House of Jaghuts 2020!

[Virginie]

Oh yeah, Kramer is def. slow, but there's something about his voice that makes it difficult for my non-native ear to understand when speeding him up too much.
So... My mind starts to wander if I keep him at x1.8-9, but I'm struggling to understand if I go above x2... That's why I'm not fond of his narration :/

Wouldn't be able to do TTS. I really need proper pronunciation and intonation to parse the words.

[Chris]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chris wrote: "I should start counting all the books I read with the grandson."

Gotta read that Cosmere book when it comes out... Sanderson is in talks to turn the story Hoid & Shallan told about t..."

I would totally get that if if comes out. His mom would approve too - she's a big Sanderson fan too.

[Navi]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm starting to feel like I could listen to some books at 3.5-4x speed...."

Peeking from the other team. This is UNREAL! I would not be able to retain any information lol!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Navi wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm starting to feel like I could listen to some books at 3.5-4x speed...."

Peeking from the other team. This is UNREAL! I would not be able to retain any information lol!"

Audio speedup has done wonders for my daily reading totals... I don't tend to read too much dense fantasy/etc, tho... I stick to things I can retain at higher speeds... but I manage as much as 36-48hrs of audio in a single day at 3x speed... that's nearly a whole Stormlight Archive book...

[Anni]

Virginie wrote: "Oh yeah, Kramer is def. slow, but there's something about his voice that makes it difficult for my non-native ear to understand when speeding him up too much.
So... My mind starts to wander if I ke..."

I don’t really like his narration eigher... I can't listen to him at 1- 1.2x, because it feels so extremely slow, but I also don't like how he sounds speed up...
Also I guess the speaker in my car aren't the best, but his voice is so strangely deep that they make kind of distorted noises 😅

[Zaara]

Happy New Year, Team! Just checking in...began my first two books of the year and restarting a couple more and now gonna go OD on the BR threads...

[Anni]

Zaara wrote: "Happy New Year, Team! Just checking in...began my first two books of the year and restarting a couple more and now gonna go OD on the BR threads..."

Happy new year Zaara and yay, I was so happy that we're in the same team this year :)

[Chris]

Definitely liking this team :)

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Chris wrote: "Definitely liking this team :)"

We are pretty stellar. :)

[Bill]

We are but have you seen Julia’s points already? She has more points than our top 3 combined. Kids these days.

[Soo]

I have friends that listen at 3-4x but I think they are only listening to the audiobook and not really multitasking. Last year, I settled between 2.35-2.75x average. I am always multitasking. The fastest I can listen is 3.5x and 4x for a few narrators. I have to mix genres & regular to complex plot to keep myself engaged. Wandering Inn will be good foil to work on reading & listening to different stories. 👌

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Bill wrote: "We are but have you seen Julia’s points already? She has more points than our top 3 combined. Kids these days."

She’ll be back to school, Monday...

[Bill]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Bill wrote: "We are but have you seen Julia’s points already? She has more points than our top 3 combined. Kids these days."

She’ll be back to school, Monday..."

Oh good.

[Soo]

I don't think that will slow her down too much. LoL
I promise to catch up with Iain. =D =D =D

[Siobhan]

Soo wrote: "I don't think that will slow her down too much. LoL
I promise to catch up with Iain. =D =D =D"

Go Soo!! :D

[Bea]

Siobhan wrote: "Soo wrote: "I don't think that will slow her down too much. LoL
I promise to catch up with Iain. =D =D =D"

Go Soo!! :D"

Iain, you need to counter that!! :D

[Bea]

Started my first book of the year yesterday ( Kraken). Let's see if I can handle Mieville right now 😅

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My only counter is consistency... Julia has summer camp and school reqs... so does other things than reading, to keep life interesting... K’ll be here for the next 300 days ;)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Soo does*

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think I’m on book 7-8... Dispel Illusion, Crownbreaker, Trapped!, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, Vanished, Rotherweird, Legacy of the Demon... 7

[Soo]

Iain, you should take up exploring parks. You can listen and walk outdoors. If I can climb & listen, you can do it. 😁

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

I've finally finished all my books from 2019 so I will finally be able to start adding points to the challenge soon!

