Top Ten Tuesday: V is for...

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Villains (favorite, best, worst, lovable, creepiest, most evil, etc.). 

I did start having a think about villains and a couple did spring to mind, but not ten, so in the end I decided to twist the topic a little bit. V is for villains but it can also be for many other words, so here are my ten V is for....books

V is for Venetia by Georgette Heyer - I couldn't not include this book seeing as I have listened to it at least 4 times. Narrated by Richard Armitage this is an ultimate comfort book to listen to. Aural bliss! (review)

V is for Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain - This was such a fun read. A group of strangers share a bottle of wine from 1954 and find themselves back in the past. (mini review)

V is for Voice of the Falconer by David Blixt - I loved, loved, lovedthe first book I read by David Blixt which was The Master of Verona. This was the sequel to that book and I thoroughly enjoyed that one too! (review)

V is for Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I mean, there are a whole heap of books in this series set in a town called Virgin River, and a few of them have the word virgin in the title. I couldn't not have at least one of them in the list! (post about the whole series)

V is for Vision in White by Nora Roberts - I loved this whole series of four books which features a group of wedding planners, coordinators, florists etc who work together and it's their turn to fall in love!

V is for Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik - As soon as I saw this title I knew I would have to have a V for Victory included in the list. This book is the 5th book in the excellent Temeraire series by Naomi Novik which features dragons and Napoleonic history. So much fun! (reviews from earlier books in the series)

V is for The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell - This was an enjoyable dual timeline which tells the story of the Champagne region of France and the events that happened there during WWI

V is for The Visitors by Jane Harrison - This book tells the story of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney but from the perspective of the indigenous people who were already here.

V is for The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods - I would love to be in Venice. Sigh. 

V is for The Village Cafe in the Loire by Gillian Harvey - I would, however, be just as content to be sitting at a cafe in the Loire as well! (review)

There are plenty of other words that I could have used for this list, but there are ten books with titles begining with V.

Top Ten Tuesday: Rereads

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I’d Like to Re-read (Share either your favorite books that you enjoy re-reading or books that you’d like to read again!) (Submitted by Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog)

I am not normally a re-reader so originally I was thinking that I would do something different this week and actually have a post started on a different theme where I have got 10 books selected. Then when I thought about it some more I did wonder if I could make it to a list of 10 books that I have re-read, and I could! I guess that means my next freebie post is pretty much already done! Yay for me!

Here are 10 books I have re-read.

Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I could actually include most of the Virgin River series in this post, with the exception of the last book which I still haven't read yet. I read all the original books in the series back in 2010-2011, and then proceeded to re-read the first 7 books in the series over the course of two weeks in 2012. Here is a post about the whole series and how it made me break several of my own rules

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley -  I have re-read this book three times so far, twice by reading the book and once on audio with the most recent time being earlier this year, and I still loved it! Note the words so far. There is every chance I will read this again at some point. It is a bit odd though. I have other Kearsley books that I have loved but I haven't re-read any of those. Maybe I should. Here is my most recent post about this book 

Hogfather by Terry Pratchell - Listening to this in the lead up to Christmas has become one of my Christmas traditions over the last four years. I first read it back in 2007 which means that so far I have read it 5 times. 

The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson - This is now part of my Christmas tradition too. I first listened to in 2023. I enjoyed it so much that I forced my husband to listen to it too so in the end I listened to it twice in a week. My original post about this book is here

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas - Ah, Sebastian and Evie! What a book. What an author! I wish she was still writing. (my review)

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Ah, Thomas Mackee, you break my heart. I have actually read a few of Melina Marchetta's books a couple of times but my favourite thing is to listen to the audiobook of The Piper's Son. I have listened to it five times now, including three times in about a month. It just affected me that much! I haven't listened to it for a few years now, but I have thought about listening to it again. 

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - If I had to describe my idea of aural bliss it is Richard Armitage narrating Georgette Heyer's books. I have relistened to Venetia three times and Sylvester four times after initially reading it! (original review)

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie - I had forgotten that I had re-read this one until I was searching through my blog looking for inspiration for this post. (My review)

Relish by Lucy Knisley -  I had read this years ago and then it was selected for Cook the Books a couple of years ago. I did enjoy revisiting it! (My Cook the Books post)

Poison Study by Maria V Snyder - Years ago I read and loved the first three books in the series. A couple of years ago I decided that it was time to read the whole series. I started by rereading the first two book and never got any further. One day I will read that whole series. One day! (my original review)

Are you a re-reader?

