Book Logging: Audiobooks
May. 3rd, 2020 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckBarnhart, Edwin. Ancient Civilizations of North America - Series of 24 lectures. The focus is a bit smaller than all of North America as it doesn't detail anything south of the current United States. That made it more interesting to me because I know less about these civilizations. The lecturer is adamant about the necessity of respecting the preferences of living peoples over pursuit of knowledge. He clearly would love to have more information, but he doesn't come across as thinking that any of it is worth harm to other people.
Beasley, Cassie. Circus Mirandus - Audiobook read by Bronson Pinchot. The protagonist's grandfather is dying. The grandfather's awful sister has come to take care of both of them and to take the boy home with her after. The titular circus is magical. The grandfather found it once as a child and has told his grandson stories about it. There's a snarl of nastiness in the middle of the grandfather's backstory that explains the great-aunt's rejection of all imagination. This is a children's book, but I'm not 100% certain it works on that level.
Brennan, Sarah Rees. In Other Lands - Audiobook read by Matthew Lloyd Davies. I really enjoyed this as an audiobook. The reader had a voice that suited the protagonist and committed to his point of view while still making it clear that he was a teenage asshole. I believed in Eliot's attitude entirely. The text carried part of it (that is, I think I'd have gotten the character from reading the book in text), but the audio performance underlined that. Also, Luke is clearly a precious cinnamon roll. Recommended.
Chambers, Becky. Closed and Common Orbit - Audiobook read by Rachel Dulude. This has two alternating plot threads, one clearly in the past relative to the other. I found one of them more interesting than the other, but both worked and fit together.
Cline, Eric H. Archaeology and the Iliad - Lecture series from The Modern Scholar series. The title is accurate to the content. There's a good bit of discussion of the excavations at Troy that includes a lot of frustration about the damage done by early archaeologists. Professor Cline speculates about what really happened and when but is very clear about how much evidence we simply don't have.
Danker, Sean. Admiral - Audiobook read by Jonathan McClain. This book isn't all that long, but it felt longer than it should be. It's non-stop action with very little character depth in spite of being in first person. The narrator is deliberately withholding information from readers in a way that I found irritating. I still read the sequel (as an ebook), but it was exhausting.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Cranford - Audiobook read by Nadia May. This is full of small details and needs careful attention. It's very different from the miniseries adaptation. The miniseries has a broader scope in terms of character point of view. This is mostly a slice of life novel.
Hernandez, Carlos. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe - Audiobook read by Anthony Rey Perez. Given the title, I expected more of a disaster in this book but was relieved not to get it as I'm not keen on the mix of middle grade characters and actual apocalypse. I liked the kids and their families and thought the character choices were plausible. I'm curious about the broader world that Sal's family regard his abilities as scientifically exciting but not otherwise weird. I'd also like to know more about Gabi's family. I have a hold on the audiobook of the sequel. I expect I'll get it in about a month.
King, Laurie R. Beekeeping for Beginners - Audiobook read by Robert Ian MacKenzie. This ran an hour and a half, so it's more a short story than a book. The story is part of King's Mary Russell series and gives Holmes' view of their first meeting and early stages of acquaintance.
Nussbaum, Emily. I Like to Watch - Audiobook read by the author. This is a series of essays about interacting with film as audience and critic. I didn't really enjoy them much because most of the movies discussed are things I either haven't seen or don't care about.
Peters, Elizabeth. Crocodile on the Sandbank - Audiobook read by Susan O'Malley. I first read this book many years ago but had forgotten a lot of the details. I don't remember how far I got into the series back then, so starting over made some sense.
Pogue, David. Abby Carnelia's One & Only Magical Power - Audiobook read by the author. This is a kids' book that has some fundamental worldbuilding issues that the target audience isn't likely to notice but that I couldn't quite overlook. The kids in the story have ridiculously minor and limited superpowers that only work under extremely specific circumstances. The part I didn't believe was the evil corporate scheme to try to study and harness those powers.
Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians: The Dark Talent - Audiobook read by Ramon De Ocampo. This is the fifth book in the series. It came out at a point when I wasn't reading much, so I never previously got around to it. This book really requires a sequel as it ends without resolution.
Wilson, Andrew R. Art of War - Series of six lectures by Professor Andrew H. Wilson of the U.S. Naval War College. If I understood these lectures correctly, Professor Wilson's basic thesis is that Sun Tzu's text is very strongly anchored to the era and culture that created it and can't be understood without that context. The lectures focus on that context.
Wilson, C.L. The Lord of the Fading Lands - Audiobook read by Stephanie Riggio. I didn't quite like the reader's style. This is a fantasy with romance or possibly the other way around. It's the first book in a five book series. As far as I can tell, the series is a single continuous narrative. This has soulbonds and ancient enmities and a dying race of immortals. The tropiest of trope-bait but not really my tropes. On the whole, enjoyable. Contains explicit sex scenes which are a little awkward when I'm listening to the audiobook with Cordelia in the next room. (No. I'm not going to use headphones/earbuds. I have reasons.)
Wilson, C.L. The Lady of Light and Shadows - Audiobook read by Amy Cardy. This reader sounds the same as the previous one. At least, I think so. I'm finding the slow forward movement frustrating. This book and the first one combined cover less than a week, and there's all sorts of impending threats that just sit there, looming, without seeming to move. There's also a certain amount of me being frustrated because the protagonists are really, really, really bad at social interactions and politics. I will still go on to the next book and may even finish the five book series. There're scenes of torture in this one, on top of the sex scenes (I can't remember if there were torture scenes in book one or not). Also awkward.
Wodehouse, P.G. The Man with Two Left Feet - Audiobook read by Frederick Davidson. This is a collection of short stories. None of them are very long. One is a Bertie Wooster story (Jeeves doesn't do much in it). Two are first person stories from the point of view of dogs.
Started but not finished:
Burgis, Stephanie. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart - Audiobook read by Jill Frutkin. I didn't like the narrators voice and kept getting cranky about listening to it.
Cervantes, J.C. The Storm Runner - Audiobook read by Ozzie Rodriguez. This is a Rick Riordan Presents book that uses Maya stories as its basis. I got about a third of the way through this as an ebook. The ebook version had a waitlist while this version didn't, so I thought I'd see if I found the audiobook easier to finish. I got twice as far before I gave up. I just found the protagonist frustrating. He wasn't unrealistic as a teenager, but I wanted to shake him for being TSTL. I think that other readers/listeners might not be as bothered as I was. I just couldn't face another four hours of wanting to yell at the main character to stop being a dumbass.
Forester, Victoria. The Girl Who Could Fly - Audiobook read by Cassandra Morris. I listened to about an hour of this and simply didn't connect to it.
McManus, Karen M. One of Us Is Next - Audiobook read by Maria Liatis, Holly Linneman, Fred Berman, and Karissa Vacker. I gave up about a third of the way in because one of the POV characters is dealing with the possibility of a recurrence of cancer. I probably would have finished it otherwise as the story and prose are reasonably engaging. My main hitch in suspension of disbelief is that not a single one of the students told an adult, either deliberately or accidentally.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost - Audiobook read by Ralph Cosham. I gave up on this at not quite two hours in because I couldn't follow it even if I tried to pay close attention. I'd have needed to read along which kind of defeats the purpose of using an audiobook. The reader enunciated well, so it wasn't a problem of me not understanding the words. It was me just kind of letting the words in one ear and out the other. I have that issue with Shakespeare, sometimes, too.
Nix, Garth. Angel Mage - Audiobook read by Kristin Atherton. I got two and a half hours in and didn't care about either the characters or the setting. I didn't think that another twelve and a half hours would do anything but make me frustrated about the amount of time I was spending on the book.
Ruby, Laura. The Shadow Cipher - Audiobook read by Adam Verner. I only got 20 minutes into this. I didn't find the narrative congenial.
