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Review: When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James (audiobook)

18 Nov

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I’m really enjoying this series of fairy tale romances with historical clothing on.

What I liked best was the playful tone of When Beauty Tamed the Beast, never entirely taking itself seriously. There were nods to the fairy tale, there were nods to the norms of historical fiction. None of these nods got in the way of the story or (more important in a romance) the characters.

The characters were entertaining, and both had more to them than a quick glance would see.

In this volume, the “Beast” is an extremely talented young doctor with a damaged (and painful) leg, a terrible temper and no desire to obey the usual rules of society (a character that will feel familiar to many TV viewers).

“Beauty”, on the other hand, reminds me more of Fiona in Shrek– certainly, her outside has everything that society deems desirable. That is, right up until the moment a small lapse in judgement leaves society believing she is pregnant. Luckily, she isn’t merely a beautiful face (and body). She’s got a sharp mind and, when pushed, a tongue to match.

A marriage between them seems to be the answer to both of their parents’ concerns, and so Linnet is off to meet Piers in his remote home…

There is one steamy scene, and other references to such activities without the same level of detail.

I hope there are more of these on the way!

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: Susan Duerden gave a wonderful performance, giving a touch of magic to the proceedings.  Some of the secondary character voices worked better than others, but the primary characters and (particularly) the general narration were very good.

Production: No issues, no extras.  Well, I did have one minor issue, but I’m fairly certain that his was particular to the review download, and won’t be an issue in the final version!

Print vs. Audio?  Although I was charmed by the audio productions, I suspect I would equally have enjoyed this book in print.  When listening to audio, I do appreciate some restraint as to the quantity of really steamy scenes, as they generally seem to arise at highly disconcerting times, and can be difficult to skim through in audio.  That was a plus for this book over other romances, but I think this one would be good in whatever format is more convenient.

Thank you to Harper Audio for providing me this audiobook to listen to and review!

 
1 Comment

Posted by on November 18, 2011 in books, reviews, Uncategorized

 

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Review: Hit Man by Lawrence Block (Audiobook)

28 Oct

Hit Man (Keller, #1)My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Who would have thought that these tales of the life of a hit man would be so much fun? Certainly, my (very limited) experience with Lawrence Block didn’t set my expectations in the right direction.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

Keller is an assassin – he is paid by the job and works for a mysterious man who nominates hits and passes on commissions from elsewhere. Keller goes in, does the job, gets out: usually at a few hours’ notice . . . Often Keller’s work takes him out of New York to other cities, to pretty provincial towns that almost tempt him into moving to the woods and the lakeshores. Almost but not quite.

But then one job goes wrong in a way Keller has never imagined and it leaves him with a big problem. Finding himself with an orphan on his hands, Keller’s job begins to interfere with his carefully guarded life. And once you let someone in to your life, they tend to want to know what you do when you’re away. And killing for a living, lucrative though it is, just doesn’t find favour with some folks.

Keller is a hit man, but this career leaves him with a lot of time on his hands. The rather unique way he ends up with a dog, his new hobby of stamp collecting, the unexpected side effects of an impromptu rescue of a drowning boy… These stories are interwoven with reports of his job tasks, which are handled in a very matter-of-fact, just-another-day-on-the-job manner. He has workplace challenges, since the repercussions of a mistake in the details of an assignment are fairly significant.

Keller is an interesting guy. The book isn’t terribly deep, but it is textured. It’s intellectually engaging as well as entertaining, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

Audiobook Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator:  Robert Forster’s calm delivery was perfect for this story.  He just made Keller and his life feel so normal!

Production:  No issues, no extras.

