What Are You Listening to Now? Part 15

The last thread was getting pretty long so as suggested started a new one.

I just finished Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler Narrated by, Bahni Turpin & Lorna Raver beautiful and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it!

Now re-reading The Giver by, Lois Lowry narrated by, Ron Rifkin..I read this one a long time ago I believe it was my first dystopian and I didn't enjoy it very much now that I have read many many more dystopian books since then I am enjoying it much more than I did the first read.

Listening to Fearless by Cornelia Funke. It's the second in the series, and I think it wouldn't make much sense unless you had read Reckless first. Narrator is good.

About to begin Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

Aviddiva, your mentioning Cornelia Funke reminded me of listening to Lynn Redgrave's performance of Inkheart. I do miss that marvelous actress's great storytelling.

I'm currently listening to "Incident at Vichy" (performed by a full cast featuring Armin Shimerman) from The Arthur Miller Collection (by Arthur Miller; each play performed by a different full cast.) If you listen to the plays back-to-back, the experience will show up the unevenness in production values and performances and, moreover, it's depressing as hell; but if you use the plays as a sort of interstitial listen or filler in your listening schedule, it's much easier to digest :-)

Then it's onto The House at Riverton (by Kate Morton; narrated by Caroline Lee.)

I finished When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris narrated by Davina Porter and am now listening to This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, narrated by Anna Fields.

> Love the pairing of Kate Morton's words and Caroline Lee's voice she IS the authors voice for me!

Earlier today I started The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, narrated by Eduardo Ballerini, and so far it's pretty good.

3> I loved Howl's Moving Castle so much! So well crafted.

I just finished Swallows and Amazons (hello, PERFECT children's book!), and I'm just starting The Last Voyage of Columbus.

Wasn't all that thrilled with Ron Rifkin's narration of The Giver it was ok but there are a few I thought would have done better.

Now listening to A Beautiful Mystery by, Louise Penny narrated by, Ralph Cosham I am liking it and understand that not all murders can happen in Three Pines but I am missing all the characters that live there.

Started Odd Apocalypse today.

I've just finished The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, which I'd describe as "exhausting" - though the writing quality itself is good, the ambitious, meandering plot nearly did me in. Eduardo Ballerini's narration was excellent.

Just started The Closers by Michael Connelly.

Stopped Odd Apocalypse today. Couldn't take it.

Finished Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin, narrated by, Noah Michael Levine...it was very fun and the new to me narrator was wonderful! highly recommend if you are a Pratchett or Adams fan.

Now listening to The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood,narrated by, Katherine Kellgren only an hour in and already liking it!

I just finished Every Day by David Levithan. It's YA, and I highly recommend it as a good book to discuss. Lots of current topics presented from an interesting slant.

Trying to decide whether to spend time with Dead Witch Walking or Against the Tide of Years. I'm leaning towards tossing both and starting something better.

I'm a couple of hours into Florence and Giles, which has been compared to "Turn of the Screw" though I haven't gotten to the heavy Gothic parts of the plot yet.

I'm listening to Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. It's the last new-to-me Discworld book. I re-read/listen to them all the time, but still.

Just starting The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

I'm just starting Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich. The jury is still out.

For fans of classic books (or Kate Reading as a narrator), I've started Cousin Bette. I saw the 1971 television production starring Margaret Tyzack and (a young) Helen Mirren a while ago, which I'd also recommend.

I'm a little ways into The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang. It's read absolutely wonderfully by Cindy Cheung.

Becoming engrossed in An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor; finding the series rather addictive.

Now listening to The Obituary Writer by, Ann Hood narrated by, Tavia Gilbert

I'm now listening to Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly.

Most of the way through The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, which is mostly very good but leaves out a few crucial details in some sections. The author reads it, and is mostly fine, though he pronounces Cameron in a very odd way (and wrongly for the specific person he's talking about).

In a fit of boredom (also hours spent on public transport) finally started A Song of Ice and Fire, largely thanks to Roy Avers' version. I know people seem to really like Roy Dotrice, but i could just never get used to his voice.

I finished Killing Kennedy and am now beginning What Darkness Brings by C.S. Harris, narrated by Davina Porter.

Halfway through Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh. James Saxon is a good reader, though sometimes the non-London/BBC accents sound a bit odd...

Have started today on An Irish Country Girl by Patrick Taylor centred on the childhood of the housekeeper at No. 1 Main Street, Ballybucklebo, County Down, Mrs. Maureen (Kinky) Kincaid. Here she is telling the local children stories from her childhood in County Cork on Christmas Day. The first story seems to involve a neighbour cutting down a fey tree - Blackthorn - and the consequences of doing so on 11 November, so quite a departure from the everyday lives of the two Ballybucklebo doctors in the series.

I'm listening to The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry. The improbability rating is off the charts, but I like Cotton Malone.

I am now starting a book a bit outside of my normal reading for a special review The View from Penthouse B by, Elinor Lipman narrated by, Mia Barron both author and narrator are new to me.

I'm halfway through with "V" is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton, read by Judy Kaye. I use Overdrive with my local library and love it. Totally loving the fact that I can listen for free. I'll be starting Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag, read by Kristen Potter.

susiesharp: Elinor Lipman is a delightful, funny writer whom I've enjoyed for years. I haven't read her newest yet. Hope you like it. (If you do, I recommend Lipman's "And Then She Found Me".)

I'm a little ways into Psmith, Journalist by P. G. Wodehouse, read by the wonderful Jonathan Cecil.

Just wanted to pop in to say I've finished Johanna Ward's (a/k/a Kate Reading) reading of Cousin Bette, which I can definitely recommend, although the storyline moves slowly.

Just starting The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I'm wrapping up my listens for Armchair Audies (Best Audiobook for Children Ages 8-12.) So far my rankings are:

* Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter
* Same Sun Here (written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
* The Cheshire Cheese Cat (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs)
* Wonder (by R.J. Palacio; narrated by Diana Steele, Kate Rudd and Nick Podehl)

I'm currently listening to The Freedom Maze (by Delia Sherman; narrated by Robin Miles.) I just started and wil reserve judgement until I finish :-)

>34 NarratorLady:-NarratorLady- I did enjoy it, it had more humor than I was expecting.

I sped through The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a book of twelve short stories. Well read, as always, by Adjoa Andoh, and the stories are wonderful. I do hate short stories though, they reel you in and then leave you and you never get to find out what happens and it kills me.

Now I'm going to finish up the last couple hours of Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, read by my least favorite narrator - Barrett Whitener. I can only take about half an hour at a time, but I was given the audiobook and I really wanted to read it.

Just starting The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. It's read by Paul Michael, who I loved reading The Destiny of the Republic.

>40 mabith:-mabith-RE:Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, Thanks for letting me know about this narrator I will read the print version instead!

Continuing with the same series in audio An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor. Have lined up a series about a Scottish country doctor once I finish the last two books; I hope they are just as comforting to read.

I'm just starting The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, my non-fiction book club choice for this month.

I am half done with And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, narrated by,Shohreh Aghdashloo & Navid Negahban

Loving it!

I finished Royal Blood which I loved by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Now I'm listening to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley narrated by Simon Vance.

Most of the way through A House Divided by Pearl S. Buck, and a little ways into my new kitchen-listening book The Botany of Desire. That one's read by Scott Brick who I don't really like, unfortunately.

I'm listening to the second book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny.

I had been completely charmed by the first book, and I'm slightly disappointed with the structure and tone of this one. The reader, Ralph Cosham, has a warm and comfortable voice; perfect for this series.

I just started Bring Up the Bodies and was pleasently surprised to find it's read by Simon Vance.

Just finished listening to The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson, read by Michael Kramer. I enjoyed both the story and the narrator, although I was kind of annoyed by his voice for the main female character.

Just starting Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot, read by Patricia Gallimore, who I always enjoy.

I am listening to The Asylum by, John Harwood narrated by, Rosalyn Landor...This book is gothic fiction at its best!

Struggling to get through Under Heaven, though I am enjoying it when I can. Trouble is, I've been getting tired lately so early in the evening that I end up falling asleep while listening and wake up hours later, the audiobook still going on, then have to search back for the last thing I remember. I just cannot WAIT to retire so I can read during the day instead of only at night.

Just starting Peter Duck by Arthur Ransome. I don't think the reader, Alison Larkin, is a good fit though. She's a bit TOO posh-chipper (in a The Comic Strip parodying The Famous Five sort of way).

I finished Frankenstein, narrated by Simon Vance, and am now beginning Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, narrated by Anna Fields.

I recently listened to the audio production of Life after Life. It is a unique and talented piece of writing and it was very well narrated. Advice to anyone who plans to listen to this book... Pay very close attention to the dates at the beginnings of the chapters as they are read. The story skips around a great deal in time and the dates are very important in understanding where you are and what is happening in that time period. Even though I loved listening to this story I often wished I had the print book so I could easily go back a few pages to check a date.

Just starting A Brief History of Roman Britain.

>56 Iudita: Iudita: Thanks for the heads up re: the audio version of Life after Life. That same skipping through time was true of The Night Circus which I found I had to stop listening to for that reason. I'll wait for the print version of Life After Life.

