All the Audiobooks
January appears to be my month of audio books. I somehow wound up with four audiobooks out from the library - one on CD and three as downloads. In my defense, I had two set on hold and hadn't expected them all to become available at the same time! Only the first one is finished and some spoilers may be present.
I finished the CD one first -- Dan Stevens reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I'd listened to a sample earlier through Audible. Being only familiar with Stevens in Downton Abbey as Matthew Crawley, it was interesting to hear him play a wide variety of characters from Hercule Poirot throughout all the minor players. Some voices worked better than others. I liked his main narrator voice. The most ridiculous voice was Mrs. Hubbard, the old American lady, which considering her part is appropriate. I'd probably listen to other books he'd read.
The ones I'm still working are in varying stages of enjoyment -- I'd listened to the audiobook for Etiquette and Espionage, the first in Gail Carriger's YA series Finishing School series with the same narrator. When I saw the new one Curties & Conspiracies was available I put myself on the hold list immediately. If you steampunk and espionage and daring adventures of young ladies of qualité, then you might find this quite fun. Very female heavy cast since it's a girls finishing school, but alas it follows the Ally Carter pattern of "suddenly boys!" from another school.
The one I'm surprisingly enjoying is Julia Fox's Sister Queens, a dual biography on Catherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile. After taking an online class on the era of Richard III, it was fascinating to see the aftermath from the Spanish perspective with Henry VII and his family. So far the split seems pretty even between the two sisters. The major takeaway I've gotten from the book is if Ferdinand & Isabella (really the latter) were so determined to give their daughters the proper education befitting royal princesses, they really should have included foreign languages, especially if they knew early on they'd be sent away to live at foreign courts. Interestingly both sisters at different times emphasized their Spanish dress/style/mannerisms, but I'm still left to wonder how much expectations were lost in translation. Also continue my ponderings of "What if" with Arthur Tudor. I've seen one series on if Anne Boleyn had had a son as her second child along with Elizabeth.
The one I'm not enjoying is PD James' Death Comes to Pemberley. The local library is running a commuter book club with discussions and hashtags and since I was curious about the book, I decided to give it a try. Lord is it slow going with James exposition dumping in those early chapters so you knew every player. The prologue was basically a recap of Pride & Prejudice if mostly taken from gossiping residents of Meryton perspectives, making for some interesting motivations for Elizabeth particularly. I'm going to trudge through it and see if I can finish before the meetup, but part of me is not enthusiastic.
I finished the CD one first -- Dan Stevens reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I'd listened to a sample earlier through Audible. Being only familiar with Stevens in Downton Abbey as Matthew Crawley, it was interesting to hear him play a wide variety of characters from Hercule Poirot throughout all the minor players. Some voices worked better than others. I liked his main narrator voice. The most ridiculous voice was Mrs. Hubbard, the old American lady, which considering her part is appropriate. I'd probably listen to other books he'd read.
The ones I'm still working are in varying stages of enjoyment -- I'd listened to the audiobook for Etiquette and Espionage, the first in Gail Carriger's YA series Finishing School series with the same narrator. When I saw the new one Curties & Conspiracies was available I put myself on the hold list immediately. If you steampunk and espionage and daring adventures of young ladies of qualité, then you might find this quite fun. Very female heavy cast since it's a girls finishing school, but alas it follows the Ally Carter pattern of "suddenly boys!" from another school.
The one I'm surprisingly enjoying is Julia Fox's Sister Queens, a dual biography on Catherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile. After taking an online class on the era of Richard III, it was fascinating to see the aftermath from the Spanish perspective with Henry VII and his family. So far the split seems pretty even between the two sisters. The major takeaway I've gotten from the book is if Ferdinand & Isabella (really the latter) were so determined to give their daughters the proper education befitting royal princesses, they really should have included foreign languages, especially if they knew early on they'd be sent away to live at foreign courts. Interestingly both sisters at different times emphasized their Spanish dress/style/mannerisms, but I'm still left to wonder how much expectations were lost in translation. Also continue my ponderings of "What if" with Arthur Tudor. I've seen one series on if Anne Boleyn had had a son as her second child along with Elizabeth.
The one I'm not enjoying is PD James' Death Comes to Pemberley. The local library is running a commuter book club with discussions and hashtags and since I was curious about the book, I decided to give it a try. Lord is it slow going with James exposition dumping in those early chapters so you knew every player. The prologue was basically a recap of Pride & Prejudice if mostly taken from gossiping residents of Meryton perspectives, making for some interesting motivations for Elizabeth particularly. I'm going to trudge through it and see if I can finish before the meetup, but part of me is not enthusiastic.