Audio vs. Print?  My feeling is that I enjoyed this even more as an audio book.  I can’t give a solid reason why, but I think that Robert Forster’s reading of the book gave it a little more of a feeling of everyday life, allowing the contrast between the normalcy of Keller’s life and the unreality of his job to really shine through.  In the end, I’d say to read it in whatever format is more convenient for you.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on October 28, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Review: In Pursuit of Miss Eliza Cynster by Stephanie Laurens (audiobook)

21 Oct

In Pursuit of Miss Eliza Cynster: A Cynster NovelMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

So much of this book was wildly improbable, but somehow this didn’t bother me, because I was having so much fun with it. It was a tremendous adventure, with kidnapping, rescue, running, escaping, and long, lonely nights in hiding.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

The pleasure of your company is requested at the wedding of Miss Eliza Cynster . . . but not until she’s rescued from a daring abduction by the most unexpected of heroes!

Brazenly kidnapped from her sister Heather’s engagement ball, Eliza Cynster is spirited north to Edinburgh. Desperate and deter-mined to escape, she seizes upon the first possible champion who happens along— gentleman scholar Jeremy Carling.

Villains and rescues are a far cry from Jeremy’s expertise, yet he cannot abandon a damsel in distress. But danger lurks and hurdles abound in their race to escape the mysterious laird, until a final confrontation on a windswept cliff reveals what their future life could hold—if both are bold enough to seize and own the unexpected love they now share.

I loved the two main characters and their journeys (physical and personal).

Eliza was a somewhat reserved young lady, and the only way in which she doesn’t appear to be the paragon of what a young woman in society should be is her failure to be married at age 24. She’s decided she won’t marry until she finds her hero, and her hero is nowhere to be found in her usual circles.

Jeremy is a quiet scholar (and I’m a sucker for a brainy guy) who has recently realized he’d like more than intellectual conversation in his life.

Both of them get to discover that they are capable of more than they imagined.

As much as I liked the heroes, I also enjoyed the villains– two of them. One is a basically nice guy, if you can overlook his habit of kidnapping young women. The other is a pushed over the edge psychopath. Both do a good job with the chasing and pursuing side of the adventure.

The romance was pleasantly steamy (very steamy), and the couple was all around well suited. I really enjoyed reading this book, my first with this author.

(One last comment– I did indeed come in mid-series here. Certainly the outcome of at least one previous book was fairly thoroughly spoiled for me, but I rarely enter a romance novel without complete certainty as to how it will end, even if I’ve never heard of the book or author before. I’m not sure if certain villainous motives would have been clearer if I’d read some of the earlier books, but I am sure that any confusion there didn’t keep me from enjoying the book.)

Audiobook Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator:I enjoyed the narration by Matthew Brenher.  I’m used to listening to romance novels with female narrators, so I was mildly apprehensive when I first heard the male voice.  It wasn’t a problem, and since there were more male viewpoints than female ones in this book, the choice made sense.

Production: No issues, no extras.  A solid production.

Audio vs. Print:  Whichever is more convenient is probably fine.  I suspect I would have enjoyed the print version just as much, but the audio is truly delightful.

I received my copy of In Pursuit of Miss Eliza Cynster from the publisher for review.  Thank you, Harper Audio!

 
3 Comments

Posted by on October 21, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Review: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman (audiobook)

23 Sep

The Most Dangerous ThingMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary via Audible.com:

Some secrets can’t be kept. . . .

Years ago, they were all the best of friends. But as time passed and circumstances changed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past—and the terrible lie they all shared. But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years. And then the revelations start. Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Each one of these old friends has to wonder if their secret has been discovered—and if someone within the circle is out to destroy them.

I associate Laura Lippman with mysteries, and I was expecting this book to fall somewhere in the mystery/thriller genre.

It doesn’t, not really. Yes, there is a death (and exactly what happened is murky), and people trying to deal with what happened shapes the lives of the 5 kids (and associated parents) involved, but that’s just one part of the story.

This is a story of friendships and how they change, and how who you are as a child can affect the rest of your life.

It’s an extremely character centered book, spread among many characters. This leads to a complex, textured story that may not get as much depth as I would have liked with any given character. All of the characters were interesting. None of them were entirely likeable, but that can make for good reading.

The book features changing points of view– including one that I encountered for the first time in The Weird Sisters. I’m sure it has a name, but it’s a collective “we” referring to a group POV. Each character is referred to individually, but the general narration in these sections is from them together.