Finished The Asylum by, John Harwood narrated by, Rosalyn Landor this book was gothic fiction at it's best! I highly recommend it!

Now listening to The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore narrated by,Adenrele Ojo & Pamella D'Pella

The story of Philosophy from the 1920s. The writing is dry, and dated.

Did I mention it is dry and dated?

I started The Magician King but I'm not sure I'll stick with it. I don't much care for the narrator. But the story is starting to pick up. Maybei I'll give it another twenty or thirty minutes . . .

I'm listening to The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Simon Vance does such excellent reading of this trilogy.

Simon Vance does excellent reading, period. Nobody beats his reading of Dickens.

Although a keen reader of audiobooks, I have yet to listen to a Simon Vance performance. I'm not avoiding him, he just hasn't read any of the books I've chosen so far, but I've heard so many recommendations of his work that I can't help but feel sure I shall be disappointed as I shall be expecting so much more than anyone could provide! Certainly for Dickens I prefer Anton Lesser over any of the other readers I've heard, but I look forward to my first Simon Vance performance.

Vance also reads under the name Robert Whitfield.

I listened to A Room with a View most recently. Loved the book; was lukewarm about the reader, Frederick Davidson. Some of his character voices were off, especially the women.

Just finished The Dragon Scroll, which I disliked both for the reader and the writing.

Just starting The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde. I think the reader for this series is a good fit, though she doesn't do male voices particularly well.

Listening to The Firebird narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Love the story. Kellgren is a bit over the top for the main character, I think, but her accents are great.

I finished Somewhere I'll Find You an early Lisa Kleypas narrated by Rosalyn Landor. Now I'm beginning Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, narrated by John Lee.

Finished up Slavery by Another Name, which I highly recommend (or at least watch the PBS documentary they did).

Now I'm just starting The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng.

I'm in the middle of Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. It's one of those where they have a different person reading each bit of dialogue, which I don't like anyway, but this one is also just poorly done. I'm sticking with it, as it's a very short book, but I'll read the rest of the series in print.

#71 - I didn't like the audio version either, and I'm usually ok with multiple readers.

I'm listening to A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths.

I finally finished listening to The Man in the Empty Suit (by Sean Ferrell; narrated by Mauro Hantman.) It's a fascinatingly complex tale about a time traveling man who must discover which version of himself murdered another version of himself. The setting is a ruin of a hotel in which, every year, he throws a birthday party for himself inviting only iterations of himself from the age of eighteen to seventy. As he makes makes decisions and actions, he alters his own timeline... The Man in the Empty Suit is rich with imagery, other sensory detail and moods. Overall dark and seedy in tenor, the flares of color, the spill of liquor, the smell of dishevelment… all are the background rattle and hum of a story in which a man struggles to rise above the personal hell of his making and, his own selfish nature.

The narrator has a clear voice; but didn’t do particularly well in shaping the text, delineating the different iterations of the main characters, and failed to maintain the feminine aspect consistently for a major female character. As a result, I was somewhat confused as to what was really important in a tale fraught with possible allegorical details vs clues in the mystery and; whether I had missed something or if there were plot holes. As for the undifferentiated voices of the main charcter, when he was talking to different versions of himself, it became unclear as to who was speaking though there were textual cues that the narrator could have used to help create distinction. And wow, having a female character all of the sudden speak in a mannish way not only took me out of the story; but wondering if it was a correction that wasn’t voice matched. Also, there was booth noise late in the production which is something that drives me insane in a professional production. I noticed, however that the narrator gets better marks for performance (on audible) than I would have given him, so I acknowledge that I'm in the minority.

Now I'm listening to Dead Beat (#6 in The Dresden Files) (by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters. If past experience is any indicator, the writing will be fraught with cliches and continuity errors; but the narration will be great! Right now, it's something of a comfort listen :-)

Just beginning The Student Loan Scam by Alan Michael Collinge and I'm already depressed and appalled.

Just finished Me before You which was a well narrated, extremely touching story.

On Sunday, I started The Host. Enjoying it so far for what it is.

Jldarden, I enjoyed The Host a lot. I thought it was really well narrated.

I finished Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, narrated by John Lee. Now I'm listening to The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, narrated by Caroline Lee (no relation - LOL!)

I just started Naked in Death, recommended on LT and happily available as an e-audiobook from my library.

Finished Ladies' Night by, Mary Kay Andrews Kathleen McInerney’s narration made everyone in this book sound like a whiny teenager except Wyatt the lone male. It may have been more enjoyable in print.

Now starting Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt narrated by Xe Sands

Just starting The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry. Not the best reader in the world, but not unbearable either.

I'm listening to Monarch of the Glen and although the story is a bit dated it's worth listening to for the reader's lovely Scottish accents.

82 - Hope you love it! I listened to it some years back and found it so much fun.

I've started John Harwood's The Séance, a Victorian gothic story that I like, although it isn't all that scary.

Just started The Wake of the Lorelei Lee. The narrator (her name escapes me) gets mixed reviews here, but I think she does an excellent job with these books.

>85 jennieg:

Katherine Kellgren, who, I think, makes this series. I vaguely remembered having read the first book in print, but it wasn't nearly as memorable and fun until I listened to her rendition. Somewhere, perhaps at the end of one of the audio books, is a conversation between Meyer and Kellgren.

I think I heard an interview with the author at the end of Rapture of the Deep. It was very interesting.

I'm slowly warming to A Seaside Practice: Tales of a Scottish Country Doctor by Tom Smith, though the narration has its flaws, sometimes good, sometimes grating mistakes.

Not as amusing as the Irish Country Village series by Patrick Taylor.

I'm a ways into Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I'm really enjoying. It's a little harder to follow in audio than it would be in print (skips around in time a lot), but the reader is really excellent.

#89 That's one of my favourite books in print and audio.

90 - everyone I know has loved it! My mom actually pressured me to read it, which rarely happens (she reads as much as I do, but just doesn't tend to recommend things, whereas I get completely evangelical about trying to make people read certain things).

I'm about a quarter of the way through Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell, and he certainly knows how to evoke a scene. Truly enjoyable listening to David Rintoul's narration of this escapist tale.

I'm most of the way through a murder mystery set on Martha's Vineyard: The Cranefly Orchid Murders -- I couldn't get into the first in the series at all, but this second one is okay as far as setting and plot are concerned. My issue has to do with Davina Porter's narrating the non-dialogue, expository portions in her usual British voice, as well as making most of the American characters sound British as well (although she does do a good job with the 92 year old protagonist's New England accent).

#85 and 86.... Love all of these books - and Katherine Kellgren is FANTASTIC!!!

Just starting The Endurance by Caroline Alexander.

#94 - I love her - she's also great in the Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen.

Just started The Lincoln Lawyer. Now that I listen on my phone and don't handle the CD boxes, I find I'm generally unsure of the reader--and sometimes the title.

Listening to The Obsidian Blade. So far it's interesting, but it's not the dense otherworld fantasy that the cover seems to promise. Perhaps that will change.

I finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton and am now beginning Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, narrated by Anna Fields.

I only finished one book on my vacation and it was Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall wonderfully narrated by, Amy Rubinate this was a great southern fiction book that I highly recommend even if Starla does get on your nerves once in awhile!

Now listening to Restoration by Rose Tremain narrated by, new to me narrator Paul Daneman, who is doing such a good job that I am trying to overlook some of his mouth clicking sounds (they aren't all the time)

Listening to Shelter Me by Juliette Fay read by Marguerite Gavin.. great book, sad but making me laugh at times too!.. :)

I'm four chapters in on The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman which opens with a suicide, and moves on to the life of a newly-arrived, female "priest in charge" and her teenage daughter. That's it thus far and I'm not sure where it's going.

I finished Natural Born Charmer and am now beginning the mammoth No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, narrated by Nelson Runger.

I'm towards the end of Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North. Not a great one for me.

I'm listening to The Last Minute by Jeff Abbott, the second in his Sam Capra series. The reader is Kevin T. Collins. He's new to me and does an excellent job.

Finished Restoration by, Rose Tremain the narration by, Paul Daneman is at times absolutely brilliant and at other times cartoonish, and some people will be annoyed by some loud mouth clicks, they aren’t constant but are noticeable when they appear. I got over the mouth clicks , but some characters sounded like a parrot talking and his women could really use some work but there was just something great about the majority of his narration that I would listen to this narrator again because of the parts of the narration that are brilliant.

Now listening to The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley narrated by, Katherine Kellgren

Just starting Stilwell and the American Experience in China as my main audiobook, with my slower kitchen audiobook being The Long March by Sun Shuyun.

I'm listening to Timothy West read Trollope's The Small House at Allington. While I think he's a terrific narrator, I wonder why he insists on pronouncing Don Juan as "Don JOO-un"? Is he making a funny? If so, I don't get it. His voice of Countess De Courcey sounds an AWFUL lot like Dom DeLuise as Aunt Kate in the film "Haunted Honeymoon" to me, so I keep picturing her as a matronly transvestite whenever she appears in the story!

Just started The River of Doubt, and I'm learning so much about a fascinating man.

109 - Hope you enjoy it! I really loved it myself, and was pretty much on the edge of my seat for a lot of it.

