Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
2013 Challenge Archive
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Mix & Match Your Modulators : Discussion thread
Jane (PS) wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I haven't read the book, Sassafras but they both seem to fit. I'd say pick the one you know you iwll read the most. After all, we have a certain number of themes depending on the level..."Ok, thanks!
not really - I just don't have my long commute any more, so a book that used to take me a week, now takes closer to 2 (if not more)not sure if I am going to count my current one - The Postman Always Rings Twice - got to figure out a category
I have the ebook for that one but I'm waiting for the audio. How are you liking it?
its not bad...Stanley Tucci is ok - but he is more reading dramatically, than narrating (if that makes sense) and it isn't long - like a shade over 3 hours, i'll probably finish it up tomorrow - just trying to figure out what category it would go under - since it is a murder mystery type/wanderer type deal
Have you ever noticed that you'll like a narrator for one series but not another. I really like Lorelei King narrating the Mercy Thompson series, but don't care for her doing Stephanie Plum. I thought C.J. Critt was much better at that.
I liked Tavia Gilbert for a stand-alone mystery that she narrated, but didn't like her in Cat/Bones - sounded like a completely different narrator
I'm that way with Susan Ericksen - absolutely LOVE her in the In Death series, but in the stand-alones I've listened to that she's done, she's good but nothing special.And Dee, I'm on the opposite side of the Cat/Bones issue - I love Tavia Gilbert narrating those. I think part of the reason is that I went into the series with absolutely no preconceptions about the characters...it seems like a big percentage (but certainly not all) of the people who don't like her narration are the ones who read the books first and have a very set idea in their minds of how Cat and Bones should sound.
that was me - I had read the first 2 books - but then, also knowing that his accent was supposed to be aussie - whether from previous reading or being introduced and growing up in australia - I knew it wasn't - so it was also a regional experience/knowledge thing for me
Dee wrote: "that was me - I had read the first 2 books - but then, also knowing that his accent was supposed to be aussie - whether from previous reading or being introduced and growing up in australia - I kne..."Yeah, but I was able to justify the accent by the fact that he grew up in London then was taken to Australia as an adult, and if I remember correctly the first book does describe his accent as English. Anyway, for whatever reason, a lot of people who have an idea in their minds about how he should sound tend to hate the audio versions of that series.
Karen, I was one of those ones who read the first several books and then tried to listen to them audio. But, I didn't listen to the Cat/Bones books, I listened the Night Huntress World books and still couldn't do it--even when Bones wasn't that involved in the books.I remember getting one of the Cat/Bones books from the library and I immediately turned it off as soon as I heard her voice and never tried again. It was just too grating for me.
but I know others who have only listened and they seemed to have no problems, like you.
Sassafrass wrote: "but I know others who have only listened and they seemed to have no problems, like you."I'm another of those, lover her narration! That is one series that I don't want to read, only listen to! Different strokes and all that...
Yeah, it's what makes the world go round!
It's funny though, I read the first several Mercy Thompson books then listened to them starting with Silver Borne and I loved Lorelei Kings, narration so much, I stopped reading them and only listen.Same with Fever series Phil and Natalie started narrating. They all do the voices much better than I could've done in my head.
Yeah, it's all a matter of taste - I know a lot of people rave about Jim Frangione's narration of the BDB books, and I don't particularly care for it. I'm listening to most of them this time through the series, but only because it's more convenient most of the time. As I listen I keep thinking it's such a shame, because I think with the right narrator that series could be absolutely amazing in audio, but with him I find the narration just kind of blah.
~KarenH~ wrote: "Yeah, it's all a matter of taste - I know a lot of people rave about Jim Frangione's narration of the BDB books, and I don't particularly care for it. I'm listening to most of them this time throu..."I've gotten used to Jim but he sounds the same all the time IMO.
Sassafrass wrote: "I've gotten used to Jim but he sounds the same all the time IMO. "Yeah, that's it exactly - no differentiation of the voices, and not very much emotion even. He doesn't add anything to the experience, but he doesn't do anything to ruin it, either. I suppose some people may like it because it's closer to reading...you can use your imagination more to have the characters sound however you want. Personally though, I much prefer a narrator who DOES add to the experience, rather than just a straight reading.
Once again, it just comes down to different tastes...
I don't like Tavia Gilbert voice for Bones. With such an ugly voice, I cannot imagine him being attractive and that's why I decided not to listen.I also don't like Susan Ericksen's narrations of the In Death. Her voice for Roarke is GREAT but the rest sound all the same to me. If I have problems distinguishing characters in a narration, I know it's not for me.
