ArtC

Who knew that a preteen point of view could hold my attention as well as my empathy?

Yes... But spanning a weekend DIY Project. It would be a great road trip listen.

I'll be buying the rest in the series.

Witty, Winsome and Warm.

The story was solid, and the character is just enchanting. You get enough hints to guess your way ahead a little, but not enough to give the plot away.

Unlike other reviewers who hated the narration, I think it is one of my favorite components of this series. You can hear the smile in her voice, and get drawn into her self-delight as she figures things out. I find myself smiling along with Flavia and Jane, and people around me ask me what I am chuckling at.

I've smiled all the way through the first two books.

I've bought the whole series now, - -saving the last two for vacation - and am putting them on my ever evolving "recommending to friends" list. They are just delightful and smart!

The details are interesting, but the going is slow.

I find Paul and her relationship with him extremely interesting.

I don't think she had quite the right character of voice to do Julia justice. She was a little too modulated and didn't capture a very wide variety of personalities. But it didn't ruin the experience for me, like a truly bad narrator or recording can.

lt spurred me to look up pics of young Julia and Paul on the internet.

it took me a really long time to get through it, but on the other-hand was a great fall-to-sleep book, which i always need one of in my library.

Wow. Everyone should, if only to rail against it.

I'm no literature major, but It's shocking how propaganda gets disguised as story. I though Tolstoy's Anna Karennina was thinly veiled politics. I'm not sure this even tries to be story.

Disinterest.

I've listened to half a dozen books that detail the asian female's plight through oppression, war and emmegration. This is no Memoir of a Geisha or Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The story leaps about, articulating what happened to certain women, but putting you inside none of them.I simpler didn't get enough empathy to tell them part. After a few hours, I was not connected enough to catch the jumps, or know or care where what perspective I was currently veiwing. Hopelessly lost, I put it away, thinking that perhaps I'd go back, and simply never did. Over 800 books, and this is only one of two that I've never finished

I adore books that transport you to another place and let you eat, sleep, and look around while keeping you entertained with a good story.

It was interesting to learn a little more about French immegration and political history. I had google a few of the mentioned skirmishes to get a feel for the implied import.

Believable. Just haughty enough.

A little egotistical, but then the best French Detectives are, now, aren't they?

Bought the next two. . . He's doing a pretty good job of not being formulaic, but this first is the most enthralling.

Shakespeare for Dummies.

If you love Shakespeare and you like to laugh, this parody is a weekend well-spent! Especially since it takes the most tragic of his works, and turns it on it's ear.

Colin's voice and the wartime setting combines to paint mental images of classic cinema in your imagination. You are not just doing your gardening, listening to a book. You are gardening in England, in the midst of moral dilemma, while the world crumbles around you.

There are no right answers. About anything. Anywhere. Ever.

I'm writing this 2 years after my original listen , because I've found that not only have I bought the authors other novels, but am haunting her website, watching for her next. I remember it starting off at a deliberate pace, but was drawn in and didn't guess the culprit until it was revealed.

It's been long enough now, that I'll probably re-listen to them in order as a prep for the new release, a treat that I reserve for very few authors.

Start collecting!

If her sister Anne had written it.
Charlotte Bronte has a gift for thick description that is unsurpassed. The books translate so much detail that they make beautiful movies, but by the time she stops describing things and gets moving into dialog, your apt to forget why the characters are in the room!
I had thought my distaste for her writing style was mired in the moors of my young forays into Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Absolutely loved the movies, but alas, the words themselves meander and then so does my mind. As much as I try, seems that Charlotte is doomed to bore me.

Still working my way through the classics, but of the Bronte sisters, I'll stick with Anne. It did remind me of another arduous read-Tolsoy's Anna Karininna - in that the point of the book was less about the woman, and more about the politics and morals that the offer is trying to relay.

A reference to Shirley being a boys name sent me researching the origins and popularity of the name Shirley over time. Unfortunately it was the most
interesting thing I can recall about he book.

I'm working my way through the classics, and keep heading back to Moore for my lighthearted breaks. So far, this one is second only to "Lamb" (which may be unsurpassable).

Absolutely wanted to drink it in all at once, but alas, life interrupts.

If you are a fan of French Impressionism, parodies, or Moore, this book is for you. It was the most fun I spent with headphones on this spring.

Don't miss the downloadable PDF, which gives you reference images of masterworks that quite helpful to review as you listen.