"JOO-an" is both the more correct and the more obscure pronunciation of "Juan" (i.e. Byron's "Don Juan") while "whon" is the more common pronunciation amongst Americans.

>111 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Not that I'm any expert, but it seems to me that "whon" is a lot closer to the Spanish pronunciation than "JOO-an", so I'm not sure how the latter can be "more correct."

108, 112 -- It's more correct in terms of Byron, vs in terms of Spanish. If you look at the rhyming schemes there's a pattern of pronouncing foreign words in terms of common English pronunciation (and you can see places where JOO-an rhymes and whon wouldn't). Everytime I've heard an English person (or lit. major) talk about the poem it's always JOO-an.

I had never heard of the poem until now; I suppose that's how Trollope intended the name to be spoken, but still it was jarring.

I just finished listening to Shelter Me, what a fantastic book to listen to! I cried and laughed.. highly recommend it!

I'm alternating between two different genres:

Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words by Kate Whouley (non-fiction/memoir) -- story of her being a caregiver for her mother, who has Alzheimer's. Good narration of events that can be serious at times, about the author's own life (not just her mother's condition), though never gets outright grim or depressing.

Into the Blue by Robert Goddard (mystery) -- English woman disappears on the Greek island of Rhodes, where she'd gone for a holiday at the estate of an M. P. (he's not there, she's alone in the house). Expat Englishman caretaker of the property (lives in a separate cottage) becomes chief suspect in what's presumed a murder; downgraded to a missing persons case (without a body), but Harry's been dragged through the British press as a villain, egged on by her hostile family. So, it's up to him to clear his own name. Great narration, great character in Harry, kind of dreading the end (though 18 hours is a rather long book).

Just started Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving.

Just starting Charlatan by Pope Brock and The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters.

Just loaded The Greyfriar and Heartwood I am not sure which one I will pick to start on my commute home tonight.. =:)

Just starting The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hogeland.

I haven't been driving as much this summer and my listening time as been negatively affected. When I'm at home, I tend to dive into print books; But be that as it may, I did manage to finish off Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7, by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters!) I'm now listening to New Tricks (Andy Carpenter series #7, by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner.) :-)

The Whiskey Rebellion was excellent, though I don't think Simon Vance should have been chosen as the reader (you really want someone from the area discussed who will pronounce all the place names correctly).

I started Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, read by the author (whose voice isn't great, but it's good enough). Had to stop that when I realized how close to the end of the month it was and that I needed to read a book club book.

So now I've started A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama who I really like. It's another narrated by Simon Vance and I'm wondering if there wasn't a more appropriate choice for that one too. I like him as a reader very much, but that doesn't mean he's the right reader for every book.

Where did everyone go?

Finished The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, which was read generally well, except when the read tried to do gruff NYC accents.

Currently into Bad Pharma because I'm not depressed enough. Read well by Johnathan Cowley.

Oh yeah! Post.

I finally finished The Lost Hero. It did go on and on, but I did like one of the characters.

I'm trying (second time around) to finish Sugar, Salt, Fat. It too was dragging on, but then I realized I picked up again on an earlier disc. This book is plumped up with long stories about food industry product development strategies more than the issues of ingredients shuffling. We hear A LOT about Lunchables.

124 - I think I'll skip Sugar, Salt, Fat, as I was waffling on it anyway. Plus, surely we've always been hooked on these things (especially from an evolutionary 'need the calories' sense), they just weren't available widely and in large quantities to most people until relatively recently (not that the food industry didn't help us along with extra rapidity).

I'm just starting Trainspotting and definitely enjoying the reading.

I am re-reading Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters #1) by Juliet Marillier narrated by, Terry Donnelly I have been waiting for this series to be on audio and have not been disappointed absolutely love this story!

My CD player died!! Woe is me!!

I read On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz, which was beautifully read by the author. It was perfect for reading while walking the dog. Now I'm almost done The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, read by Nigel Planer, who will go on my list of narrators to look for. I enjoyed the audio version far more than the print version I tried to read many years ago.

Listening to Nos4A2 by Joe Hill.

I finished No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, all 39 hours! Very good! Now I'm listening to Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

I've only listened to a couple of audiobooks this summer:

Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7 by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters) - The series is pretty uneven but this is one of the better ones! Harry confronts necromancers, one of whom hopes to cast a mega spell that will harness the power of the dead. Butcher limits his cast of characters and his humor transcends the cliches he usually relies so much upon. Perhaps Butcher overindulges in Harry's pathos a bit and; a certain forgiveness is required regarding action choreography and; maybe Marsters didn't quite drive or shape the story to deliver the maximum punch for the surprise ending; but it was still a fairly decent novel in the series.

New Tricks (Andy Carpenter series #7 by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner) - Andy Carpenter is a assigned a pro-bono case in which he must decide who gets the custody of a potential show dog. Unfortunately one of the contenders is blown up and the other contender is indicted for the murder. Andy proceeds to become the defense attorney for the man accused and investigates what-the-heck-is-really going on. This isn't the strongest novel in the series: events are wildly improbable and the cast of characters are becoming caricatures. Also, I'm not sure whether it is the audio processing or the narrator, but Grover Gardner sounds more nasal than usual. Still, I will continue with the series as they've become something of a comfort listen for me :-)

Starting Tuesday, when I need to drive my daughter to/from school, I'll have more listening time, YAY! I have Suspect (by Robert Crais; narrated by MacLeod Andrews) queued up next. This is a new-to-me author as well as a new-to-me narrator.

128 - Nigel Planer's readings of the Discworld books definitely elevate them to a whole new level of wonder. Later the narration switches to Stephen Briggs, who I enjoy for most of the books, though there are some characters I just so prefer Planer to read. I'd avoid the audio editions of the first two witches books, read by Celia Imrie. I love her personally, but I think she was an awful choice for Discworld.

I finished Trainspotting, which I actually ended up really liking (that totally surprised me).

I'm just about halfway through Just Kids by Patti Smith. Smith reads it, and she's a slow, reverent reader, which can drive me a little nuts, but I think I adjusted to her pretty quickly. No doubt it's good for me to slow down sometimes...

I finished Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Now, I'm beginning Rocket Men by Craig Nelson. Finding it a little hard to follow, much more technical than I anticipated.

Listening to Tell the Wolves I'm Home. :) It was on my Amazon wish list - I was lucky enough to find it in audio form on the library's website! Yay Me!

I finished Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich yesterday (read quite well) and started on The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

It's not that the reader for The Long War is bad, but choosing an English guy to read a book where 90% of the characters are American is so stupid. He also basically only has one 'female' voice, so it's really confusing when two women are talking (and three or four of the main characters are female).

I just finished Suspect (by Robert Crais; narrated by MacLeod Andrews.) It's the story of a military working dog in Afghanistan and a LAPD cop who lose their respective partners and end up together in the police K-9 corps. The opening scenes of Suspect definitely hook you and, the dog's point-of-view sections are novel in that they are not overly anthropomorphized; but the amount of narrative given over to Crais' research, and rather ham-fistedly at that, come across less as exposition than as massive info dumps. The plot is rather straight-forward, with a made-for-TV-movie feel. The narrator was clear and expressive, but somewhat superficial in his delivery. This was a new-to-me author and new-to-me narrator and while both came highly recommended to me, I think I'll pass on either/both in the future.

I'm now about to start Dog Tags (Andy Carpenter mystery series #8; by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner.) The author may have already jumped the shark on this series; but I we'll see if he recovers :-)

Hi, Tanya ~ Do try the Elvis Costello/Joe Pike mystery series by Crais before you give up on him! I've read the entire series as well as Suspect, and I think you'll find the earlier books in the Elvis Costello series (starting with The Monkey's Raincoat) more appealing.

I'm almost done with the incredibly short 84, Charing Cross Road, a sweet book of the correspondence between a writer in NY and an antiquarian book store in London, starting in 1945, I think. Wonderfully read by multiple people.

>138 mabith:-mabith--Where did you find the audio for this book?? I've been searching for it for awhile.

Susie - It was a gift from a friend, who got it used on CD from Amazon, it turns out (for about $10).

Having caught up on all my podcasts, I am now listening to Ann Cleeves Dead Water, the fourth in her Shetland series. A journalist,Jerry Markham, who has returned to his home in the islands is found dead by the Procurator Fiscal in the yoal belonging to her rowing team. Jimmy Perez is still moping after the loss of his fiancé, so Willow Reeves is brought in from the mainland to head up the investigation.

I'm just starting The Great War in Africa by Byron Farwell. The reader has a sort of General Melchett from Blackadder Goes Forth air about him, which is amusing.

I finished the audio of Me Before You which was very very moving and narrated well.

I'm listening to The Private World of Georgette Heyer and, although I'm enjoying it, I think I would have preferred it in print. It's very well read by Phyllida Nash, who is the best reader of Georgette Heyer's fiction, but she is wasted as there is no real need for lots of voices. This is the first non-fiction I've listened to and I think, for me, audiobooks suit fiction better.

>144 CDVicarage:
In contrast, I prefer my audiobooks to be non-fiction. When I'm reading fiction I prefer to set my own pace.

