by Sara Paretsky

**~~~ (2/5)

Fiction / Thriller / Crime

Click here to view Sara Paretsky’s book collection

[Click here to buy the Audio Book of Total Recall by Sara Paretsky]

Audio Book Synopsis:

Lotty Herschel is caught up in a whirlwind of the past when a man who claims to be a Nazi death camp survivor, approaches her and her friends seeking his long lost family. Lotty is forced to confront a memory, a secret, from the war that she has long buried.  Our heroine, V I Warshawski, sees the pain her friend and mentor is in, and is pulled into the saga though her investigation of the so-called survivor’s past.

V I is simultaneously investigating an insurance fraud case which has an unexpected link to an international conspiracy dating back to Nazi occupied Europe, as well as a means for VI to save her friend.

My Audio Book Review:

I’d heard about Sara Paretsky’s work whilst listening to a ‘meet the author’ audio podcast. She seems to have a plethora of work and a good fan following of her female detective protagonist, V I Warshawski. I’d thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Millennium Trilogy thriller series by Stieg Larsson, and thought that listening to another thriller would be a good idea.

However, I was disappointed at the story of Total Recall. I was not absorbed in the chase, and the story kind of ended for me with a bit of a fizzle and plop. Having said that, I listened to it all the way through, so it was listenable enough.

I thought the narrator, Sandra Burr, did an okay job, but compared to narrators like Saul Reichlin, she seemed to by skirting on the surface rather than pulling me into the depths of the story. But more likely, it’s more that the story was not one that grabbed me.

V I is constantly running around and trying to solve this mystery of who, what and why, driving badly, with little sleep. Maybe I joined in the middle of the series of books and have not warmed to the character yet. But i did think the unraveling of the plot ended up being a bit boring, and my attraction to the characters left much to be desired. I didn’t really care who the killer was.

On a side note: [Listening vs Reading] What I have found interesting after having started to listening to audio books, is that the facts and story don’t stay in my mind as clearly as the story in a book would. I don’t retain the information as well as I would for a book, which is why I find it difficult to write audiobook reviews. I find that I am only able to give a ‘sense’ or ‘feeling’ review – how I felt about the book after I finished, if I liked it or not, as opposed to a detailed and analytical review.

I think it has something to do with the fact that the act of reading a book is an active process, and that listening to an audiobook is quite passive. (A friend of mine actually laughed at me when I said I had started listening to audiobooks, calling it the ‘epitomy of laziness’.) I still have to create the pictures in my mind, unlike TV, but the audio book is still fed to me whether I am paying attention or not. With a book, you have to pay attention, and if you drift, it is much easier to scan back and re-read a paragraph or two. Whereas with audiobooks, rewinding takes more effort, so I am less likely to go back on something I’ve half-missed.

So I think that my experience of reading Sara Paretsky’s book may have been different to my experience of listening to it.

Even so, Total Recall left me unsatisfied.

x Julie

P.S. You should check out my favorite audiobooks [The Help] and [The Millennium Trilogy]

Click here to go to my review of The Help

Online Bookstore and Book Review Site

- Reading Like Rabbits -

]]> http://readinglikerabbits.com/audio-book-total-recall-by-sara-paretsky/feed 3 http://readinglikerabbits.com/audio-book-shop-best-audio-books http://readinglikerabbits.com/audio-book-shop-best-audio-books#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:57:47 +0000 juliewee http://readinglikerabbits.com/?p=1368 Best Audio Book Award:

The Help by Katheryn Stockett ***** (5/5)

The Help has been on the NYT best seller list for 61 weeks. (Incidentally, I have also been listening to the New York Times Book Review Podcast on my iPhone.) The Help was also the favourite audio book for audio book stores and won the fiction award at the Audies in 2010…Click here to read the full book review.

[Click here to buy the audiobook of The Help]

The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson ***** (5/5)

The Millennium Trilogy is also a regular on the NYT best seller list, with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo still on the list after 49 weeks. The narrator of this audiobook, Saul Reichlin, is awesome. He tells the story simply and manages to find a unique and distinctive voice for every single character. He also reads women superbly. The Millennium Trilogy is mysterious and alluring with complex characters…

Click below to buy these books (with free delivery worldwide):

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

[Click to browse the Millennium Trilogy Audio Books]

I really like [audible.com], compared to the audio book sellers that I’ve looked at, because of their plans. It works out to be quite inexpensive with the monthly credit system.

I’ve just up loaded my latest review Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus & Emma Mclaughlin.

And coming up in the next couple of days, my reviews of The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson.

Sneak Preview: I spent 2 hours a day traveling to and from the TV station in Myamnar listening to the audiobooks of The Millennium Trilogy. They made boring journey’s exciting. The story is compelling, complicated and gripping. The narrator Saul Reichlin is amazing. I loved all three books.

x Julie

Book Reviews – Reading Like Rabbits

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

by Kathryn Stockett

***** (5/5)

Fiction

Click to buy the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Click to buy the audiobook The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Book Synopsis:

1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, three women, as different as can be, Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny come together for an underground project, which if exposed, would put them all at risk.

Skeeter is a 22-year-old white woman who has just returned home after graduating from university. But in 1962, mothers care more about their daughter’s marriage prospects than their career hopes.

