Saturday, February 19, 2011

An update and Random Thoughts…



Hello everyone. I thought I would take a moment to brief you on where I am at in my life with reading and so forth. Reading has been going strong even though I have been busy with “real life”. I am going to be on the road a lot in the upcoming weeks because of my job. It is that time of year when things get super busy and I have to do a lot of driving. To make the most of those long drives I am listening to audio books. I just finished Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. It was my first time listening to a Stephanie Plum book and I loved it!! More to come…

I have also reserved a number of audio books at my library. I want your opinion on these books if you have ever read them in print or listened to them. Please let me know if you think these are good or not. I am totally clueless!!

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (I stopped reading this series because the books were so long, but DAMN I love Jamie Frasier!)

First Lady by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (It’s SEP. Need I say anything more? Plus the characters from this book put in an appearance in her recent release Call Me Irresistible.)

Match Me if You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (The next book in the Chicago series that I need to read.)

Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell (I do enjoy a good suspense every now and again. Super Librarian has recommended her and this is the first in her Scarpetta series.)

Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson ( The next book I need to read in the Betsy series)

Weekend Warriors by Fern Michaels (The first in a series recommended to me by the ladies in my book club)

Speaking of my book club, I want to tell you about how this has been going. So far it has been a lot fun. I have discovered that a couple of the women enjoy romance in addition to regular fiction. I found out one of the ladies is a huge fan of Kresley Cole’s Immortals after Dark series and another is a huge fan of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series. It will be my turn to choose a book in two months. I have no clue what book I will choose, but I want to pick a romance, but which one? I will need some help with this. Be thinking of some suggestions for me. I might do a poll to get some opinions.

One other thing, I was in Walmart tonight and I could resist picking up at book :).  At least I only bought one.  Look at this collection.  What a great line up of authors. 


12 comments:

Kaetrin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kaetrin said...

Hi Jill *waves*. You're in for a treat with A Breath of Snow & Ashes. Davina Porter narrates the unabridged version of the series and she is awesome. Her Jamie Fraser is very good - she does excellent male character voices and accents. I started this series on audio and read A Breath of Snow & Ashes and The Fiery Cross because I couldn't get them in unabridged audio format. Happily I've managed to picked these 2 up now so I can listen to them too. The Fiery Cross has possibly, the best/most romantic/sweetest last line ever. If you haven't listened to any of this series before, you're in for a huge treat. :)

I think you'll enjoy Match Me If You Can as well. I really liked it. I didn't like First Lady as much though. If you like MMiYC, I think you'll also like Natural Born Charmer which is the next in the series.

Happy listening!

Marg said...

I was just coming to say the same as Kaetrin about the Outlander books! Davina Porter is an excellent narrator, not only of the Outlander books, but the other books I have heard her narrate too.

Sugarbeat said...

I loved the Scarpetta books!!! They scared the pants off me - reading into the wee hours because I was too scared to go to sleep!! Although you have alot of good choices (I'm personally waiting for The Lady Most Likely to arrive in the mail) I think you should start the Scarpetta series!!! IMHO

Barb at Sugarbeat's Books

Hilcia said...

Ohh, I don't listen to audio books! But, I was going to say that A Breath of Snow and Ashes is an excellent book, loooong, but excellent! And, as far as I'm concerned you can't go wrong with SEP. ;P

Jen said...

I don't do audio books either - I feel like the narrators don't read fast enough for me. I'm a speedy reader, and don't like waiting for them.

Either way - I read the entire Outlander series after a few tries. I feel like some of the books are a hit, and some are a miss. I'm not a fan of the books that are heavily seeped in war.

That being said, I thought Breath of Snow and Ashes was one of the better books in the series. I felt really connected to the characters as they tried to "modernize" the century they were living in.

nath said...

Hey Jill :) So glad to hear how you're doing :) Glad to know that you're still reading a lot :)

I think you'll be enjoying The Lady Most Likely... It was pretty cute :)

Picked up Sunnyridge blueberries the other day and it made me think of you :)

Jill D. said...

Kaetrin and Marg - Oh that is good to hear about A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I am glad to hear the narrator does a good job. I have been wanting to read the book but because it is so long I have put it off. Now that I have time during the driving it will be a real treat for me. I am looking forward to it now.

Sugarbeat - Okay, great. I am glad to get another recommendation on the Scarpetta series. It's also good to be forwarned on the scary/violence factor.

Hilica - I know, I have been on an SEP kick lately. Although, I have heard that First Lady is not one of her better books, but hey, I'll take what I can get :)

Jen - Great! Now I am really looking forward to A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I sounds like this will be a good one!

Nath - LOL, I hoped you enjoyed those blueberries! I know we do ship to Canada. Get this we might be shipping to Japan this year. Can you believe that?! Crazy huh!

Glad you liked A Lady Most Likely. It just had a stellar cast of authors I couldn't pass it up. It is high up on the TBR list right now.

Wendy said...

The early Scarpetta books are quite good. The series really cooked for me around Body Farm and From Potter's Field. Sadly though, Cornwell and I have since "broken up" - but those early books....ahhh, how I enjoyed them.

I've never read Evanovich, having only listened to the Plum series. I often say if I read them I would have kicked the series to the curb a long time ago - but I still enjoy listening to them for what they are. Undemanding listens, with the occasional LOL moment :)

Unknown said...

Hi Jill, I started an audio books blog around a month ago, I got the idea from your blog, and I thought maybe I could do some good reviewing the audio version of the books,( I don't review the writing per saying, just mostly the narrator, I'm not a very good writer, English is my second language,and I still have trouble spelling some of the words correctly):). I love audiobooks. I have listened to almost every suggestion I got from your blog, any way, I post samples of the audio books, if you like to check it out the address is:
http://www.lupdilup.com/audio-books-blog.html.
I would love to hear you opinion.

Jill D. said...

Wendy - Actually, It is through you that I even know about the Scarpetta books. I thought I might give them a try. But I don't like a whole lot of blood and guts. Not sure how I'll like them...

Loupe - I have checked out your blog!! I think we first met on Shelfari and then we became friends on GoodReads and that is where I discovered your blog. I have been there and I love the concept for reviewing audio books!!! Sometimes you need to know what books are good on audio.

I don't always like how the narrator does the voices of the male characters. I enjoyed Stephanie Plum, but I did not really like the lady who did the JD Robb books. You just never know. I will continually check out your blog!

Isabella said...

I'm not sure about the audio book versions since I've actually never tried an audio book partly because I feel like hearing someone narrate will ruin whatever image would naturally draw up in my mind and partly because I'm a speed reader and I feel like it would drive me insane if the pacing was slow. Although I do sometimes playback at double or triple speed for some audio clips that I don't have the patience or time to listen to at normal speed, but then that would prolly ruin the mood and I dunno if you can do that with cds.

I recommend Match Me if You Can. It was my first SEP and it's been nonstop since then. If you read the other Chicago stories then it will be nice cuz the other characters do make an appearance. I had no idea who they were since I sorta went backwards xD And there is a semi intro to her next book, Natural Born Charmer, which was also good. I think you will enjoy it...I did...and it's SEP :D