Audiobook Archives - Page 10 of 14

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie: Book Review

Two young men, children of parents that the Communist government in China deems enemies of the state, are basically exiled to a remote mountain for "re-education." Their parents' "crimes" don't even warrant the word; they're basically just too educated for the government's comfort. The teens find a harsh life waiting for them on the mountain. They must plow fields and dig in mines and haul human waste around. If the local party leader is upset with them, he makes their lives even more miserable. They eventually meet a local tailor's daughter. The little seamstress, as she's known, is the most beautiful girl on the mountain. One of the teens of course tries to win her heart. He takes a novel approach and starts telling her stories out of Western literature, in an effort to make her better company for himself. And so time passes as the boys wait to see if their period of "re-education" will ever end. This is so hard for me to review! I had some issues with the boys throughout. Luo, the one who tries to win the girl, is basically a nice guy but--c'mon. He's trying to "improve" the little seamstress? So she'll be a better girlfriend? Who does he think he is? I was listening to this so maybe I misunderstood something, but I really don't think so. But then--I got to the ending. And I loved it. And that's all I can say. I also loved B. D. Wong's narration. He has a nice voice and a nice delivery. If my library has any more audio books that he's narrated, I'll gladly give them a try. I enjoyed the imagery in the book as well. It was very short, maybe 4 hours, and enough happened to keep my attention, but at the same…

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Book Review

4 Stars. I didn't like this quite as much as Cinder but I definitely still enjoyed it. By introducing Scarlet, Marissa Meyer managed to avoid my common complaint that the second book in a series is just filler. Had she stayed exclusively with Cinder's story, I'd probably be complaining. By shifting the focus, she fills in a lot [...]

The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker: Book Review

Homicide Detective Robbie Brownlaw was promoted a few years ago after a crazed arsonist threw him out of a sixth-floor window. He obviously survived to tell the tale, but he was left with a form of synesthesia--he sees people's words as colored shapes. He's learned to use this ability as a primitive lie detector. He's called in when a former cop is found murdered. My attention wandered a bit a lot while I was reading this, but I can't say it was necessarily the book's fault; I've got a lot going on at the moment. Even so, I wasn't particularly surprised when I found out whodunnit. I even managed to figure it out a little before it was laid out plainly. I found Robbie to be irritating. His marriage is falling apart but he just goes on and on about how special his wife is. I saw her as a spoiled brat who had a lot of growing up to do. Then I started to see him as just being a step away from a stalker. He got a little pathetic. That's not how I want to see my heroes. And the whole synesthesia thing was kind of...redundant? Came off as a crutch? Something like that. It was just an easy way for Robbie to know if someone was lying without having to do a lot of footwork to actually prove it. I did enjoy narrator David Colacci's performance, but otherwise, this audiobook was forgettable for me. I enjoyed Cold Pursuit by this author much more. Read an excerpt. Find author T. Jefferson Parker on his website and Facebook. Buy The Fallen at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I…

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas: Book Review

Eleanora Cohen's birth is full of omens. The town where she was born was under siege, her mother died in childbirth, and a flock of exotic hoopoes come to roost at the house and just stay. Otherwise, her very early years were fairly normal. Her father married his dead wife's sister, who did her duty by Eleanora but little else. When Aunt Ruxandra agreed to start teaching Eleanora to read, she was amazed by how quickly the little girl learned. She was reading fairly complex passages from the encyclopedia by the end of her first day. A superstitious woman, aware of how Jews can so easily be turned on if they are perceived to be the least bit different, Aunt Ruxandra ends the lessons. Eleanora is allowed to read one book per month but no more. Eleanora makes do the best she can, but when she is eight years old and her father announces that he's leaving for an extended business trip to Stamboul, she knows that she can't stand to be left behind with Ruxandra. She stows away in one of her father's trunks and soon enough finds herself in the exotic city of Stamboul. I liked this, I really did, but I was seriously left wondering if I had missed something when the audio book ended. I waited and waited for the story to start, and then it felt like it was starting, and then it ended. I just felt that there was a whole lot of build up and not much else. To be fair, I was having some trouble with my car's ipod dock as I listened, so it is entirely possible that I did miss something, but I know I got to the ending. The "where are they now?" epilogue played as well as the…

Die, Snow White! Die, Damn You! by Yuri Rasovsky: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: With the premiere of two new film versions of the Snow White tale, Blackstone enters the fray with its own adult, edgy, and not altogether serious full-cast exposé of fairy-taledom. At last it can be told! Was Snow White really as pure as the driven snow? Did her allegedly wicked stepmother get a bum rap from the Grimm brothers? What went on behind the closed Dutch doors of the dwarves' cottage? How many handsome princes does it take to screw in a light bulb? These and other burning questions may or may not be answered in this new pseudogothic audio play that Blackstone commissioned from award-winning author and audio dramatist Yuri Rasovsky I chose to listen to this because it showed up in my digital library's "recently added" lists and I recognized it as having been nominated for a couple of Audie awards. "I can't go wrong with something that's been nominated for an award, right?" I reasoned with myself. Wrong. It was terrible. Had it been any longer than two hours, I would have stopped after about 30 minutes. I felt the writer was trying way too hard to be funny and as a result, the whole thing just fell flat. The plot, such as it was, would circle miles out of the way to set up a joke that didn't even make me smile. The basics are here--the evil stepmother, Snow White, the mother wishing for a child fitting Snow White's description...I guess that's about it. There were tons of other fairy- and folk tale creatures dragged in by the skin of their teeth, which I should have loved, but I didn't. I mostly didn't see any rhyme or reason for who was included and who wasn't. I honestly can't even remember what happened to…

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley: Book Review

3.5 Stars. This didn't quite have the charm and originality of the first book, but it was still good. I think this one felt a bit too dark for me. I typically steer clear of books that involve children's deaths. I know it happens, but I prefer to read in a world where it doesn't. I guess I like to keep my head in the sand. The [...]

