A Discovery Of Witches by, Deborah Harkness I really like the narrator Jennifer Ikeda but its really long and I wish it would get on with the story its a little more romance than I expected it to be I am 8 hours in with 16 left.However I am liking the concept

I'm listening to An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, although I've read it, this is my time listening. Probably, the first of many times.

>257 ktleyed:-Love that series on audio!Davina Porter is so perfect!

Have 2 John le Carre, both read by Michael Jayston. A Most Wanted Man and Our kind of traitor. Is there anywhere one can put the reader of a book on common knowledge?

>259 bergs47:

That's a particular of the edition.
I also add it in comments so I can keep a close eye on Narrators in my Audio collection.

#259 I add the reader in the Other Authors Section of the Book Details page in my catalogue. It can't be part of CK as unabridged audiobooks are combined with print copies, and there may be more than one audio edition anyway.

I also add it to the Other Authors section. There's a drop-down option for both 'reader' and 'narrator', and then in my Audiobooks collection I've changed the settings so that the Other Authors information is visible.

I've just finished The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes - a varied collection of stories around the theme of aging and mortality (not as grim as that sounds). They're quite well-written; the audio is particularly recommended with Timothy West and Prunella Scales's outstanding narration.

Have just finished The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo, a book I've finally got round to, having been aware of it for years. Opinions differ between whether this is an important and meaningful achievement or just recycled armchair philosophy. I'm in the latter camp.
Jeremy Irons narrated and although he has a beautiful voice, I was sick of the sound of it by the end. Of course that was due to the book, not the reader.

I was given The Alchemist as a Christmas present and haven't been able to force myself to read it yet. Some day, maybe.

I just finished listening to... Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. What would you do if today was your last day to live... and you live it over and over. Good book.

Started Home by Marilynne Robinson last night.

Finished A Discovery of Witches I ended up really liking it!

Now listening to Love You More By Lisa Gardner Narrated by Kirsten Potter, Katie MacNichol

Touchstones won't work and Love you More doesn't even come up when I touchstone Lisa Gardner

I've started John Mortimer's (author of the Rumpole books) Summer's Lease, a comedy (farce?) about a London family's holiday in Tuscany. Terrific audio narration by Martin Jarvis!

//#268 i'll be most interested in what you think. i loved Housekeeping and, oddly enough, haven't read anything by her since then.

>mirrordrum
So far so good. I haven't read Housekeeping so I don't know how it compares. Some of the characters in Home appeared in Gilead. I'm curious to see where she is going with this.

Finished Skeleton Coast, part of Clive Cussler's "Oregon Files" series, and found it to be a fun listen. I think I definitely prefer this series over the Dirk Pitt books. And Scott Brick does an excellent job of reading it.

So I decided to try another in the series, Sacred Stone, that I found at the library. This one is a Brilliance production which usually means a decent recording. However, the reader, J. Charles, is no Scott Brick and I may wind up having to forego the audio for the print version. It is not that he is necessarily a bad reader, he just isn't "right" for this.

>269 susiesharp:

Here you go, Susie :
Love You More by Lisa Gardner

I found it when I went under (others) and then (Show all 88 possibilities).

Or you can "force" it by putting the work code followed by two colons and the titles in between the brackets. (i.e. 10349888::Love You More in between brackets)

>274 sqdancer:
thanks touchstones are not my friend LOL

>275 susiesharp:
They are stubborn little beasties and sometimes require some wrestling into position (and even then some still wriggle away). LOL

I've just begun Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken read by Edward Hermann and I'm totally hooked. Both the writing and the narration are just about perfect. I am in awe of Hillenbrand, who manages to describe with intense clarity, harrowing real-life experiences that occurred almost 70 years ago.
Is there anything better than a beautifully written book about the resiliency of the human spirit?

I don't think I'd care for that particular story, but I'm a fan of Hermann as a narrator; he does an excellent job with Stegner's The Spectator Bird.

//Spectator bird! that's the title i was trying to think of the other day when looking at Haruki Murakami's The wind-up bird chronicle. thank you, seajack.

just finished Mourn not your dead by Deborah Crombie, a book i had no idea i was going to read. i stumbled on a title by Crombie somewhere that intrigued me, looked her up, read some reviews, found many of her best books w/ good narrators on NLS, picked the earliest one and the rest is history. finished it this evening.

although i thought she dithered the ending, i enjoyed Crombie enough that i'll read more of hers when i'm in the mood for something undemanding.

i must now get back to my previously scheduled reads.

//edited to correct paragraph order. i got ahead of, or possibly behind, myself.

I'm listening to Heat Wave (Nikki Heat) by Richard Castle. It's kind of fun listening to and from work.

I just finished with a Tantor "Books that Changed the World" recording of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. Excellent, and just the right length.

I'm currently listening to The Power and the Glory.

//281 i read the power and the glory last year and thought it very fine. i'll be interested to see what you think, sandydog.

i didn't mean to but have gone off on another jaunt leaving a house unlocked to rest for a bit longer. it's a book with which one can do that and still keep the thread.

i was searching NLS for a particular narrator and saw that she'd done a Clyde Edgerton book called the Floatplane notebooks and it was available for download. i just meant to dip a toe in and see if i thought i might like it and promptly fell in love with the characters and couldn't stop reading.

it's only about 6 hrs long.

i'm still reading Ian McEwan's Saturday, which is a bit heavy, so Floatplane makes a nice change of pace.

I finished both Blind Descent and A Moveable Feast. Both were very good and both worked well on audio. I'm getting ready to start Blood, Bones and Butter.

I am in audio heaven right now: just began Jane Eyre narrated by Juliet Stevenson. This is one of those stories that I know from movies and teleplays but am pretty sure I've never actually read! I'm very happily correcting this egregious error.

Ooh, that one's on my list, NL! I bet it's amazing. I really liked her reading of Austen's Persuasion.