Most of the book is third person, focusing on a changing set of characters, taken from those involved with the death of a man the five children knew. The book jumps between their childhood and adult years, after the youngest of them dies in a car crash.

It was fascinating to get the view of their childhood friendship from so many perspectives, both at the time and years later, and to see how it shaped each of them as they became adults.

As a fun side note, Tess Monaghan (the detective from Lippman’s long running series) makes a cameo appearance in this book. I’ve only read a few of the books featuring her, and it took me a little while to place the name.

I was absorbed in this book the whole way through, and the end packed quite a punch– I’m not sure that I liked it, but it really made an impression. I’d love to discuss it with others that read the book, and see what they thought.

Audiobook Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: I was impressed with the clear, efficient delivery of Linda Edmond.

Production:  I had no issues.with the production of The Most Dangerous Thing.  After I finished reading, I started thinking about this review, and wondered if the book would have been more effective with multiple narrators (maybe one male, one female?), or a narrator with a more atmospheric voice.  Maybe, but this straightforward production allowed the voice of the book to come through, and that worked well in this case.

Audio or Print?  Whatever is more convenient for you.  I don’t think the audio production adds or detracts in this case.

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books!

I received my copy of The Most Dangerous Thing for review from Harper Audio.  Thank you!

 

 
4 Comments

Posted by on September 23, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (with Audiobook and Book Club notes)

09 Sep

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and SweetMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful love story!

Synopsis via Audible.com:

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While scholarshipping at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice, words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Henry was a boy torn between the Chinese world of his parents, and the American world he was living in. His parents said they wanted him to be American, but none of them really understood what that meant, or what effect this would have on their relationship.

Through Henry’s relationship with Keiko, the reader learns more about who Henry really is, even at that young age, but also gets a portrait of the complexity of living at that time– the tensions between white and Asians, but also between those of Chinese and Japanese ancestry.

I particularly liked the different ways that we saw Henry– As a young boy, as he grows up tremendously over the course of several years, as an older adult, but also through the eyes of his adult son, and through his actions towards others, particularly his friends.

The contrast between how his adult son sees him and how he sees himself was particularly enlightening, illustrating how he continued through his life to be torn between America and his father’s world of China.

The lengths that young Henry went to in order to try to preserve his link with Keiko (and the naivete displayed in his plans) were touching. Everything that he lost during this time (and how it compared to all that Keiko lost) was thought provoking.

Most of all, the writing was always compelling, truly delivering Henry’s story to the reader.

Book Club Notes

My Book Club M met over Chinese Food to talk about Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I think we all enjoyed the book, although (as usual) some more than others (I was towards the top of the “loved it” scale).

We had a good discussion, ranging from the character and how they were presented, the era and the challenges (both the obvious and the subtle); comparisons with other books about WWII and the Japanese Internment in particular.   It was a solid conversation, if not a standout for the group, and I’d recommend the book for other clubs.

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: Feodor Chin was unobtrusive in his delivery of this book, allowing the author’s words to come to the forefront.  He dealt well with Henry’s parents Chinese accent, emphasizing the differences in the generations.   His narration was a wonderful choice for this book.

Audio Production: No issues, no extras.

Print vs. Audio:  This book worked well in audio, but I suspect it would be wonderful in print as well.  Pick the format that is most convenient for you.

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes.

 
6 Comments

Posted by on September 9, 2011 in Book Club, books, M, reviews

 

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Review: I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson (with audio and book club notes)

19 Aug

I Think I Love YouMy rating: 3 of 5 stars

A light book that might appeal more to those that remember their teen crushes, I didn’t like the first part at all, and found the second half enjoyable but not memorable.

Description via Random House:

Petra and Sharon, two thirteen-year-old girls, are both desperately in love with a world-famous pop star. Together they pore over his photos, read his fan club letters, and even enter a contest whose winners will meet him in person.

Twenty years later, Petra is pushing forty, on the brink of divorce, and fighting with her own thirteen-year-old daughter when she is given the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to meet the teen idol she loved so long ago. A moving tale of friendship and celebrity, I Think I Love You perfectly captures the intensity of first love—a love that never entirely goes away.

This book did not start out well for me. If I hadn’t been reading it for book club, I would abandoned it somewhere around a third of the way in

The first half of the book takes place when Petra and her friends are young teens, obsessed with David Cassidy, and having the sort of problems that girls in books (and real life) often seem to have– bullying, friendship issues, parental problems…

Since the David Cassidy connection didn’t speak to me, it just felt like a book I’d read before, with characters that I didn’t particularly want to spend time with.

I think this is a book where listening to the audio really got in the way for me.

First, the narrator’s voice was not that of a young teen (the Petra sections were first person), which isn’t a showstopper, but it didn’t help, either.

Second, the book moves between Petra’s story, that of Bill (a young journalist writing for the David Cassidy magazine that Petra and her friends obsess over), and excerpts from the David Cassidy magazine. Looking at the printed book, I think this would have broken up the experience more– I would have felt the “Bill” sections gave me more of a break if I hadn’t still been hearing Petra’s voice. The magazine excerpts had a completely different look, which also would have served as a chance to take a breath, away from Petra and her friends.

I don’t think I would have loved this first part in print, but I also don’t think I would have been longing to stop reading.

Luckily, the second half worked much better for me. I found it a pleasant enough read, and the narrator’s voice fit the adult Petra much better (although since it is no longer first person, it isn’t such an issue).

I enjoyed Petra’s escape from her life as she gets a chance to meet her childhood crush, reconnects with her childhood friend, and gets a chance to move on from her more recent hurts in her life.

Bill was actually my favorite character in both halves of the book, but even he isn’t particularly memorable.

I’m glad it improved for me, but it still won’t be one of my favorite books of the year.

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator:  Sian Thomas has a very pleasant voice, and did a good job with the second section of the book, but I wish she’d been able to do different voices for the different characters.  Her voice was not a match for young Petra, and since those sections were first person, I do think that was needed there.

Audio Production: I don’t remember any actual problems, but I think this is a book that cried out for multiple narrators– one for the young Petra chapters, one for the Bill chapters, and one for the adult Petra chapters.

Print vs. Audio:  I would have enjoyed this much more in print, I think, for the reasons outlined in my review.

Book Club Notes

I read I Think I Love You with one of my book clubs. When I was about a third of the way in, I sent out mail about meeting logistics, and when no one had replied after a few hours, I found myself hoping no one would, so that I could just abandon the book. No such luck, although at least the book improved for me.

We had a decent discussion around the book, although not so much about the book itself.

I don’t think anyone at the meeting really loved the book, and the only one the seemed to like it was only about a third of the way in. Several people were OK with it, with at least one that disliked it even more than I did (she didn’t feel the second part was a significant improvement over the first).

People did like the look into the music world (or at least the music journalism world).

The book got us discussing our teen crushes, if we had them, and how they differed between those of us of different ages (we cover about a 10 year span), and the differences we see between the celebrity crushes of our childhoods and those today (many of us in the group have 13 year old children).

It still wouldn’t be a top book club pick for me, but it didn’t go as badly as I had been afraid it would.

 
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Posted by on August 19, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Revisited: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

29 Jul

BlackoutAll ClearMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Last year, I read both of these books, which are by one of my favorite authors.  You can look back at my Rant: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis, but in a nutshell, these make up one story, split into two volumes– and this isn’t noted anywhere obvious on the first book.  Which was released  8 months before the second book.  And my terrible memory for the details of what I read is one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. And this really interfered with my enjoyment of these two books.

Book descriptions via the publisher’s website:

Blackout:

Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place, with scores of time-traveling historians being sent into the past. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser into letting her go to VE-Day. Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments and switching around everyone’s schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, and dive-bombing Stukas—to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.

