Kevin's Watch

Reading now:
Speak, Memory - Vladimir Nabokov (reading now, about two chapters in.)

Started, but stalled:
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson (two or three chapters in)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (barely started)
House of Chains - Stephen Erikson (about 1/3 done)
The Outlaws of the Marsh - Luo Guanzhong (about 1/4 done)

In the queue but haven't started:
Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks
The Maiden's War - By an author whose name escapes me at the moment.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Luo Guanzhong

Damelon wrote:The Maiden's War - By an author whose name escapes me at the moment.

My blanket policy for Watchers is this: If you hate it, don't tell me.

Damelon wrote: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (barely started)
House of Chains - Stephen Erikson (about 1/3 done)
Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks

All good. Except book 5 of the Guide...don't know if you have that one...

--A

The Outlaws of the Marsh - Luo Guanzhong (about 1/4 done)
...
Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Luo Guanzhong

Awesome! Hope you enjoy these!

I can now add R. Scott Bakker's The Judging Eye and Chris Hedges' Empire of Illusion (primarily political-not sci-fi/fantasy) to my list.

Avatar wrote:

Damelon wrote: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (barely started)
House of Chains - Stephen Erikson (about 1/3 done)
Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks

All good. Except book 5 of the Guide...don't know if you have that one...

--A

Actually, book 5 of the Guide is a masterpiece compared to book 6 (not by Adams).

Listening to 4th Eragon Book now.

After that, will listen to the Gap (I've only read the Gap Series the one time when I first got the Books in 1998). Hoping the reading(s?) won't be horrible, I actually got used to the Second Chronicles readers by the time each book was done.

Cagliostro wrote:Actually, book 5 of the Guide is a masterpiece compared to book 6 (not by Adams).

I shudder to think. Hell, I shudder to think of Mostly Harmless, and he did actually write that one. (I don't know why.) Didn't know there was a 6th.

Next up for me is The Art of War. After that, maybe it's time to revisit Clauswitz...(Damn Total War games. )

--A

Avatar wrote:I shudder to think. Hell, I shudder to think of Mostly Harmless, and he did actually write that one. (I don't know why.) Didn't know there was a 6th.

It was commissioned by Douglas Adams' wife who recently passed herself.

Here's a little something something about it.

And while Mostly Harmless was a disappointment when I read it the first time, it actually has come a bit more alive when listening to it on audio read by the author. It think it has been said that he wasn't in an especially good place when he wrote it, and had intended on writing another Hitchhikers book before he visited that gym in California.

I've listened to the first 4 Saxon Stories books by Bernard Cornwell and am moving on to book 5 The Burning Land.
I've also just picked up Northern Lights (The Golden Compass) audio book (I have never read the book and my only exposure to the story was of course the lackluster film adaptation.
I recently picked up A Dance with Dragons but almost immediately loaned it to dANdeLION who has just finished it and I'll be getting it back soon to start on that. I have no problem with listening to one book and conventionally reading another during the same period of time. The audio books are great for when I'm working or driving and the paper books are fine for free time at home.

sindatur wrote:After that, will listen to the Gap (I've only read the Gap Series the one time when I first got the Books in 1998). Hoping the reading(s?) won't be horrible, I actually got used to the Second Chronicles readers by the time each book was done.

Is this the John Cartwright version? He's an excellent reader and has a very pleasant voice.

Zorm wrote:

sindatur wrote:After that, will listen to the Gap (I've only read the Gap Series the one time when I first got the Books in 1998). Hoping the reading(s?) won't be horrible, I actually got used to the Second Chronicles readers by the time each book was done.

Is this the John Cartwright version? He's an excellent reader and has a very pleasant voice.

Not sure who the Narrator(s) is, haven't lsitened to them yet, I down loaded them, since they're not available for sale. I believe, like the 2nd Covenant Chronicles (Different Narrator for each book), they were recorded for deaf people. I'm not sure there was ever more than one version recorded. I'll know who the Narrator is soon enough, though. I'm currently on Disk 4 of 27 of Eragon/Inheritance Book 4.

sindatur wrote:

Zorm wrote:

sindatur wrote:After that, will listen to the Gap (I've only read the Gap Series the one time when I first got the Books in 1998). Hoping the reading(s?) won't be horrible, I actually got used to the Second Chronicles readers by the time each book was done.

Is this the John Cartwright version? He's an excellent reader and has a very pleasant voice.

Not sure who the Narrator(s) is, haven't lsitened to them yet, I down loaded them, since they're not available for sale. I believe, like the 2nd Covenant Chronicles (Different Narrator for each book), they were recorded for deaf people. I'm not sure there was ever more than one version recorded. I'll know who the Narrator is soon enough, though. I'm currently on Disk 4 of 27 of Eragon/Inheritance Book 4.

Audio books for deaf people, huh?

Anyways, a deal is apparently in the works for audio versions of the GAP and Mordant's Need with Audible.

