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Joyce

Old Reader

Member Since 2004

22
HELPFUL VOTES
  • 20 reviews
  • 81 ratings
  • 220 titles in library
  • 18 purchased in 2013
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  • Outlander

    • UNABRIDGED (33 hrs and 8 mins)
    • By Diana Gabaldon
    • Narrated By Davina Porter
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (11052)
    Performance
    (5675)
    Story
    (5482)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: An all-time Audible favorite that mixes historic fiction, adventure, and romance with one of the most fascinating literary devices: time travel. Outlander introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love. In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. But their blissful reunion is shattered....

    Lulu says: "The Reason for the Existence of Audio Books"
    "Outstanding"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Any additional comments?

    This series is quite amazing. I am now on An Echo In The Bone; book 7 and fear perhaps it is the last one.

    Davina Porter has mastered many accents (Scottish, Cockney, French) and is evidently fluent in French and possibly Gaelic and Latin? Her children's voices are a delight.

    Of course, the most amazing of all is Diana Gabaldon. That one person could have produced such a detailed body of work is mind-boggling. Does she have a staff of writers as Agatha Christie was reputed to have?

    Whatever, the series hangs together beautifully. The characters become old friends.The great love that flows through the narrative could, in lesser hands, have been sentimental and embarressing. It isn’t. The characters are intelligent, brave and, perhaps most importantly, full of fun and a sense of the ironic. They also all have important work to do and do it. Massive research on so many levels was required and this reader is grateful for the hard work.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Phineas Redux: Palliser, Book 4

    • UNABRIDGED (23 hrs and 5 mins)
    • By Anthony Trollope
    • Narrated By Simon Vance
    Overall
    (8)
    Performance
    (8)
    Story
    (8)

    His beloved wife having died in childbirth, Phineas Finn finds Irish society and his job as a poorhouse inspector dull and unsatisfying, particularly after the excitement of his former career as a Member of Parliament. Back in England, the Whigs are determined to overturn the Tory majority in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since Finn had once been considered the most promising of the younger set, he is encouraged to run for office again. Bribery, romance, and murder are peppered throughout this Trollope novel.

    Joyce says: "Old classic still resonates today."
    "Top Rate"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Of all the Trollope novels, and I think, in a long life, I have read most of them them, if not all; I think I have enjoyed this one the most. Simon Vance's performance is past marvelous. He gives us a performance. He acts. He is able to switch between the varied voices and emotions of Trollope's always finely hewned characters seemlessly. I found myself happily enmeshed in these lives. He differentiates between the voices of each of the many characters, so you always know who is speaking, even in multi peopled conversations.

    This book is full of 18th Century politics, which I find fascinating. I don't think any other novelist of his day took it on. In this novel Trollope could be the Gore Vidal of his time, with less scorn, and more wit, of course.

    As is not true of Trollope's other books, this one he leaves us in suspense. I have just bought Phineas Finn Redux, and with the great Simon in charge once again, I look forward to the treat in store.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Prime Minister

    • UNABRIDGED (25 hrs and 11 mins)
    • By Anthony Trollope
    • Narrated By Simon Vance
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (4)
    Performance
    (3)
    Story
    (4)

    Unscrupulous financial speculator Ferdinand Lopez, aspiring to marry into respectability and wealth, has society at his feet, with well-connected ladies vying with each other to exert influence on his behalf. Even Lady Glencora, the wife of Plantagenet Palliser, prime minister of England, supports the exotic imposter. Palliser, respectable man of power and inherited wealth, is appalled by the rise of this man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

    Joyce says: "Fantastic"
    "Fantastic"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Part of The Palisser series. Great story and wonderful read by the great Simon Vance. More Pallisers, please.

    2 of 2 people found this review helpful
  • Reamde

    • UNABRIDGED (38 hrs and 34 mins)
    • By Neal Stephenson
    • Narrated By Malcolm Hillgartner
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (2623)
    Performance
    (2289)
    Story
    (2315)

    Richard Forthrast created T’Rain, a multibillion-dollar, massively multiplayer online role-playing game. But T’Rain’s success has also made it a target. Hackers have struck gold by unleashing REAMDE, a virus that encrypts all of a player’s electronic files and holds them for ransom. They have also unwittingly triggered a deadly war beyond the boundaries of the game’s virtual universe - and Richard is at ground zero.

    ShySusan says: "Not perfect, but worth a listen."
    "A treat"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Neal Stephenson is a genius. I can't ken his math/computer driven world, but I respect them and do the best I can. I get tremendous pleasure from his brilliant, intricate storries, his marvelously drawn interesting people, and his (in-spite-of-himself) romantic bent and above all his wit. He loves to play with language and it's a joy to follow him wherever he chooses to lead us whether we understand it all or not. You never can tell - we just might learn something.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Half-Blood Blues: A Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 12 mins)
    • By Esi Edugyan
    • Narrated By Kyle Riley
    Overall
    (32)
    Performance
    (29)
    Story
    (28)

    The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player, Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was 20 years old, a German citizen. And he was black.

    julie says: "Slow start, but worth the time."
    "Wonderful"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Half Blood Blues is brilliantly told and brilliantly read. It's fascinating that it is told in the first person by a man, but written by a woman. I don;'t remember reading another such juxtiposition of the sexes.

