Becky

Wonderful!

Revisado: 02-11-25

What fun! Richard Armitage’s narration is superb as he gives voice to a variety of colorful characters with different accents. Susanna Clarke’s story of two English magicians is utterly compelling and fun. Yes, even the footnotes. Terrific listen.

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Terrific Tale of a Real Midwife

Revisado: 06-24-24

This book had me from the first page and did not let go until the last. The author does a wonderful job of integrating history with fiction to craft a lovely, page turning story of a strong, intelligent woman fighting for justice in post-Revolutionary War America where women’s rights were limited. All the characters were great, especially her wonderful husband. Loved the Shakespeare references throughout. Narration was spot on, and enhanced the story. Highly recommended.

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Disappointing Sendoff for Maisie Dobbs

Revisado: 06-24-24

This book has two big mysteries for Maisie to solve. The first 75% of the this book deals with squatters found in the Ebury Place mansion. The story was nicely done, although it could have been more complex. Billy got a nice storyline, Pris played a meaningful role, and we got to see good old MacFarlane once more. However, the story veered in a whole new direction as Maisie wrapped up the squatter mystery, and a mystery regarding her dead husband, James, was introduced. This is where things went off the rails for me. Maisie behaves unprofessionally, and Mark is annoying and mansplaining and demanding. As a result, Maisie lies and hides things from him. They talk about not wanting to spoil their daughter, but they buy her a new horse with just a little wheedling. The James storyline reminded us of his shocking death, the loss of their child, and Maisie’s behavior in the aftermath, which was not a good part of the series for me. It also reminded me that I liked James much better than Mark.

The narrator, Orlagh Cassidy, has always had her strengths and weaknesses. I think she does a good job with most voices, but her Mark is too nasal, and he comes across as a know it all jerk sometimes. Anna sounds like she is still 5 or 6, and I believe she is 10 in this book.

Overall, this was an inconsistent final outing for Maisie. I would have loved a strong finish for her, but this overstuffed revisiting of all of Maisie’s ghosts left me dissatisfied.

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Perfect Narrator for Very Good Book

Revisado: 09-10-23

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is warm, funny and thoughtful. In telling her 3 daughters about her past, Lara relives it and reflects upon then and now. I loved all of this, and the story felt true for much of the book, but at the very end, there were some reveals which felt like a bit too much and took a some of my enjoyment away. I would give the story 4.5 stars if I could, but I feel compelled to round down to 4 because, as in gymnastics, it’s important to stick the landing in order to be a 5 star book. As for Meryl Streep, she is truly perfect as Lara, and distinguishes the other characters beautifully. Overall, a very enjoyable listen.

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Very good story of the ups and downs of friendship

Revisado: 02-06-23

I would give this 4.5 stars if I could. I loved the first 2/3 of the book, and I enjoyed learning about Sam and Sadie’s young adulthood. Neither of them were perfect people or perfect friends, but they had an incredible connection they forged through playing games together, and they took it to the next level by creating games together. I loved the discussions of games and the creative process and the parallels to and lessons for real life. Sadly, the friends’ connection became strained and frayed. I think it would have been more interesting if misunderstandings and assigning negative motives to one other had played less of a role in the story. Once that started, they had a hard time having honest discussions with each other, and the nastiness and meanness that ensued got old after awhile.

I liked the main narrator a lot. I think she brought a softness and intimacy to her narration that showed the affection between the characters even when they did not use their words to express it. I had no trouble distinguishing between Sam and Sadie, but I did not speed it up, so that might explain it. The narrator who did Marx did not work as well for me, but that was just a small part of the story.

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Powerful and Beautiful Story

Revisado: 03-30-22

Firekeeper’s Daughter takes you on a emotional, high stakes journey with Daunis Fontaine, a passionate, brilliant, and powerful young woman. Daunis is both Ojibwe and and white. With a foot in each culture, she doesn’t quite fit in either, yet that doesn’t keep her from loving her families from both. Boulley presents her with challenge after challenge, while always allowing Daunis to stay true to herself, her culture and values. She is surrounded by people who are both good and bad, and she does not know whom to trust. As suspense builds, you wonder how she and her loved ones will make it through in one piece.

Gracefully interwoven descriptions of Ojibwe culture, history, medicine, and language provided a rich reading experience. Isabella Star LaBlanc’s narration made Daunis come to life, conveying her youth, her brilliance, her strength and her passion.. She honored the story with her empathic and emotional delivery. I am very glad I listened to this book.

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Average story meets average narration

Revisado: 02-03-22

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett is a multi-generational family saga which delves into questions of race and identity, while also dipping into gender identity issues. The first part of the book was engaging as we learn about the very light-skinned black twins, Desiree and Stella, and their early lives. Once Stella leaves the story, there are many chapters focused on Desiree and her daughter, Jude. The story gets a little strange as Jude fixates on her aunt Stella and engages in some stalker-type behavior trying to find her. Once the book returns to Stella, the author does not present her as a sympathetic character, and her daughter, Kennedy, is pretty self-centered and abrasive. The narrator does not help, giving each of them rather unpleasant voices. The story meanders its way to a conclusion with implausible interactions and soap opera overtones. Ultimately, The Vanishing Half is a lightweight melodrama.

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Piranesi is a gift

Revisado: 01-19-22

Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi is a beautiful, brilliant story which works on so many levels. You can read it as a fantasy or a mystery, You can read it for its philosophy or its references to nature, science, architecture, literature, or art (but you don’t need to be an expert in any of those to appreciate it.) However, the real reason to read Piranesi is to encounter this wonderful character who is filled with such gratitude and appreciation of all aspects of his life, it is astonishing. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s narration is warm and sympathetic and lovely in every way. It is beyond perfect. I finished this book a few days ago, and it will stay with me a long time.

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Beautiful Ending to Simon Snow Trilogy

Revisado: 07-31-21

Over three books, Rainbow Rowell has taken us on a journey with Simon Snow which started as a fun, magical adventure and ends with its lead characters, Simon and Baz, more mature, more in love and more committed to each other than ever. The adventures continue, and the fun continues, but Rowell’s writing of the tender thoughts and dialogue between Simon and Baz puts this series into the classic category. Both cope with traumas, let each other down, and yet they find their way back to one another and learn how to be together without running away, even when things are hard. Beautifully read by the wonderful Euan Morton, this series has been a delight from beginning to end.

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Unappealing characters

Revisado: 07-13-21

Wow, was this a disappointment. I do not understand the positive reviews. I bailed on this after 2 hours. The characters were either incompetent or abrasive or both. The conversations were choppy, rude, antagonistic and went nowhere. The narrator made the more abrasive characters sound even more so. This book was not funny. It was annoying.

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