Now I'm listening to a Teaching Company course, Food: A Cultural Culinary History, which is very good so far.

I'm struggling to engage with Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr though it is read beautifully by Alyssa Bresnahan - the story seems to be missing something. It's about high school student, Aisling, and her struggles to ignore the fairy world, while being courted by the Summer King in search of his queen. The story feels like it's just plodding along, and, thus far, lacks depth.

Listening to Hermit of Eyton Forest right now, trying to ignore an icky children's disease I caught.

I finished Rocket Men by Craig Nelson and am now beginning Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.

I finished listening to Dog Tags (Andy Carpenter #8 by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner.) It was a slight departure from previous novels in the series in that the author included POVs other than that of Andy Carpenter's; but the plots and characters are as implausible and comforting by the same token as ever.

I'm starting Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8 by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters) today as well as Gregor the Overlander (by Suzanne Collins; narrated by Paul Boehmer.) The Dresden Files novel is one of a batch I purchased in the last days of weread4you.com at an incredible price. TBH, if it hadn't been for the sale, I probably wouldn't have continued with this series despite Marsters' performance; but I did and I have! The Suzanne Collins novel is a (Oregon) Battle of the Books title that I'm listening to with my daughter :-)

I just finished the best book I have listened to in quite a while "Lizzy Bright and the Buckminster's Boy" - No Touchstones available for this.... I have to say that I got so involved in the book that I had very little make up left on my face by the time I got to work this morning. Wonderful Maine read. :)

I finished Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford, which was amazing, and especially important to read if you're from the US. It's criminal some of the things we aren't taught... It's read well, though those from Appalachia (or northern England) might cringe at some of the reader's pronunciations (mix of pronouncing things more closely to what they'd be in the native language they came from and the reader just not being familiar with that part of the world).

Now I'm starting The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth.

The recent passing of the wonderful actress Julie Harris led me to wonder if she had ever recorded and audiobook. Eureka! She's the wonderful voice narrating Beryl Markham's West with the Night. Of course she does an amazing job, pronouncing all the African names and words beautifully. I wonder if she had an interest in that part of the world or was just an admirer of Markham. In any case, it's a lovely listen.

Listening to The Accusers by Llindsey Davis, one of the Falco mysteries that I don't recall reading before, though I thought I'd read all of them starting with the first (Silver Pigs) as each came out. Not crazy about the reader (Jamie Glover), so I'm not sure I'll finish it or instead start listening to the Early Reviewer copy of the latest Kathy Mallory mystery, It Happens In The Dark, which just arrived in the mail.

I don't think I've hear any Falco books narrated by Glover... The Accusers was SO much fun for me though.

I don't think I have either, and I listened to a lot of them. Well, I put that one aside (at least for now, maybe forever) to listen to the Mallory mystery, which is very good. It's about murder at a Broadway (NY) production of a true murder mystery from awhile back. Very spooky so far.

I'm listening to The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts wonderfully read by Anna Deavere Smith.

I finished Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly and am now listening to Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan which is hilarious so far.

Well, just finished It Happens in the Dark by Carol O'Connell, read by Barbara Rosenblat. It was not as good as I'd hoped, though it wasn't terrible. (Not helpful, I know, but I'm still processing and will write a more comprehensive review for the Early Reviewers program soon.) One thing, although I usually love Rosenblat's narration, in this case I did not. Too flat, and the voices of the different characters were too much the same.

Next up, probably: Whispers Under Ground, as soon as I've read #2 in the Rivers of London series in printed book form.

I'm trying to listen to For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. Only it's read by the author and she really wasn't a good choice for a variety of reasons (her voice and rhythm for one, but I don't think it should have been read by an American at all since it's about England, a Scotsman, and China, and you need someone very familiar with Chinese languages). Trying to stick with it, but not sure I will.

I finished Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan which was hilarious. Anyone with children will appreciate it. Now I'm reading The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters.

About halfway through Man Overboard by Tim Binding.

I finished Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8 by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters) today: Harry Dresden, the only practicing wizard detective in Chicago, is called upon to investigate more suspected necromancy (see Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7) and, bail one of his best friend's daughters out of trouble. Of course the plots are interconnected and are ultimately tied into another ongoing thread about the war between The Red Court of Vampires and every body else! As I've mentioned before, the series is terribly uneven, but this, like Dead Beat before it, is one of the better ones. Still prone to cliched language, stereotyping and suspect choreography when it comes to the action scenes, the story is nevertheless intriguing with moments of true suspense. James Marsters sounds exhausted: His voice register has dropped a couple of ranges and there is little to no differentiation between many of the characters at this point, making it difficult to follow who is speaking in a few of the conversations. If Marsters' rumblings, even in this condition, are still pleasant to the ear, it must also be said that the editing is poor: there are noticeable places in the recording where there the sound levels don't match.

My daughter and I finished listening to Gregor the Overlander (Underlander series #1 by Suzanne Collins; narrated by Paul Boehmer) the day before yesterday. This is Suzanne Collins' (of The Hunger Games Trilogy fame) first book! Gregor, a twelve-year old boy and his little two-year old sister, "Boots," drop through a vent in his apartment building's laundry room into a subterranean world populated by giant, talking rats, cockroaches, spiders and, a small population of humans with purple eyes! Gregor is believed to be the fulfillment of a prophecy and goes on a quest to find his father. The story contains violence and death; but despite this and the overall creepiness of the setting, the story is engaging and even my timid daughter grooved on the story! Also, as fantastical as the characters are, no magic or otherwise paranormal elements appear: Characters act in a realistic way despite their size and anthropomorphic attributions.

My daughter and I are now listening to Pie (by Sarah Weeks; narrated by Kate Rudd) and tomorrow, I'm starting A Beautiful Place to Die (by Malla Nunn; narrated by Saul Reichlin - the latter is the narrator who read the UK editions of The Millennium Trilogy (by Stieg Larsson.))

A little ways into 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks. It's read by Dick Hill, who really isn't good on women's or children's voices, but is okay otherwise.

I finished The Postmistress by, Sarah Blake narrated by, Orlagh Cassidy think this book should have been called The Reporter as the postmistress seemed a secondary character it started out very slow it turned into a pretty good story in the second half of the book, narration was great!

Now listening to Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein narrated by, Morven Christie & Lucy Gaskell liking the narration very much and the story is interesting.

Just starting How to Build a Dinosaur, read well by Patrick Lawlor.

In honor of October(horror)fest, I'm in the middle of the audiobook of Whispers Under Ground, the third in the Rivers of London series/trilogy. So far, I think I prefer to read these books in print and also that I liked the first book Midnight Riot best. Caveat: These are police procedurals set in modern-day London but with magicians and ghosts and vampires and other beasties doing unspeakably gruesome things to people and other beasties. There are also flashes of humor, three- (and sometimes even four-) dimensional characters, evocative descriptions of London and its environs, and top-notch writing.

Yesterday, I finished The House of Silk, a Sherlock Holmes "sequel" read by Derek Jacobi. I had some issues with it, but overall recommended for those who think they might like it.

I'm about to finish Clarissa's England, a tour of the country's counties by Clarissa Dickson-Wright, giving personal and historical notes on each. Her reading isn't technically perfect, but I appreciate the inflection and dry humor.

Also partway through The Suitors, a novel centering on the fate of a family compound near Antibes, with detailed descriptions of the daily life there "in season" among the residents and guests. Some reviewers really dislike it, but I find the satire funny. Kate Reading a perfect fit as narrator.

>167 Seajack: I've just ordered Clarissa's England from Audible. It's the kind of book I like to read in audio, and I've been reading about Clarissa lately, so it should be good.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the Teaching Company course, Food: A Cultural Culinary History, which is excellent. Professor Albala speaks clearly and at a nice pace, and is very enthusiastic.

I plan on reading Clarissa's memoir in print, as the audio edition seems highly abridged.

Yes, they must have cut out a huge amount to have brought it down to less than 2 hours.

169, 170 - You can get the unabridged one from the US Audible site.

171
They have unabridged Clarissa's England, but both Spilling the Beans and Rifling Through My Drawers are very abridged. I've already read Spilling in print, and have Rifling on my TBR shelf.

My 10-year old daughter and I finished listening to Pie (by Sarah Weeks; narrated by Kate Rudd.) The story is about how Aunt Polly, a Blueberry Award winning pie baker passes away and apparently leaves her pie crust recipe to her cat, Lardo! The recipe isn't written down anywhere, so how this is executed leaves the community bemused, and in a couple of instances, embittered. Pie is a children's mystery, with recipes and a bittersweet ending. Kate Rudd does a nice job with narrating Pie and has more than one occasion to show off a lovely singing voice :-)

My daughter and are now listening to Kenny & the Dragon (by Tony DiTerlizzi; narrated by Alan Cumming) and; my own listen is still A Beautiful Place to Die (by Malla Nunn; narrated by Saul Reichlin.)

Just finished Code Name Verity By Elizabeth Wein Narrated By Morven Christie, Lucy Gaskell and I must say this totally lived up to the hype what a great book and fabulous narration by two new to me narrators. Highly recommend!

