AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS

Friday, March 9, 2012

Armchair Audies: The Bad Employee/Bad Wife Edition


A couple of weeks ago, the APA announced the finalists for its 2012 Audie Awards Competition. Out of the 28 categories and 140 titles, I have listened to exactly... two. And neither of them was for the company that I work for. To make matters worse, my DH was also nominated for an Audie for another company, and I haven't listened to that one either. So, in order to make some amends for being a #bademployee and a #badwife and also because @lithousewife has set up a fun and informal Armchair Audies Challenge, I have decided to listen to as many of the Blackstone- and Grover Gardner-nominated audios as possible before the actual awards (which are in NYC on June 5, 2012.) I will not be able to attend this year's events; but I'm still going to dress up and hopefully Skype in to someone, somewhere and at sometime during the festivities :-)


These are the two Audie-nominated audiobooks that I have listened to:
BUSINESS/EDUCATIONAL
HUMOR

These are all the audios I am going to attempt to listen to before 06/05/2012:
AUDIO DRAMA
The Mark of Zorro (based on the novel by Johnston McCulley; dramatized by Yuri Rasovsky; performed by a full cast starring Val Kilmer; Blackstone Audio, Inc.)





We're Alive: Season 1 (by Kc Wayland; performed by a full cast; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - I will most likely post the review for this in May (Zombie Month)





BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
My Dog Tulip (by J.R. Ackerley; narrated by Ralph Cosham; Blackstone Audio, Inc.)






FANTASY
Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures (by Walter Moers; narrated by Bronson Pinchot; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Bronson!






MYSTERY
One Dog Night (by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner; Listen & Live Audio) - This could be tricky because I haven't listened to the two titles in the series that precede this one and, I'm the kind of person who listens to series titles in order; but I'm going to try and get all three in :-)



NON-FICTION

The 4 Percent Universe (by Richard Panek; narrated by Ray Porter; Blackstone Audio, Inc.)






My Korean Deli (by Ben Ryder Howe; narrated by Bronson Pinchot; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Bronson again!






ORIGINAL WORK
The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Vol. 3 (by Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane; performed by a full cast starring Stacey Keach; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Hmmm, I didn't really like the first volume; but the second volume got an Earphones Award and now this. Maybe I need to re-visit.



PACKAGE DESIGN
One Grave at a Time (by Jeanine Frost; narrated by Tavia Gilbert; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Actually, I won't be listening to this one! Since it's about cover art, I probably post something related to graphics :-)




THRILLER/SUSPENSE
The Bone House (by Brian Freeman; narrated by Joe Barrett; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Oh good, this is non-series title (so no backlist listening required)





Out of My Head (by Didier van Cauwelaert; narrated by Bronson Pinchot; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - More Bronson!






Silent Screams (by Karen Rose; narrated by Marguerite Gavin; Blackstone Audio, Inc.) - Karen Rose's canon of works have recurring characters; but stopyourekillingme.com avoided using the word "series" to describe her work. This may be like Carl Hiassen's world where order doesn't matter. At least I hope not :-/



I will be posting honest reviews of what I listen to. And maybe risk getting fired and/or divorced in the process; but at least no one will be able to accuse me of playing false or being a tool :-)

8 comments:

  1. I thought about just choosing the ones I wanted to listen to overall, but I really wanted to call a category. I have a list of others that I'm interested in, though. I'll get to them, too.

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  2. I'm probably messing up @lithousewife's spreadsheet by not calling out a specific category; but but that doesn't mean that in the end I won't have listened to at least one anyway! I suspect that it will be "Mysteries" as I'm already listening to three out of the five!

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  3. The New Adventures of Mike Hammer Vol. 2, "The Little Death," won the Audie for Best Original Work last year. The first volume was two stories, sort of TV episode length, and the second two volumes are more movie length, about two and a half hours, each volume an audio "novel." I had nothing to do with the first volume, but wrote both volume two and three, working from Spillane material -- for "The Little Death," expanding a short story, for "Encore for Murder" using a one-page novel outline from the late author's files.

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    Replies
    1. SOLD! I will listen to both volumes 2 & 3 with fresh ears and an open mind :-)

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  4. One unexpected good thing to come out of Armchair Audies - being reminded of nominees I have read. Completely forgot to list Go the F*Co to Sleep. Samuel L. Jackson is going to be on my tail. :-)

    I love your approach to this challenge! It will be interesting to see how your predictions span so many categories. One audiobook that didn't get a nod that should have was EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE. Robbed, I say.

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