Monday, April 11, 2011

My First Audiobook Completed: L. A. Outlaws

Title: L.A. Outlaws
Author: T. Jefferson Parker
Read by: David Colacci and Susan Ericksen
Publisher: Brilliance Audio (2008)



I've decided to report from the trenches. So...

(Post the First can be found here.
Post the Second can be found here.)

Location: Disc 10, Track Finished
Chapter: Whichever was the last.



I promise that I had all kinds of best intentions to post periodically as I made my way through my first audiobook but, due to one thing and another, it didn't happen. So then I thought I'd just do a nice review of the book at the end but I don't have very many nice things to say about the book; and the weather is just too darn good to say mean things right now. It's finally stopped raining, the wind has died down, the sun has come out and my mood is too good to waste on detailing all the reasons why L.A. Outlaws and sgwordy were not meant for each other. Instead, let's focus on the positive...

1. I finished an audiobook.
2. I've already tried a second audiobook.*
3. My third audiobook is queued up for my bike ride to work tomorrow.
4. I finally adjusted to the readers and let them take care of the story for me.
5. A bunch of people generously shared their audiobook tips with me which helped a great deal in accepting the format.

* My second audiobook I abandoned fairly quickly. I didn't like all the choices by the reader but (huge step here) he was not the reason I stopped. I gave up on it because I wasn't enjoying the story at all. The book was Going Bovine by Libba Bray and if some of the going bovine could have shown up sooner I might have tried to stick with it but it just wasn't working for me. It's an odd business between me and Libba Bray. I love pretty much everything she writes except her books. She is so dang funny but I can't seem to get in to her books. Ah well... moving on...

My third audiobook is The Red Badge of Courage. This must be a short book because it's only 4.5hrs of audio (unabridged). Here's hoping I have better luck with this one. The important thing here, though, is that I can do the format, I can focus on the stories and take or leave them dependent on the story and not the audio. Success!

Many thanks to Michael for all his encouragement with the format and help in picking some books. He got me started and my library's inventory took me the rest of the way.


What audiobook have you been listening to lately?

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations, and hooray for finding multiple positive aspects to list!

    I just finished the third Flavia de Luce mystery (Alan Bradley) and lurved it. Getting set for 'Cleopatrra's Daughter'. I am totally hooked on audiobooks for the car, to the point my daughter sometimes asks plaintively for 'songs, mommy?' Poor thing. Will be so long till she's old enough to be queen of the vehicle dashboard...

    And: I know! Sometimes an author's online or in person "voice" is so different from what they write! I think Carolyn Jewel is often very funny on her grog (Risky Regencies) but her paranormals do nothing for me (not her fault - I'm really not a paranormal girl) and I loved one of her historicals and DNFed the other. Never read Libba Bray.

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  2. Congrats, Rachel! I'm so glad to hear your audiobook news. Naturally, I feel a little bad that Parker's novel didn't quite work for you (since I recommended it), but I'm ecstatic to hear your positive views toward the format.

    I didn't know Stephen Crane's classic was in that form! I may need to revisit it in audio for my project. And since you asked:

    Free Fall by Robert Crais - read by William Roberts [U.K. audiobook]

    Way to go, Rachel! And thanks for the shout-out.

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  3. M - I don't know Cleopatra's Daughter. I'd love to hear feedback. I like that type of historical fiction. And for reasons I can't remember, I was just reading a bunch of stuff about Cleopatra's life so it'd be neat to round it out with a book.


    lp13 - It's np Michael as I feel the audio format triumph much outweighs the book not working for me. And we can't like them all, right? :)

    I can't remember who put out the audio for RED BADGE but I think the reader's name is Frank Mullen. I approve his reading style.

    Oh, Free Fall! How delightful! I am also reading that right now. What a coincidence. ;)

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  4. I found the one you're listening to. The late-Frank Muller was one of the best regarded audiobook narrator there was. He read many of Stephen King's novels (I highlighted one last year, in fact). Since the book is in the public domain, there are a number of audio versions, but I'm going to do this one. Thanks.

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  5. I remember that! Unfortunately my library doesn't carry it. Another I was interested in that he reads is ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Have you read/listened that one?

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