I've started Can You Forgive Her? the first of Trollope's novels in the Palliser series -- oh, how I love Timothy West's narration!

#175 I have that ready to listen to as part of the group read planned for November and I've recently listening to his renderings of the first five Barchester books.

I'm going through a rather disappointing patch with audiobooks: two non-fiction books, The Private World of Georgette Heyer and At Home, both very well read by Phyllida Nash and Bill Bryson but I've decided that non-fiction doesn't suit audiobooks for me, and now An Accomplished Woman, also read by Phyllida Nash, which is Georgette Heyer-like but the plotting is cumbersome and the attitudes of the characters too 21st century. I'll have to choose a real treat for myself next to make up for this.

I had to discard City of Veils recently - seemed promising, but I just couldn't get into it despite Kate Reading's narration.

Killing Lincoln by Bill O'reilly and Martin Dugard

Listening to Dancing Aztecs by Donald E. Westlake. Reader isn't bad, but he reads everything too straight. The humor would shine a lot more if it were read by Michael Kramer, who I'm convinced is a genius, and who read most of Westlake's Dortmunder series.

Started The Storycatcher by Ann Hite narrated by, Allyson Johnson really liking this new to me narrator and the story is good so far!

My daughter and I finished listening to Kenny & the Dragon (by Tony Diterlizzi; narrated by Alan Cumming) yesterday. Kenny and the Dragon is about a boy who encounters a dragon that's more interested in creme brulee than battles; but the townspeople are all up in arms anyway! The story is cute; but with quite a number of Briticisms that I'm not sure my ten-year old caught. Also, without the illustrations, it took us a while to realize that all the characters outside of the dragon were actually anthropomorphized woodland creatures (rabbits, badger, porcupine, etc.) Alan Cumming was very entertaining, easily reminding me of Monty Python in his narrative stylings! We'll probably do a re-read in print to make sure we caught everything.

Next week, we're starting The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett, an Origami Yoda book by Tom Angleberger and narrated by multiple narrators but especially Mark Turetsky. Though the books have a lot of illustrated content, my daughter wants the audio. Ever since The Secret of the Fortune Wookee, she has been enamored of Mark Turetsky's Chewbacca imitation!

I have just started listening to Naked in Death by J. D. Robb, about an hour or so in. It's captivating so far - I had no idea it was set in the future!

I've been speeding through Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. I'm glad for Wikipedia, as I keep losing my place with the names. Probably best to read this one in print, but oh well.

Just started Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West by Imran Ahmad. Read well by the author.

I'm enjoying Home Is the Sailor by Patrick Taylor - an interlude between books 7 and 8 of the Irish Country series. This is the tale of when Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly returned to Ballybucklebo after the war to start up his practice, as narrated wonderfully by John Keating.

I finished The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters narrated by the incomparable Barbara Rosenblat. Now I'm listening to Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, I'm finally getting on the bandwagon with this series.

Now into The Dain Curse.

Just starting 2001: A Space Odyssey, read by the wonderful Michael Kramer. (By the way Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West was wonderful!)

Finished The Storycatcher by, Ann Hite narrated by, Allyson Johnson both author and narrator were new to me and I really enjoyed both, the story can get a little confusing at times but a very unique ghost story none the less.

Now trying to get into Janet Evanovich's The Heist narrated by, Scott Brick a couple hours in and still not sure if I like it or not.

Finished The Dain Curse, today started Airman.

In the middle of Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson. No complaints about the reader, just a few about my slow non-scientific brain.

Well I have given up on The Heist by Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg..I am over 50% done with the audiobook and I am giving up, this book is boring and the characters fall very flat, I was expecting more of a White Collar feel with funny maybe even irreverent moments and have gotten none of the above. Even narrator Scott Brick sounded bored.

I'm now halfway through Dark Places by, Gillian Flynn narrated by, by Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins another Flynn book that is very hard to stop listening to!

Listening to Call The Midwife, or trying to. The reader, Nicola Barber, has an annoyingly quiet, whispery voice. Stephanie Cole read the abridged version and I'm so sad she wasn't booked to do the full one. Makes more sense to me to have an older person read it rather than someone who sounds so ultra-young (it is looking back, after all).

>#193 mabith-Nicola Barber is kind of a hot or miss narrator for me too.

After a few disappointing audiobooks I've now gone back to something I know I'll enjoy - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, read by Stephen Fry.

I finished Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris and am now beginning Truman by David McCullough.

I finally finished A Beautiful Place to Die (by Malla Nunn; narrated by Saul Reichlin)! Set during the 1950s in Apartheid South Africa, the story features Emmanuel Cooper, a British DSI who is sent into a rural town to investigate the death of a white police chief. The time and place are brutal, thick with racism and a sense of God-given destiny, both of which seem to inculcate a special kind of personal ugliness and hardness amongst the Afrikaaners and a meek/resigned acceptance on the part of the natives and other non-whites. Saul Reichlin, a British narrator (who narrated the UK editions of The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson) does a yeoman's job is providing each character with a distinct voice and style. The pace is a little on the slow side and he isn't as smooth as say, Simon Vance in delivery, but listeners can understand the narrative clearly (i.e. no need to translate the Queen's English!)

My daughter and I finished off The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett (by Tom Angleberger; narrated by multiple readers, starring Mark Turetsky.) The students at McQuarry Middle School are in an uproar when the administration institutes FunTime, a program designed to improve the standardized test scores of the student body. What are the kids going to do about it? The story isn't particularly satisfying, leaving the listener in eager anticipation for the conclusion in the next book, Princess Labelmaker but that which won't be released until next year! The productions values weren't strong, but that seems to be par for the course since the Fortune Wookee book: really long and awkward pauses (editing issue) and the Star Wars character voices weren't as good this round either.

We now have moved onto Chasing Vermeer (by Blue Balliette; narrated by Ellen Reilly.) I'm not exactly sure what this is about yet other than it involves paintings by Vermeer and two classmates (a boy and a girl) who feel they are onto some sort of mystery.

Tomorrow I start Christine Falls (by Benjamin Black; narrated by Timothy Dalton.) I've had this in my audible library since August, 2010!

I started Missing in Death by JD Robb on the ride home from work last night. I love to listen to this series, fast paced and a great narrator!

I am about 80% finished with Allegiant by Veronica Roth Narrated by Emma Galvin & Aaron Stanford it's fantastic I wish I would have had 2 1/2 more hours on my road trip today so I could have finished it!

I finished Naked in Death by J. D. Robb and it was fantastic. Lots of suspense and very fast-paced. Now I'm midway through Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It has a depressing vibe to it so far and it's very atmospheric, but it's only around 3 hours long so we'll see what happens!

I'm listening to Sapper Martin, a neat WWI diary. Read well.

Well, I gave up on Christine Falls (by Benjamin Black; narrated by Timothy Dalton.) The narration was too fast and I felt that I was missing way too much of what was going on! At first, I thought that the playback speed had accidentally been dialed up; but it turned ouy that wasn't the case. Turning the playback speed down to 1/2 provided the right pace; but the distortion was so bad (like the stereo channels were somehow split and one was delayed, creating an echo effect) that it was still unlistenable. I think the story might be interesting though (about a baby being transported overseas from Ireland to the US, and a corpse in the morgue. I assume that there must be some sort of correlation...,) so I'll go check out the print edition instead.

I also gave up on The Coroner's Lunch (by Colin Cotterill; narrated by Clive Chafer.) In this case the narrator was, well, boring. The delivery was clear and he clearly had command of the language; but there was something rather depressing about his delivery and which didn't match the narrative. All I know about this story is that it is a mystery featuring a coroner in Communist Laos. There might have been more in the opening sections, but seriously, my attention kept wandering :-( This is another one the I'll be looking for in print at the library instead.

Then I started The Cold Cold Ground (The Troubles Quatrain #1 by Adrian McKinty; narrated by Gerard Doyle) and YES! This is what I want! Set in 1981 in Belfast, Sean Duffy, a Catholic Peeler is assigned to investigate the death of an apparent informer. Even though I just started, I've already added I Hear the Sirens in the Street, the sequel to my queue :-)

On Friday, started Flashback by Dan Simmons.

I am listening to The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin! Love this book. I did not realize that he had written books other than The Passage and The Twelve, what a treat!

Finished listening to The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway this morning. A beautiful story about hope and loss, but definitely a bit depressing (at least for me). Now I'm plunging straight into my Halloween read - Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, narrated by Paul Hecht. So excited!

Well ... I finally finished The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. Colin Firth's narration was excellent, but the story ... no.

Following along, apparently with much of LT, I started The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer today.

I finished The Cold Cold Ground (First in the Troubles Trilogy by Adrian McKinty; narrated by Gerard Doyle) a couple of days ago and have now started The Hypnotist (by Lars Kepler; narrated by Mark Bramhall.)

