C.A. Gray's Blog, page 69
September 7, 2018
Review of An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew
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This is a biography, as the title suggests, of an historical figure I’d never heard of before, but who had apparently rubbed elbows with a number of illustrious people of her day. While the story reads very much like dry history, Allene undoubtedly had quite the colorful life.
Born in Jamestown in the late 1800s, Allene gained wealth and prestige through marriage: five of them, in total. Her first two husbands were ne’er-do-well gamblers, though she became a fabulously wealthy heiress from her first husband, by whom she also had three children. She buried all three of them in her youth, one of whom died in the first World War. Her third husband, Anson Wood Burchard, was the chairman of General Electric, and the love of her life. Then she buried him too.
But what stands out most about Allene’s character is her optimism and determination to make the best of whatever life threw at her. She became a princess in her 60s by her fourth husband, a German prince, who had been impoverished after the first World War and more or less went after her for her money. She knew this, too, but she may have hoped to act as mother to his two children. (One of the children allowed this, and the other did not.) Meanwhile, Prince Heinrich supported Hitler and attempted to get into the Nazi party’s good graces, but he was never important enough to warrant attention. Allene later divorced him, but remained close to his son Heinrich throughout the rest of her life, and considered him her own son, even leaving him a large portion of her estate. Also, through her connection to German aristocracy, Allene helped to arrange the marriage between German Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands–the latter had a very hard time finding suitors, because she was apparently quite plain and also extremely religious, so most suitors did not meet the standards of the family. The couple named Allene godmother to their daughter, Princess Beatrix.
Allene’s fifth and final husband was twelve years her junior (and with him she rubbed elbows with Edward VIII of England and Wallis Simpson, after the former’s abdication of the throne of England.) She was friends with President Eisenhower. When she died, Elizabeth Taylor was among those who expressed interest in purchasing her property (but she was refused, because her career was considered too “frivolous.”)
All in all, Allene’s life story is terribly sad (to consider what she lost), but it reads almost like a Who’s Who among the aristocracy of the day. I think the account of it suffered only from the narrative style: if it had read more like a novel, I think it would have been fantastic.
My rating: ***
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Timebound by Rysa Walker
Today’s review comes from this blog review of Timebound.
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August 31, 2018
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas
Today’s podcast review comes from this blog review of Throne of Glass.
The post Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas appeared first on C.A. Gray.
Review of Timebound
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This was one of the best stories I’ve read in a long time! Super creative, with fantasy, history, romance, and great characterization.
The story follows Kate, whose mother and grandmother Catherine don’t get along. Catherine is dying, and seeks Kate to build a relationship before she passes, requesting that Kate come to live with her part of the time. Kate learns that her grandmother is part of a group known as Chronos: they’re time travelers, and (as in every story with time travel) they’re not supposed to change anything in the past, only to observe and document. But Kate’s grandfather Saul grew power hungry, and decided that the best way for him to obtain power was to use his ability to time travel in order to create his own religion. Each time the timeline shifts with Saul’s actions, Kate feels it as a panic attack–but everyone’s memories going forward, including hers, include the change. Because of her genetic propensity toward Chronos, Kate can travel more freely through time than Catherine can, and it’s up to her to make right what her grandfather disrupted–before both she and her grandmother are wiped out of existence entirely.
I also love the fact that there’s a love triangle that doesn’t make Kate seem wishy-washy at all in this one: there’s a guy she can remember, and a guy she can’t remember, but who remembers her from a different timeline. Brilliantly done–so much so that I’d have been happy if she’d ended up with either one of them!
I didn’t realize this was a series, but since it is, I will definitely be reading on.
My rating: *****
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August 27, 2018
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms
Authors: Kate Douglas Wiggin
Narrator: Ann Richardson
Length: 8 hours and 11 minutes
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Released: Dec. 8, 2017
Genre: Classics
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm has delighted readers for over 100 years. Published in 1903, when girls were inevitably depicted as pretty, gentle and proper, Rebecca Rowena Randall burst onto the scene of children’s literature. Sent to live with her prim and proper Aunt Miranda, who is expecting her much more demure sister, Rebecca is a “bird of a very different feather”. She has “a small, plain face illuminated by a pair of eyes carrying such messages, such suggestions, such hints of sleeping power and insight, that one never tired of looking into their shining depths….” To her Aunt Miranda’s continual dismay, Rebecca is exuberant, irrepressible, and spirited – not at all “proper” or “demure”. She wins over her aunt soon enough, and the whole town, and thousands of readers and listeners everywhere.
