Speaking for themselves: audio books

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

Audio Freebie

In which I confess that I’ve never listened to a book.  I think if I was to pick 10 books though to give audio a try they would be as follows:

  1. The 3 Fairytale retellings by Sarah Pinborough: Beauty/Poison/Charm – because these are relatively short books, they’re retellings based on fairytales and they’re quite fascinating and cheeky takes on the original stories – I don’t think my attention would wander.
  2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – because I understand Neil Gaiman narrates this one on audio and so I would love to listen to it.
  3. The Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence – this is a series of short stories all connected to The Broken Empire series – I think it would be very easy to listen to these, one at a time, not all in one go but just every now and again.
  4. Something spooky that would give me the chills – The Haunting of Hill House of Shirley Jackson – I have a notion that listening to something scary would be excellent – providing it was narrated well, I suppose it could go horribly wrong!
  5. Monstrous Little voices – 5 stories retold, based on some of Shakespeare’s most famous works but given a more modern voice.  Each five of the stories connect but I figure listening to these would be great – overall just shy of 350 pages but taken individually they’re lovely little chunks.  As a rule I don’t like short stories but when they all connect in this way they’re excellent.
  6. I think I would like to listen to some of the Sherlock Holmes books on audio – particularly Hound of the Baskervilles.
  7. I think a book with excellent dialogue throughout – such as The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
  8. Bram Stoker’s Dracula – because of the style of narration I just imagine this would be an excellent audio book.
  9. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J K Rowling – I think the first in the series had a lighter feel and would be a good starting point
  10. Suggestions – given that I’ve read all of the above – do you have any suggestions that feel similar??

 

10 Favourite Fantasy authors

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

ALL TIME Favorite Books Of X Genre

Impossible.  It’s just impossible to give you 10 all time favourite books for the fantasy genre because frankly there are a lot of books that I love.  I’m going to stick to 10 but I’m going to cheat a little by giving you more than one book by the same author – I love cheating!

  1. Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book, Stardust, Neverwhere, Coraline, The Sandman Series, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
  2. Mark Lawrence: Prince/King and Emperor of Thorns, Prince of Fools, Red Queen’s War, The Wheel of Osheim, Road Brothers, Sleeping Beauty, During the Dance,
  3. Patrick Rothfuss: Name of the Wind, Wise Man’s Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things
  4. Sarah Pinborough: Poison, Charm, Beauty, Mayhem, Murder, 13 Minutes, The Death House, The Language of Dying
  5. Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves
  6. Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn Trilogy, The Emperor’s Soul, The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance
  7. Patricia Briggs: Mercy Thompson series 1-8
  8. JRRTolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion
  9. Jen Williams: The Copper Promise, The Iron Ghost, The Silver Tide, Sorrow’s Isle
  10. Robert J Bennett: The Troupe, The Company Man, Mr Shivers, American Elsewhere, City of Stairs, City of Blades

Even with a bit of cheating I can’t fit in all my favourite authors but those are the first 10 and I’ve thrown in a whole heap of covers:

We got everything here from a diddle eyed Joe to a damned if I know..

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

a tv-themed topic – top 10 tv shows

I don’t tend to watch a lot of tv – not because I’m against it at all just simply things conspire against me and I’m also a bit unorganised so I’ll forget to watch the next in series.  But, over the years I’ve watched a few excellent series – either through box sets or Netflix and some of my favourites are as follows:

  1. Stranger Things – I only just recently watched this but absolutely loved it – to find out why check this out.  Supernatural, horror, sci fi 80s love fest!
  2. The Sopranos.  We didn’t watch this series when it aired, I don’t know why, but then we decided to buy series 1 and give it a shot – all I can say is that we bought the whole set and watched all of it in less than 6 weeks – we were like maniacs and just kept staying up late to watch just one more!
  3. Band of Brothers – this is an absolutely awesome series that tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army – I confess straight up that I didn’t really fancy this but seriously, it’s so well produced and it’s swarming with actors that you’ll recognise.  On top of that the actual story is completely compelling.  I would watch this again no problem I enjoyed it so much.
  4. Big Bang Theory – I can’t help it, this one just makes me laugh.  It’s a series that I can switch on at any point and just pick right up.  A proper safety blanket, laugh out loud show.
  5. The Outlander – I have one more of these still left to watch – but I really enjoyed this and thought it was fairly good at sticking to the book (the ones I’ve watched so far anyway).
  6. The Vikings – do I even need to say why.  Vikings.  That is all. Plus.
  7. Breaking Bad – another series that we started watching and just became obsessed with – I don’t think we watched all of them but that just means we have something left to look forward to.
  8. Dexter – I loved this.  When I first saw it advertised and realised that Dexter was a serial killer who worked for the police – I was seriously put off!  I actually watched it by accident to be honest but then continued into about series 5 (or something – not sure how many this eventually went to).
  9. Blackadder – okay, I never got into the first series and I wasn’t particularly in love with the fourth either – but OMG, series 2 and 3 – where Blackadder plays a Lord in the Court of Elizabeth 1 and then The Prince Regent’s butler – so funny.  Hysterical even!
  10. Hannibal – this is a series that I didn’t finish, which isn’t to say that I won’t go back to it – but I thought what I did watch was brilliant, creepy and scary!

 

‘The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.’

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is :

A Back To School Freebie

For this week’s theme I’ve opted for books with a school or learning environment:

  1. The Harry Potter series by JKRowling.  As it’s HP Month I couldn’t resist.  Hogwarts!
  2. 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough – this is a story set in high school.  When a young girl almost dies it becomes paramount that she finds out who her enemies are!  This is such a good story.
  3. Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – a place of study for would-be assassins.  A coveted number of places and a murderer amidst the students all lead to a fast paced and highly entertaining read.
  4. Black Heart by Holly Black – I really enjoyed this series about a family of curse workers.  The majority of the story is set in a school environment.
  5. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss – this is not a book with students as such but a very unusual female who lives in the tunnels beneath the university.  A beautiful and quick read and a gorgeous little book.
  6. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – I couldn’t resist – a good portion of Kvothe’s tale is set in the university that he so desperately longed to attend.
  7. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead- in which vampires and their would be ‘body guards’ go to school together.
  8. The Secret History by Donna Tart – I loved this story – revolves around a student who desperately wants to belong to part of a school clic.  Beautifully dark.
  9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – Two different settings here – when Jane is a student at Lowood Charity School and then later when she leaves to become governess at Thornfield Hall.
  10. Jane Steel by Lyndsay Faye – A story that has many similarities to Jane Eyre and in fact in which the protagonist’s life runs parallel to that of Jane Eyre for a portion of the story.  This is a read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Patience is a virtue, so they tell me..

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Every Tuesday over at the  The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  The topic this week is:

Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven’t Read Yet!

What a sad topic!  Makes me feel quite guilty looking at my shelves and digging these books out!  I’m not sure if all of these are pre blog or not – I just know that the ones on this list have been waiting a while.  In no particular order:

  1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  2. Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky
  3. Libriomancer by Jim Hines
  4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
  5. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  6. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  7. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
  8. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  9. The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan
  10. Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks

So, any suggestions which of these I should read first??

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