    Esi Edugyan tells us an epic story switching back and forth 60 years from the 1930s to the the 1990s, encompassing the demonic Nazi era in both Germany and France and peopled by very real black and white musicians caught up in the horror.

    Kyle Riley creates an accent, presumably Baltimorian black, that renders well the speech of the narrator, Syd, as well as all the other varied voices of Edugyan's many characters.

    All in all a great experience.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Gone Girl: A Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (19 hrs and 11 mins)
    • By Gillian Flynn
    • Narrated By Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (9410)
    Performance
    (8164)
    Story
    (8143)

    It is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media - as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents - the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter - but is he really a killer?

    Teddy says: "Demented, twisted, sick and I loved it!"
    "I feel cheated"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Gone Girl couldn't have been more disappointing. Cliche supporting characters and really an uninteresting wicked protagonist. There is nothing to be learned and not a moment of goodness or joy to be found in these pages.

    It came so highly praised I listened to the end, hoping for some sort of redemption for my time as well as for the book. It's really nothing but an impossible, manipulated, tiresome, tangled, hideous, and at times pornographic, plot. All in all boring and a waste of time.

    I should add that the performances are well done.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Loving Lady Marcia: House of Brady, Book 1

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 12 mins)
    • By Kieran Kramer
    • Narrated By Alison Larkin
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (12)
    Performance
    (11)
    Story
    (11)

    Of the three Brady sisters, Lady Marcia has always seemed the girl most likely to lead a perfectly charmed life. But after a handsome cad breaks her heart, she swears off love and devotes her life to teaching girls at a private school. In spite of her family's wish for a London debut, Marcia is happy where she is-until terrible news sends her back to the Brady clan...and into the arms of an unexpected suitor.

    Joyce says: "Disappointing"
    "Disappointing"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I bought this because I love to listen to Alison Larkin. However, the book is so silly! All that heavy sex, etc. in the era of Jane Austen? And none of the characters had much "going on" in their lives, apart from following the tedious plot line.. The heroine kept telling us what a great and grand educator she is, but the author doesn't allow us to see her in this role.

    Ms. Larkin's reding though really is wonderful. She has such a lovely way of rendering children.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Jane Eyre

    • UNABRIDGED (21 hrs and 47 mins)
    • By Charlotte Brontë
    • Narrated By Emma Messenger
    Overall
    (33)
    Performance
    (27)
    Story
    (27)

    Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of eponymous Jane Eyre, her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of Thornfield Hall. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism.

    A. Thompson says: "Wonderful story, wonderfully narrated"
    "Well done"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Emma Messenger does a fine job with this overall impressive version of this great classic. It was wonderful to live Jane's life again. I had read it when I was a young girl and enjoyed it much more; got much more out of it, after returning to it after many years.

    3 of 3 people found this review helpful
  • Ken Follett & John Lee Talk About Fall of Giants

    • ORIGINAL (11 mins)
    • By Ken Follett, John Lee
    • Narrated By Diana Dapito
    Overall
    (444)
    Performance
    (221)
    Story
    (220)

    Ken Follett and John Lee, the author and narrator of Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, are back together again for Fall of Giants, the first in The Century Trilogy. They recently chatted with Audible editor Diana Dapito about the new epic book, and what it was like to write and record it.

    IAmNotLynda says: "interesting interview!"
    "Tour De Force Series"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    5 decades - 5 families - 5 countries. All handled brilliantly by both the writer and the exceptional narrator, John Lee, who amazingly masters all the accents (except perhaps the American). Audible also offers a most interesting discussion between these two luminaries, which I enjoyed immensely and recommend.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • London Fields

    • ABRIDGED (3 hrs and 7 mins)
    • By Martin Amis
    • Narrated By David McCallum
    Overall
    (25)
    Performance
    (5)
    Story
    (5)

    Kelley says: "Wrong medium"
    "Ugh!"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I want to be able to read Martin Amis. He is a wonderful writer. His great friend, the sorely missed Christopher Hitchens, has been the cause of my purchasing two of his, Martin's, unreadable books. Martin, this reader needs someone in a narrative that I can stand. A lot of frightful sex doesn't do it for me. And I am sorry.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • The World at Night: Jean Casson Series, Book 1

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 57 mins)
    • By Alan Furst
    • Narrated By George Guidall
    Overall
    (121)
    Performance
    (40)
    Story
    (41)

    The World at Night is an edge-of-your-seat World War II tale of intrigue and espionage, set in the shadowy back streets and glittering salons of occupied Paris. Film producer Jean Casson, a Paris sophisticate, struggles to come to terms with the uncomfortable realities of life under German occupation, as he becomes caught up in the initial actions of what was to become the French Resistance.

    Cheryl says: "sloooow"
    "Well done!"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Written during the early days of the German occupation of France, the World of Night is told with heart and authenticity. Mr. Guidall, the narrator, brings both to this wonderful performance. The main character, Jean Claude Casson, is an "ordinary hero", a film director, a gentle lover of his country and his city, Paris. As one of his characters says, "Jean C;laude, you are loved by everyone." As he is unwillingly drawn deep into a struggle for survival and resistance I grew to love him too.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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