Aibileen is an astute black maid who is bringing up her seventeenth white child. When Aibileen’s own son died, as his employers looked the other way, something changed inside her. She is dedicated and caring towards the little girl she is raising, but she knows that they will have to part ways someday.

Then there is the sassy Minny, also a black maid, who can cook up a storm, but has a sharp tongue that always gets her fired. Minny gets lucky and finds a new job, working for someone so new to Jackson that she doesn’t yet know her reputation. But her new employer has her own secret to hide.

Through various circumstances, these women meet and begin in their own clandestine way to push the boundaries, and cross the entrenched but invisible line that defines their town and their times.

My Audio Book Review:

This was my first audio book purchase and I absolutely loved it. The Help was not only Audible.com’s the highest-rated audiobook of 2009, but it is also its highest-rated audiobook of all time. It’s also been on the New York Times bestseller list for 51 weeks and is presently at No.1. So I started with quality.

This audio book is wonderful to listen to. The actors were flawless and the images conjured by their voices had me laughing and even tearing up in public as I was listening to the novel on my i pod.

This story is narrated in the first person by three women Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer. [When writing the novel, Katheryn Stockett said she based some of Minny's sassy-ness on her interactions with actress friend Octavia Spencer who ended up playing Minny in the audiobook.]

I have been overwhelmed by black vs white novels in the past few weeks. Performing in To Kill A Mockingbird as Scout, reading Small Island by Andrea Levy and listening to The Help. You’d think it would be too much, too infuriating, heavy, but although The Help deals with hard issues, the women in the story are full of soul, warmth and chutzpa.

Even the villain of the piece, Miss Hilly Holbrook, is fascinating in her unabashed racist behaviour. Miss Hilly, respected in her white ladies community, is intent on delivering her public service message, ‘The Home Help Sanitation Initiative’ – advising white families to install outdoor toilets for their help to prevent the spread of their diseases. I spent the whole novel wishing she got her just deserts.

Skeeter is the lone white woman who actually sees the injustice. At first, she doesn’t say anything. Then elements fall into place for her and she secretly makes her stand. The stakes are high, what they are doing is dangerous. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny could get in a lot of trouble if found out.

The Help was extremely enjoyable listening. Listening to an audio book made me more productive and even enthusiastic about doing manual tasks – I cleaned the house and even sewed while listening! Aside from great travel listening while walking or on the train, this audio book was great to listen to when I was too tired to read but too awake to sleep. I’d just play it as I lay in bed with my eyes closed.

I’ve found a new form of entertainment!

My next audio book is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Click here to buy the book The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Click here for more information on audio books.

x Julie

Audio Book Reviews

Reading Like Rabbits

I’ve been listening to podcasts like the New York Times Book Review and B&N Meet The Writers which I have enjoyed very much, but I’m now ready for more. I get motion sickness if I read while traveling, so I get really bored and frustrated not to be able to be engaged in a book while I’m getting from one place to another.

So, I decided to sign up for an audio book membership with Audible.com to listen to audio books on my i phone/i pod/ MP3 player. I used to think of audio books as being expensive, but I’ve realised, they can be cheaper than buying an actual book!

Here’s the plan I’m getting:

Audible Listener Discount Gold Membership

• Price: Monthly: USD$7.49 for the first three months and USD$14.95 thereafter and Annually: USD$149.95

• Benefits: 12 membership credits; 30% discount on future purchases; complimentary subscription to The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times
  

• Click here to Download an audiobook for $7.49 and save 50% for your first 3 months. Choose from over 75,000 titles.

or try:

Audible Listener Platinum Free Trial Membership

You can also sign up for a 14 day free trial – but you must remember to cancel it before 14 days are up in order for it to remain free.

• Price: Monthly: $22.95 and Annually: $229.95

• Benefits: 14 day risk free trial; 24 membership credits; 30% discount on future purchases; complimentary subscription to The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times.
• Click here to Try Audible Now and Get A Free Audiobook Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles.

Personally, I think the Gold Membership is better if you only want one book a month. But if you plan to listen to more than one audio book a month, Platinum would be a good choice.

All plans allow cancellation at any time.

Audible Fact: The average reader gets through 5 books a year, the average AudibleListener member completes 16 books a year.

Click here to buy the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett (free delivery)

The first Audio Book that I’m going to get is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I’ve heard so much about it. It’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for 50 weeks and is still at number 2. It’s about a young white woman and two black maids in 1960s ­Mississippi.

Click here to read my review of The Help by Kathryn Stockett

You can listen to samples of all the books to get an idea of the story and what the voice you will be listening to will sound like. I’ve found the quality of the voice actors very high. (there are even audio awards!)

IMPORTANT NOTE:

When I tried signing up on audible.com the first time, I was furious to find out I couldn’t get the book I ordered because I live in Singapore. However, audible.com kindly wrote back to tell me that I can usually get the audio books I want, but owned by a different publisher (it’s an area rights and copyright issue). Once I sign up and they have details of where I’m from, as long as I’m logged in, they will show my only what I CAN buy.

Look out for my audio book reviews coming out soon!

x Julie

Audio Book Reviews

Reading Like Rabbits