All Clear:

[Blackout recap omitted]

Now the situation has grown even more dire. Small discrepancies in the historical record seem to indicate that one or all of them have somehow affected the past, changing the outcome of the war. The belief that the past can be observed but never altered has always been a core belief of time-travel theory—but suddenly it seems that the theory is horribly, tragically wrong.

Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the historians’ supervisor, Mr. Dunworthy, and seventeen-year-old Colin Templer, who nurses a powerful crush on Polly, are engaged in a frantic and seemingly impossible struggle of their own—to find three missing needles in the haystack of history.

I’ve now read these twice. The first time, I read Blackout in print and All Clear in audio. The second time I listened to both books.

All in all, I found my second read, where I went directly from Blackout to All Clear much more satisfying.

These books had:

  • A brilliant picture of life of ordinary people in England during World War II.
  • Some fascinating characters in extraordinary circumstances.
  • A great examination of the issues and paradoxes of time travel.

As well as great writing, humorous bits, touching moments, Agatha Christie, codes, spies, the worst kids ever (or are they?), and courageous people of all ages (male and female). What else can you ask for?

In the end, some of the same confusion I originally had in reading All Clear remained for me.

The book jumped around from early in the war to the very end, and the reader was meant to use the comments on the types of bombs falling on London to help keep the timeline straight, and that didn’t work very well for me.  This was carefully explained several times, and I don’t think it was supposed to be ambiguous, but I was still confused in parts.

On the other hand, I think some of the confusion about which characters were which was deliberate– the reader is not supposed to be certain about the identity of a couple of the characters, until events make some parts of the story clear. I can live with that.

Some of the characters could get a bit whiny. In an effort to be noble they withheld information that would have been better pooled. These and other such character flaws served to make them more real to me, but I could see it getting on the nerves of a different reader.

I really liked that the book was about historians looking into day to day life and about the ordinary heroes of war (of which there were many).  I felt that aspect really came alive for me, but others might be looking for something grander.

I consider the flaws to be minor in comparison to the plusses I listed above.  If the description intrigues you, I’d strongly encourage you to pick up these books– just make sure you have access to All Clear before starting Blackout!

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Audio Notes

Narrator: I thought Katherine Kellgren was absolutely amazing.  This is a really, really demanding book, with a huge number of characters with a variety of accents.  I felt she pulled it off beautifully, and I very much enjoyed listening to her.

Production:  Each book had an introduction by Connie Willis, recorded by her.  I don’t know if the content was also in the print versions– I don’t remember seeing it in Blackout when I read it over a year ago– but I think listening to it in the author’s voice was a definite plus (but I’m glad she didn’t read the entire thing!).  Beyond that, I think the production was solid.

Print vs. Audio?  For Blackout, I’ve now read this book in both formats!  I have to say that I enjoyed the audio, although it works well both ways.  Two warnings:  First, these books are long!  Blackout is just under 19 hours, All Clear is just under 24 hours!  This is a substantial time commitment– then again, the audio downloads are no where near as heavy as the print version :-) .  Second, Time Travel.  These books are non-linear, and if that’s going to confuse you in print, it will likely be worse in audio. Know yourself here.  I wouldn’t suggest these for your first books to listen to, but I was very happy with my choice to do so!

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books!

 
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Posted by on July 29, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Review: The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore (with audiobook and book club notes)

22 Jul

The Heroine's BookshelfMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Summary via Goodreads:

The literary canon is filled with intelligent, feisty, never-say-die heroines, and legendary female authors. Like today’s women, they too placed a premium on personality, spirituality, career, sisterhood, and family. When their backs were against the wall, characters like Scarlett O’Hara, Jo March, Jane Eyre, and Elizabeth Bennet fought back—sometimes with words, sometimes with gritty actions. Their commonsense decisions resonate even more powerfully in a world where women are forced to return to the basics, paring down and shoring up their resources for what lies ahead.