The Cold Cold Ground features a Catholic Peeler, Sean Duffy, stationed near Belfast in 1981. During one of the riots staged after the death of an IRA prisoner, Sean is called out to check on what seems to be the body of an executed informer... McKinty's writing isn't as lyrical or as noir as his own Dead trilogy and; he's a bit heavy handed with time stamping (providing constant reminders as to the year); but he does create vivid imagery of Belfast during the sectarian strife known as "the Troubles." Gerard Doyle's Irish accented voice is a pleasure to listen to: lilting, clear and easy without dropping into stereotypical brogue and; are distinguishable within a mix of Irish and English, male and female characters.The narrator sounds a little tired in some places; but mostly just in comparison to The Dead Trilogy (also by Adrian McKinty) and to The Ghosts of Belfast (by Stuart Neville.) Still looking forward to the next in the series :-)

I just started The Hypnotist. There's a lot of sorting out of names so far as well as having to getting used to the style (back story from different POVs) and I'm not sure who the main protag is yet; but it seems interesting so far: Set in Sweden, a family has been violently assaulted; but what at first appeared to be a case of bookie vengeance is looking less likely now as details begin to emerge.

Currently listening to The Buddha in the Attic , by Julie Otsuka Samantha Quan & Carrington MacDuffie for bookclub.

I just finished listening to The Orchardist. It was wonderful. This is a very slow story and it takes an hour or so of listening before you wind down and just enjoy the the beautiful story unfold for you. The narration was perfect for the feel of the book. I would highly reccommend it. Be patient and you will be rewarded with a great listening experience.

#207 Mabith - I hope you are enjoying The Invisible Bridge as much as I did. I read it in print and loved it. I have read so much WWII and Holocaust type fiction that I wasn't sure I wanted to read another one but I'm so glad I did. It's a great book.

Iudita, I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm the same way (read so many WWII books fiction and non), but there's usually some new prospective I haven't read. Too many stories to be told.

I'm listening to Clarissa's England by Clarissa Dickson Wright, which was mentioned earlier in the thread. It is a combination of travelogue, memoir, and folk history.

Finished The Buddha in the Attic it was good but sad and well narrated .

Now listening to Fannie Flagg's new book The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel, narrated superbly by the author. 2 1/2 hours in and loving it so very much!
I actually won the paperbook of this one from Librarything Early Reviewers but it's not here yet and I wanted to read it so bad so I bought the audio.

Thanks, Sylvia! I had been meaning to post that as Clarissa's autobiography Spilling the Beans is only available as a highly abridged audiobook, I'm reading the print version now (as a library book), finding the details so fascinating that listening such a short audio version would be horrifying!

Finished Flashback and Night (narrated by the great George Guidal). Tomorrow starting Driftless.

>215 Seajack: Seajack

I can't imagine all that must have been removed to shorten Spilling the Beans to two hours of audio. It must give just the barest outline of her life.

I finished listening to Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and while it was good, it was still a teensy bit of a letdown. I felt that the story was so curiously dark and interesting but was bogged down by the writing style. No complaints about the narration by Paul Hecht.

Now I'm a couple of hours in The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J. K. Rowling. What a surprise! The stories and characters are engaging from the get-go, and it's got this The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo vibe to it that I'm loving. I think I am in love with JKR.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their listens as well!

I'm listening to The Great Race: The Race Between the English and the French to Complete the Map of Australia by David Hill. It was written in 1912, which surprised me, as it sounds very modern.

Just began listening to Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast narrated by John Bedford Lloyd. A nice follow up to The Paris Wife.

I am listening to One Thousand White Women - I read this when it first came out but am loving having it read to me. Great book!

>221 sebago:-sebago- I liked that one very much!

Finished Curtsies & Conspiracies by, Gail Carriger narrated by, Moira Quirk it was good but I didn't enjoy it as much as the Parasol Protectorate Series.

Now listening to The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson narrated by, Barbara Rosenblatt

I'm halfway through Code Name Verity and it's absolutely astounding. The audio edition is wonderful. This would have been a favorite book by far if I'd read it in early middle school (though it may not be suitable for all 5th graders and up, definitely depends on their reading comforts).

I've been starving for audio books since the CD player in my car went kaflooey. I found a cheap solution, buying a portable DVD player, the size of a book, which plugs into the cigarette lighter and the aux, so I can listen from the car speakers. ($69 vs $200, plus I can theoretically watch movies too.)
Started back with Bad Pharma, and was at first surprised at the British narrator. Most industry exposés I've read have been US (I know, how provincial!) but it began making perfect sense, as Goldacre is thoroughly British, and his terminology would have sounded strange in a different accent.
I found myself nodding vigorously to his points.

PS: I found that all of my suspended holds of audio books at the library have been mysteriously wiped out, so I'm making a new list from this thread. Thanks all!

Listening to Doc by Mary Doria Russell. It's a reread, and I loved it when I read it first time as a book. I'm really enjoying the audio version!

Finished The Whole Enchilada by, Diane Mott Davidson narrated by, Barbara Rosenblat it was good one of the better ones she's had in awhile!

Now listening to Big Stone Gap written and narrated by,Adriana Trigiani and I'm only 45 minutes in and I'm not sure she should be narrating her own books...the reviews on audible are mixed about the narration but I think I will be in the I didn't like it camp but I am going to plug away since it's for a group read.

Today started Jar City.

I have set aside Big Stone Gap because Boston Jacky: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business FINALLY released on audio narrated by the wonderful Katherine Kellgren I will go back to Big Stone Gap when I am done with Boston Jacky!

#228 Susiesharp! Love Love Love the Bloody Jack series. I think that Katherine Kellgren is my favorite narrator of all time!! Isn't she wonderful? Can't wait to listen to this one. :)

Just starting You Are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney.

Finished Jar City and started The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Heart.

Just finished Fledgling. Man, that woman could write!

>229 sebago: sebago- I agree she is so wonderful! I can't read the Bloody Jack series in print I have to listen on audio no matter how long I have to wait!

Lucy Ricardo once said, " ... one of them is swell and the other one is lousy!" Well, that's kind of how I feel about my current pair of audiobooks.

Catherine McMurdo-Wallis' narration of Isabel Allende's memoir My Invented Country is spot-on, as though Allende had her specifically in mind when she wrote the book!

On the other hand ... I've been tempted a couple of times to ask for my Audible credit back with On the Trail of Genghis Khan by Tim Cope, which has rave reviews. The narrator's sing-songy delivery does tend to make the story seem a bit choppy, so perhaps I would have appreciated the print version more, but still I just can't get interested in this one. Can't put my finger on it, but the bits that should seem humorous fall flat, and the rest is talk of horses and details that pretty much drone by. Now that's he's entered European Russia, perhaps things will pick up, but I'm not holding my breath I'm afraid.

In the middle of Mary Boleyn by Alison Weir. Read well by Maggie Mash, though her sudden use of French and Italian accents can be a bit jarring.

I had abandoned The Hypnotist (by Lars Kepler; narrated by Mark Bramhall) in audio; but I've picked it back up again in print. Each of the chapters is only a a few pages long and by "sipping" along, reading only 3-5 chapters a day, I can handle it! I guess that's the thing with print over audio sometimes: You can ameliorate the tone to make it more palatable. This is not to say that Mark Bramhall wasn't any good though! In fact, I think he delivered the work very well. I just couldn't escape from the audio. I don't know if that makes any sense, but there you go :-/

I'm still listening to White Night (The Dresden Files #9 by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters.) I'm taking my time with it, enjoying the listening experience now that I've removed the pressure from myself to complete any as yet unfinished challenges. In White Night, as with Proven Guilty (the novel preceding this one in the series,) there are characters that return from earlier novels. Because Butcher isn't exactly the master of continuity, I have a niggling feeling that some things don't match up; but I'm learning to just roll with it :-)

My daughter and I just finished listening to Gregor and the Prophecy of the Bane (Underlander Chronicles #2 by Suzanne Collins; narrated by Paul Boehmer.) Gregor chases after his sister who is kidnapped from Central Park by giant cockroaches. In the Underworld, Gregor is tasked with a quest to find and destroy "The Bane." Boehmer is not my idea of the perfect narrator for this series (think overly effeminate male kindergarten teacher;) but my daughter loves the audio experience and the stories, so onwards with Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods :-/

I finally finished Truman by David McCullough, which took me over a month. I am now an expert on the man. Now I'm beginning something lighter The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

I'm into The Captured by Scott Zesch right now, about settlers taken into Native American tribes.

Today started Animal Farm by Orwell.

Roughly halfway through Coming Clean, a memoir about the author's grim childhood with a mentally unstable father, who's a hoarder; narrates the book herself, which is okay though she has a rather "little girl" voice, which I'm not sure is how she sounds normally, or was done specifically for reading the book?

Just started The Beach Trees. I love books about the south... this is good so far. :)

Listening to one of the Great Courses (it's a DVD, but watching adds nothing)
The Art of Reading because I'm off on a tangent about metafiction.

Started another Cadfael mystery - The Heretic's Apprentice.

Finished Animal Farm and am now into The Highest Tide.

After being in an audio desert, I gathered up a bunch ot titles and ordered more, and am sampling several to decide which to focus on.
Sampling The Cuckoo's Calling and A Certain Slant of Light. Both start strong. Will probably keep going with The Cuckoo's Calling as there is probably a waiting list and won't be able to renew it.

Just finished The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden narrated by, Jenna Lamia & January LaVoy fabulous book fabulous narration. I am a huge fan of Jenna already but this was the first one by January LaVoy and I will be looking for more of her narrations she was very good too!

