MarilynArms

Oh the memories

Revisado: 04-21-25

Listening to this with my husband, it is almost OUR memoir too. It brought back my college memories and Garry 's working memories as a reporter. Remembering the day Kennedy was assassinated. Garry remembering from his work as a reporter. All his meetings with presidents and his friendship with Tip and the occasional Kennedy. An explosion of the past and wondering if our son or granddaughter remember any of the sense of history unfolding. Memories and revelations. An amazing time brought alive. Thank you!

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It made me laugh and it made me want MORE

Revisado: 09-23-24

Funny, complicated, read (as usual) with elegance. Easy listening with lots of chuckles and occasionally outright hilarity. I would love to hear more. A view from a different perch of our favorite characters both in the Time Police and from St. Mary's. How about at least a sequel? These are such interesting and unique characters, I want MORE. Much more!

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With at least 3 added hours of NON Tolkien text

Revisado: 08-17-24

This book is NOT the original text by J.R.R. Tolkien. It includes a considerable amount of “extra” material written by AI or some other author. NOT Tolkien.

Most of this book was written by Tolkien but a significant areas were written by someone or something else. When I first heard material I didn’t remember reading or hearing, I thought it was because it was so long since I’d read the books and maybe I was listening better. But then, suddenly major events showed up that I know were NEVER in the original, not in any form in which I read them. Like having Tom Bombadil rescuing the hobbits from the Barrow Wights and then accompanying the group halfway to Bree. What?

Or that the entire section involving Aragorn (Strider) and the hobbits in Bree expanded by at least half an hour of airtime. Technically, I didn’t mind the added material because it didn’t change the book (much) — just expanded sections. What I minded was that the writing was bad and blatantly NOT Tolkien’s. Anyone who has read the original and especially those of us who have read the original more than once, sometimes in different formats, know the rhythm and cadence of Tolkien’s writing. It’s not even hard to recognize being unlike the rest.

Was this an AI intrusion? Was another author adding text? Who thought we NEEDED additional text? One of the things that Audible has always held as “truth” was that a book being read is nothing but the book, no matter how many performers they use or the annoying music.

The added text was not merely intrusive and poorly written but was full of the clichés Tolkien never ever used. Some of them are so modern, they didn't exist in normal speech when it was written. No wonder all three of the books are longer! I know that authors sometimes go back and reintroduce text that had been edited out by the publisher. This wasn’t that. And then, suddenly, they are back to Tolkien again. None of this negates my believe the Serkis is a really good narrator, but it leaves me wondering what in the world Audible was they thinking? How dare they exploit “The Lord of the Rings” like this?

Last week, Audiobooks offered the first of the three volumes — The Fellowship of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) — free from their Plus catalog. At that price, I had nothing to lose. I also realized it had been close to 20 years since I last read them. Maybe it was time to give them another go-round.

The new narrator, Andy Serkis, is really good. As a start, he’s British (Rob Inglis is Australian) bringing a new accent to the text. The next thing I noticed was performance. Serkis gives each character his or her own voice. I don’t love every interpretation, though I love a few and am okay with the rest.

Serkis’s voice is very different from Inglis. Deep voiced, bass and a wee bit husky. His voice is deep enough to sound more like a rumble than speech and there are short parts that are hard to understand. This is minor and only involved a few small sections. If I was using a better, more adjustable voice player — like one that uses real speakers rather than my Alexa device — I would add treble to adjust. More important are all the words that weren’t in the original and weren’t written by the author who has been dead for quite a few years nor were they written in a way might make you think they should have been written.

I do not know what to say. All the original book is still there but in several section are heavily wrapped in something else. If this is AI, it’s a total failure. If it’s another author, it’s still a total failure. The book goes from material they (WHY?) added back to original text and you immediately know it.

Each book is between 1 and 3 hours longer than before, but of course, that was pure Tolkien and this is not. I originally thought Serkis’s slower speech made it longer, but last night, I realized whoever set the book up had changed it — and THAT is why the books — long to begin with — are now longer.

I still think this version is worth reading, even if you need to forward through the intrusive additions because Serkis’s narration is good enough to make it worthwhile.

Read it, then write to Audible and ask them how and why they had permission to publish these supposed original books that have so much added text, apparently to explain to the dull-witted what is really going on. Seriously? Didn’t we get it before?
I have to assume they get away with saying "unabridged" because abridgement takes away words, but this version adds them. I think it's a cheat and WRONG. Will they next decide to "fix" Shakespeare to make it easier to understand?