Countdown to 2025: Day 11

 This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 11 and the prompt for today is Mistletoe – a little bit of romance

Now, I read quite a bit of romance, so the question of whether this means a book with just a touch of romance or a full on one one took a bit of thought. In the end though, at the last minute I decided to go with an old school romance.

I listen to this book, Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, every couple of years because it is narrated by Richard Armitage. It is, to put it mildly, aural bliss. He also narrates Venetia, so maybe next year it will be that books turn for a re-listen.

Tomorrow's prompt is Holly and Ivy – a book with great world building

Top Ten Tuesday: Not new!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR (submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits)

As I have a tendency to do, I have twisted this week's topic just a bit. Like most of us, I have a tendency to read new books, so my post this week is all about the books I have read this year that were published before 2020.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai - originally published in 2013. I have the follow up book ready to read on my Kindle. (review)

Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - originally published in 2018. Seeing this author at Melbourne Writers Festival is one of my highlight for this year. (review)

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa - originally published in 2010. Interesting that the first three are all Japanese books.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - originally published in 1957. One of my all time favourite audiobook experiences is listening to Richard Armitage narrate the books of Georgette Heyer. I tend to listen to them every couple of years ago. Audible bliss!

Relish by Lucy Knisley -  originally published in 2013. This was a Cook the Books selection and a re-read for me. (post)

The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith - originally published in 2015. It had been a good few years since I had listened to or read one of the Precious Ramotswe books. Highly recommend the audio versions. Might be time for the next one.

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs - originally published in 2017 - Another Cook the Books selection (review)

Song of the Sun God by Shankari Chandran - originally published in 2017. I loved the first Chandran book I read so I decided to give this one a go on audio.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - originally published in 2001 - This is another Cook the Books selection. (review)

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - originally published in 2012 - I did do a bit of a Antoine Laurain binge this year. Another book I read by him was published on 4 January 2020 so just missed out on being counted for this purpose 

So, what have I learned from this? I am likely to read older books thanks to Cook the Books. I am also likely to read older books in translation or to listen to them on audio. And it must just be a coincidence that so many of the surnames of these authors start with a K right?

This week...

 I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I started reading a book because it was calling to me. Unfortunately, a different book started calling my name and so I ended up reading No. 23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer instead. I really enjoyed it, so no regrets, but now I need to try and fit the other book in.

I also finished reading Relish by Lucy Knisley. I will have a review up for my reread of that book on the weekend.

Now I need to decide what to read next. Should I read  one of my upcoming blog tour books even though I have about 3 weeks, or just a normal review book, whatever I feel like from my TBR list, or one of the 3 library books I have out. Decisions, decisions.

I also finished listening to Richard Armitage whisper sweet nothings in my ear. Actually he was narrating the book Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. Alway such a treat to listen to one of these books

I wasn't sure what to listen to next. However, last week I tried a new post out called Time Travel Thursday and I was reminded that 10 years ago I was reading one of the books in the No. Ladies Detective Agency and so I decided to listen to The Woman Who Walks in Sunshine, the next book for me in the series. It will also count for my Read on a Theme bookclub as well, so I will have read two books for this month.

I'm watching

We finished a couple of things this week. Firstly, we finished Bake Off : The Professionals which is a show that we love.

We also finished watching Masters of the Air, which is the story of the 100th Bomber Group from WWII. After finishing the last episode, we also watched a documentary called The Bloody Hundredth which features interviews with the actual men who lived the story from the TV series.

Last week, we watched the first part of The Three Musketeers, which was called The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan. This weekend we went and watched the sequel, The Three Musketeers: Milady. Interestingly, both of these movies were filmed at the same time. The end of the movie definitely lends itself to another movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a third movie.

Finally, I felt the need for something a bit fun so I watched Irish Wish on Netflix, which stars Lindsay Lohan. It wasn't bad. Here's the trailer.

Life

Last Tuesday night we went to see Pink in concert. This is the third time I have seen her live. The first two times it was in an arena, but this time it was in a stadium, so just Pink, her band and dancers, and 59998 other people! She always puts on an amazing show.

I also did a cooking class for a Maltese Easter treat called Fogilla. I am looking forward to sharing that experience with you all in a couple of weeks.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Read on a theme bookclub

Time Travel Thursday 

Blog Tour: The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey

Weekend Cooking: Ready, Steady....Cook

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

This Week...

I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I started reading The Paris Cooking School which I have now finished and really enjoyed. However, I probably won't post the review for this one until July, as it will be a perfect Weekend Cooking post for Paris in July.

