Donna's comments (member since May 21, 2009)

Donna's comments from the All Ears Audiobooks group.

Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Tommy and Tuppence are my favorite of Christie's sleuths. In this book they are typical 1920's- itching-for-adventure 20-somethings and they manage to find it. Hidden documents, secret identities and the the sinking of the Lusitania all play parts in this fun mystery.

Nadia May does an outstanding job narrating. Her lively, light British accent is perfect for Tuppence and even the male characters.

Great fun! I hope i can find another Tommy and Tuppence book narrated by Nadia May!

Julie at All Ears wrote: "I really like Harlan Ellison's narration of Ursula Leguin's Wizard of Earthsea.."

I'm glad to hear he was good for other books. I will agree with your comment about him bringing energy to the reading - he gave a most energetic performance as Humpty Dumpty and even though I didn't like the accent he used with the White Knight, it was done with great enthuaisim.

finished listening to Through the Looking Glass this morning. I decided i was very dissapointed in the narrator - Harlan Ellison. While narrating a throughly British book it seems a bit out of place to use a Southern drawl for the White Queen. And the White Knight sounded like a terrible Slavic accent. Maybe this goes along with the idea the writers are terrible narrators - Ellison is a fairly prolific author.

Michael York was MUCH better.

Regardless of that it was fun to listen to the clever insanity of this book. The poems are so much more fun read aloud! And of course everyone who owns a kitten knows that it can shift dimensions and is really a queen in disguise!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This is a classic that i've read over and over to the point that i was reciting parts of it along with Michael York.

I had a crush on Michal York when i was a teenager... :) He played Tybalt in the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet and i was smitten!

Anyway this was the first time i'd listened to Alice's adventures instead of reading it and it was a real treat! So, I'm driving along in sub-zero weather, wearing my silly hat with the kitty ears, and reciting "You are old Father William" along with Alice/Michael York. Perfect!!

I'm currently listening to Through the Looking Glass. Looking Glass isn't as much a favorite of mine - but it's still fun!

Julie -

how was the violence level in All the Pretty Horses? I've been wanting to ask someone who has read it because i was subjected to Blood Meridian and it was one of the most violent and bloody books i've ever read. The actual plot wasn't bad but the violence was so extreme that i was quite put off. It was a book club selection and I was the only one who managed to finish it - a couple of the other ladies actually had nightmares from the book. After that i've been very gunshy of Cormac McCarthy's books.

Ironically one of my favorite authors, Kent Haruf, who wrote Plainsong and Eventide, both wonderful, gentle western stories, says that McCarthy is one of his main inspirations.

atla wrote: "May I suggest Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro as a follow-up? "

Ooooh, i love it when someone suggests a book i've never heard of. I'll have to look it up and see if i can locate it!

thanks for the suggestion!

Julie at All Ears wrote: Anyone have a classic that they hated?

As I Lay Dying by Falkner. I've actually suffered through it twice - once as a teen and once in my late 40's. I've heard all the reasons why it's an amazing book and worthy of my admiration and i still hate it. I can't find any reason to like these characters and i can't find any deep meaning in it worthy of my attention. Yes, i understand the metaphors in it (my mother is a fish) and all that and i still dislike it totally. UGH!!

"atla wrote: "For anyone who is on a classics binge (Donna?), might I recommend Frankenstein as read by Simon Vance? I just finished listening to this, and it is beautiful. I was listening to rand..."

Atla - So... just for the heck of it I listened to Frankenstein. Very wonderful. I couldn't locate a Simon Vance edition but listened to George Guidall who did a nice job. The language is time period wordy, and Shelley makes typical 1st time stumbles, but it is a gripping and marvelous tale. For a 16 year old who was merely writing a ghost story for amusement she produced one of the most amazing cautionary tales. It is worth remembering today - especially since our technology puts us on the brink of repeating the scientist Frankenstein's accomplishments.