In this compelling book of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, Erin Blakemore explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Scout Finch and Jo March can inspire women today. She divides these legendary characters into chapters that pair each with their central quality—Anne Shirley is associated with irrepressible “Happiness,” while Scarlett O’Hara personifies “Fight.” Each chapter includes insights into the authors’ lives, revealing how their own strengths informed their timeless characters. From Zora Neale Hurston to Colette, Laura Ingalls Wilder to Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen to Alice Walker, here are some of the most cherished authors and characters in literature.

This would have been so much fun to use as a guide for a year’s worth of book club meetings! One author a month– either pick one book to read or let everyone choose on their own, then let the content of this book steer the discussion…

But we will be discussing the whole book at once, which should still be interesting. Certainly, reading it was.

My favorite bits were the looks at the lives of the various authors. There is a lot I didn’t know, and it added interesting perspective.

I also enjoyed the glimpses into books I haven’t read– A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has been on my list for ages, and the Claudine novels weren’t really on my radar at all!  I’d read 9 of the 12 books discussed here, and all 3 of the others are now on my list.

I wish I’d spent more time on the insights into the books that I’ve read. Pieces like the “literary sisters” (women in other books that share some of the same characteristics) went right by with only passing thought on my part, as the audiobook was on to the next sentence before I’d had a chance to really reflect on each. I think this book needed a little more savoring and stopping and reflecting than I gave it– a downside of the audiobook for me.

Still, I was interested in the attributes the author picked out for each heroine, and in how the heroine embodied that characteristic.  If I re-read any of these books, I will revisit The Heroine’s Bookshelf first, and see how that changes my perspective on the book.

All in all, I enjoyed my experience with it!

Audiobook Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert didn’t really appeal to me.  I don’t think she did a bad job, I just didn’t love her.  I was impressed by the accents she used, although I’m the wrong person to say if she did them accurately or not.

Production:  No problems, no extras.

Print vs. Audio: I would have appreciated this more in print, I think.  It isn’t that I can’t take the time to pause and reflect with the audio, it’s that I don’t.  I recognize that about myself as a reader.  The good news is that the Audible.com bookmarks seem to correspond with the chapter breaks (they don’t always), so I can fairly easily go back to refer to a specific section, just like the print version.

For more audiobook reviews. check out Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books.

Book Club notes

To my surprise, my book club didn’t like this as much as I did.  There were five of us at the meeting.  Two of us enjoyed it.  One was very vocal about stopping her reading after the third chapter, because it wasn’t working for her,   The other two fell somewhere in the middle.

The club member that didn’t like it had only read 2 or 3 of the books discussed in The Heroine’s Bookshelf, and furthermore, she didn’t read those type of books.  The author hadn’t made enough of an effort to sell them  to her, and she didn’t feel it worth her time to continue to the sections about the books she had read.

Two members felt that the sections read like high school English class essays (well written ones, they agreed).  One thought this was a good thing, the other much less so.

I’d thought we’d be able to talk about Erin Blakemore’s interpretations of the books we’d all read, but it turns out there weren’t really any of those, and discussion didn’t ever really take off.

I’d say this was not a success for our book club.  I don’t think it has to be that way, and I was disappointed.

 
4 Comments

Posted by on July 22, 2011 in Book Club, books, M, reviews

 

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Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (with audiobook and book club notes)

01 Jul

The Art of Racing in the RainMy rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

While this book didn’t really work for me, I can see how it would for a slightly different reader, and might have for me in different circumstances.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.

Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life’s ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny’s wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.

OK, I never bought into the wise old dog as narrator, and I felt manipulated by the series of events that take over Denny’s life… This led to me not enjoying my reading of the book.

I’ve read other books where bad thing upon bad thing happens to the characters.  I can’t say I ever really enjoy it, but it doesn’t always bother me.  Here, I felt like the author was making the character suffer in order to pull in me, the reader.  Which he was, of course.

There were enough pieces of the book that did work for me that I suspect if I’d just connected in the beginning, my final opinion would be much higher.  If I’d been a dog lover, If IEnzo had tickled my fancy, If some of the more dog-like bits of his behaviour came earlier, If I’d read the print version rather than listened, If I’d been in a different frame of mind…

But that wasn’t what happened.

