false 609362 21817 R. Kent Rasmussen
Grouchy (blink)]]> 66 male Thousand Oaks, CA 11/2007 11/2009 Lucky Jim; virtually everything written by Mark Twain, but my favorite of his books for reading is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]> 22 19 18 true 5741222 read 1 true 1178288 currently-reading 0 true 1178287 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/trivia http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:49:52 -0800 http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/show/64386-What-kind-of-scandal-drove-Horatio-Alger http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:40:34 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/168673-an-audiobook-reader-in-action http://photo.goodreads.com/groups/1186436848p2/596.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:37:48 -0700 John wrote: "Myla Goldberg does a great job reading her book Bee Season."

Well, I was merely generalizing when I said that most writers don't read their own books well. I'll stand by that observation.

Meanwhile, I'm currently trying something very different: listening to books on my new Kindle, which has a voice synthesizer. It's far from idea, but it's surprisingly good. It's a good way to listen to books that aren't available in standard audiobooks. I've already loaded more than 250 books (mostly public domain classics) on my Kindle--all for a pittance in download fees. It gives me a feeling of comfort to know that I'll never run out of listening material.

Incidentally, one of the great things about the Kindle is the ability to switch from reading off the screen to listening--while one carries the Kindle around or drives. As I said before, it isn't ideal as a listening device; however, it certainly is convenient.]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/171103-abridged-books http://photo.goodreads.com/groups/1186436848p2/596.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:02:46 -0700 Barbara wrote: "Kent, I listened to that "slight abridgement" of The Eyre Affair too. I didn't realize that it was abriged at all until I was partway through and then kept doing searches for a totally unabridged ..."

The audiobook didn't work for me. Perhaps because I tried listening to it in small segments while my mind was on other matters. The book has too many characters and too complicated a premise to make for casual listening. I wasn't thrilled with the reader, either.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/182158-odd-books http://photo.goodreads.com/groups/1190130841p2/853.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:58:27 -0700 Jean wrote: "I've forgotten the title of the Wodehouse book in which Lord Emworth accidentally walks of with someone else's valuable scarab. I would love to reread it if someone, Kent?, would help me recall th..."

Jean, I haven't read all of Wodehouse's nearly 100 books, but if one counts rereadings, I've probably read Wodehouse books more more than 100 times. Unfortunately, they all tend to turn to mush in my memory. My particular favorites are the Jeeves stories, all of which I've probably read a half dozen times each, but even they get mixed up in my memory.

The stolen scarab story sounds familiar, but similar themes pervade the Wodehouse stories. I was about to say that I might be able to help if I could find my copy of Richard Usborne's PENGUIN WODEHOUSE COMPANION, which contains nice synopses of every book. However, I just got the happy idea of googling "scarab blandings wodehouse" and instantly hit what appears to be the answer to your question: SOMETHING FRESH: A BLANDINGS STORY. Amazon provides a description: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Something-Fresh-...

Hope you enjoy the book!

Meanwhile, I also am trying to identify a book. To help in that effort, I posted this trivia question on GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/search?q...

(the question elicited a lot more responses than it presently shows, but I accidentally cleared them when I recently modified the note attached to the question. So far, no one has actually answered my question, and I'm waiting for the quiz administrators to come along an remove it.)]]> The Last Days of Hitler (Paperback) by Hugh Trevor-Roper]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61728964 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179681876s/945011.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:38:14 -0700 The Meaning of Hitler moved me to pick up an audio edition of Trevor-Roper's book today. I first read the book more than 20 years ago, perhaps as many as 30 years ago. I remember a fair amount about Hitler's last days but don't remember much about Trevor-Roper's book....more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2952-where-do-you-get-your-audio-books http://photo.goodreads.com/groups/1186436848p2/596.jpg 609362 Kent Rasmussen http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1194559893p2/609362.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/609362-kent-rasmussen Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:50:27 -0700
Any teachers out there who have used recorded books in classrooms?

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