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remarkable listening

Revisado: 04-09-18

This was perhaps the most remarkable recording of any book I have listened to in the past decade since I have been using audible. Not only are the actors moving and eloquent and angry and all the other emotions that Saunders is able to pack into his work, but they blend like a greek chorus to convey all the feelings that surrounded Lincoln, the country, and still resonate with us. The words are like no writer writing today and the production is worth listening to over and over. The principals are all wonderful, the "side" characters are distinctive and thrilling, and the end is both wrenching and reassuring. We can survive. We must survive. We will survive.

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About what one would expect

Revisado: 11-03-17

Easy listening, lots of things I didn't know so enlightening, at a level that I could understand and learn from. Of course one wanted more about recent Spanish history but there are books for that.

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An incongruous reader

Revisado: 11-03-17

Of course one wants to read Ishiguro in part because of the Nobel Prize but this quiet book about the post war Japanese "reckoning" with the past is very hard to listen to because I think the choice of the reader was completely wrong. The main character's "voice" is a deep breathy upper class English one which is not at all the voice I heard through reading the book. I have no idea why he was chosen but it ruined the book for me. Ishiguro writes in English but this story is about Japan and Audible should have done more work on trying to match the reader to the character.

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an often ignored masterpiece

Revisado: 04-16-16

Any additional comments?

I think that books I know - and have known this one for decades - are often "new" when listened to and Canticle is. It was from the generation of post-apocalyptic novels - Riddley Walker is the greatest of them all - that were imbedded in the constant threat of nuclear holocaust and while that may have receded some, the vision Canticle presents has not. Societies tear themselves apart, realign and then do it again. The images Miller wrote about are indelible.

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not one of his best or even close

Revisado: 12-11-15

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Of course Hitchhiker's Guide is one of those books you read over and over and laugh every time but somehow this one tired out abouit halfway, for me, and when it was over I didn't even remember what it was about. My mind wandered. Adams is in the pantheon but this book is not.

Would you be willing to try another book from Douglas Adams? Why or why not?

have read them all

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

yes

Could you see The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I can't imagine - would be up there with L.Ron Hubbard........and why would you want to do anything else other than the existing versions of Hitchhiker.....

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Tim Robbins is remarkable

Revisado: 08-06-15

Where does Fahrenheit 451 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top 25

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fahrenheit 451?

the end.

Any additional comments?

I think narrators can make books - no doubt - and the narrative voice captures Bradbury's novel so well you feel immersed. Even though I have read it before, listening was a great experience. Terrific choice for a book for the ages.

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tedious and an anti-thriller

Revisado: 06-14-15

Would you try another book from Svante Pääbo and/or Dennis Holland?

No

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dennis Holland?

It is not the narrator, it is the content. Talking about DNA and RNA SNP's is impossible

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Neanderthal Man?

Most of it - simply an example of why the pettiness of academics is something most of he world doesn't want to hear.

Any additional comments?

I may not have read this blurb well - it is something that might work as a graphic novel but as a book it is just beyond belief bad. I have a tremendous interest in human evolution and always have and have read and listened to other books on the subject. There are nuggets but overall if it were a book, I would be flipping pages constantly. Maybe biology grad students might find this interesting but I hope they are off reading literature instead.

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if you have a lab read it, otherwise skip it

Revisado: 03-20-15

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

folks who spend time in research labs

What was most disappointing about Allegra Goodman’s story?

It took almost the whole book to "take off" and ended up not clearing the trees. Slow, subplots like smitten teens and other side plots, didn't much like any of the characters, completely undramatic and just something that did not seem like a whole lot of interest to anyone - and I am in the medical sciences.

How could the performance have been better?

Just did not like the reader's voice - rarely happens with Audible but was too whiney for my enjoyment

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not many. I have no idea who recommended it but won't make that mistake again.

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Overwritten and overdone

Revisado: 12-30-14

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The background of this book (the history of water, dams, and the West) is much more interesting than the foreground (an overly dramatic reading and hyped writing of an event that most folks, including me, don't really care about all that much). It is where a book and words leave one short no matter how much they try to paint a picture - would be a better documentary film. The main characters are obsessed folks to say the least and not all that much to learn from their obsessions.

What aspect of Paul Michael Garcia’s performance would you have changed?

I felt myself being really irritated both by the scenery chewing style he reads in and the repeated mispronunciation of the word "gunwale" which is pronounced traditionally as "gunnel". A story about a boat ought to have the terminology right.

Did The Emerald Mile inspire you to do anything?

Nope - except to stay out of white water canyons.

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a soulthern town then, and now

Revisado: 10-05-14

Would you listen to Local Souls again? Why?

Books narrated by the author are ones to aim for and Gurganus' voice is perfect in its pace, emotion and undersanding of the nuance of his stories. Wonderful.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Will Mabry is a complicated and thooughtful character in "Decoys" and his view of his own life spanning country to city and poor to middle class is really a wonderful and sympathetic portrayal of both. Small towns have been the subject of way too many uninterestng and overwrought novels and stories but Will's voice, through Gurganus, is true and authentic.

What about Allan Gurganus’s performance did you like?

essential to the book

Any additional comments?

If you could get Gurganus to narrate the stories of "White People" it would be wonderful. They are some of the funniest stories I know and his voice would be terrific

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