Audiobooks discussion
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Librivox book discussion
Denise O wrote: "Claire wrote: "I've been recording for LibriVox for over 4 years on solo and group projects. They're a great bunch of people. My personal favorites are 4 names already mentioned here: Karen Sava..."I record under my real name, Denise. It's Lee Ann Howlett. I hope you find something you like. :)
Are you recording anything right now - or about to?
I have one coming out in the next literary fiction collection for Iambik (due to be released June 15th) called "With our Without You" by Lauren Sanders. Also, for Iambik, I'm currently recording a book of short stories by Lynne Tillman called "Someday This Will Be Funny" (probably out in August in our fourth lit/fic collection) and my next project (I just got the OK on my audition for this one this morning) is a romance called "Nanny Behaving Badly" by Judy Jarvie.
Staying kind of busy. :)
Reader "Mark Nelson" really stepped up for the reading of the philosophical sci-fi "Voyage to Arcturus" recently released. It starts something like a predictable H.G. Wells or H. Rider Haggard, but turns into something completely unexpected and thick, more like William S. Burroughs (be forewarned). It would make a great 3D movie.
Mark Nelson always does a great job. I knew I'd leave off some names. :)
John wrote: "I've never listened to any of their stuff, but I have two Librivox books on my TBR pile:Poor Miss Finch by Wilkie Collins, read by Sandra G.
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Lefanu, read by Great ..."
I just downloaded Poor Miss Finch...I loved the sound of the reader Sandra7 (now Sandra G.)I wish she had more solo reads with LibriVox but her other works are group reads ...I'll let you know what I thought of the book when I finish reading it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. :)
BTW, I am having hard time getting thru House of Mirth but I love Ms. Klett's reading... Half way thru it...is it worth finishing?
I have House of Mirth on my TBR pile as a library book read by the late Anna Fields.
I'm not familiar with Ms. Fields read of HOM but if it wasn't for Elizabeth Klett's reading of the book, I think I would have given up on it... I'm getting bored with the characters...not even sure if I like any of them...I'm putting it down for awhile and will maybe pick up later.
FYI...I go to this site first to find Librivox recordings because the mp3 downloads are much faster http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/ Not all Librivox recordings are here, but then I go to Librivox.org as last resort to get mp3 links.
That's a good site, Denise. They seem to home in on solos and the better group readings. IMHO. :)
Denise O wrote: "I'm not familiar with Ms. Fields read of HOM but if it wasn't for Elizabeth Klett's reading of the book, I think I would have given up on it... I'm getting bored with the characters...not even sure..."Lily Bart is a hard character to feel much empathy for but at least you have Elizabeth's reading to listen to. :)
Af wrote: "Regarding readers similar to Karen Savage, I enjoyed her abilities (thought didn't like the book) reading "The Scarlet Pimpernel" - as a talented reader with a UK accent, she reminds me of Lizzie D..."Karen does a wonderful American accent, too. She is very versatile. :)
Deleted new post cause I didn't know what I was talking about... LOL...Looked up Karen's bio and she was born in England but lived in many countries growing up and went to H.S. in CA and college in CA and TX... speaks fluent Spanish and French and now lives in Waco, TX.
Denise O wrote: "Deleted new post cause I didn't know what I was talking about... LOL...Looked up Karen's bio and she was born in England but lived in many countries growing up and went to H.S. in CA and college in..."LOL! She refers to herself as an 'expat' and is very convincing using both accents. :D
Claire wrote: "Af wrote: "Regarding readers similar to Karen Savage, I enjoyed her abilities (thought didn't like the book) reading "The Scarlet Pimpernel" - as a talented reader with a UK accent, she reminds me ..."Did I understand you to say you didn't like The Scarlet Pimpernel? I was surprised that I liked it...so much so that I listened to the next 2 books, The Elusive Pimpernel an El Dorado...of course, Karen Savage's read was excellent...OK, I confess, I've read all of her solo reads except Shakespeare stuff.
Oops, sorry that should have been in reply to Af's post, not Claire's.
Hi. Without venting things I didn't like about Orczy's book, I'll just say I like a Walter Scott or Alexandre Dumas, for example, much better. (It may be a "guy thing" about the style, though I like a lot of women writers, as you'd see at my site.) Unfortunate that the Dumas books on LV seems to be multi-reader. I might give one a try some time. I certainly agree that KS is a very good reader and look forward to hearing her again.http://librivoxlist.blogspot.com/
Af - I wonder if The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of those books that works better in paper form. But yeah, it might very well be a "girl vs. guy thing"; it is a pretty over-the-top romance / adventure.If you don't mind black and white movies, check out the 1930's? version with Leslie Howard. It's a fun adventure with some parts unintentionally hilarious.
My favorite romantic scene (PG rated of course) EVER is in this book, but I cringe to think of someone narrating it. I think the magic would become syrupy, corny if said out loud.
