Lily C. Baker

(For some reason, my paragraph breaks aren't showing up on the Audible site, so I've put a slashmark at the end of each paragraph to hopefully mimic a paragraph break and make this easier to follow)/
I have enjoyed these lectures so tremendously that after listening to all 8 hours, I went right back to the beginning to re-listen and as I suspected I would, pick up a lot of fascinating information I'd missed the first listen./

Drout gives an in depth overview to a dead culture and he not only brings these ancient people to life and their most interesting characters, works, and historical events to life, but he also makes them relevant by explaining their influences to our modern cultures and language and ideas. /

I purchased this on some whim but thanks to these wonderful lectures, I have developed such a fascination and interest in the Anglo-Saxon world, I'm toying with the idea of returning to school and majoring in A-S studies! And I'm old! /

Also, I can see myself using every one of my credits for the next couple of years ONLY on the Modern Scholar series. In fact, I grit my teeth when I think of every credit wasted on crap vamp lit!

I'm going to cut and paste a large portion of my reviews of Catwings here.

My 8 year-old daughter has a type of auditory processing disorder. She's multiple grade levels ahead in reading and reading comp, but when she takes in auditory information, her mind's a blank.

I bought this short and all the other catwings titles Audible has available because I love Ursula Le Guin's adult stories, and because these are so short, which may be a turn-off for some. But though they're short, they are rich in imagery, vocabulary, and interest. I didn't want anything infantile for my daughter, because she is such a strong reader.

Jane is the youngest, and perhaps most foolish of the catwings family. Her adventures and misadventures are largely as a result of her foolhardiness which makes for great conversations with a child about the virtues of common sense and wisdom.

Ursula Le Guin has a grandmotherly quality to her voice which is pleasant. It almost feels as though you're sitting at the feet of Grams while she spins a wonderful yarn.

My daughter was captivated. As were we all. As a sidenote, I found that her school performance was better after having listening to one of these stories. Now that we've blown thru these three stories in a week, I'm on a desperate hunt for a similar listening adventure.

I'm going to cut and paste a large portion of my review from Catwings. My 8 year-old daughter has a type of auditory processing disorder. She's multiple grade levels ahead in reading and reading comp, but when she takes in auditory information, her mind's a blank.

I bought this short and all the other catwings titles Audible has available because I love Ursula Le Guin's adult stories, and because these are so short, which may be a turn-off for some. But though they're short, they are rich in imagery, vocabulary, and interest. I didn't want anything infantile for my daughter, because she is such a strong reader.

In this story, the catwings have decided to return to the city to check on their beloved mother and what they find terrifies and delights them. The story is intriguing and we were just as captivated by it as we were by the first of the stories.

The catwings are charming creatures. They're exploring their unusual gifts the same as the reader is and they do it with courage, and loyalty to each other. They face challenges, adventures, perils, and it makes for exciting listening.

Ursula Le Guin has a grandmotherly quality to her voice which is pleasant. It almost feels as though you're sitting at the feet of Grams while she spins a wonderful yarn.

As a sidenote, I found that her school performance was better after having listening to one of these stories. Now that we've blown thru these three stories in a week, I'm on a desperate hunt for a similar listening adventure.

My 8 year-old daughter has a type of auditory processing disorder. She's multiple grade levels ahead in reading and reading comp, but when she takes in auditory information, her mind's a blank.

I bought this short and all the other catwings titles Audible has available because I love Ursula Le Guin's adult stories, and because these are so short, which may be a turn-off for some. But though they're short, they are rich in imagery, vocabulary, and interest. I didn't want anything infantile for my daughter, because she is such a strong reader.

The catwings are charming creatures. They're exploring their unusual gifts the same as the reader is and they do it with courage, and loyalty to each other. They face challenges, adventures, perils, and it makes for exciting listening.

Ursula Le Guin has a grandmotherly quality to her voice which is pleasant. It almost feels as though you're sitting at the feet of Grams while she spins a wonderful yarn.

My daughter was captivated. As were we all. As a sidenote, I found that her school performance was better after having listening to one of these stories. Now that we've blown thru these three stories in a week, I'm on a desperate hunt for a similar listening adventure.