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker: Book Review

Truly Plaice has been larger than life since her conception. The town men wagered on how big she would be when she was born. They all guessed too low. In contrast to her petite, doll-like older sister, Truly looks even bigger. Needless to say, the small town is not kind to Truly as she grows up. The other children are merciless and even adults want her safely out of the way. When she and Serena Jane are orphaned, Truly is shipped off to a farm on the outskirts of town while her sister lives in town with the vicar's wife. Truly does eventually make a few friends, children who are just as much outcasts as she is. She has their support as they grow older and the lives of the golden children of the town slowly fall apart. This really didn't do anything for me and I feel like it should have. I listened to it, so maybe my attention span just wasn't up to par. But I really didn't care what happened to anybody, even Truly. At first, I did love the way that Truly has made her birth and early years a personal mythology. The story is in a sort of omniscient first person. Truly shares her mother's dying thoughts and things she couldn't possibly know. I liked it. But as Truly grew, I cared less and less. The town is full of horrible people. The only ones who are kind to Truly are the ones who don't fit in for various reasons. She does find a place with them, but she's never fully content with it. She adores her sister and always wants to find a way to spend more time with her. That's admirable, but Serena Jane has no interest in Truly. None. She's a self-absorbed…

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith: Book Review

Mma Ramotswe has just gotten engaged to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni. But she's not going to let a little thing like that change her life too much. She's still running her business and solving mysteries with her unique blend of luck, insight, persistence, and wisdom. I'm missing something. I know I am. Too many people love these books for it to be a fluke. I just don't love them. I don't dislike them either. I don't really feel much either way. I like Mmma Ramotswe herself. She has a kind heart and I love her solutions to problems. I remember her being a little trickier in the first book, but it has been years since I read it, so maybe I'm wrong. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni doesn't really know what he's gotten himself into. He has a kind heart as well, so I like him with Mma Ramotswe, but I think he's going to get trampled by her personality. Although I was shocked at one big thing he undertakes without first consulting with Mma Ramotswe! I tried this second book in the series on audio, thinking that the stories have a bit of a "spoken word" feel to them. It worked a bit better for me, but I'm still not left longing to read more. The bonus of the audio was that I wasn't constantly tripping over unfamiliar names. I feel perfectly confident saying them now. I thought Lisette Lecat's soft voice was a perfect accompaniment to these simple-on-the-surface tales. I think I'm going to give up on the series now, but if you're interested in them, definitely give them a try. I seem to be in the minority in not loving them. Read an excerpt. My review of the first book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency…

Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review

Old friends Ellis, Julia, and Dorie have rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a month. They've realized that their lives are moving along quickly and they want to spend some time together again. Ellis makes the arrangements and they all show up for a lazy vacation for the month of August. But they're all in tough places in their lives. Ellis was recently downsized, Julia's disenchanted with her modeling career, and Dorie's just not her normal perky self. With Ellis and Dorie worried about money, Dorie seizes on the opportunity to rent out the extra bedroom on the top floor of the house to a perfect stranger she meets in a diner one day, Madison. But Madison has troubles of her own. So this wasn't one of my favorite MKA novels (that would have to be one of the Savannah books), but it was still a fun little escape. It was wonderful to hear about August on the Outer Banks as I drove around in the last gray days of winter, wondering if there was really a sun up there somewhere. I loved Ellis, Julia, and Dorie--from a distance. Ellis is a control freak and she was pushing my buttons at the beginning. Julia is pushy in her own way and too nosy for her own good. Dorie is a sweetheart though. And Madison is so bristly and quiet that I even felt like she was pushing me away--and we find out her story very early on. But they felt like a real group of old friends in the way that they laughed and fought and told it to each other straight. Ty, the next-door neighbor, is a dreamboat of a man. He's not perfect either, being entirely too stubborn for his own good,…

Under the Jolly Roger by L. A. Meyer: Review

Jacky Faber finds herself working for the Royal Navy again after being mistakenly pressed into service. The ship she finds herself on is in bad shape, with a sick, evil captain who reigns with an iron fist and who has let his boat and his crew get into bad shape. Nothing can keep Jacky down for long though and she's soon making friends and plans in equal measure. I cannot express how much I love listening to Katherine Kellgren narrate this series. She doesn't hold anything back and narrates in a larger-than-life tone that is completely in keeping with Jacky's character. Kellgren sounds like she is having the time of her life reading these books and that makes me love them all the more. I would love them anyway because Jacky is such a great character. Why do we tend to love girls who dress up as boys and live the life they want? I probably just answered my own question. She's loyal and fierce and sly and intelligent and greedy and too big for her britches. She's a big mess of contradictions and that makes her feel so darn real. My one complaint about this book is that we have to travel down the road of an older man trying to prey on attractive young Jacky again. It's a different man, but, really. Teenage girls of any era do have things to worry about other than lecherous old men trying to have their way with them. It didn't take up as much of the book as I was afraid it would but as soon as it came up I rolled my eyes and thought, "Here we go again." Jaimy is starting to get on my nerves too. He's as fussy and as much of a stickler for the rules…