Audiobooks Update (Part 4)

I've been getting a respectable amount of sewing done recently, unfortunately I can't share it with you yet, so today I thought I'd post another audiobooks update of what I've been listening to lately (often while sewing). Most of these books have been from my audible subscription.

The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. I'd heard mixed reviews of J K Rowling's latest offering from friends that have read the book, but decided to try listening to it for myself. I'm incredibly glad I did, as I really enjoyed it. The version I listened to is read by Tom Hollander, who did a fantastic job with the narration, definitely added to the experience. It was by far a cheerful book, not light hearted, but I definitely recommend it.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (read by Flo Gibson) This audiobook was part of a the free audiobooks promotion for Valentines Day that Audible had. I love Pride and Prejudice, I've read it, I've watched it, and I've listened to it before after getting it out from the library. So when Audible offered me a free version I jumped at the chance to be able to load it onto my phone without having to faff around with itunes to copy it across. However, I just couldn't make peace with the narration and have since deleted it again. In my opinion, Austen just shouldn't be read in any accent other than an English one. It was painful to listen to!

The Secret of Happy Ever After by Lucy Dillon. After listening to A Casual Vacancy I needed something light hearted and more cheerful. The Secret of Happily Ever After certainly fitted this bill. Another audiobook I downloaded because it was narrated by Jilly Bond, and I wasn't disappointed. I quickly fell in love with the characters, and enjoyed following along with their story.

Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde. I have become a massive fan of Katie Fforde's books. After loving a Perfect Proposal, I downloaded this one to see if others of her books were as enjoyable. While this isn't anything particularly amazing, and the story a little cliched, she does a fantastic job of developing the characters so you really want to follow along with how things turn out. If you want some light hearted enjoyment then this is a book for you. Jenny Funnell did a great job narrating it too.

A French Affair by Katie Fforde. I enjoyed Recipe for Love so much that I straight away hopped online (on my phone if I recall correctly) and bought A French Affair. I was a little sceptical about the storyline of this one based on the summary, but gave it the benefit of the doubt. Again, the storyline was a little cliched, but Katie Fforde again describes it, and the characters, in such a way that it's just an enjoyable listening (or reading) experience.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. This book was a little less 'fluffy' than my normal listens, but i barely turned it off when I didn't have to until I finished it. The story was fantastic, and incredibly touching. Kathleen Grissom does an amazing job telling the story, and without shying away from uncomfortable topics. Caught between the slaves and the family, Lavinia's tale is both sad and loving, and is one that you can entirely imagining being true (sadly).

Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra. I have listened to all of the Belinda Alexandra books that I can get my hands on, and read the rest, so when Golden Earrings was released at the end of 2011 I bought the book straight away... then it sat on the bedside table until a couple of months ago, when I spotted the audiobook in borrowbox. This book was just as good as the rest; I highly recommend listening to/ reading any/all of Belinda Alexandra's books if you enjoy historical fiction, my favourite is "Wild Lavendar" (hint: a few of them are available on borrowbox). I was a bit concerned near the beginning as it's a bit weird, but the way that Belinda Alexandra manages to weave the stories of the three main characters together is fantastic. Bring on her next book!

Audiobooks Update (Part 3)

In my last Audiobook update I told you about some of the audiobooks that I've bought from Audible lately, this time I'm going to share some thoughts on the ones I've borrowed from my local libraries...

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. I grabbed this one from the library as I had recently seen the film adaptation and enjoyed it so thought I would listen to the original (audio)book. I really quite enjoyed the audiobook, to the point that I got another Emily Giffin audiobook with one of my audible credits.

How to break your own heart by Maggie Alderson. I listened to this audiobook on a long car journey, and think I 'overdosed' on it. I ended up turning it off before the end of my return trip and it took me a little while to bother coming back to finish it off. But I did, and I was glad I did as I did enjoy listening to the last third in smaller chunks. I think if I'd listened to the whole thing how I normally listen to audiobooks (in short to medium chunks) I would have preferred it. It was nothing particularly special, but nothing terrible either.