This was a great story. If you enjoyed The Kitchen House I think you will enjoy this one! Set in the time of slavery the story is told by slave Sarah and slave owner Theodora.

Currently listening to Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, and The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. It's the first Greene for me, largely because it was free from Audible at some point.

That's a fairly grim Greene book to be starting with!

248- Ha, I sort of gathered that. I am really enjoying it so far though (well, enjoying isn't the right word exactly, but you know what I mean).

I think Housekeeping works better read in print, as the audio edition is read very quickly and doesn't let you savor the language and moods as much.

I've also started Storm of Steel, a memoir about being at the front during WWI written from the German side. I think I've only read English, American, and Australian accounts, so I'm happy to be adding this one.

I am listening to Comfort and Joy by, India Knight narrated by, Anne Flosnik...This is not your usual sweet & sappy Christmas story it is bawdy and fun and is making me giggle, but if you are looking for a heartwarming Christmas story this ain't it!

249 -- I thought "Housekeeping" moved rather slowly, the description is achingly perfect, but I found there wasn't enough plot action (I listened to it, too). As for Greene, "Travels with my aunt" and "Our Man in Havana" are both very funny!

Finished The Cuckoo's Calling yesterday. Enjoyed every minute of it, well worth listening to. Wonderfully fleshed out characters and an intriguing storyline. The narration by Robert Glenister really made the story come alive, also his interpretation of Strike was just wonderful. I miss the characters (Strike and Robin) already.

My next audiobook will be Isaac Asimov's Foundation. Should be a short and sweet read.:)

I finished The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren and I'm now listening to Cry No More by Linda Howard, narrated by Joyce Bean.

Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. About 2/3 into it and trying to make it last longer. Really the type of yarn I was looking for.

Just started One Day I Will Write About This Place, it has a great reader.

Finished The Highest Tide. Started Lunatics.

Finally listening to The Christmas train by, David Baldacci I've had this one on my wishlist for a while and decided to finally listen to it for Christmas this year.

I finished Cry No More by Linda Howard narrated by Joyce Bean. Now I'm reading The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriaty, narrated by Caroline Lee.

I'm listening to Nella Last's War and the reader is good apart from her voice volume (part her and part production, no doubt). It's one of those where one minute she's very loud and the next she's gone into a very low whisper. Obviously no one taught her to stage-whisper/yell, which is really necessary for audiobook reading.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall and hear what readers ARE told.

I've started Stegner's novel All the Little Live Things, which is slow going and a bit grim as Joe, the protagonist, is a real curmudgeon stuck in "Old Man Yells at Cloud" mode; Edward Hermann's narration is very good.

Over halfway through The Notorious Benedict Arnold, which is fascinating and read well.

I finished The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, narrated by Caroline Lee, and now am listening to Lothaire by Kresley Cole.

I'm having a re-listen to Saturnalia by Lindsey Davis.

I am listening to A Christmas Blizzard by, Garrison Keillor wanted to read this one since a lot of the story is set in North Dakota , which is where I live.

Listening to The Calamitous Fourteenth Century by Barbara W. Tuchman, which I've been meaning to read since it came out about a million years ago. So far, interesting and informative and has provided a couple of fresh insights as to the reasons why events occurred as they did.

I don't want to change my books read total for 2013 so I started The Path Between the Seas about the creation of the Panama Canal. It's a 31 hour book.

I finished all but one hour of The Path Between the Seas, which is probably more than I need to know about the Panama Canal, but it was fascinating.

Just started Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell, read well by Eve Matheson. The main character shares my last name, which makes listening to it feel a bit odd!

Recently started the poe shadow

Just started Night Film by Marisha Pessl. The first 20 minutes have been good! :P

I'm into Games Without Rules, about the history of Afghanistan, which has been great. I'm becoming a huge fan of Tamim Ansary. I'm about to start a re-listen to A Study in Scarlet.

I thought Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark was possibly the best fiction read of 2013, so I thought I'd try another title.

Trading in Danger was my choice, but I'm not particularly impressed yet. I don't like Cynthia Holloway's reading. Her voice is too crisp, and she doesn't check her pronunciation of unfamiliar to her words.

I finished The Outlaw and the Lady by Lorraine Heath, narrated by Mo Egan (so-so) and I'm now listening to Nothing But Trouble by Rachel Gibson, narrated Susan Bennett.

I'm enjoying The Martian read by R.C. Bray.

I just finished Cocaine Blues by, Kerry Greenwood narrated by, Stephanie Daniel I really enjoyed this book and thought it had great narration and then yesterday I was sad to find out narrator Stephanie Daniel passed away last week at a way too young 66 years old. I will definitely continue on with this series and tonight I plan on watching the TV show.( at least the Cocaine Blues episode).

I am now listening to The Invention of Wings by, Sue Monk Kidd narrated by, Jenna Lamia & Adepero Oduye , I had gotten an early review copy from netgalley of this one but once I heard that Jenna was the narrator I had to wait for the audio!

I finished Nothing But Trouble by Rachel Gibson, narrated by Susan Bennett and am now listening to Mackenzie's Pleasure by Linda Howard, narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris.

Just starting Little Men, the book which my father says ruined him for school (because no 1950s upper Ohio river valley public school could be anything close to Plumfield). Read well by Barbara Caruso.

Last night I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, wonderfully read by Cassandra Campbell, and I can't stop thinking about it. Amazing story and perfect as an audiobook.

I finished Mackenzie's Pleasure by Linda Howard narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris. Now I'm listening to Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt, narrated by Grover Gardner.

I finished The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer and read by Anna Bentinck a couple of days ago and am now listening to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and read by Jim Dale. They're both very good 'listens' although clearly very different to each other in style etc.

> 277

I had listened to same and couldn't agree more. 'An amazing medical science epic.

I just finished The Kite Runner, read by the author. It was a tough, deeply moving story.

Still working on Operation Mincemeat, but now I'm also listening to The Railway Children and absolutely loving it.

Just finished Viva Jacquelina!, another Bloody Jack Adventure read by Katherine Kellgren. Same old same old, but still entertaining.

Hmmm, now what?
Ordering The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Just starting Masters of Sex, about Virginia Johnson and William Masters.

Finished The Night Circus and absolutely loved the story - nothing like what I usually read. Now starting Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, so a bit of a change there I expect :D

Just finished Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte - this isn't my favourite of the Bronte's books, but it wasn't awful by any means.

Now I'm starting Prophecy by S. J. Parris, narrated by Laurence Kennedy. Not sure whether I'm going to like this one.

Just beginning Fledgling by Octavia Butler, which is great so far, as well as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Michael York version. I'm not quite sold on him yet, and it seems like it would have been better to have a female reader, but he doesn't really bother me in any way.

Loved Fledgling on audio! Hope you enjoy it too!

I'm in the middle of Ghost Bride, read by the author. Stayed up way late last night because I didn't want to stop listening to it. Very different.

I finished the The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by, Dorothy Gillman narrated by, Barbara Rosenblatt I really enjoyed it.

Then this weekend I finished up the Harry Bosch short story Switchblade: An Original Story by, Michael Connelly narrated by Len Cariou it was a good story and it was so nice having Len back as Harry Bosch.

Now listening to Speaks the Nightbird by Robert R. McCammon narrated by, Edoardo Ballerini

So I'm not particularly enjoying Prophecy by S.J. Parris, but I'm sticking with it in the car for a little bit longer. I'll start the fourth of 13 discs tomorrow.

While I'm in the house though (or near a cassette player) I'm listening to Body Double by Tess Gerritsen because the library had a better collection of her novels on cassette than they had on CD for some reason and this one was on my list of 'to read in 2014' so it seemed like a good opportunity to do both. Only got it this afternoon and am already finished the first three tapes (of 10). Just trying to decide whether to start the fourth tape today or whether I should leave it until tomorrow now.

>289 Peace2: Peace2 ...Body Double is one of my favorites by her and a great audiobook I too listened to on cassette.

Ha ha, learned how to download audio ebooks from the library. Listened to the fairly brief The Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith by David C. Downing.
It had some rapid references to authors and works which influenced Lewis through his early years, so I'm glad I've got the print book on order to make note.

I'm set now to download the rest of the audio collection of The Iron Druid Chronicles, which are no longer being offered on CD.

>290 susiesharp: susiesharp Definitely enjoying the Tess Gerritsen and hoping the library has more of the ones I have on my TBR pile as certainly this one works well in audio - I got through a little more than 1/3 of the book in one sitting!

Prophecy is still proving to be somewhat of a challenge not to just let my mind wander away and ignore it.

Fledgling was really wonderful! Recommended for everyone, really.

Now I'm starting The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, which is a much argued about book (in terms of whether it's all true, the combination of several true stories, or largely false).

I finished Up Till Now an autobiography by William Shatner, really enjoyed it! Now listening to Joyland by Stephen King, narrated by Michael Kelly.

Did Shatner read it himself?

Finished Body Double by Tess Gerritsen narrated by Lorelei King and really enjoyed listening to it. Gave up on Prophecy by S.J. Parris - combination of really not getting into the story and constantly having to try to get the discs to play in hope of it playing correctly (borrowed from library - clearly a fairly damaged copy).