Monsieur Donaldson wrote:My agent is negotiating terms with Audible to produce "Mordant's Need" and the GAP sequence as audio books. (I hope that Scott Brick gets the job; but I suspect that Audible only uses "in-house" readers.) These will be for download only. However, I believe that a single-use license will be available so that individual buyers can burn their own CDs.

As usual, I have no idea when these readings will appear. I'm told "ASAP," whatever that means in the audio book biz.

12/1/11

Orlion wrote:

sindatur wrote:

Zorm wrote: Is this the John Cartwright version? He's an excellent reader and has a very pleasant voice.

Not sure who the Narrator(s) is, haven't lsitened to them yet, I down loaded them, since they're not available for sale. I believe, like the 2nd Covenant Chronicles (Different Narrator for each book), they were recorded for deaf people. I'm not sure there was ever more than one version recorded. I'll know who the Narrator is soon enough, though. I'm currently on Disk 4 of 27 of Eragon/Inheritance Book 4.

Audio books for deaf people, huh?

Anyways, a deal is apparently in the works for audio versions of the GAP and Mordant's Need with Audible.

Monsieur Donaldson wrote:My agent is negotiating terms with Audible to produce "Mordant's Need" and the GAP sequence as audio books. (I hope that Scott Brick gets the job; but I suspect that Audible only uses "in-house" readers.) These will be for download only. However, I believe that a single-use license will be available so that individual buyers can burn their own CDs.

As usual, I have no idea when these readings will appear. I'm told "ASAP," whatever that means in the audio book biz.

12/1/11

If it turns out to be the same quality of reading as AATE, I'll stick with the classic versions I've already burned of the GAP. If the Narrator is better than the one who did AATE (And especially if Scott Brick gets the gig), then I will likely upgrade and purchase the new ones.

The only good thing I can say about the Narrator for AATE is that the Ardent was fantastically done (And the Giants didn't bother me). I think very little of most of the rest of the characters' portrayals, with special hatred reserved for his version of the Haruchai (Excitable Squealing pixies the Narrator describes as having flat dispassionate voices? Seriously, if he's reading that description of their voices, why isn't he voicing them that way?)

aTOMiC wrote:I've listened to the first 4 Saxon Stories books by Bernard Cornwell and am moving on to book 5 The Burning Land.

The Burning Land is out? Awesome. Must find it.

(You "read" any of his others?)

--A

My reading Queue:

Currently reading - Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay

Afterwards - 1) The Thief of Always , Clive Barker

2) Riddle-Master (complete trilogy), Patricia McKillip

Current: (sorta)
"Signs of Life" by Natalie Taylor
(For my book club. It's about grief and motherhood; I got 2/3 of the way through it and then asked my hubby to hide it.)
"Godly Play: An Imaginative Approach to Religious Education" By Jerome Berryman
(This guy's basically putting out his integrated theory of human learning, language, aesthetics, ethics, community, spirituality, coping with existential issues, etc.)

Queue:
"Just Courage" by Gary Haugen
"Quiet Talks on Power"
Some Baen Sci-Fi book with a female character in it who's really good at communications hacking

Holesty or Damelon- post a plug or review of those Chinese classics, would ya?
I've suspected for awhile that I ought to read "Dream of the Red Chamber."

I just got through the pile I had waiting (see below) and finally started re-reading RoTE, which I've been looking forward to but wanted to get the shorter stuff out of the way. After this, of course, come FR and AATE... then the waiting....

I disagree about Hitchhiker's Guide. Book 6 is better than Mostly Harmless, which was terrible. At least And Another Thing wasn't written by Adams, which is a built-in reason why it's not as good as the first 4.

What's the excuse for book 5?!

From wikipedia:

For the downbeat tone of the novel, Adams blamed personal problems, saying "for all sorts of personal reasons I don't want to go into, I just had a thoroughly miserable year, and I was trying to write a book against that background. And, guess what, it was a rather bleak book!"

It seemed obvious in reading it that he was fed up with Hitchhikers and I remember my first reading being very disappointed with it overall. But listening to the audio version with Douglas reading it, it actually came to life a lot more and there are quite a few wonderful moments in it. I don't think I ever got a moment in book six that I actually laughed out loud, which I did continuously during Adams' books. Then again, I got used to his voice (although I was laughing quite a bit the first time I saw the tv version, which is how I came across HHGG in the first place), and I've never read another book by Colfer, which I understand has a great series known as Artemis Fowl, or something like that. I understand they are books for the younger set, so when my kid gets interested in chapter books, we'll give them a spin.
I know I was pretty judgmental with book 6, as I think I'm a bigger Douglas Adams fan than I am a HHGG fan. I did actually want to embrace it, as I think Mr. Colfer was very cool about how he handled the hatred for writing the book, but ultimately I just didn't think it was all that good. It just read like a fanfic to me.