 

Pants on Fire by Maggie Alderson. I preferred this one to the above 'how to break your own heart', but not by much. This one was set in Sydney, so it was interesting hearing the authors take on sydney-siders (especially since I'm not such a fan of Sydney myself). As the above book, it was nothing special but a nice mindless listen. After the two Maggie Alderson books I don't think I'd bother listening to any more in a hurry. But they were worth what I paid for them ;)

 

Something Blue by Emily Giffin. This book was the first that I have listened to using the Bolinda Audio "Borrow Box" app. After downloading the free app from the app store, I just had to plug in my library login details and voila! A whole host of audiobooks were available to me. If borrowbox is available at your library I recommend checking it out.
 I picked this one since it is the sequel to the above 'something borrowed'. I was hesitant about listening to it to start with, as it is written from the point of view of Darcy, the best friend of the main character, Rachel, in the first book. I didn't have a particularly good impression of Darcy, and I like to be able to root for the main character of the book when listening, or at least empathise with them. I spent the entire audiobook hoping for something to change my option about Darcy, and sadly nothing did.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. I was really excited to have spotted this audiobook at the library, as I LOVED the movie when it came out (to the point that I even wrote a quick blog post about it). However, I was terribly disappointed by the book. I have the utmost respect for the person that read the book, thought it would make a good film and managed to make the fantastic screen-play that the film became! Because the book was (in my opinion) pretty bad. As with the above book I kept hoping that something would happen that would make me start liking Julie. I feel bad saying this about a real person, but she just came across as whiney and self centred. As much as I wanted to be rooting for her to succeed in her project, I just couldn't. I think this is the first time I've ever said this, but this is one where I would steer clear of the book and just watch the film.

  

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I got on board and read The Hunger Games trilogy last August. Warned that they would be a bit all-consuming, I waited to start reading them until I knew I had plenty of time. After having some minor surgery I was instructed to rest for about a week, so I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to read them. Two days later and I had devoured all three (and not gotten as much sleep as I probably should have). When I spotted them in the library recently I got them out (one at a time, I'm not that crazy!) and devoured them almost as quickly. I actually quite like listening to audiobooks where I know the story (either because I've read or listened to them before), I find it relaxing. If you haven't read these, I really do recommend them, they're amazing, but as I've said above, expect to devour them so don't start reading when you're busy with other things, although if you listened to them instead of read them at least there is a degree of multi-tasking that you could do while listening.

What have you been reading or listening to lately? Any recommendations for me?

Audiobooks Update (Part 2)

So, I've had my Audible subscription for over a year now, and I'm still really enjoying it. I have also continued to supplement my Audible downloads with Audiobooks from the library. Since my last Audiobook update last July I have listened to a stack more, so thought that I'd post a couple of updates here. Since I have listened to a fair few of audiobooks since last July, I thought I'd split this into two posts, one of Audible audiobooks, and the other of library audiobooks.

So, first up, the Audible Purchases...

The Accidental Wife by Rowan Coleman. After listening to Jilly Bond narrating "A Perfect Proposal" I downloaded this audiobook purely because she was the narrator. I wasn't disappointed. The performance was great, and the story enjoyable.

Belles by Jen Calonita. I downloaded this audiobook with a $10 voucher that Audible emailed me, so the principal factor in the choice was that it was less than $10 ($9.95 infact). However, after listening I discovered that it was a good choice.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum. I had spotted this performance of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and decided to give it a go. Anne Hathaway was amazing. You could definitely tell it was her, but she did great voices for each of the characters. I haven't read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz before, so listening to the original story was interesting, I didn't realise how many changes there were in the film.

Breakfast at Darcy's by Ali McNamara. As I think we've already established that I'm a big fan of "Chick-Lit". Now, I know that some of you have issues with the use of the phrase "Chick-Lit", but when I use it please disregard any negative connotations of the phrase, and just imagine that I'm saying "Rom-Com in (audio)book form". This audiobook slots perfectly into that genre, and I really enjoyed it!

Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. This was the first time I've listened to a play in audio-only form, and downloaded it because it was free. I have loved the story of The Importance of Being Earnest since watching the Colin Firth/Reece Witherspoon movie version. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, I found the audio dramatisation a little confusing in parts as it was a bit hard to tell some of the characters apart.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. I absolutely LOVED this book. I initially downloaded it because it was 30 hours long and had 4.5 stars. I really enjoy well-researched historical fiction books; I love that I can enjoy the story along with learning some history at the same time. This book was a prime example of that kind of book and as I already said, I LOVED it.

Winter of the World by Ken Follett. After listening to Fall of Giants, I was thrilled to discover that it is the first in a trilogy (although only the first two are out so far). So, upon discovering it's existance I instantly downloaded Winter of the World. It was just as good as the first, and a really great way of having a sequel; the characters in the book were the children of the characters in the first book. Therefore there was a certain amount of familiarity in the characters, but also novelty in discovering the new characters, and also finding out more about the original characters. While not essential to listen to both, I highly recommend them.

Love the one you're with by Emily Giffin. I got this Audiobook back in October, and I can't actually remember what happened or what I thought of it. I'm not sure if this says more about the book or me...

Goodbye, Jimmy Choo by Annie Sanders. Another audiobook in the "chick-lit" genre, and exactly what I was hoping for. Nice and light-hearted, a great story.

Winter White by Jen Calonita. I was pleased to discover that there was a sequel to "Belles", and really enjoyed it. Again, not high-level literature but a nice story, and I always enjoy hearing more about characters that I liked.

Love in the Afternoon by Alison Packard. This audiobook was offered for free by Audible as a special Valentines offer. I don't think I would ever have chosen this book normally, but I did enjoy reading it. It also let me realise that while I enjoy romantic storylines in books, I'm not such a fan of these 'racy' books with sex scenes. I mean, a half hour long sex scene was a bit much for me. Thankfully there weren't actually too many in this book, and otherwise the story was enjoyable.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Lastly, there's been one failure. I downloaded this version of Jane Eyre narrated by Josephine Bailey. I then returned it. Did you know you can return audiobooks you don't enjoy on Audible? I tried listeining to this many times, and just could not get into it, the narration was just too monotonous for me.


So, that's got you up to date with my Audible downloads. What have you been reading or listening to lately? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Audiobooks Update

Do you remember how I asked back in January for audiobook recommendations? Well I've had my audible subscription for a fair few months now so I thought I'd report back on how it's going.

 

The first book I downloaded was "A Grown up Kind of Pretty", by Joshilyn Jackson. I downloaded it based on a post by Sandi of  Piecemeal Quilts where she recommended the book. The audiobook is actually read by the author herself. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, finishing it so quickly (in about 2 weeks) that at the time I was worried that my 1 credit a month wasn't going to be enough!

 

The second book I downloaded was "I've got your number" by Sophie Kinsella. I've listened to or read all of Sophie Kinsella's other books, so was quite excited when I discovered that there was a new(ish) one that I hadn't listened to yet. I really enjoyed this book, much like I did all the other ones. If you're looking for high brow literature this book isn't the one for you, if you want a cheerful story that you enjoy listening to / reading.

 

The next book that I downloaded was "The Good, the Bad and the Dumped" by Jenny Colgan. This book wasn't actually downloaded with one of my credits, I instead used a $10 voucher that audible had sent me in an email - so one of the biggest factors in the choice of this book was that it cost me less than $10 ($9.95 infact). Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it!

 

After three "trashy" books, I decided that my fourth should be a bit more, I dunno, intellectual? So I downloaded "At home: A short history of private life" by Bill Bryson. Now this book is LONG - at almost 17 hours it is almost twice as long as some of the other books I downloaded. I've listened to "A short history of nearly everything" before, and both that and this were read by Bill Bryson himself, who is fantastic narrator. I really enjoyed listening to this book, as you would expect it was full of interesting facts, some of which have stuck with me, others that haven't, so I'm sure that at some point in the future I'll listen to it again.

 

Due to the length of "At Home", it took me longer than a month to listen to it, and in the rest of that month I listened to an audiobook that I got from the library; "Baby Proof" by Emily Griffin. I listened to the first 6-7 hours of this audiobook driving to and from Mount Beauty for my weekend away sewing  and I think I overdosed on the book a bit - I was a bit fed up with the book and switched to music instead for a while. Partly because I couldn't see how she would wrap up the book without the ending being disappointing. Now I won't spoil anything for anyone that wants to read it, but I did listen to the end, started enjoying it again and wasn't disappointed.

The last one that I've listened to is A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fford. I really enjoyed this one, listening to most of it in a few days until I got sick and my normal listening routine was disrupted. I finished it this week and was sad that it ended. The story was great, but the absolutely best thing about the audiobook was the narration by Jilly Bond, it really was amazing. To the point that my next purchase was another one narrated by her.

I've purchased a few more (one with a credit and two that were on sale) and loaded them onto my iphone to listen to on my flight over to the UK and while I'm there. If anybody's interested I'll report back again in a few months with mini-reviews of what else I listen to.

(Audio)Book Recommendations?

I got a subscription to Audible for my Birthday, but I'm completely overwhelmed and have no idea what audiobooks to get. So I was hoping someone might have some suggestions.

So far I've gotten a fair few audiobooks out the library, ranging from trashy "chick lit" to some non-fiction stuff, so am open to a range of different things. Basically I'm after anything that's easy to listen to, but interesting, but doesn't require too much thinking.

So, does anyone please have any suggestions?