I thought I didn't like thrillers, so there's yet another thing I was wrong about. This was gripping and fun and kept me on the edge of my earphones. So many striking set-pieces and settings. So well written by Louise Doughty and so well read by Clare Corbett that I feel as if I saw the story at the cinema.
Listening to the audio of This Is Your Brain On Sports by L. Jon Wertheim and Sam Sommers.
I wish I had read it closer to its 2016 pub date. 8 years later, parts are a little outdated. Example: in a list of active QBs at the time, several had yet to reach their peak. Now they're seasoned veterans or retired.
Amusingly, when quoting PK Subban, the narrator gave him a French accent. Subban grew up in Toronto.
I love the comfort reading T. Kingfisher provides. But Illuminations was too cozy for me.
It is aimed at the younger end of the YA spectrum . It could easily be categorized as middle grade.
While there is some tension, Rosa is coddled, loved and protected by her family and any tension is the result of a misunderstanding. She is the center of the universe and saves the day.
There are no real consequences to the mistakes she makes.
I preferred the plot of Minor Mage, where a protagonist of a similar age group has to deal with peril without adult assistance and with only minor magical powers. Assisted only by his trusty familiar.
Project Gutenberg is the world’s first digital library. For over 50 years, it has been steadfast in its commitment to provide free, unfettered access to digitized literature for everyone. Now, they are using AI text-to-speech capabilities from Microsoft to accelerate the progress of creating an extensive audiobook library.
A new podcast about audiobooks with our CEO @gbnewby. Pivotal with Hayete Gallot. Produced by Larj Media.
A reimagining of Ender's Game with AI and reality TV.
This is not a novel about a reality show. It's a theme not the prism through which the story is told.
Max Berry's novels are usually light hearted even though they deal with serious issues. Don't expect levity from Providence, it is darker than his usual fair and eventually more powerful.
The Last Human by Zack Jordan is on sale on Audible.
"Most days, Sarya doesn't feel like the most terrifying creature in the galaxy. Most days, she's got other things on her mind. Like hiding her identity among the hundreds of alien species roaming the corridors of Watertower Station".
This is a brilliant novel with a ton of sci-fi tropes and concepts crammed into it.
Aimed at a YA audience new to SF it will still thrill a more experienced Sci-fi reader with references to well known works.
Kind of like an animated film for the whole family with references aimed at the parents peppering a story ark meant for a younger audience.
Beim Gehen, Kochen und wenn ich meine Hände anderweitig brauche, höre ich #Audiobooks. Zuletzt beendet: Robin Hobb "Royal Assassin" (Farseer Trilogy #2). #RobinHobb gehört, wie Bujold, zu den #Fantasy Autorinnen die höfische Intrige können weil sie Gefühle verstehen. #fantasyromane#fantasybooks@buchstodon@bookstodon
Link at end, There are some fantastic podcast audiobooks out there. Better still, these are free, and you don't need a subscription! Just put the RSS feed into your favorite podcast app. I listen to more audio fiction than watch shows on streaming because a lot of these indie creators are trying new things and I love exploring! To get you started, here's a few collections https://www.theend.fyi/collections@bookstodon#Books#Audiobooks@audiobooks
3 more links are below! Anytime! If you wanna check out some featured stuff by the End creator, here is the featured page, but this website tracks fiction podcasts that either start new seasons or ended seasons or ended shows, like, completed shows. https://www.theend.fyi/recommended-audio-fiction
And if you are looking for more podcast audiobook type stuff, not audio dramas, but narrations of work, also check out the below category on the audio dramas directory. Trust me, this has saved me some credits on Audible!
I've finished: The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck
Something's rotten in paradise.
Tidbeck weaves a complicated web stretching across multiple worlds, histories, folk tales and broken utopian dreams that ultimately deals with evil and the power of stories to fight it.
It's interesting to read a sci-fi author from a different culture that also has her own way of interpreting the multiverse and the power of story and imagination.
A post-apocalyptic scenario written by a woman, concentrating on the psychological and sociological aspects of survival. It must stand the test of time better than Niven's Lucifer's Hammer, (That was also published in 1977).
But since the science didn't make much sense, (I didn't see a reason why cloning would have the effects described), I ended up looking at the attributes Kate Wilhelm decided to give clones as opposed to "Humans" and all I see is the American fears about communism.
They lose their individuality, their creativity, the ability to innovate, and for some reason monogamy, (perhaps she was afraid of hippies?).
In 2024, Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang felt more like a historical document that teaches you about the culture at the time of its writing than a Sci-Fi novel.
PS.
An enjoyable aspect: The audiobook narrator, Anna Fields, sound remarkably like Ellen DeGeneres.
@WTL I have a reading/listening recommendation for you. Have you read WILT by Tom Sharpe? This is a book I love very much. It’s a funny story about some underdog teacher who stumbles into a crazy mess and keeps his character intact against all odds. Politically absolutely incorrect, but hilarious and witty. One of the audiobooks I get back to once every other year. #books#audiobooks
"A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles".
(I haven't read it yet, but heard good things and am getting it myself)
Every once in a while I get asked for advice by people interested in audiobook work.
I'm now adding a postscript to my replies to say that if they would like to thank me, I invite them to give a kind review to any of my books, for which I am happy to supply a free review copy.
Good reviews help sales a great deal. Most of the books I've narrated are short. It's a small ask.
Because reviews help so much, I'm always happy to give anyone who has a sincere interest in reviewing my audiobooks a free review copy.
If you are reading this and that's you, pick out a title from this list, and let me know if you need a US or UK Audible code. It's that easy! https://adaraastin.ck.page/223e08bb72
*And please don't tank my reviews. If you hate a book, no review is better than a bad one.
Every time I reread Going Postal I like it even better. This is indeed Pratchett at his finest.
As a conman is running for US president again, and the true faces of billionaires are exposed, Going Postal also becomes more and more relevant.
This time I listened to the new audio edition, narrated by Richard Coyle and it was very good.
I must admit that I had trouble with my previous attempts to listen to the new audio editions. I may be getting old and cranky, almost 50. But there was always at least one character I found it hard to listen to. Be it Nanny Ogg in the witches novels, or Vorbis in Small Gods. Nanny should always sound like she is smiling, and planning something, Vorbis has a calculating quiet evil soul, he will condemn you to death without showing emotion. He would not sound like he is planning something nefarious.
I think the actors hired to read the new editions are too good. Most of the Discworld novels have characters that are suited to more exaggerated acting. I think Going Postal is different because it is so well written, it works with more subtle acting and Coyle understands the essence of all the main characters.
I'm also having trouble with the footnote sound effects in the new audio editions. They break the flow; I end up forgetting what they refer too. It's kinda like the effect you get when entering a room and finding that you've forgotten why you went there.
Yet again the footnote sounds didn't bother me as much this time. Perhaps I'm getting used to them.
Luckily, I still own the older versions and can listen to the edition I prefer.