This book was on promo so I was intrigued by it's titillating premise. It's actually a really fun ramble thru some of the more interesting historical and recent sex research. And some of it is really good to know, such as, Penile Erection Dysfunction is really a misfiring of nerve impulses. So guys and gals of PED, it's not your fault!

The author narrates well, and her asides or footnotes are a hoot.

Simon Prebble has won the Golden Voice award for his narrations and this book showcases his talent nicely.

The book itself has a wonderful protagonist in Bartimaeus, but all other characters were a little one-dimensional (evil, good, cowardly, etc.) and the other main character, the child Nathaniel is not just flawed, but downright unlikeable. Because of these weaknesses of the book, I found myself slogging thru it when Bartimaeus wasn't around to keep up my waning attention.

I couldn't have said it better: slow, pedantic narration, plodding, pedantic writing. ick.

And this from a master of Regency! I would say this is her rare slip up and anything from her is worth reading or listening to, except by this narrator.

I love Jim Butcher. I think he must be the most optimistic person on the planet. Although he writes of ghastly things that go bump in the night in some pretty graphically violent scenes, there isn't a character in his book that isn't above redemption. That and friendship and true love are themes in this absolutely delightful series. And Marsters embodies all of the many characters of this series with distinct voices and personalities until you're lost in the experience and forget that you're listening, not watching the action happen.

I started this series with book 8 and have been jumping all over although based on reviews, I've avoided the first 4 books. I've enjoyed every book since Butcher takes pains to bring a reader up to date with backstory details when needed. And, I can tell that Butcher's matured as an author. All of his books have been great, but this was weaker in terms of a natural feel to the dialogue and the plot felt a little convenient at times. In the following books, the stories are tighter and the dialogue is snappy, but doesn't feel as contrived.

I thought this might be a sensual romp like Fanny Hill, but it's more of a character study of a liberally minded female in a very stringently male dominated 19th century England.

What I found disturbing and probably accurate to the period was the wholly unappealing realities of the day for a woman with no protectors or prospects. The first quarter of the book the protagonist finds herself at the mercy of greedy, perfidous orphanage managers who deal in the trade of child slavery to lecherous pedophiles, cadaver-robbing, the inside view of prostitution and the licentious privileged who simply saw the underprivileged as outlets for whatever their needs. It's bleak and disturbing.

Cozette is resourceful and rises above her situation to lead a relatively happy existence though the ending where she confronts her ex-lover was really confusing to me. She seemed to be mildly intrigued by the man until he became wealthy? So in the end I stopped rooting for her and found her unlikable. Also, I found myself wondering all the time about the fate of the other unfortunates she meets in her situations.

I liked the reader's very much and she kept me engaged and NOT annoyed in the way a bad reader voice can. I also liked the intelligent writing and ironically was able to appreciate that she would include the darker realities of the day in her writing to add weight and authenticity.

Cozette is an intriguing character with pluck and a powerful sexual obsession with a couple of men, but the read was unpleasant in the beginning and dissatisfying at the end.

I love the Dresden world, I love the Chicago of his dreams and nightmares, the people and creatures who inhabit it, and I love Harry and his flaws and foibles and victories.

Jim Butcher must be one of the most positive writers on the planet. He's forever finding something interesting and worthwhile in underworld lords, demons, succubi, and anyone else who has blown it bigtime. His stories have an undercurrent of redemption and hope and I find myself smiling whenever I think of these novels with their graphic violence, murder, and mayhem as being feel-good!

But the books take moments to ponder philosophical ideas and complicated problems of pain and suffering and true love and beauty and elevate the standard noir material to something deeper and thoughtful. I love that.

I very occasionally get tired of Harry's drollery when it's in an improbably precarious predicament, and I personally get tired of the drawn out battle scenes, in the same way I do when I watch LOTR or any action film. But those are minor quibbles to a series of characters and events I find appealing and compelling.

This book in particular was one of the best of six books I've read so far. And I've read them out of order which while probably not ideal, hasn't diminished my enjoyment of the series and only vary rarely do I find myself confused by plot because Butcher does a good job of keeping readers up to speed on important history and backdrops.

I've never been much interested in Chicago until I picked up this series!