I also mentioned that I wasn't sure what I would listen to next. I ended up deciding to go back to something I have listened to a few times but not for a few years now. I chose to re-listen to Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, as narrated by Richard Armitage. Hello aural bliss!! 

I am on a blog tour for A Villa with a View by Julie Caplin later this week so I started and finished that this week. It bought back a lot of memories of our trip to Italy early last year.

While I was in Sydney last week, my read on a theme bookclub met and they decided that our next theme would be Crime: Fact or Fiction. I have had Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club waiting for me for a while so this seems like a good time to start reading it! Apparently I missed a cracker of a conversation. Our previous theme was "Outside Your Comfort Zone" and one of our older members decided it was time to read Fifty Shades of Grey which led to a lot of talk!

I'm watching

We are part way through several series but we didn't make a lot of progress this week. We did go and see Dune Part 2. We went a bit further afield from our closest cinema so we could get the reclining seats and it was worth it

Life

On Thursday I had a leaders day where we talked all about Diversity Equity and Inclusion. It was a full on day, but very interesting. Normally after a day like that I would go home exhausted but not this week as Ie went to see the theatre adaptation of Pip Williams' A Dictionary of Lost Words based on her book of the same name. Whilst I haven't read Dictionary, I have read the accompanying book, The Book Binders of Jericho. I really enjoyed the play, but I was exhausted by the end of the day!

In other exciting news, our holiday plans for August/September are starting to come together. I am so excited about some of the plans and I can't wait to share my experiences with you all!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Trees

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March links

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in February

Six Degrees of Separation: Tom Lake to A Game of Thrones

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday: Celebrity audiobook narrators

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the them

e is Favorite Audiobook Narrators (or, if you don’t listen to audiobooks, name people—celebrities or otherwise—who might make you reconsider.) I have decided to go with celebrity audiobook narrators, but I am trying to not choose examples where they are reading their own autobiography. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it might make a good topic another day, but not today.

Richard Armitage - It's no coincidence that I have started with RA. I mean...that voice equals aural bliss. I have listened to a number of books narrated by him. My absolute favourites are his narrations of Georgette Heyers books including Venetia and a couple of others. Might be time to listen to those again.

Emma Thompson - In my Audible library I have the Turn of the Screw. The introduction is narrated by Richard Armitage but the rest of the book is narrated by Emma Thompson.

Joanne Froggatt - Best known for her role in Downton Abbey, Joanna Froggatt narrated The Clockmakers Daughter

Stephen Fry - Fry narrates a lot of his own books, but for the purposes of this post I am interested in his narration of the Harry Potter books.

Dan Stevens - Stevens has narrated a number of books. It was only as I was writing this post that I realised that he has narrated a couple of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's book. I see one of those audiobooks in my future.

Wil Wheaton - Best known for his role on Star Trek, Wheaton narrated both Ready Player One and The Martian which I recently enjoyed.

Kathy Bates - I listened to her narrate an abridged version of A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley years ago. I didn't love it but it does count for the purposes of this post.

Bill Nighy - The last couple of years I have listened to Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. The main narration is by reading Sian Clifford, Death is voiced by Peter Serafinowicz and the footnotes by Bill Nighy.

Tony Robinson - The earlier version of Hogfather was narrated by Tony Robinson. I love watching his TV shows from Time Team to his shows about London, about trains, about anything really.

Phillipa Soo -If we talk about more modern stories, the I am going to mention The Stand In by Philippa Soo. I first heard of Philippa Soo when she starred in Hamilton.

Have you listened to any of these celebrities read audiobooks? Or other?

Six Degrees of Separation: From Rules of Civility to Venetia

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

The starting point for this month is Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. When this was announced as the starting point I boldly declared that my starting point would likely be a different author that I know I should have read but haven't. Except...it's not.

Instead, my starting point is Everyman's Rules for Scientific Thinking by Carrie Tiffany because...rules. 

My next choice is a different kind of science - cryptology - which is the science of making and breaking codes. The breaking of enemy codes during  WWII is central to The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, one of my favourite reads of 2021.

Having pondered on the words rules and codes, I found myself thinking of the words of Captain Barbarosa from The Pirates of the Carribean

And when you start thinking along the lines of pirates, this leads me to Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown, which I have been reading recently. This book features a lady pirate who is sailing the seas, intent on revenge against those who done her wrong.