I've now got Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell in the car read by Eve Matheson and Brethren by Robyn Young, narrated by Christopher Scott, in the house for when I'm pottering around or sitting crafting. Ruth is already off to a good start. I'm hoping to enjoy it as much as I did when I read it in my late teens, but that's so long ago I can't remember the actual story.

I read Ruth this month and absolutely loved it. I love Gaskell's writing, and there are so many moments in Ruth where her observations feel quite modern.

I've just started Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. I forget who the narrator is right now, but I think they're doing a good job.

#295-yes he did!

>297 mabith: Your words reassure me and make me even more keen to listen to more of Ruth ! Where can I drive today?

Just starting Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, which is read well until there's a quote from a person (particularly a British person, as the reader does this worse-than Dick Van Dyke accent). As if it matters, particularly where the person giving the quote is from in the first place, and that information is written into the book anyway. Sigh.

Currently on Book 14 of the Hamish MacBeth series by M C Beaton: Death of a Scriptwriter. This audiobook series has been the only "reading" I've done since September really, as I am currently doing a language course and spend most of my spare time reading for that. Because each book in the series is only around 4 hours unabridged, I listen as I do the housework - it's my one reading indulgence until the summer when there is a a break in the course.

Dreamland was such an interesting book, but oh god, the performance. I don't know what that reader was thinking (Andy Caploe). Definitely someone to steer clear of. Even though his voice isn't nasal every voice he did when quoting (no matter the accent) was incredibly nasal, barring about two.

I read the print Puckoon but then also listened to the abridged audiobook, since Spike Milligan was reading it. Finished it and Charlotte's Web yesterday, both read quite well.

Now I'm just starting The History of Money by Jack Weatherford (read well by Victor Bevine).

I finished Joyland by Stephen King really liked it, narrated by Michael Kelly and am now beginning Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly, narrated by the author.

Gave up on The Poe Shadow today. Starting Winter's Tale in prep for the film.

Finished listening to Ruth. I'm glad I got that one out of the library. It had been so long since I read the book (20 years -ish) that it was like a new story to me - and I really enjoyed it.

Now I'm starting Splintered by A.G. Howard narrated by Rebecca Gibel - here's hoping that's a good one too. Seems like an interesting premise from the blurb.

I'm listening to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, read by Jim Dale.

Splintered was brilliantly read. Really enjoyed it and finished it yesterday.

I'm now listening to The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards read by Lorelei King. I'm already 5 discs into this one, so it's pretty good too.

Hoping to finish up The History of Money today, which has been quite interesting. Also just started Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz.

I finished Killing Jesus and am now listening to After the Night by Linda Howard, narrated by Natalie Ross.

Blew through The Wolves of Willoughby Chase last night, the edition with Joan Tanner reading, who was just perfect.

I am listening to The Painted Girls in the car for my commute. Love it!

Half finished with Play Dead by, Harlan Coben narrated by, Scott Brick

Finished up with The Memory Keeper's Daughter tonight and am going to restart Brethren by Robyn Young as I do a bit of ironing because I didn't get far with it before (1 tape in before I'd lost track of the story due to other things happening). I'm going to try out The Dark Road by Ma Jian in the car tomorrow as I drive to and from work.

I'm hoping to get into the library after work to return TMKD and also Splintered so will be choosing some new ones while I'm there with luck.

I had a pretty good January:

* The Stainless Steel Rat (The Stainless Steel Rat series, Book #1; by Harry Harrison; narrated by Phil Gigante; Space Opera; Grade: D-)

* Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (The Harry Potter series, Book #1; by J.K. Rowling; narrated by Jim Dale; Fantasy; Grade: C)

* Midnight Riot (The Rivers of London series, Book #1; by Ben Aaronovitch; narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith; Urban Fantasy; Story Grade: B+; Performance Grade: D+; Overall: C) - Will continue this one in print

Small Favor (The Dresden Files; Book #10; by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters; Urban Fantasy; Grade: B-)

* The Birchbark House (by Louise Erdrich; narrated by Nicole Litrell; Historical Fiction; Grade: C)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

* Solar (by Ian McEwan; narrated by Roger Allam; Humor/Lit-Fic)

* Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (Overlander Chronicles, Book #3; by Suzanne Collins; narrated by Paul Boehmer; Children Ages 8-12/Fantasy)

I'm a little ways into The King and the Cowboy, about the relationship between Edward VII and Teddy Roosevelt. Nothing about TR can be boring, I assume.

I am listening to Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment. I first read it as a teenager and it is just as powerful now I'm older (much older).

Returned Splintered, The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Dark Road to the library today. The first two were good ones, but the third wasn't to my taste.

Now listening to Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell narrated by Kenneth Branagh. I'm having another go at Brethren by Robyn Young - I'm not sure why I keep having to start this one over, but for some reason I just don't seem to be able to follow it well at all. As I've actually got the paperback version as well, I might try reading the first 50 pages or so to see if I can embed what's happening and who's who, before returning to the audio and seeing how I get on then.

I'm just into the beginning of The Rise of Rome by Anthony Everitt (read beautifully by Stephen Thorne). Also still plugging along with (and enjoying) Arabian Nights and Days, it's just my slow kitchen book.

Finished Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell, an interesting short piece.

Now listening to The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt and narrated by William Hope. It's interesting so far, I didn't have any particular thoughts in mind beyond curiosity as I'd seen it on several threads on LT. I'm just starting the second disc and the curiosity to see where it's going is still there.

Finished The Martian (really enjoyed it) and now I'm listening to Code Name Verity.

320 - Hope you enjoy Code Name Verity! I was incredibly impressed by it, and thought the audiobook was well done.

Just started Agnes and the Hitman, and missed some of the inner voicing because it's so soft as opposed to normal volume. Haven't got the balance quite right yet.

I'm listening to The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, read well by him.

Finished The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt read by William Hope. The narration was a good one, the interpretation of the characters seemed fitting for the most part. Having said that, I didn't really enjoy it - not really my 'thing' although it's not badly written.

In the car tomorrow I plan to start The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. As I had to get the library to borrow this one from another branch, I'm hoping it's going to be a good one. Have a couple more already lined up waiting for when I'm through - although it might take a little while.

I read The Sisters Brothers and really enjoyed it! I don't generally care for Westerns but this one made me laugh :-) It also helped that one of the locations mentioned in the book, Jacksonville, OR is only 45 minutes away, so I could easily imagine the places the brothers went. In fact, the hotel and saloon still stand! :-)

I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (narrated by Simon Vance!) At first, it was a slog, but when "the penny dropped" I was absolutely riveted to the story! :-)

The copy of TGWTDT I've got is narrated by Saul Reichlin - I hope I like it as much as you did. I shall stick with it if it's a bit of a slow start.

I finished After the Night by Linda Howard, narrated by Natalie Ross. Now listening to Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

Managed to finish listening to Brethren by Robyn Young. Still mulling over my thoughts on this one. Also decided to stop The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I managed to listen to 13 of 17 discs and will finish the book by reading the paperback copy I've got to get through it more speedily. I wasn't enjoying it enough to give over so much listening time to it.

In the car, I've now got The Language of Bees by Laurie R King and this evening in the house, after a quick trip to the library, I've started listening to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy written and read by Douglas Adams. I'm enjoying it so far. I saw a discussion on a thread somewhere about author's reading their own work and whether it was a good thing - in this case Mr Adams did a good job - the only thing I'd say is his breathing is quite loud but expression and enjoyment of the text on his part make this a good one so far. It seems to be going quickly despite being the unabridged version- there's only 4 tapes and I'm already on #2 - expecting to finish this tomorrow in all likelihood.

Just starting Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice, about Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne (sisters who both served with the SOE during WWII and engaged in undercover work in France). I've read little bits about them online and was completely in awe.

>329 mabith: That sounds fascinating. I'd be interested to hear what you think afterwards.

Whizzed through The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and am now on to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time by Mark Haddon narrated by Jeff Woodman.

I finished Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren and now I'm listening to Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.

Having a quick listen with Flatland.

I'm enjoying a re-read (re-listen?) of The Talisman Ring, wonderfully read by Phyllida Nash. I'm getting ready for the next book in the Trollope GR, The Last Chronicle of Barset, next month.

The Talisman Ring is a favourite of mine, but I've only read it in print.

I started listening to Catching Fire it is a great listen so far. - I know, so far behind in this series lol. Have a wonderful weekend all!

I finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time first thing this morning and am now part way through The Kite Runner read and written by Khaled Hosseini.

Currently visiting Middle Earth. Listening to The Hobbit narrated by Rob Inglis. It's amazing.

>338 BookishMatters:. You are so right! Maybe my favourite narration ever. I've carried on with him doing LOTR.

#338 I was just thinking of re-listening to this and LOTR, too, but it will have to wait until after The Last Chronicle of Barset, now.

Finished The Kite Runner last night before going to sleep and am now starting on The Humans by Matt Haig narrated by Mark Meadows. I'm almost to the end of the first disc and am enjoying it so far. I was in need of something lighter after dental treatment today - something I can just settle back and listen to without needing to think too hard!