[Mel]

I started my first book of the year, Starsight. About halfway though and enjoying it. Should be able to add some points before too long. :)

[Bill]

Melissa wrote: "I started my first book of the year, Starsight. About halfway though and enjoying it. Should be able to add some points before too long. :)"

How you liking it? I’m not as big a fan of his YA stuff so have been putting it off but will probably read it when it’s completed.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Welcome to the House of Jaghuts, Karishma!

[Karishma]

Hello everyone!!

[Bill]

Welcome to the team!

[Anni]

Bea wrote: "Started my first book of the year yesterday ( Kraken). Let's see if I can handle Mieville right now 😅"

Wow, you're startig the year strong. Good luck with it! :)

[Anni]

With The Faceless Ones I finished my first book of the year :) It was rather predictable, but fun nevertheless.

[Virginie]

Karishma wrote: "Hello everyone!!"

I've created your scoresheet based on the template with monthly stats. Head to the Spreadsheet thread if you want particular features added to it, or if you've got questions :)

[Bea]

Karishma wrote: "Hello everyone!!"

Welcome! :)

[Bea]

Sir Anni wrote: "Bea wrote: "Started my first book of the year yesterday ( Kraken). Let's see if I can handle Mieville right now 😅"

Wow, you're startig the year strong. Good luck with it! :)"

Thanks! (Predictably) I'm struggling with the language a little bit (everybody who's read Mieville before will probably know what I mean). My biggest problem is that all of the characters seem to talk in slang and there's lot's of dialogue. I always find it so much harder to read slang than 'regular' english, anybody else?
Anyway, the overall concept is pretty cool :)

[Mel]

Bill wrote: "Melissa wrote: "I started my first book of the year, Starsight. About halfway though and enjoying it. Should be able to add some points before too long. :)"

How you liking it? I’m not as big a fan of his YA stuff so have been putting it off but will probably read it when it’s completed."

I'm enjoying it so far. I know what you mean about some of his other YA series. I've read the 1st book in a couple, and then not felt the need to continue.

I'm also the type that prefers to wait for a series to finish before starting if possible. Especially with Sanderson who is constantly juggling half a dozen series at once and may take 5-10 years to return to a particular one... it's understandable to want to wait. I'll have to finish to see if it ends at a good stopping point.

[Mel]

Welcome to the team, Karishma!

[Hailee]

Jenna wrote: "Welcome to the House of Jaghuts, Karishma!"

Welcome to the team!

[Anni]

Bea wrote: "Sir Anni wrote: "Bea wrote: "Started my first book of the year yesterday ( Kraken). Let's see if I can handle Mieville right now 😅"

Wow, you're startig the year strong. Good luck wi..."

I started one of his books some time ago, can't remember the name right now, but it was the one where one of the characters had a bug instead of a head 😂

And I feel you on the slang part, sometines it gets that bad, that I have to google certain phrases... Of course only if I care enough to know 😅

[Yanique, Thread Master]

So I'm making my third attempt at Worm this year and I just started my first 1000+ pager for the year with The Neutronium Alchemist.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yanique wrote: "So I'm making my third attempt at Worm this year and I just started my first 1000+ pager for the year with The Neutronium Alchemist."

I need to give the first book another go, sometime... wasn't feeling it during the BR last January...

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Yanique wrote: "So I'm making my third attempt at Worm this year and I just started my first 1000+ pager for the year with The Neutronium Alchemist."

I need to give the first book an..."

Yeah, the first one had to grow on me. I'm maybe going to marathon the last two to keep the momentum.

[Bea]

Sir Anni wrote: "Bea wrote: "Sir Anni wrote: "Bea wrote: "Started my first book of the year yesterday ( Kraken). Let's see if I can handle Mieville right now 😅"

Wow, you're startig the year strong. ..."

Probably Perdido Street Station, it has a female character with a bug head 🦗😆

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

To all the naysayers, I TOLD you consistency was the name of my game... until Soo swoops ahead, anyway... ;)

I have the lead right now, however short-lived, assuming Julia's page is up-to-date... I've still got some more points in me today, too... got some BRs and quick reads lined up, to try and stay ahead...

So in my last book update, I had Vanished! recorded, only to realize I was reading Trapped!... solved by reading both... 4 stars each -- 5.8 + 5.8 points -- Middle-grade mysteries, listened with VoiceDream Text-To-Speech app...

Rotherweird -- 3 stars -- 6.9 points... this is a story with too many characters... I described it in the BR thread as fantastical / farcical, in turns...

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing & The Woman Who Died a Lot -- 5 stars -- 4.6 + 4.5 points -- at this point, I just love Jasper Fforde... these are the last 2 Thursday Next books, and I've already read the Nursery Crime books... all I have left is The Last Dragonslayer, Shades of Grey, and some standalone...

Legacy of the Demon -- 4 stars -- 5.3 points -- newest Kara Gillian book, and probably my favorite in awhile... I've had a rocky relationship with this series, over the years, but this being the 2nd to last book means that so many questions are getting answered, instead of just adding new ones...

How to Marry a Werewolf -- 4 stars -- 2.2 points -- nice little Steampunk PNR novella in the Parasol Protectorate world... I remember Major Channing of the Chesterfield Channings fondly from the original series... adding an American element to the story was interesting, too...

Tehanu -- 3 stars -- 3.2 points -- don't lynch me... I've been pushing forward with my read-through of the Earthsea series, even tho it's just been OK to me... I was inspired to by all the talk surrounding her death last year... I was really interested by the afterword from Ursula K. Le Guin, here, about why it took her 20 years to come back to Earthsea, and tell this story...

Poirot's Early Cases: 18 Hercule Poirot Mysteries -- 3 stars -- 4.6 points -- this wasn't a bad 3 stars... I rate a lot of mysteries 3 stars... but alot of these were over barely before they began... and a couple sounded familiar from other anthologies I've been working through in relative chronological order...

From Lukov with Love -- 4 stars -- 5.2 points -- I went into this Mariana Zapata romance with trepidation... a lot of friends/reviewers felt it was too similar to other MZ romances... and you can definitely see it, but I think I waited long enough that I enjoyed it anyway... there are also definite Cutting Edge vibes here, too... without the hockey element...

Penric’s Mission -- 4 stars -- 3.9 points -- been working through the last of the World of the Five Gods stories, lately, in my push to clear my TBR... these novellas are pretty short, so I just fit them in when I can... it's nice having some Bujold left to read, after reading most of the World of the Five Gods, and ALL of the Vorkosigan Saga, already...

NEXT UP:

Also planning to get to at some point, to explore Martha Wells more, if anyone is interested in a BR...

[Siobhan]

Your next up list looks awesome, Iain! More JVN love! ❤️

[Virginie]

Jumping in to say YAY City of Bones! I loved it! Also, same narrator as Super Powereds. You can hear the Nick and Vince in one character, depending on his mood :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "Jumping in to say YAY City of Bones! I loved it! Also, same narrator as Super Powereds. You can hear the Nick and Vince in one character, depending on his mood :)"

I picked it up to read on your recommendation back in October/November, I think, then pushed it to 2019 as I got more and more into clearing my TBR before New Years'...

[Anni]

Virginie wrote: "Jumping in to say YAY City of Bones! I loved it! Also, same narrator as Super Powereds. You can hear the Nick and Vince in one character, depending on his mood :)"

Now I have to buy the audiobook!!!

[Em Lost In Books]

@Iain - when are you planning to read City of Bones?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Em Lost In Books wrote: "@Iain - when are you planning to read City of Bones?"

When do you want to? ;D

[Em Lost In Books]

after 15?

[Soo]

Iain, obviously I need to up my game. You took #1 from Julia. =D

You just wait. If I can read Wandering Inn Vol4-6, that's like 11000 pages. *insert crazy laugh* Though, that may take me until summer to get in. lol

[Zaara]

Jenna wrote: "Welcome to the House of Jaghuts, Karishma!"

Welcome!