bup's comments
(member since Feb 10, 2009)
bup's comments from the Audiobooks group.
(showing 1-20 of 20)
Typee by Herman Melville. Like all high school students, I was taught to hate Melville, along with Hawthorne, Henry James and other great authors.With Melville, though, I think it was just because everybody's assigned Billy Budd, which is his worst book. I loved Moby Dick, and so far Typee is great.
Just started Persuasion by Jane Austen. Jane Austen, it turns out, is actually a fairly talented novelist.
Ethan Frome. I just started two days ago and I'm nearly done. I always assumed it was one of those huge old classics, but it's a pretty quick punch in the gut kind of classic. The narrator is fantastic, too.
Cool - I just started her version of Ethan Frome yesterday. I hadn't 'found' her until now, but I think I'll be listening to anything she does.
Some Experiences of an Irish RM by Edith Oenone Somerville, and read by Andy Minter.This is another perfect book for Andy Minter - if you're a fan of the Britcom As Time Goes By, his voice reminds me of Geoffrey Palmer (Lionel) - he captures the put-upon, detached, slightly jaded curmudgeon that is perfect and a half for the narrator/protagonist of the book. That protagonist is an old-before-his-time regional magistrate from England sent out into the 'boonies' of Ireland to be a judge for small-time cases. Wow is it funny - and bonus - it's considered a 'classic.'
I recommend this for anyone with no reservations.
Just finished Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. Didn't care for it. Maybe the reader, maybe the book. I'm not sure.Now I'm reading Some Experiences of an Irish R.M., which is wonderfully funny, has professional-quality reading, is a classic, and is available for free at the link I provided.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Read by Brenda Dayne, it's her only complete book for librivox. That's a shame, because she's pretty good. I wish in the first several chapters she put a bit more emotion into it, because the first several chapters are hard to get into. I should be clear - she's not monotone in the least - I just would have liked a bit more oomph.Then the last half was excellent. I "couldn't put it down." Of course, it's a great book, but the reading similarly sang.
Minor nitpick - I was aware of maybe 5 mispronunciations in the whole text.
Overall, it's a highly listenable reading of a great book. I'd gladly listen to another book read by her.
Karen Savage is not a professional, but could be, as far as I'm concerned. I've listened to her Anne of Green Gables, Scarlet Pimpernel, and El Dorado.
...read by Karen Savage. No wonder. I'm glad you mentioned this - I didn't know she had done a version of Persuasion. Thanks.
OK, this thread is mostly me, but there needs to be, somewhere on the internet, a list of what books on librivox rise above the rest of librivox, and that the typical audio-book junkie would be willing to stick with through the whole book.
Candide by Voltaire. In a narrator's rating scale, I'd put this second-tier, below Andy Minter and the woman who read The Scarlet Pimpernel, but still better than 90% of what's at librivox. He's clear, he's not monotone, and he 'gets' the jokes and delivers them dryly and well.
Adam Bede by George Eliot (Maryann Evans). It's narrated by Nadia May, and she has the workmen's accents down.
Want to addThe Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett - the lives of two sisters as England changes from the nineteenth century to the twentieth. Read by the pitch-perfect Andy Minter, a librivox all-star.
I'm listening to librivox' Candide now, and while the reader tries a bit too hard, he's pretty good, and the book is so quick he won't have time to really bother me.
The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett. It's one of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and the free version at librivox.org is excellent. I love the guy's voice.
Do you have a cassette player in your car? That's what I have. They have converters that plugin to your iPod/CD player like headphones, but instead of headphones it's a cassette-shaped thing that goes into the cassette player. They run about $20.
Car.
I used to listen to my iPod on my bike. I learned from experience that's very stupid.
Sara - does booksshouldbefree.com have any books that aren't from librivox? Or do you know?
The first couple I tried were librivox versions of books.
Les Miserables as read by Frederickson Davies - he's not my favorite reader - he goes a bit overboard with inflection - but I insist on unabridged and he's the only unabridged version of Les Mis I could find.
(I got through his version of War and Peace and liked it, but I couldn't finish Lord Jim because of his voice. For me to not be able to finish an audio book is really a big deal).
http://www.librivox.org is a site where volunteers record public domain works. Some are good, some aren't.
I thought it would be useful to list the ones that are really well done.
Here are ones that I think compare to professional readings:
The Card By Arnold Bennett - sort of a Ferris Buehler in Edwardian England.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy - adventure against the backdrop of the French Revolution.
El Dorado by Baroness Orczy - sequel to Scarlet Pimpernel.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - classic YA story.
If you get books from librivox, please share the ones you've found that you really liked.
