What are you reading?

[Sheherezade]

I haven't read as much Scandinavian as I should. They are good. I did the whole Girl with the... series and I've read a Harry Hole mystery by Jo Nesbo. I need to dive in to that sub specialty a bit more.


Angie

[kandt]

I started reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio on the weekend and I've almost finished it. It's technically a teen book I guess but I kept seeing it at the library and had to pick it up. I've really enjoyed it.

[WolfpackWife]

I finished "Stardust" yesterday and LOVED IT. Officially a Gaiman convert. Side note: is the movie adaptation good? Gaiman narrates a prologue in the Stardust audio version that commemorates the second release of the book and cited that it had originally becoming a much loved book and was turned into a "well loved movie". I want to watch it, but if it doesn't do the book justice, I want to skip it.

Now I'm listening to "Labor Day" and I have mixed feelings about it so far. I'm almost halfway through.

[poky]

I finished "Stardust" yesterday and LOVED IT. Officially a Gaiman convert. Side note: is the movie adaptation good? Gaiman narrates a prologue in the Stardust audio version that commemorates the second release of the book and cited that it had originally becoming a much loved book and was turned into a "well loved movie". I want to watch it, but if it doesn't do the book justice, I want to skip it.

Now I'm listening to "Labor Day" and I have mixed feelings about it so far. I'm almost halfway through.

The movie is *great*, though I think it diverges a little bit from the book (I read the book years before seeing the movie, so I'm not positive). Neil seemed very happy with the movie, and I know I really enjoyed it.

Neil's initial take: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/0...to-exhale.html

[Chrisada]

I just started Ghost Man. I try to,read all the Edgar Award nominees each year. I'm a mystery junkie.

I'm also reading The Quants, nonfiction about quantitative finance and the latest Wall Street meltdown. My son is considering quant finance as a major in college.

I've got The Plantagents half done. History, my final love.

I've inherited my grandmother's habit of having three books on the bedside from different genres!


Angie

I'm always reading three books and am obsessed with English history. I'm reading Alison Weir's The Lady in the Tower about Anne Boleyn's last days. But I'm adding the Plantagents to my list!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MsSassyBaskets]

My eyes are so tired from my late nights of class work that I put the books down for a while and I'm trying my very first audiobook. I got a library card so I can check them out on my phone. It's Dominance by Will Lavender, and seems interesting so far. I'm NOT a good listener. I've always had trouble focusing on speaking if there isn't a visual aid (something to read along, a person there having an actual conversation, a visual presentation, etc.)... in fact, I used to use NPR as my alarm in the morning because it was just noise to me. I've gotten better, but needless to say I'm not great on the phone. So, I've had to listen to almost every chapter twice. I have no idea what the names of some of the characters are, and I'm not following the threads of the story as well as I would be if I were reading. But it's also really cool to hear some of the more flowery figurative language spoken out loud. It really jumps out, whereas if I were reading I would probably move past it so quickly I hardly noticed. So, fun experiment, and seems like a pretty good book so far.

[WolfpackWife]

My eyes are so tired from my late nights of class work that I put the books down for a while and I'm trying my very first audiobook. I got a library card so I can check them out on my phone. It's Dominance by Will Lavender, and seems interesting so far. I'm NOT a good listener. I've always had trouble focusing on speaking if there isn't a visual aid (something to read along, a person there having an actual conversation, a visual presentation, etc.)... in fact, I used to use NPR as my alarm in the morning because it was just noise to me. I've gotten better, but needless to say I'm not great on the phone. So, I've had to listen to almost every chapter twice. I have no idea what the names of some of the characters are, and I'm not following the threads of the story as well as I would be if I were reading. But it's also really cool to hear some of the more flowery figurative language spoken out loud. It really jumps out, whereas if I were reading I would probably move past it so quickly I hardly noticed. So, fun experiment, and seems like a pretty good book so far.

For me, that got better. My first couple of audiobooks were shaky because I wasn't focusing on the story and before I knew it was like thinking, "wait, who is this? What happened?" Listening has become so enjoyable to me that it's much easier to pay attention know and I'll be following along effortlessly without even focusing on making sure my thoughts aren't wandering! A bad narrator has, for me, really affected my ability to pay attention, too. I've also learned which genres/authors are more likely to have books that come across really well via audio. I tried to listen to "The President's Club" via audio book and it was just not the right medium for that kind of book. Neil Gaiman reading his own stories, and Stephen King novels are really great via audio. David Sedaris reading his own books were was REALLY turned me into an audiobook fiend.

[MsSassyBaskets]

Ok, I take it back, that book is not good. I had to stop listening because it was pissing me off so much with the overdramatization and total implausibility of... everything.

[WolfpackWife]

Ok, I take it back, that book is not good. I had to stop listening because it was pissing me off so much with the overdramatization and total implausibility of... everything.

I'm pretty new to audio books, but I definitely think if you're just getting started, the right narrator for the right book is key. And some books just...aren't good as audio. And then some books just aren't good at all anyway.

[MsSassyBaskets]

Oh yeah, I'll try another one. It was just an awful book. It started out interesting and just flopped.

[Sheherezade]

Chrisada -- now you've made me add another to my pile. I hadn't seen The Lady in the Tower. I love Alison Weir, though, so I'll have to pick it up. I think I've read ten books that discuss Anne Boleyn's days in the tower and how the executions went down, but it's interesting to see the new angles that each historian puts on the story. Did you read Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies? I wonder if she's putting out a third one, I think I heard she was.


Angie

[Chrisada]

Angie, Bringing up the Bodies has been on my list forever! Seriously, if I believed in reincarnation I'd swear I previously lived in the Tudor Court. I'm obsessed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sheherezade]

Me too. Fascinating period. When we took the kids to visit the Tower, my son passed out in one room. He had to be revived by a Beefeater. That's never happened before or since with him; I joke that he's the reincarnation of one of the princes killed in the Tower by Richard iii - and being back in the place made him faint.

[Chrisada]

Did you watch the White Queen on Starz? I read that and The Red Queen several years ago by Philippa Gregory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chrisada]

And man am I jealous that you've been to the Tower!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk