Simon Wood

Great until the end

Revisado: 01-23-24

A really interesting story until the end. It was silly and came out of nowhere.

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The Comedy Life Has Never Been So Funny

Revisado: 09-08-21

This show has been running for some years. It's comedians telling true but crazy life stories. It's a ton of fun. I hope Audible gets to release all the previous seasons. A must listen.

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A nice compressed adaptation

Revisado: 09-21-20

I've been frustrated with the BBC compressing their adaptations down to an hour instead of doing serializations or movie length adaptations. This version of POODLE SPRINGS is a rare occasion where it turned out well. While compressed and a little choppy, it's a nice adaptation of Chandler's unfinished novel.

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An absolute joy!

Revisado: 09-16-20

This was an absolute treat! CHILDREN OF THE STONES was a mini-series for children's TV in 1977 which I adored. The show has stuck with me ever since. Despite the show being fondly remembered by a lot of people, it was never repeated. Having not seen it since it was televised, I was surfing for a DVD and found the writers of the show had adapted it into a book. The book stands up very well. The story itself is very much a John Wyndham style story featuring father and son, creepy villagers and their kids. Combining paganism, science and standing stones, it makes for great sci-fi story. I think one of the reasons it resonated with me at the time is that it's very adult in its telling. It doesn't talk down to its intended audience. The only criticism that could be leveled at the book is some of the science is hokum but it's such a fun book, I don't care. :-)

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Too abbreviated

Revisado: 08-07-20

For decades, the BBC has down amazing dramatizations of novels, but in recent yrs and with changing listenership tastes, they've felt compelled to do abbreviated adaptations of less than an hour. You can't do justice to the story. For Fight Club, like so many adaptations like it, it's more of a mood piece than a story. If you've seen the movie, you can follow it, but if you haven't you'll have a hard time.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Enjoyable but still misses the mark

Revisado: 07-11-20

I am a fan of the Paris books, Simon Brett, Bill Nighy and Radio 4 plays so the radio dramas should be a slam dunk. Sadly, they're just too silly. I never understood why they made Charles Paris such a buffoon to the point where he's unlikeable. Also the tweaking of entertainment industry's nose was fun at the beginning but as the series continued, it's become silly. These two elements dominate the story so much now they're squeezing out the mystery element of the story. The mystery in this story didn't start until the second half, which is a shame because the second half of the story made up for a pretty annoying first half.

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Great Comfort listen

Revisado: 04-08-20

These Sexton Blake radio dramas with the always great William Franklyn are a great comfort listen. I just wish the BBC wouldn't tack on an early recording from 1930. The quality is so poor and the production so out of date it's not worth putting on there.

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The comedy didn't land

Revisado: 03-31-20

There's so much dialog that this thing doesn't get any time to breathe. If everything had been paired back it would've been a lot more enjoyable.

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Dull storytelling

Revisado: 03-27-20

I really enjoyed the movie of this book. I think it's one of the best spy movies in a long time but it's also one of those movies that's better than book. The book is a slog for a couple of reasons. First, the turning of Dominika into a spy takes too long. It front loads the story way too much. The book puts the main plot (finding a Russian mole) on hold for almost a 1/4 of the book while Dominika is trained and is assigned her first mission before the book gets on track. This first mission added nothing to the book. Second, and the bigger problem with the book, is the storytelling style. It reminded me of Fredrick Forsythe in that there's a ton of exposition that is coupled with long summaries of action so that the reader is kept at a distance from the characters and the story is never in the moment of the action. You're not swept along with the story with the characters, instead you're reading an account of the events. This is a shame because this is a good story lost in its telling.

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Listen to the '78 Album instead.

Revisado: 01-15-20

Jeff Wayne's 1978 version of The War of The Worlds remains an amazing production. Part rock opera, part concept album and part spoken word drama. He brought these discordant elements together to create a thing of wonder. 40yrs later, Jeff and Audible try to recapture lightning in a bottle by expanding the production. Sadly it's a massive disappointment. Not including or re-recording the songs is where this goes wrong. Without the songs, the music loses context in relation to the story. I understand why people who've never heard the '78 album are confused by what seems overbearing music. The performances aren't great when compared to the original which also drags this version down. I was so looking forward to this it's with a heavy heart to give this a thumbs down. A real shame.

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