Bear with me while I do a litte hop and a skip to get to my next link! I was thinking about lady pirates and the scene that came to mind was from that iconic, so bad it's good, early 1980's movie, The Pirate Movie. This was based on the musical The Pirates of Penzance, and Penzance is in Cornwall

Now there are a number of choices that could be made for books set in Cornwall. Daphne du Maurier for is an obvious choice for starters, but instead I am going to choose Ross Poldark by Winston Graham. This is the first book in the Poldark series which was adapted for TV a while ago.

My next choice is also a period drama TV adaptation - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Now I could share a book cover, but instead I bring you a gratuitous picture of Richard Armitage as Mr Thornton.

It's funny how often my direction changes while I am writing these posts. I start out mapping out the links nd then as I am writing the words around it, the choices change. Instead of going to a book with East in the title, I am instead going to choose Venetia by Georgette Heyer. Why, you ask? Because the abridged audiobook is one of my favourite audiobook experiences of all time. I have listened to it multiple times and still love it. And who is the narrator? Why it is Richard Armitage, which equals aural bliss!

Next month the starting point is No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Heaven only knows where I will end up!

This Week....

I'm reading....

Recently at work one of my friends mentioned a book called Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson and suggested that I would like it, so I promptly requested it from the library. I like music and books so it did seem like a book that I would like. It was only when I picked the book up and actually read the blurb that I realised that it was set in two places - Sheffield in the UK and Adelaide in Australia. Coincidentally I lived in Sheffield for 4 years in the late 90s and I lived in Adelaide from the time I was 10 to around 23 and then for another couple of years after I came back to Australia before I moved to Melbourne.

I also started and finished listening to The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. I haven't really listened to much Pratchett, mainly because I wasn't sure how all the footnotes would work. Recently there was a new unabridged version released and I thought I would give it a go, and I really enjoyed it. The narrators were Sian Clifford, Bill Nighy for the footnotes and Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Death. I can definitely see myself listening to this again in the future. It's a perfect listen for this time of year.

Yesterday, I had to take my mother for a COVID test so she can go back to Adelaide and spent 4 hours in the queue. I started listening to Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams while waiting. I've heard a lot about Flanagan but I haven't actually read him before.

This will be one of my first reads for the Aussie Author Challenge hosted at Booklover Book Reviews which I last participated in several years ago.  For years, I have been done the Aussie Women Writers Challenge. That challenge is changing next year to focus on 18th and 19th century writers, which I am not really interested in. I have really enjoyed focussing on women writers, but more particularly on Aussie authors, so I am going to sign up for the Aussie Author Challenge in 2022. I am going to sign up at the Wallaroo level, the definition of which is

Read and review 6 books written by Australian authors, of which at least 2 of those authors are female, at least 2 of those authors are male, and at least 2 of those authors are new to you; Fiction or non-fiction, at least 2 different genre.

The challenge for me, other than reviewing, is finding male authors. The female and Australian part  is easy, but male not so much!!

Speaking of reading challenges, don't forget about the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here

I'm watching...

It's been out a few weeks but we finally started watching The Great! and it is as good as the first season. I think we will finish it later today.

On the festive front, we watched Christmas on the Farm, an Australian Christmas movie. I actually enjoyed it for the most part. It certainly isn't the worst  Christmas movie I have ever watched.

On the other hand, I was super keen to watch Christmas in Paris because, you know, Christmas and Paris, but it really wasn't that great. We won't talk about the fact that more of the movie was in Montana than in Paris, but the bits that were there were beautiful. I am hoping we might make it to Paris for Christmas next year, but we will see.

On Christmas night we wathed The Abominable Snow Baby which is based on a story by Terry Pratchett. It wasn't really what I thought it might  be but it was a nice way to spend 30 minutes or so.

I also gave myself a treat and watched the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley, the ones where she marries Richard Armitage. It's been a couple of years since I have watched it but I do like to watch it at this time of year!! It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I still laugh.

Life

Well Christmas has been and gone with everything associated with that. My brother, nephew and mother have been here to visit so it was nice to gather together, along with my brother in law's  aunt and cousins.

The week before Christmas I went to the Gabrielle Chanel Fashion Manifesto exhibition which is currently on. I am not really a fashionista so I was done much quicker than my firends but it was still an interesting exhibition. There was also an exhibition called Bark Ladies which featured indigenous artists which I liked too

I now have a few days off so I am looking forward to some chill time.

Festive treats...

Not a lot of time for new festive treats this week.  The only thing I got to watch was Christmas in Rome. I needed to prove that I am not all about Paris. Not all of the time!

Here are the festive treats I have read, listened and watched so far this year:

1. Flora's Travelling Christmas Shop by Rebecca Raisin

2. The Happiest Season 

3. The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan

4. Love Harder 

5. A Castle for Christmas

6. Hawkeye

7.  Christmas Train - Paul Kelly

8. Christmas with my Father

9. Wintertime Dreams: A Parisian Christmas- Tatiana Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band

10. Single all the Way

11. Christmas in Rome

12. Christmas in Paris

13. The Hogfather

14. Christmas on the Farm

Posts from the last two weeks

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer TBR

Christmas Quotes: From the Last Charm

Christmas Quotes: The Christmas Cactus

Weekend Cooking: Baking Kit Crazy

Christmas Quotes: Bringing Hope

Christmas Quotes: What Will the Neighbours Think?

Christmas Quotes: The Christmas Ornament

Weekend Cooking: Merry Christmas

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Six Degrees of Separation: The Turn of the Screw to Ready Player One

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.






This month's starting point is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I haven't read Henry James before, so both that fact, that it is short and also that is a spooky read made it a perfectly ideal time to read it. I could also count it for the RIP XV challenge, and that was going to be my theme for Six Degrees of Separation - books that I have read for RIP  (Readers Imbibing Peril) challenges over the years. It was a solid plan right?

You know that there is a but or a however coming though.

In order to read it, I decided to listen to it on audiobook. Just over 4 hours to listen to is doable. And so I began to listen, and was in for a surprising treat when I realise that the first couple of chapters are narrated by Richard Armitage, and then the meat of the story is narrated by Emma Thompson, who I find very soothing to listen to.  So, instead of the more obvious theme of spooky reads, my theme this month is going to be audiobooks with a celebrity narrator.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - This morning I spent some time reading posts from 10 years ago which show just how obsessed I was with Richard Armitage. I mean, it's understandable, but still. One of the reasons I do like to gush fangirl, I mean admire him is as as audiobook narrator. He has now done around 40 or so. I have listened to a couple of other books narrated by him, but it really is the Georgette Heyer books he has narrated that I go back to time and again. And every time I do listen to one of these my review is bound to contain the words aural bliss or something similar. The other Heyer books he has narrated are Venetia and The Convenient Marriage. Venetia is great too.

The Further Tales of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson -  It would have been remiss of me to have not included an audiobook narrated by Emma Thompson given that she narrates the vast majority of The Turn of the Screw. I was, however, surprised to see that she has written a couple of Peter Rabbit books that she has then narrated.

Mythos by Stephen Fry - Another example of a celebrity who is an author reading their own audiobooks is Stephen Fry who has narrated many of his own books. He also famously narrated the Harry Potter books when they came out. I have listened to the first of series of short stories that were Audible exclusives and really enjoyed those so I do intend to listen to more by him.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - If Stephen Fry is an example of a celebrity who is an author, then Neil Gaiman is pretty close to being an author who is a celebrity, and someone else who likes to narrate his own audiobooks, not to mention the mythology link here. When we went to hear him speak back in February, he did a reading of the new childrens book that is about to be released called Pirate Stew. I think one of the reasons I like hearing authors narrate their own books, if they are good at it, is that you can hear the expression and emphasis as they meant for it to be heard.

One Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley - There are occasions when the celebrity narrator (or any narrator really) doesn't work for a book, and for me that was true of this book. It didn't help that the book was abridged and I didn't realise it but the narration wasn't for me either. Given that I listened to this 15 years ago (on cassette tape no less) it is probably time for me to let it go, but it certainly has turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I wanted to finish on a positive not though! This is not one I have listened to, but I have heard so many rave reviews about Will Wheaton as the narrator. He is also going to be the narrator on the sequel, Ready Player Two, when it comes out later this year so I think I might listen to it instead of reading it!

So there you have it! The Six Degrees of Separation celebrity audiobook narrator edition.

Next month the starting point is the book that you finished this month with, so I will be starting with Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Goodness only knows where that chain is going to end up.

Thank goodness for audiobooks

As anyone who is still reading my blog knows I have had a long, long reading slump that has lasted years (no exaggeration). Whilst I am nowhere near reading as much as I did back in my hey day, I have rediscovered audiobooks this year, and so I am getting through a few books at least.

I thought that I would write a few words about the audiobooks I have listened to this year over a couple of posts. That's the plan anyway

The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick - It took me more than 4 years to read this book, which is actually a bit of a travesty because that makes it sound like I didn't really like it. I actually started reading the actual book in my pre slump days but put it down and never picked it up again. Then last year I started listening to the audiobook but then holidays and life got in the way, but finally I finished it.