"A classic is a book that everyone praises and nobody reads." Mark Twain

Julie at All Ears wrote: "I loved Oryx and Crake - but I definitely didn't think anything like that could happen in my lifetime."

Yeah, having kept up in the biological sciences I've been hearing about this for a while - which is exactly why Oryx and Crake was soooo creepy for me.

You are not alone in giving little thought to where the meat in the grocery store comes from. For an enlightening but not overwhelming look at where food comes from, try Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Polan. Scott Brick narrates it and it's an interesting look at modern food chains.

Susan wrote: "Also check out Margaret Atwood's most recent visit to the Oryx and Crake dystopia - The Year of the Flood."

Oh wow! I didn't know she had another one out. Will have to get a copy of that! Thanks for letting us know.

Lars wrote: "Donna--

"One of my big complaints about many kid and YA books is the lack of parental influence in the story."

But don't you think that's what makes those kind of stories so perennially popu..."

Perhaps... but it's sooo overdone. Not every kid's book has to have inept or missing parents. I'm currently listening to Cold Sassy Tree - a great coming of age book about a 14 year old boy in 1906 Georgia. He gets into all kinds of mischief, has great friends and confronts some really tough life issues and his parents aren't gone, in fact they are important to him.

I don't have a problem with books about orphans, or kids who struggle with being accidentally separated from parents, but there are just soooo many books out there where parent is missing. It got to be a running joke at the mother daughter book group - yet another book where parents are MIA.

Lars wrote: "Julie at All Ears wrote: "Lars and Donna (and everyone else who likes to read children's books) -
There is a new book in the '1001 to before you die' series ... it's 1001 Children's Books You Mu..."

interesting list. Love having the spread sheet - thanks for posting it!

I'd rather read Thomas than Twilight anyday. Pop culture vampires are NOT my thing :) Ugh!

fyi - i've been kinda quiet the past few days because i'm recovering from bronchitis and just haven't been sitting in front of a computer much. I'm starting to feel better and will be picking up conversations soon!

thanks again!

for those of you who have read Atwood's Oryx and Crake...
Growing meat without animals - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34042394/ns/...

I've heard this is happening but what is really creepy about this article is the researcher's belief that marketing will cure all dissention... just like in Oryx and Crake.

If you haven't read this book yet it's a very disturbing look at the possibilities for the not to distanct future.

Lars wrote:
To me, the important thing is to get kids reading. Most kids unconsciously self-censor, because they know they're not ready for some stuff, or it's just too complicated to deal with. ..."

agreed. A few years ago when the Jurassic Park movies were popoular, some of my then 5-6th grade friends were reading the books. The original books not the YA versions. I was a first concerned that the books were a little violent and dark for them, but the boys explained to me that the science was cool, the bad guys creepy and that while the dinosaurs were scary they didn't really exist so they couldn't hurt anyone except in the book. No problem there!

I totally agree with your comments on language too. Kids know if you're selling them short and if a group of hard-knocks kids uses refined language they know it's not real.

One of my big complaints about many kid and YA books is the lack of parental influence in the story. Many books i've read start out with one or both parents missing for some reason and the child having to deal with situations on their own or even having to bring the other parent into safety. It seems like a lot of responsibility for a child to shoulder.

Julie at All Ears wrote: "if you ever decide to move to the Bay Area and want to work in a bookstore, let us know!"

<Laughing> okay you just made my day!

Next time I'm in the Bay Area i'm going to look up the shop! I'm going to be in San Francisco in July for a conference and to visit my daughter so you're warned.

Lars wrote:

"The more I read, though, the more I realize how much I haven't read."

I agree totally!!! If there's one thing i've found it is how many amazing books are out there and how little i know about most of them! The number one reason i started listening to audio-books was to cram more books into my life!

How's the Piaget book? I have a degree in Wildlife Biology and a minor in education - when i graduated all i needed to teach high school bio was student teaching. I never did get the teaching degree but have used the info i gleaned from child development classes frequently. Piaget's ideas were interesting and if nothing else made me look at child development in a new light.

a graphic novel on Bertrand Russell - interesting. I have a tough time with graphic novels. Does it make sense to say that i find the pictures distracting? I know they're hugly popular with some of the kids and young adults though. My daughter and her husband collect various titles from many countries.

Edgar Sawtelle is on my shelf - i was able to pick it up for free while working a charity booksale - turned in with no dust jacket and we don't sell hardbounds without a dust jacket. Okay, so I still gave a donation for it anyway :)

Lars wrote: "Donna (and Julie)-

Books like 'House of the Scorpion' are definitely for older kids. I've actually used it as an avenue to an understanding of politics, history and geography with sixth and sev..."

I can see using Scorpion for an introduction to various topics. It's a really rich book for that and Matt is a wonderful character.

After all the build up i gave Feed i hope you like it :) or actually i hope it creeps you out too!!

You don't have multiple books going? I'm terrible for that... I have an audio book going in my car (East of Eden right now) an MP3 on my phone that i listen to around the house (One of Ours by Willa Cather) a book to read before bed (The years of Rice and Salt) and a book at the office for lunch time reading (Julie and Julia).

Thanks for the tip on the picture book! I'm trying to figure out what to get for christmas gift books right now. I saved all my daughter's picture books so she has a large ready made library for the baby with lots of kids classics. Finding something new that she doesn't have is a trick!

Joe (grandson)is totally hooked on Jessie Bear What Will You Wear right now, probably because of the great word patterns and rhythms in it. My daughter reads it to him as Joe-Joe Bear. :) It's interesting to me how even very young babies have favorite books - he's responded to Jessie Bear right from the start and at 3.5 months it's his obvious favorite.

Michael wrote: "

The basic premise is that the author took Jane Austen's original "Pride and Prejudice" and weaved in this subplot where England has been overrun..."

Michael -

there's a couple of these out aren't there?

Being a big fan of parody i've been dying of curiosity as to how good they actually are. So, if you were to rate it, how many stars would you give it? Good parody doesn't take itself seriously - it sounds like this has its share of silliness.

Julie -

When my daughter, who is now 22, was in third grade we joined a mother/daughter book club. The group stayed together until the girls graduated from High School! It was a fantastic experience for all of us - moms and girls alike. We read lots of amazing kid lit and the moms loved it because most of them, like me, grew up in an era before there was any such thing as young adult fiction. When the girls reached jr-sr years we threw in a few "adult" books - The Color of Water comes to mind, but we still read mostly young adult/teen lit and were not disappointed. We even had a local author, Victoria Hanley, who writes young adult fiction, join us quite often to participate in the discussion. The girls especially loved having her there because it gave them someone in the business to ask writing/publishing related questions to.

My reading of young adult fiction has slowed down dramatically since then since half the fun was getting to discuss it with the kids. I'd love to find another bunch of kids, but it will probably have to wait until i shift priorities in my volunteer work or complete a huge volunteer project i'm working on a year or two down the road.

In the meanwhile i'm back at the picture book stage for my grandson which is great fun too!

Julie -

not to correct, but to clarify - I'm a very big fan of Douglas Adam's work...

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy includes:
Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy 1/3
The restaurant at the end of the universe 2/3
Life, the universe, and everything 3/3
So long, and thanks for all the fish 4/3
and Mostly Harmless 5/3
(as numbered by DNA)

if you can get your hands on the radio version of the series (1st three only) it is wonderful listening. I also remember staying up late at night with friends watching the Hitchhikers series produced by BBC and aired on PBS - also great fun.

There are two Dirk Gently novels and they are a totally separate series -
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
and The long dark tea time of the soul.

In his later years Douglas Adams became quite the environmentalist and was very involved in the Save the Rhino campaign. He even climbed Kilimanjaro in a rhino suite - i kid you not - to raise awareness of the rhino's plight.

anyway, for what it's worth..


I hadn't heard about the new Hitchhikcers... very interesting.