In 1904, author Jack London wrote Kate Douglas Wiggin: “May I thank you for Rebecca?…. I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday…. Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn’t it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?” And Mark Twain called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm “beautiful and warm and satisfying”. This recording, narrated by Ann Richardson, whose sweet voice has a facility for accents and character voices, is a satisfying listening experience you’ll want to revisit. Upcoming from Post Hypnotic Press is a new annotated print/eBook edition of this book, with illustrations from the original publication and a new introduction, as well as a work-book for children.
Kate Douglas Wiggin (September 28, 1856 – August 24, 1923) was an American educator and author of children’s stories, most notably the classic children’s novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. She started the Silver Street Free Kindergarten, the very first free kindergarten, in San Francisco in 1878. She also established a training school for kindergarten teachers with her sister during the 1880s. Kate Wiggin devoted her adult life to the welfare of children in an era when children were commonly thought of as cheap labor.
Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of lawyer Robert N. Smith. Her early childhood was coloured by the American Civil War and her father’s death when Kate and her sister Nora were still quite young. Their widowed mother moved them from Philadelphia to Portland, Maine, then, three years later, she remarried and they moved to the little village of Hollis. Kate and her sister, and a new baby brother, Philip, matured in rural surroundings.
From a literary standpoint, the most interesting event of her childhood was her chance meeting with the novelist Charles Dickens. Her mother and another relative had gone to hear Dickens read in Portland, but Wiggin, only 11 at the time, was thought to be too young to attend. However, on the following day, she found herself on the same train as Dickens. Wiggin’s engaged Dickens in conversation for the length of the journey, which she later detailed in a short memoir, A Child’s Journey with Dickens (1912).
Ann Richardson has been narrating for major publishers as well as independently published authors since 2008, happily giving voice to classics such as “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (Kate Douglas Wiggin), “Greenwillow” (B.J. Chute), and Zane Grey’s “Riders of the Purple Sage”. Her narrations have been awarded AudioFile Magazine’s Earphones Awards, as well as having been finalists in the Voice Arts Awards in 2016 and 2017. In her spare time Ann is a volunteer narrator for Learning Ally (formerly Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic), and speaks to author groups and at writers’ conferences about the process of making an audiobook.
Website ⎮ Twitter
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Post Hypnotic Press. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or was it something you stumbled into by chance?
I studied broadcast journalism in college, but life took me in other directions. When my job evaporated in 2008, I decided to revisit my passions, and found I didn’t desire to be the next Diane Sawyer, but was still interested in some form of voiceover. My mentor suggested volunteering for Recording For the Blind and Dyslexic (now known as Learning Ally), and I was smitten.
Did you find it difficult to “break into” audiobook narration? What skill/tool helped you the most when getting started?
It wasn’t too difficult for me to break into narration because I am a self-starter and motivated. It helped that the industry was on the cusp of a huge growth explosion. Tenacity and visualization were my biggest assets when I was starting out. I spent endless hours researching online, studying with coaches, and learning about the craft and the industry. Once I felt confident I could “make it”, I kept positive thoughts, meditated on how I wanted things to transpire, and tried to help others learn the ropes as well. I still do these things.
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
I am an avid audiobook fan and listen every chance I get (usually when I go running). I am unable to stop life and sit and read a book, so audio works perfectly for me. I try to listen to Audie award winning audiobooks, as well as my colleagues, and in addition to the story, I learn narration technique from each narrator.
Is there a particular genre you feel unsuited for? Have you ever declined a project because you didn’t think you were right for it?
I delight in non-fiction narration. To me, it’s intensely gratifying to communicate the author’s message. I also love a well-written literary fiction story with surprise twists. Once I was offered an inspirational memoir written by a man, and as much as I wanted to work for the major publisher who cast me for the project, I had to turn it down because it would not have worked to hear a man’s words narrated by my feminine voice. It was a horrible feeling to say no, but in the long run it didn’t damage my career, and the publisher thanked me for the integrity.
What about this title compelled you to audition as a narrator?
I sometimes think I was born a couple of generations too late. I spent much of my childhood on a farm in Nebraska, doing lots of chores and riding my horse all over the countryside, playing cowboys and Indians with my sister. I love Westerns and old, classic stories such as “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”. The rich descriptions of life in a different era, much simpler, much different, and to me, much more idyllic. I strongly associate with pioneers, strong women, and children who try their best to be obedient, but cannot suppress their effervescent zest for life and adventure.
Have there been any characters that you really connected with?
I connected with Rebecca instantly. I’d never read this classic story and when I did, I fell in love with her story and found myself wishing I new what happened to her after she grew up. I even toyed with the idea of writing my own version of what I thought she might have done with her life. She always gave her best effort and was thoughtful whenever she was in a situation to represent her family, her aunts, or her classmates. What a good heart she had!
How does audiobook narration differ from other types of voiceover work you’ve done?
I tried commercial voiceover for a very brief time, but found it very distasteful to generate insane enthusiasm for products I’d never used. It felt disingenuous and I’m sure it came through in my voice. Audiobooks are different because the narrator is living in the story, and portraying events and how people interact and react. It’s more authentic, somehow.
What’s next for you?
Audiobook narration continues to be my passion, but I also have a strong interest in narrating documentaries. I’ve begun taking coaching for that, and hope to begin building my body of work in that area.
Bonus question: Any funny anecdotes from inside the recording studio?
I have had many interesting things happen in my booth, including once when my husband played a joke on my and began messing with my cursor from outside the booth (I record to a laptop that sits outside the booth, using a remote mouse and monitor inside the booth). I couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on and grew quite concerned (read FRANTIC) that I’d gotten some type of malware. Another time I was recording, it was the middle of the afternoon, no one was home but me, and I hear the toilet flush in the bathroom right next to my booth. I froze. I listened hard for several minutes for other sounds of someone being in the house with me, feeling the hair rise on the back of my neck and goosebumps on my arms. I crept downstairs to check out the house, and found a notice on the front door that the utilities dept was working on the water lines in our neighborhood and it might cause changes in water pressure. I decided this was the cause of the phantom flush.
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August 25, 2018
Review of Fool Me Twice
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This is a sweet historical romance, about a girl (Caro, short for Caroline) in a society very much like Regency England (if it isn’t actually Regency–I’m never quite sure on the time periods) who finds herself orphaned and without a protector in a male dominated world. Her brother decides to go off and seek his fortune abroad — leaving her with only two servants, and no means to support herself. Caro’s father was a gamester, so she decides to invent a bastard half sister, Angelica, as a “fallen woman” who can therefore gamble with the men without sullying her own respectable name. In polite society, Caro pretends to be scandalized by her half-sister’s behavior, even though “Angelica” is actually Caro in a wig. By day, Caro attempts to land herself a wealthy husband so that she can give up the charade.
But things go wrong when an ineligible second son, Tobias, catches wise to Caro’s alter-ego act… and the most eligible bachelor in town, the Marquis on whom Caro had her eye, turns out to be a wealthy scoundrel bent on ruining Angelica (and Caro in the process.) Tobias, Caro’s friend the Lady Rebecca, and Caro’s prodigal brother James are left to fight for her honor… and of course, in the process, Tobias and Caro fall in love.
Clean, light, and enjoyable, with plenty of banter and intrigue!
My rating: ****
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August 24, 2018
The Sheik, E.M. Hull
Todays’ review comes from this blog post, Review of The Sheik.
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August 18, 2018
Review of Throne of Glass
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The first time I tried to read this, I stopped very early on because I couldn’t get into it. I felt the same way listening to it for quite some time, but I kept going because in general I have a longer attention span for audiobooks… yet I still gave it 3.5 stars because the end I felt redeemed the whole book.
Selena (no idea how they spell this in the written version) is an assassin — but we only know this from her backstory really. We never see her killing, and in fact everything we do see belies that fact. She’s 18, she’s slight and pretty, she likes dresses and parties, she rescues puppies. She has a crush on the crown prince and also (possibly) on the captain of the guard. She was chosen for a competition to be the “king’s champion,” which means his personal assassin — and the whole book is comprised of training, the actual competition episodes, and the periods in between. Someone is also killing off the competitors one by one, and she’s trying to unravel the mystery of who and why. In her search, she befriends a visiting warrior princess and is visited by the ghost of a long-dead queen, and given magical assistance in her quest. For the most part, the story felt very episodic to me, and I therefore didn’t feel any special pull to race through it and find out what happened next until the climax. The last fight scene really was awesome, though, and the preview of the next story was compelling enough that I might keep listening.
My rating: *** 1/2
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August 17, 2018
My Dear Hamilton, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Today’s podcast comes from this review of My Dear Hamilton.
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August 10, 2018
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
Today’s podcast comes from this review, Sometimes I Lie.
The post Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney appeared first on C.A. Gray.