Like all of Elizabeth Chadwick's books we get a great glimpse into the medieval life of her characters - in this case Alienor of Aquitaine, the only woman to be queen of both France and England. We follow her life from her marriage to Louis as a very young woman, through trials and tribulations, including plenty of scandals. Alienor is a strong woman who faces the challenges life throws at her the only way she knows - head first. There are two more books in the trilogy which I will get to eventually I'm sure. The narrator is Katie Scarfe. It took me a little while to get used to her somewhat breathy narration but I got there in the end

Ambulance Girls by Deborah Burrows - I have previously enjoyed reading Deborah Burrows' books that have been set in Australia during World War II. This time, the setting has moved to war time London, but still featuring an Australian as a main character. Lily Brennan is an ambulance officer in the Blitz, having to put herself in danger time and again as the bombs rain down. I liked Lily but there were times when I felt like her insecurities were overdone and got in the way. The narration was good from Penelope Freeman although I didn't think all the accents worked as well as it could. Like all of Burrow's previous books there was a mystery element to the book which was interesting s well as a romance. There is a a sequel to this book but unfortunately it isn't available on audio so who knows if I will get to it or not.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - I downloaded this book last year with the intention of listening to the book whilst on a road trip with the man. In the end, it ended up being just me listening to it on the commute. It was a complete change of pace to the books I had been listening to and it was a breath of fresh air. Whilst I have read lots of Pratchett books I haven't ever listened to one so I was very curious as to how this would work, and it was lots of fun. It starts when the Anti Christ is born, but unfortunately due to a case of mistaken identity he ends up living in England. When it is time for the end of the world, things don't quite work out as the gods and demons expect. I do think that the authors deserve an award for the most use of the word ineffable!

I did see that there is also a full cast performance available to listen to and then there is the TV adaptation that's coming next year as well.

Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan- I actually wrote a full review of this. Shocking but true! There is a couple of more books featuring the same characters. I really should make an effort to listen to them.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - As narrated by Richard Armitage - le sigh. Do I need to say anymore! I have listened to this maybe 3 or 4 times now and I love it every time. In fact, I think I only last listened to it last year (when I wrote a review). That's how much I love it.  I think that Mr Armitage has been busy recording lots of audiobooks including a romance, which I am definitely going to listen to at some stage. Listening to that voice whispering sweet nothings in my ear...mmm hmmm. Could be a bit awkward if someone else gets in the car with me.



Here's hoping for a follow up post to this one with the next few audiobooks

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

When Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, first meets Phoebe Marlow, he finds her dull and insipid. She finds him insufferably arrogant. But when a series of unforeseen events leads them to be stranded together in a lonely country inn, they are both forced to reassess their hastily formed opinions, and begin a new-found liking and respect for each other. Sylvester calls to mind the satirical genius of a Jane Austen novel and is adored for its wit and a fast-paced plot that ranges across a myriad of settings

I first listened to this book just under 3 years ago, but I never did post anything about it, which was remiss of me but I think not really unexpected. After I finished The Passage and then another audio book, I was trying to decide what to read next. I do have a few books that I have already purchased but not yet listened to, as well as a list of books I'd like to get to someday, but none of them really tickled my fancy. And then I hit on the idea of listening again to a Georgette Heyer novel as narrated by Richard Armitage, mainly because it is my idea of aural bliss to listen to him read anything, but he does seem to be particularly suited to narrating Heyer novels.

He has the right tone in his voice that lends itself to upper class accents and his characterisation is so good that it doesn't matter whether the character is old or young, or female or male, each character is individual and recognisable.

Now, I should mention up front that this is an abridged audiobook, but it is a well done abridgement. I don't think I have missed anything through the story so it might be interesting to read in full one time to see what was cut out. That's not always the case. Years ago I listened to a novel where the abridgement wasn't quite so good. At one point the main character was regretting having kissed someone other than her husband and I was like wait...what.

What about the book itself. It is Heyer, so it is all Regency ballrooms and dukes abound, but it is a fun read. I don't want to recap the plot as such because I don't want too start to feel like I should write a full review, rather than just commentary. I will see that I did find myself wondering how much of the language that Heyer used was made up. I am sure that I heard somewhere that she did.

I fully expect to listen to more of the Heyer books Richard Armitage has narrated. It is a totally enjoyable treat.