Welford, Ross. Time Traveling with a Hamster - Audiobook read by Bruce Mann. I tried this audiobook twice and bounced off each time. I'm not entirely sure why. I usually quite like time travel. I think part of it was that I felt that the book had a reasonable dealing-with-grief thread going and that I was going to be unhappy with how it interacted with the time travel, no matter what the outcome. I think I got as far as halfway through.
Beasley, Cassie. Circus Mirandus - Audiobook read by Bronson Pinchot. The protagonist's grandfather is dying. The grandfather's awful sister has come to take care of both of them and to take the boy home with her after. The titular circus is magical. The grandfather found it once as a child and has told his grandson stories about it. There's a snarl of nastiness in the middle of the grandfather's backstory that explains the great-aunt's rejection of all imagination. This is a children's book, but I'm not 100% certain it works on that level.
Brennan, Sarah Rees. In Other Lands - Audiobook read by Matthew Lloyd Davies. I really enjoyed this as an audiobook. The reader had a voice that suited the protagonist and committed to his point of view while still making it clear that he was a teenage asshole. I believed in Eliot's attitude entirely. The text carried part of it (that is, I think I'd have gotten the character from reading the book in text), but the audio performance underlined that. Also, Luke is clearly a precious cinnamon roll. Recommended.
Chambers, Becky. Closed and Common Orbit - Audiobook read by Rachel Dulude. This has two alternating plot threads, one clearly in the past relative to the other. I found one of them more interesting than the other, but both worked and fit together.
Cline, Eric H. Archaeology and the Iliad - Lecture series from The Modern Scholar series. The title is accurate to the content. There's a good bit of discussion of the excavations at Troy that includes a lot of frustration about the damage done by early archaeologists. Professor Cline speculates about what really happened and when but is very clear about how much evidence we simply don't have.
Danker, Sean. Admiral - Audiobook read by Jonathan McClain. This book isn't all that long, but it felt longer than it should be. It's non-stop action with very little character depth in spite of being in first person. The narrator is deliberately withholding information from readers in a way that I found irritating. I still read the sequel (as an ebook), but it was exhausting.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Cranford - Audiobook read by Nadia May. This is full of small details and needs careful attention. It's very different from the miniseries adaptation. The miniseries has a broader scope in terms of character point of view. This is mostly a slice of life novel.
Hernandez, Carlos. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe - Audiobook read by Anthony Rey Perez. Given the title, I expected more of a disaster in this book but was relieved not to get it as I'm not keen on the mix of middle grade characters and actual apocalypse. I liked the kids and their families and thought the character choices were plausible. I'm curious about the broader world that Sal's family regard his abilities as scientifically exciting but not otherwise weird. I'd also like to know more about Gabi's family. I have a hold on the audiobook of the sequel. I expect I'll get it in about a month.
King, Laurie R. Beekeeping for Beginners - Audiobook read by Robert Ian MacKenzie. This ran an hour and a half, so it's more a short story than a book. The story is part of King's Mary Russell series and gives Holmes' view of their first meeting and early stages of acquaintance.
Nussbaum, Emily. I Like to Watch - Audiobook read by the author. This is a series of essays about interacting with film as audience and critic. I didn't really enjoy them much because most of the movies discussed are things I either haven't seen or don't care about.
Peters, Elizabeth. Crocodile on the Sandbank - Audiobook read by Susan O'Malley. I first read this book many years ago but had forgotten a lot of the details. I don't remember how far I got into the series back then, so starting over made some sense.
Pogue, David. Abby Carnelia's One & Only Magical Power - Audiobook read by the author. This is a kids' book that has some fundamental worldbuilding issues that the target audience isn't likely to notice but that I couldn't quite overlook. The kids in the story have ridiculously minor and limited superpowers that only work under extremely specific circumstances. The part I didn't believe was the evil corporate scheme to try to study and harness those powers.
Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians: The Dark Talent - Audiobook read by Ramon De Ocampo. This is the fifth book in the series. It came out at a point when I wasn't reading much, so I never previously got around to it. This book really requires a sequel as it ends without resolution.