Funny what you say about liking narrators for one thing but not others. I love Luke Daniels in the Iron Druid Chronicles but I've tried to listen a few other narrations by him and I haven't liked him. I don't know what's the deal.
D.G. wrote: "Funny what you say about liking narrators for one thing but not others. I love Luke Daniels in the Iron Druid Chronicles but I've tried to listen a few other narrations by him and I haven't liked h..."I've only heard him in the iron Druid chronicles and love him too. I'll keep that in mind when I see him in other stuff. I'll still try it put but won't be necessarily surprised if I'm not pleased.
D.G. wrote: "I don't like Tavia Gilbert voice for Bones. With such an ugly voice, I cannot imagine him being attractive and that's why I decided not to listen.I also don't like Susan Ericksen's narrations of ..."
I agree about Bones. I hadn't read the books first, so I didn't have a preconceived notion of what Bones was like, but even so, I didn't expect him to sound like that. I guess I imagine him more as a Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. I know I've seen James Marsters narrating some books. I could definitely listen to him narrate the series. *swoon*
D.G. wrote: "I also don't like Susan Ericksen's narrations of the In Death. Her voice for Roarke is GREAT but the rest sound all the same to me. If I have problems distinguishing characters in a narration, I know it's not for me."Just out of curiosity, do you know which book (or books) you listened to? I think she does an amazing job of differentiating all the voices...except for books 13, Seduction in Death and 14, Reunion in Death. My understanding is that those were the first ones she recorded, then she went back later and picked up the first books. When I got to that point in the series I just about tore my hair out trying to listen to them, because like you said, everyone sounded the same. It was such a relief to get past those and on to the later books where the characters sounded like they were supposed to! That may have nothing to do with it in your case, but I just thought I'd mention it, because if it did happen to be one of those that you listened to, it might be worth taking another shot at it.
D.G. wrote: "Funny what you say about liking narrators for one thing but not others. I love Luke Daniels in the Iron Druid Chronicles but I've tried to listen a few other narrations by him and I haven't liked h..."I haven't listened to the Iron Druid Chronicles but I just listened to Luke Daniels' narration in A Touch of Crimson and he was terrific! It was my first listen by him and I immediately went to Audible to see what else he narrated.
Kelly wrote: "I haven't listened to the Iron Druid Chronicles but I just listened to Luke Daniels' narration in A Touch of Crimson and he was terrific! It was my first listen by him and I immediately went to Audible to see what else he narrated. "Thanks for the rec, Kelly! I just checked out this book and I saw it for $5.45 (Because of the Member sale). At that price, I just bought it!
I think I found out what's the problem. His style in the Iron Druid Chronicles is easy going and relaxed because that's how the main character is supposed to be but in other narrations, he's very serious! For some reason that throws me off. It totally makes sense that he wouldn't be all chirpy in other books so I think I just need to get past that because I know he's excellent.
~KarenH~ wrote: "Just out of curiosity, do you know which book (or books) you listened to?"I listened to Book #2, Karen. Maybe she gets better as the series goes along but I rarely give narrator second chances. Too many books so little time!
D.G. wrote: "I think I found out what's the problem. His style in the Iron Druid Chronicles is easy going and relaxed because that's how the main character is supposed to be but in other narrations, he's very serious! For some reason that throws me off. It totally makes sense that he wouldn't be all chirpy in other books so I think I just need to get past that because I know he's excellent. "I LOVE that easy going style when he does the iron druid chronicles. I think it would be weird to hear him be serious. I'll have to check out the Sylvia Day series though and see how he does.
D.G. wrote: "~KarenH~ wrote: "Just out of curiosity, do you know which book (or books) you listened to?"I listened to Book #2, Karen. Maybe she gets better as the series goes along but I rarely give narrator second chances. Too many books so little time!"
That's so true! And in this case it wouldn't help anyway since the books with the problem were well into the series - by the time she went back to the beginning I think she had the voices pretty much perfected. Oh, well, it was just a thought...
Sassafrass wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I think I found out what's the problem. His style in the Iron Druid Chronicles is easy going and relaxed because that's how the main character is supposed to be but in other narrations..."Luke Daniels only narrates the 1st book in the series, the next is narrated by a woman if I remember correctly.
Yeah, Shell, I noticed that. Bummer.