Af - Thanks for listing your blog...It opened a wealth of info from you and also in the comments where other links to free books are listed...I feel like it's Christmas morning and I've just opened lots of presents :)
Denise - I happened to check "Free Listens" and found the link here:http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/06/bo...
If you scroll down a bit there is a long list of participant book blogs covering quite a range of interests. (I won't join that list since the goals and format of my own blog page are very modest.)
John - I just finished Poor Miss Finch...I liked it very much as it's the genre I thoroughly enjoy...The reader (Sandra) has a lovely, expressive, British voice ...a minor complaint would be that she paused a little too long between sentences/thoughts for my liking. It took me about 15 chapters to get use to her slower pace as I'm more accustomed to Ms. Savage's and Klett's style... oh, and since the story's narrator was a French character, I wish she could have read that part in a French accent but since the story was set in England, I did appreciate the British accent ...I recommend listening to this book :)
I have just downloaded the following to add to my TBR on my iPod... Howards End, The Woman in White, The Prisoner of Zenda, and What Maisie Knew... I'll keep you posted on my completions.
Denise wrote: "The reader (Sandra) has a lovely, expressive, British voice ...a minor complaint would be that she paused a little too long between sentences/thoughts for my liking."You may be interested to know that Sandra has been blind almost since birth and records LibriVox audiobooks from a braille reader. She also now, astonishingly, has learned to do her own editing. That young woman is an inspiration.
Regarding LibriVox links, which were discussed earlier: every LibriVox audiobook page has a link to its own Internet Archive (archive.org) page where you can use the online player to listen, or just to get a taste of the book and reader before downloading. The Internet Archive hosts all LibriVox completed recordings.
The reason that some people can click on a link on a LibriVox page and hear it immediately, is probably because they have QuickTime installed on their computer (if you have iTunes, you will also have installed QuickTime even if you didn't know you did.)
(I'm RuthieG (Ruth Golding) at LibriVox, by the way. )
Ruth - Yes, I did read somewhere that Sandra was blind. It is very impressive how amazing a reader she is with this impairment. I only had the "long pause" complaint (which I now regret) because I had listened to so many books from Klett and Savage and had grown accustomed to their pace. I think Sandra was my first reader away from those ladies. Once I got use to Sandra's pace by chapter 15, I completely forgot about it in the remaining 36 chapters. I highly admire all the readers...To complete a book with almost never a stumble on a word, just astonishes me. I tried reading a chapter out loud of one of my favorite books and I could barely get out a complete sentence without getting tongue-tide...My hat is off to you all with deep appreciation <3
All great readers, Denise, but I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't know anyone on LibriVox who doesn't have to edit, edit, edit their recordings. It could be an outside noise that needs to be taken out or stumbling over a word and repeating the phrase, etc. Lots of reasons but we all do it. The fact that the recordings sound flawlessly read is very good to hear. :D
Oh, gracious, yes - the editing takes 4 - 8 times as long as the recording does, for me at least... it's just what I should be doing at the moment. ;)
Claire - LOL, I did suspect that a lot of editing was involved in the final product but there is good and bad editing...the good makes it seem flawless which is a very pain-staking process. I admire this talent as well as the excellent readings.
Ruth wrote: "Oh, gracious, yes - the editing takes 4 - 8 times as long as the recording does, for me at least... it's just what I should be doing at the moment. ;)"Same here, Ruth. :(
Denise O wrote: "Claire - LOL, I did suspect that a lot of editing was involved in the final product but there is good and bad editing...the good makes it seem flawless which is a very pain-staking process. I admi...":)
Ruth - What a pleasant surprise. I just finished listening to your read of track 12 on The Woman in White. You have a wonderful gift with your lovely expressive voice. I checked back on the mp3 files and see you have several more tracks read in this book. I look forward to them. This is my second group read including the dramatic reading of Little Women. I prefer solo reads but understand the need for group projects to complete the work. For the most part, TWIW is very intriguing but without warning, becomes very drawn out. I picked this book to read next because I just finished another Wilkie Collins book, Poor Miss Finch, and enjoyed his style of writing.
Denise O wrote: "Ruth - What a pleasant surprise. I just finished listening to your read of track 12 on The Woman in White. You have a wonderful gift with your lovely expressive voice. I checked back on the mp3 ..."Ah yes, I took over that part after two people had started but abandoned it. I enjoyed it a lot - I would have preferred to do all Marion Halcombe's chapters, but that's the way of things. :) Most enjoyable book - I read somewhere of Glen Hallstrom as Fosco being 'chilling' which described it perfectly, I thought. One of Collins' best, I think.
