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The Ravens of Falkenau
I have been listening to audiobooks for over 10 years and can at times be hard to please, but The Ravens of Falkenau by Jo Graham, narrated by Arika Escalona (Fantasy / Historical Fiction genre) was a pure delight to listen to...
Worth Dying For & American Assassin
Having just polished off both these books in the last week, I thought I'd tackle them together. Mitch Rapp (protagonist of American Assassin) and Jack Reacher (of Worth Dying For) have some similarities in terms of the roles they play. Both are powerful, but somewhat world-weary men...who find themselves having to sling the problems of others over their shoulders to carry their burdens, and who are willing to go to any lengths at all to see that "the cause of right" triumphs in the end...
Every Man Dies Alone
OK, I'll admit that I was convinced to buy this book because it was read by George Guidall. But the reviews were strong enough that I found it worth considering...and waded in on the strength of the story premise: A German couple carrying on small acts of defiance against Hitler's regime. Sounded interesting...
The Millenium Trilogy
The Millenium Trilogy consists (obviously) of three books, published in the U.S. as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. By way of background, the stories were written in the first few years of the last decade by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish magazine editor who tragically never lived to see their publication and amazing success, passing away in 2004 at the age of 50. The books have already been made into movies in Sweden, and Hollywood is planning their own version, to be released in 2011...currently rumored to star Daniel Craig and Natalie Portman...
Deliver Us From Evil
I picked up the new David Baldacci book last week. I enjoyed Divine Justice last year and thought this might be worth a listen. It's an interesting book, centered around an organization that hunts down and kills Nazi leaders who had escaped justice. However, after they have killed all the Nazis, they move on to newer psychopaths. Their current target is Fedir Kuchin, the butcher of Kiev...and he is definitely one bad dude...
The Bride Collector
I'm a big Ted Dekker fan, and I've read nearly everything he's written. Some have been downright amazing books and some have been good...but I've enjoyed every one so far. I would rate this one as "just good". I still think its worth the listen, but for me it was missing that special magic that would elevate it to the status of his great reads...
City of Thieves
I love nice suprises. And this book was a very nice surprise. First of all, a bit about the author. He's a screenwriter, and did the screenplays for movies like Troy, Stay, The Kite Runner and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He's also married to actress Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards, Syriana)...
Breathless: A Novel
I've always enjoyed Dean Koontz. I haven't read a whole lot of his books...but probably a good half-dozen of them over the years, and none have ever been disappointments. However, he's managed to leave me disappointed this time. Not because this book didn't have all the elements of a really great book. It did. But simply because it never fully realizes its potential...
Shibumi
I had previously listened (and enjoyed) another of Trevanian's works: The Eiger Sanction (which I knew mainly because Clint Eastwood had made it into a movie, though I'd never seen it). And I like thrillers, so I thought I'd give this one a spin (since the word was that it was his best-received work). Having heard it now, I can understand why. This was a heck of a good read....interesting on many levels, despite the fact that it was published 30 years ago...
Pursuit of Honor
This is my second Vince Flynn book...and I must say, I think I liked it even better than the first. It's possible that part of that is because its a sequel to my previous listen and now I know some of the characters better. But somehow this one was much easier to follow allow in my imagination, and I found it really hard to turn it off for any extended period of time...
Green
If you've been reading this blog for long, you know how much I appreciate Ted Dekker's writing. My daughter told me last week that Part 4 of his Trilogy (huh?) had been released a few weeks back. I didn't read the press about it beforehand, so they're probably calling it a prequel to the Trilogy, or whatever. Bottom line: It's another long novel (15 hrs, I think) in the same worlds covered in Black, Red and White (the Trilogy)...
Divine Justice
A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that she was enjoying reading the new David Baldacci book, and because she hasn't steered me wrong in the past, I decided to take the tip, and purchased the book from Audible later that day. And I'm glad I did...
Eiger Sanction
I picked this up on special from Audible, and it turned out to be a real treat. I knew that it had been a Clint Eastwood movie back in 1975, but I'd never seen it...and I thought it was worth a spin. Even though the story is almost 40 years old, for some reason the audiobook was just recorded this year...
Lonesome Dove
I watched the TV miniseries some 20 years ago, but it's been so long that I had completely forgotten the story. I've always had a special place in my heart for Westerns...so I thought I'd wade into this Pulitzer Prize winner once again...
Ender's Game
I've heard "WOWs" about this book for years whenever lists of great books are brought up. But I didn't know the first thing about it. It got high marks from listeners on Audible, so I thought I'd give it a shot...
The Poisonwood Bible
I saw a respected friend reading this book several years and she seemed to be enjoying it. I've been somewhat curious about it ever since, and it was on sale for under 10 bucks via Audible last week, so I went ahead and grabbed it. It's my first exposure to Kingsolver's work, and I must say, it was quite impressive...
Child 44
I've never heard of Tom Rob Smith before, but a quick visit to his MySpace informed me that he is an English novelist, and younger than I would have guessed (28). I would have guessed that he was older because the protagonist of this novel (Leo Damidov) seems older, because of his world-weary temperament. Interestingly, however, Damidov is of similar age. Could it be that he seems so exhausted because he lives in Stalinist Russia?...
Resurrection Men
I was unfamilar with Ian Rankin's writings, but Resurrection Men is one in a series of "Inspector Rebus" novels (published in 2002). I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but the listener comments had been good, and I thought I'd give it a shot...
Extreme Measures
This was my first time reading Vince Flynn. I'd actually never heard of him before...but the reader reviews looked strong, and I was drawn in by the fact that it was read by George Guidall, who had read the Neil Gaiman book that I enjoyed so much over the summer...
Sinner
I was very pleased to discover that Ted Dekker has another audiobook available, and quickly picked it up. This is part of a string of related stories which began...well, with the way Dekker strings stories together, sometimes it's hard to tell. But it would be fair to say that this particular story thread largely originated with Showdown...
The Obama Nation
I picked this book up for a little light weekend listening because of the impending election, and because I was curious about some background on the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. The book has been very popular, and was roundly rejected by the Obama campaign...so I figured it was at least worth a listen, since it had raised such a fuss...
Adam
I've really enjoyed everything I've ever read by Ted Dekker. To my way of thinking, he's an extremely creative writer...and his wordsmithing is very solid. Descriptive, picturesque, energetic. And his latest release is no exception. I've read almost all of Dekker's books, and one thing I enjoy about most of them is the way he tells parallel stories happening in two different worlds...whether literally different planes of existence, or simply separated by time and distance...
Up Till Now
I was in the mood for something a little lighter. I've always found Shatner an interesting character. I was a huge Star Trek fan when I was younger, but I've enjoyed him over the years in other roles as well. I just think he's an interesting blend of ego and self-deprecation. This 6-hour audiobook goes by pretty quickly. Shatner reminisces over his entire career...
World Without End
I was intending to wait awhile before listening to this book, as it had only been a few months since I'd listened to The Pillars of the Earth. However, I had enjoyed that one so much, and the reviews were quite good on this one, that I didn't want to forget about it. Also, it clocked in at over 52 HOURS...and I was in the mood to listen to something substantive. After listening, I must say...I made the right decision...