Wilson, Andrew R. Art of War - Series of six lectures by Professor Andrew H. Wilson of the U.S. Naval War College. If I understood these lectures correctly, Professor Wilson's basic thesis is that Sun Tzu's text is very strongly anchored to the era and culture that created it and can't be understood without that context. The lectures focus on that context.
Wilson, C.L. The Lord of the Fading Lands - Audiobook read by Stephanie Riggio. I didn't quite like the reader's style. This is a fantasy with romance or possibly the other way around. It's the first book in a five book series. As far as I can tell, the series is a single continuous narrative. This has soulbonds and ancient enmities and a dying race of immortals. The tropiest of trope-bait but not really my tropes. On the whole, enjoyable. Contains explicit sex scenes which are a little awkward when I'm listening to the audiobook with Cordelia in the next room. (No. I'm not going to use headphones/earbuds. I have reasons.)
Wilson, C.L. The Lady of Light and Shadows - Audiobook read by Amy Cardy. This reader sounds the same as the previous one. At least, I think so. I'm finding the slow forward movement frustrating. This book and the first one combined cover less than a week, and there's all sorts of impending threats that just sit there, looming, without seeming to move. There's also a certain amount of me being frustrated because the protagonists are really, really, really bad at social interactions and politics. I will still go on to the next book and may even finish the five book series. There're scenes of torture in this one, on top of the sex scenes (I can't remember if there were torture scenes in book one or not). Also awkward.
Wodehouse, P.G. The Man with Two Left Feet - Audiobook read by Frederick Davidson. This is a collection of short stories. None of them are very long. One is a Bertie Wooster story (Jeeves doesn't do much in it). Two are first person stories from the point of view of dogs.
Started but not finished:
Burgis, Stephanie. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart - Audiobook read by Jill Frutkin. I didn't like the narrators voice and kept getting cranky about listening to it.
Cervantes, J.C. The Storm Runner - Audiobook read by Ozzie Rodriguez. This is a Rick Riordan Presents book that uses Maya stories as its basis. I got about a third of the way through this as an ebook. The ebook version had a waitlist while this version didn't, so I thought I'd see if I found the audiobook easier to finish. I got twice as far before I gave up. I just found the protagonist frustrating. He wasn't unrealistic as a teenager, but I wanted to shake him for being TSTL. I think that other readers/listeners might not be as bothered as I was. I just couldn't face another four hours of wanting to yell at the main character to stop being a dumbass.
Forester, Victoria. The Girl Who Could Fly - Audiobook read by Cassandra Morris. I listened to about an hour of this and simply didn't connect to it.
McManus, Karen M. One of Us Is Next - Audiobook read by Maria Liatis, Holly Linneman, Fred Berman, and Karissa Vacker. I gave up about a third of the way in because one of the POV characters is dealing with the possibility of a recurrence of cancer. I probably would have finished it otherwise as the story and prose are reasonably engaging. My main hitch in suspension of disbelief is that not a single one of the students told an adult, either deliberately or accidentally.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost - Audiobook read by Ralph Cosham. I gave up on this at not quite two hours in because I couldn't follow it even if I tried to pay close attention. I'd have needed to read along which kind of defeats the purpose of using an audiobook. The reader enunciated well, so it wasn't a problem of me not understanding the words. It was me just kind of letting the words in one ear and out the other. I have that issue with Shakespeare, sometimes, too.
Nix, Garth. Angel Mage - Audiobook read by Kristin Atherton. I got two and a half hours in and didn't care about either the characters or the setting. I didn't think that another twelve and a half hours would do anything but make me frustrated about the amount of time I was spending on the book.
Ruby, Laura. The Shadow Cipher - Audiobook read by Adam Verner. I only got 20 minutes into this. I didn't find the narrative congenial.
Welford, Ross. Time Traveling with a Hamster - Audiobook read by Bruce Mann. I tried this audiobook twice and bounced off each time. I'm not entirely sure why. I usually quite like time travel. I think part of it was that I felt that the book had a reasonable dealing-with-grief thread going and that I was going to be unhappy with how it interacted with the time travel, no matter what the outcome. I think I got as far as halfway through.
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Date: 2020-05-04 02:29 pm (UTC)