Ruth - I am now on track 29 of TWIW and the story picked up as very interesting upon your read on track 12 and thereafter. It also helped that the readers have been excellent (you included) since then too. Mr. Hallstrom did make Fosco chilling indeed. I also wish you could have been Marion Halcombe throughout...I know I would have enjoyed the earlier part of the storytelling if that were so. Now back to the story as I'm finding it very hard to put down :)
I loved The Woman In White. Just finished A Room with a View and was somewhat disappointed with the story but, as usual, loved Elizabeth Klett's read. I have just started another Klett read, The Awakening which is a short novel so I'll finish it soon. I just downloaded 2 Thomas Hardy novels, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Woodlanders both read by Tadhg (I love his accent) I've gone into Librivox's entire book catalog and am having a field day. I have specified my search to Fiction, Completed, Solo, English and have bookmarked this link for future reference https://catalog.librivox.org/search_a...Here's the link to Librivox's entire completed book catalog
https://catalog.librivox.org/search.p...
If anyone has read any of the Hardy books I've mentioned, please let me know what you think of them. Thank you.
My favorite Hardy book is Far from the Madding Crowd. I participated in a group reading of this but I love Tadgh's solo. I would also recommend The Mayor of Casterbridge read as a solo by Debra Lynn. She did a very nice job. Many people consider Hardy's books to be such 'downers' and it's true that there is a lot of tragedy in them, particularly in Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. By the way, if you're willing to listen to a tragic tale, Adrian Praetzellis read a beautiful solo of Tess.
Claire - yes, I came across Tess in the list of Hardy books and planned on that as being my 3rd Hardy story...Thanks so much for your input.
The Awakening was not the book for me although I stayed with it til the end for Klett's reading...I must admit I skipped parts 6 and 7 to get to part 8 conclusion... and glad I did. I'm still in a Klett mood so have decided to listen to Howards End next. I've seen a few on screen adaptations but never read the book and it's right up my alley of interest... now back to my comfy place of England about a century or so ago :)
I've read the first couple of chapters of Poor Miss Finch - Sandra's a terrific reader! Reading from a braille copy does seem to affect the pacing a bit, but no big deal at all.
Enjoyed Howards Ends so much that I watched the movie on netflix. Just finished Ethan Frome...I prefer happy endings. I've started Far From the Madding Crowd a few times but I keep falling asleep soon after. I think it's the combination of the reader's heavy accent and Hardy's writing style that lulls me to sleep...I'll try going back to it later. Taking a break from my books to enjoy the July 4th celebrations...Happy Independents Day to my US friends.
About to finish Henry James' What Maisie Knew, read by E. Klett. The story is set in England and was surprised Miss Klett didn't use the British accent for the characters like she does in her other works. I've enjoyed the story so far though ...hope it has a good ending. My Independence Day celebrations were good when it wasn't raining...hope you all enjoyed yours too.
I'm enjoying Sandra's narration of Poor Miss Finch, but the plot is getting rather silly, and the "heroine" (not her companion, from whose POV the story is told) right now is downright bratty!
John - Indeed, the plot gets bizarre as well as the characters, sometimes to the point of wanting to shake them as silly as they were. Most of them were infuriating like ALL of the Finch's and both twin brothers... The "gouty" German doctor became a laughable character thanks to the reader... Madame P. (narrator) seemed to be the only one with redeemable qualities and her father was a hoot. With that being said, I did thoroughly enjoy the story to the end.
I haven't gotten to the German doctor yet -- the brother's arrival is imminent (next chapter). Next to Madame P., Jicks is the most mature of the lot! Rev. Finch's voice is so incredibly creepy I've considered switching to the print version just to read his lines instead!Collins' No Name was silly in its way, but not as much as "Finch"; Armadale had its Victorian melodrama moments, but seems the most serious of the three.
Dark, romantic, mysterious, set in England...LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET, read by Elizabeth Klett, was my kind of story...It's a keeper in my "To Be Listened To Again" files :)
LOVED that book, Denise. Elizabeth kept me glued to my Sansa with that one. :D
Finished THE STORY OF AVIS read by E. Klett (who is always excellent) with mixed feelings. I liked the bittersweet story and dialogue but thought author went on and on with descriptive narrative.
I'm only on chapter 4 but am enjoying listening to someone new, Arielle Lipshaw reading OLIVE. I'm hoping for some uplifting moments to the story.
OLIVE was a lovely story and Lipshaw did a good read but it became too religious preaching for my liking. I've noticed many novels of that era tended to do that but this book knocked me over the head with it.
Finished POOR MISS FINCH -- Lucilla and the twins frustrated me with their antics, but Madame Pratolungo has become one of my favorite characters in Victorian fiction, along with Captain Wragge of Collins' No Name. The narrator does a particularly good job with the eye doctor's German accent in Finch, although why someone would get that excited over chicken salad I don't understand - I find it boring.
John - I kinda overlooked the chicken salad part...the mayonnaise fetish I thought was comical ...that doctor just loved his food and condiments :D
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I forgot to ask Claire...What reader name will I find your works with LibriVox? I'm sure I would enjoy listening to them. Thank you.