OMG, I'm listening to Bait and Joyce Bean is narrating and I'm freakin' cracking up.It's about FBI agents so they keep talking about the "unsub" as in unknown subject, but Joyce Bean keeps interpreting in as U.N.S.U.B and says each letter separately like an acronym. It took me a few chapters to even figure out what the hell she was talking about!!!! LOL
haha...I listened to one and the term k-bar was used which is said k and then bar...but the narrator was saying kabar...took me a few time to figure out what the heck
I'm still failing at male authors. I swear only about 2% of the audiobooks at my library are men. I may have to cave and hunt around audible a bit. :)And I know what y'all mean. I enjoy some of the quirky word interpretations I hear. I haven't heard many, but there have been a few.
I hear mispronunciations in medical terms all the time! At least from the way I was taught to say them anyway! It always pulls me out of the story.
sometimes, it pisses me off though because I feel like the narrators didn't do any prep work prior to the recording. I mean unsub is a pretty common FBI term.
Sassafrass wrote: "sometimes, it pisses me off though because I feel like the narrators didn't do any prep work prior to the recording. I mean unsub is a pretty common FBI term."And commonly used in TV and movies too! I agree, once or twice you can almost just laugh it off, but it does feel sloppy. Someone ought to catch the issue before release!
Sassafrass wrote: "OMG, I'm listening to Bait and Joyce Bean is narrating and I'm freakin' cracking up.It's about FBI agents so they keep talking about the "unsub" as in unknown subject, but Joyce Bean keeps interp..."
I didn't like her narration in Guilty at all and it was just ok (less annoying) in Superstition
Sassafrass wrote: "I LOVE that easy going style when he does the iron druid chronicles. I think it would be weird to hear him be serious. I'll have to check out the Sylvia Day series though and see how he does. "I love it too! I started listening to the Sylvia Day and I started cracking up! For some reason, it seems like LD is joking trying to be serious. I know he's not, but that's how I hear it. :)
Anyhow, I think I'll switch to something else for now.
I'm currently listening to Pursuit by Karen Robards. I'm really enjoying the story but I'm extremely frustrated by the narrator, Franette Liebow. She's ruining the book! Her tone drops too low to hear some of her sentences and then she BLASTS out a sentence and you lose your eardrums 'cos you'd turned up the volume to try to hear what she was previously saying! I HATE that sort of narration. Plus ALL her men sound like old women with gravelly voices.Ok - got that out of my system. *sigh*
I didn't particularly care for Joyce Bean's narration of Bait either. Maybe Karen Robards just doesn't have luck with narrators.@DG, that's hilarious about LD. I've already read that first book in the Sylvia Day series so I think I'll pass of getting it. I got the 3rd book in the iron druid chronicles instead! LOL
Sassafrass wrote: "I didn't particularly care for Joyce Bean's narration of Bait either. Maybe Karen Robards just doesn't have luck with narrators.@DG, that's hilarious about LD. I've already read that first book..."
Hmmmm....well I'll be listening to Robards' Scandalous soon, so we'll see how that one is. Haha.
Makenzie wrote: "Hmmmm....well I'll be listening to Robards' Scandalous soon, so we'll see how that one is. Haha."I listened to that one and thought the narrator did a nice job.
Sounds like you could be in luck Makenzie! :)
MountainKat wrote: "Makenzie wrote: "Hmmmm....well I'll be listening to Robards' Scandalous soon, so we'll see how that one is. Haha."I listened to that one and thought the narrator did a nice job."
that's good to hear!
Sigh...I have several books where I don't know where to put:There's one where the hero is a former air force pilot, with psychic abilities and dying from a tumor in his head. I'm thinking I can put him in Boys in Blue as at some point, he puts together a posse of mercenaries to rescue some woman. He could also be in Dr Death though because of the tumor business.
Then there's another one I'm listening now where the hero is the leader of a vampire town and he's fighting some bad vampires but he was formerly a farmer. The heroine though is a doctor so I can definitely have her as Dr. Death.
I really need to sit down and update this challenge...
lol - DG ;)I was soo excited I thought I had a male narrator up next - with a name like Ashford McNab...but nope, female...haha
LOL, Dee. Those plots sound ridiculous, don't they?Yup, Ashford McNab is a lady. Are you listening to the Maiden Lane series? She does a good job.
I'm actually catching up on women...but it's been an effort, I tell you!
yeha - i'm listening to Scandalous Desires that was nominated for the audie in romance - only an hour in, but not bad
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
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I agree with DG Sass. Just go with the theme that you think will fit more of your books that you plan to read soon :)