jan 2013 - sandi

[Sandi]

Had a good month quality wise though going back to working five days a week put a damper on my numbers. Here are my January reads:

Top Reads

The Bloomsday Dead
Adrian McKinty
The final book in the Michael Forsythe trilogy and just as good as the previous two. Totally engrossing from the first with excellent action/violence and a well described Belfast setting. Listened to the audio version narrated by Gerard Doyle who really brings Michael to life.

Painting The Darkness
Robert Goddard
Family secrets and plot twist abound in this highly entertaining, though deliberately paced historical set in Victorian England.

Good Reads

The Shepherd
Frederick Forsyth
A very nice, short, Christmas story. An English RAF pilot is flying home for the holiday but soon encounters various difficulties.

The Secret Speech
Tom Rob Smith
Set in 1956 this thriller had great atmosphere, historical detail, and numerous interesting settings from Moscow to Budapest but the plot did get a little over complicated for my tastes. Listened to the audio read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

The Narrows
Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch meets up with various other characters from Connelly's previous works in this book. Much more of a thriller and not my favorite in the series. Listened to the audio which was read by Len Cariou who did a great job with the first person Harry but was not quite as successful with some of the third person female points of view.

Foreign Body
Joyce Holms
Set in the Scottish Highlands this, the second book in the series, had a very well done plot and the two lead characters are both smart and engaging. A fun read.

Sharpe's Escape
Bernard Cornwell
Another entertaining historical tale. Started a bit slowly with Sharpe being stuck with the Regiment but luckily circumstances intervene and Sharpe gets to go off on his own, with just a bit of help, and do what he does best.

Ok Read

Bone Key: A John Deal Mystery
Les Standiford
This is a series I have always enjoyed in the past but this particular entry was just so so. I was disapointed that one of my favorite supporting characters did not appear on the page and the current day plot was not really that compelling though I did enjoy the sections on Key West's history.

[Dan in AZ]

This was your "Read British" month.

[Ann]

Good month, Sandi! I love seeing your comments. I have been meaning to get to Tom Rob Smith's The Secret Speech after enjoying Child 44. I think I will wait until it is warmer to pick up a book with at least parts set in Siberia!
I didn't listen to The Narrows, so didn't have that audio narrator experience. I am with you and also don't care for books when the male narrator has a shrill quality or other issues with female pov voices. I can see Len Cariou being good for the voice of Harry. Sometimes I think the actors who read audio books just try to hard with female voices.

[Donnajo]

good month

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ann wrote: " Sometimes I think the actors who read audio books just try to hard with female voices. ..."

To take this discussion in a completely different direction, I have been amused by the sports radio kerfuffle about Notre Dame player Manti Te'o and the supposed scam about his 3-year phone relationship with a woman who turns out to have been a man. All the radio discussion about whether a man can really pull off a believable woman's voice (most said no) had me thinking about the audio readers who attempt this. I don't have such a hard time buying most male readers' attempts at a woman's voice, so I don't find that part of the scam hard to believe. Now other parts...

[Ann]

Agreed, Carol! Some make readers have perfectly acceptable female character voices. That whole story anout the phone relationship is something else.