Book Club Notes

I read this book with one of my book clubs. We had 8 of use that read and discussed The Art of Racing in the Rain. I think this was as widely split as I’ve seen our book club on a book.  I liked it the least, our two dog owners liked it the most (and they really enjoyed it!).  Everyone else fell somewhere in-between.  The two of us that listened were least able to connect with the dog narrator.

We had a good discussion, which was dominated by two topics:  What aspects of the dog as narrator worked and didn’t work, and which aspects of the string of terrible events were realistic, and how did we relate to them?

In the end, there were only small pieces of the plot that we didn’t find entirely plausible.  Unfortunately, we had people in the group who had seen some of these situations play out in real life– brain cancer, legal battles after a loved one dies, false accusations, and they all felt the pieces they were familiar with rang true. They were linked together in the story in a way that allowed one bad thing to flow from the last.

We were more mixed on the dog as narrator.  We all agreed that there were some wonderfully dog-like moments.  Those that connected with with Enzo early on allowed those to carry the narration, for the rest of us, these were bright spots, but it didn’t come together.

I’d thought this would be a book we’d all enjoy but that we wouldn’t find a lot to discuss.  I was wrong on both counts!

Audiobook notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator:  I actually think Christopher Evan Welch did a very good job with what was to me an impossible task– narrating as a dog.  Any attempt to sound animal-like would have had me deleting the book immediately and permanently.  His voice was expressive, and conveyed the intent of the words well, but in the end, it was a very human voice.

Production:  There was music at the beginning of some of the sections, and I didn’t care for it.  The balance of the narrator and the music wasn’t great either.  This didn’t happen often however.  Otherwise, the production was fine.

Print vs. Audio: I suspect listening to the audio made it harder for me to suspend disbelief about the dog telling the story.  I was listening to a human voice, after all.  On the other hand, if the dog had seemed more dog-like to me, maybe this wouldn’t have been an issue.  I’d recommend the print version on this one, but your opinion might vary.

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books.

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2011 in Book Club, books, L, reviews

 

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Review: Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn (Audiobook)

24 Jun

Just Like Heaven (Unabridged Audio CDs)My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) NOT in love with her older brother’s best friend
D) all of the above

Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) NOT in love with his best friend’s younger sister
D) all of the above

Together They:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever AND the world’s worst musical performance
C) fall quite desperately in love
It’s Julia Quinn at her best, so you KNOW the answer is . . .
D) all of the above

Honaria is one of my favorite romance heroines in a while. Often, I feel this way because I feel some kinship with the character. In this case I like her quite simply for being herself.

She was a sweet, appropriately naive girl that cared about her family. She wasn’t perfect (which would be annoying!), but her flaws weren’t in my face, either.

The romance actually developed over time, which is my preference. It actually seemed to make sense for both of the parties involved! Their personalities complimented one another, and they had time to know that.

For most of the book, I thought this was going to be one of the most chaste romances I’d read in quite some time. That changed near the end, and if that scene wasn’t entirely in character, it was otherwise well done (brief but emotional and intense).

I’m having trouble identifying what made this book work so well for me, other that the vague comment “it was the writing”. Really, that’s what it is– a very well written book.

I haven’t read a lot of Julia Quinn’s books, but I’ve been very impressed by those I have. I look forward to reading more.

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: I enjoyed listening to Rosalyn Landor narrating Just Like Heaven.

Production: No issues, no extras.

Audio vs. Print:  In general, I found listening to this book to be a very pleasant experience.  The one issue I had is one I frequently have listening to romance novels as audiobooks.  The, um, exciting scenes never seem to occur at convenient times.  I feel odd hanging out with my daughter while the hero and heroine are having passionate sex, so I have to pause the audiobook for awhile.  Even with that, I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to another Julia Quinn romance.
Check out other Audio Book Reviews at Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books!

I received Just Like Heaven for review from Harper Collins Audio.  Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!

 
2 Comments

Posted by on June 24, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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