Audible needs to sit down with itself and decide what exactly they think they are doing. This is a dangerous path.

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Interesting version of the Rhapsody

Revisado: 04-13-24

I'm not Christian. Never was. But I found myself thinking that this weird story made as much sense as anything else. Gòod performance by everyone, especially Kerry Washington

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Best performance yet

Revisado: 02-11-24

Perfect and very sharp, this will get another listen. Great casting for everyone. Highly recommended.

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realistic characters

Revisado: 12-02-23

one of the better short stories. Very good old days stories. Glad a new one coming out!

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Lots of delightful Hollywood inside jokes

Revisado: 07-17-23

First, what I don't like. The "voice" narrators shout. A lot. Enough for other people who were wearing headphones to say that the noise was bothering them. It was definitely bothering me but I like the book enough to listen anyway. I understand they are shouting because characters in the book are yelling, but it's too much. They should redo it and tone it down. This is narration, not a stage or movie performance.

Now, the good stuff. I loved the Hollywood "in jokes." I loved that it was like a long, hilarious parody of the guys who started Hollywood. A lot of them shouted a lot too, but please, not in my face. You can suggest shouting. without actually SHOUTING.

This is a very quirky book and it NOT being abridged changed the book so much it felt as if I'd never read it before. They had cut so much especially Pratchett's irony and dark humor. Were those books intentionally "lightened" so the books would be funnier? Less serious? I'm enjoying all the books in the new series. It was also great to finally hear the two I'd never heard before: "Carpe Jugulum" and "Jingo."

I understand that many people miss the earlier narrators, especially Stephen Briggs who was a great narrator, far better and less of a clown than Nigel Planer. But even the books Briggs read were heavily abridged. I still don't understand why they were abridged except for length or to make them more suitable for kids (?). These new ones are a more adult and if the narrators would please CALM DOWN AND STOP SHOUTING, they would be even better.

A final note: Whoever the guy is who sometimes has an Irish accent and suddenly doesn't at which point he sounds American, should make up his mind and be one thing or the other. A fake Irish accent doesn't even fit. I don't think it matters what his accent is. But please, leave that Irish accent on the curb and go with something sustainable. Some people can do a other accents well. Others can't. Whoever he is? He can't and shouldn't.

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I was afraid the new version would be bad but...

Revisado: 04-30-23

This is one of two books that was never released with the "old narrators," either Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs. The thing is, a lot of the older books have become unlistenable. They are, sad to say, headache inducers. Since I had never heard this one, it was the "new" version or no version.

I'm not terribly picky about sound, but it was obvious that the old versions wouldn't play on modern speakers. No amount of adjusting made them sound better. If you dropped the treble and upped the bass, it was just muffled, not improved. And anyway, since this book was never released before, I took the plunge and bought it.

Much to my surprise -- and delight -- it was excellent. Different but good. I actually LIKED the separate "voices" of DEATH and the "footnotes." Usually I like one narrator for the entire book, but this was well done. Not overacted, either -- and not a lot of "music" fillers or any background stuff. All were normal human voices -- unlike old ones which had the clarity of an old creaky door or possibly chalk on a blackboard.

Don't be afraid of the new recordings. I'm going to gradually reorder the whole set, one book at a time. It would be nice if Audible would replace the old ones with new ones, but I guess that isn't going to happy.

As for Carpe Jugulum, whatever you didn't know about vampires, THIS book tells all. It's not as funny as some of his books, though there are plenty of chuckles. No guffaws but many smiles. Definitely worth it! I listened to it twice because it's a long and relatively complicated book and it's easy to miss pieces.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Truly delightful and fascinating

Revisado: 04-18-23

I've been looking for a new series. This is perfect. Really interesting, well narrated, and supremely relevant.

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I learned so much I'll have to read it again

Revisado: 08-30-22

I follow birds, but I don't usually read about them. I have a deck full of bird feeders and photographs of all the birds who live and breed in our woods, but until I read this book, I don't think I understood them. Now, I feel as if I do. This book is packed with information to such a degree that it will take more than one reading to get it all sorted out.

For anyone who is into birding, this is a great book. I'm going to have to check out the author's other books. I have to admit, even though I read a lot of nonfiction, this book surprised me by being a LOT better than I imagined. The author's a pretty good narrator, too.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas