tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81414332715013512982024-03-18T20:32:39.904-07:00dog eared copydog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-20434569118596452402013-09-17T00:01:00.001-07:002013-09-17T00:01:00.049-07:00A Beautiful Truth (by Colin McAdam)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;"><u>A Beautiful Truth</u></strong></div>
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by Colin McAdam</div>
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Published by SOHO Press, September 17, 2013</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">SUMMARY</strong></div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">WHO:</strong> Louee, a chimpanzee…</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">WHAT:</strong> is adopted by a childless couple…</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">WHERE:</strong> in Vermont…</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">WHEN:</strong> in the early 1970s…</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">WHY:</strong> as a sort of surrogate son.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">HOW:</strong> The couple anthropomorphize the primate and inadvertently inculcate a dual nature within Louee.</div>
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<b>WHY YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS BOOK:</b></div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">+</strong> Stylistically, <strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;"><u>A Beautiful Truth</u></strong> is interesting in its use of and reference to language: Dialogue is stripped of quotes and; Pronouns are not necessarily tethered to the subject in the topic sentence of a paragraph. The reader needs to linger a little over each sentence to catch the current of mood that will take him/her to the next point.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">+</strong> The novel raises some intriguing questions about the nature of primates and the fine line that may exist between humans and apes. The whole of the novel is cut with chapters from various chimps’ points of view, which are written in short truncated sentences; and while the humans’ chapters are more fully developed, the sentence structures themselves are not complex. The near stream of consciousness from both the human and the apes emphasizes the similarities between the primates.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">+</strong> Humans tend to project human meaning into other orders of animals, and Judy and Walt (the adopting couple) are no different. However, the actions described by the very words that emphasize commonalities, throw into sharp relief the wild nature of non-human animals. </div>
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<b>WHY YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS BOOK:</b></div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">-</strong> The reader needs to work a little to negotiate and hopscotch the atolls of mood and thought as presented as a result of the writing style, making the novel as a whole semantically challenging.<br />
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<b>SAVE THE CHIMPS:</b> <i><u><b>Half </b></u></i>of the net profits from the book's sales will benefit <a href="http://www.savethechimps.org/" target="_blank">Save the Chimps</a>, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world, providing home and care for 300+ chimps.</div>
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<b>OTHER: </b>I received a paperback ARC of <strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;"><u>A Beautiful Truth</u></strong> (by Colin McAdam) from a publishing industry professional and friend. The ARC was unsolicited but highly recommended by my friend. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post. </div>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-83363581135739377032013-06-19T10:02:00.000-07:002013-06-19T10:07:54.257-07:00Audiobook Week Mid-Week Meme <h4 style="background-color: clear; border: 0px; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0.5em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jenn K. a.k.a. devourerofbooks, is hosting Audiobook Week 2013, which consists of prompts for daily postings relating to audiobook love :-)</span></div>
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Current/most recent audiobook:</span></h4>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Man in the Empty Suit</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Sean Ferrell</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">narrated by Mauro Hantman</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Impressions:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">+ The story is fascinatingly complex and demands the listeners attention</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- The narrator has a clear voice but had difficulty shaping the text, delineating characters and maintaining the feminine tenor of a key figure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- There was distracting booth noise late in the audio production </span></div>
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Current/most recent favorite audiobook:</span></h4>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Ghosts of Belfast</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Stuart Neville</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">narrated by Gerard Doyle</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Ⓟ 2009, </span><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B002V1AJQG&qid=1331345269&sr=1-1" style="line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;">Audible, Inc.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the latest entry to my Personal Pantheon of All-Time Great Audiobooks, coincidentally displacing another Gerard Doyle-narrated audio, The Dead Trilogy (<u>Dead I Well May Be</u>, <u>The Dead Yard</u> and <u>The Bloomsbury Dead;</u> by Adrian McKinty.) Even though the audio was published in 2009 and I listened to it in 2012; and I've listened to a lot of good and sometimes very good audio in the past year, nothing since as come my way that I absolutely made me drop whatever it was that I was doing and just listen.</span></div>
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Favorite narrator you’ve discovered recently:</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Davina Porter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo snagged from <a href="http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/porter.shtml" target="_blank">AudioFile Magazine, Golden Voices profile</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: clear;">I read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series in print, so the audio that Davina Porter is most noted for is something that I haven't experienced! But this year, I listened to </span><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy.html" style="background-color: clear;" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a><span style="background-color: clear;"> (by Laura Amy Schlitz) and loved her performance! From the <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> review I wrote and posted:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 16px;">Her cultured voice, distinct characterizations, her ability to disappear into the text, mark her as a master narrator. In </span><u style="line-height: 16px;">Splendors and Glooms</u><span style="line-height: 16px;">, Davina Porter voices the POVs of an aged crone, an old, sleazy man, a pre-adolescent girl with theatrical training, an illiterate street urchin (boy) and a little rich girl, all with seeming ease. </span><u style="line-height: 16px;">Splendors and Glooms</u><span style="line-height: 16px;"> is a relatively long book for children's fare, but the narrator's pace never flagged and was as strong at the end as it was in the beginning.</span></i></span></span></blockquote>
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One title from your TBL (to be listened) stack, or your audio wishlist:</span></h4>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Dead Beat</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Jim Butcher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">narrated by James Marsters</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ⓟ 2010, Penguin Audio</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If past experience is any indicator, the writing wil be terrible; but the narration will be great! I'm starting this one today though I've had it in hand for a couple of years!</span></span></div>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-49022947753955285632013-06-17T13:37:00.002-07:002013-06-17T13:37:54.351-07:002012-2013, My Audiobook Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jenn K. a.k.a. devourerofbooks is hosting Audiobook Week 2013, which consists of prompts for daily postings relating to audiobook love :-)<br />
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<b>Today's prompt: </b><br />
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"Are you new to audiobooks in the last year? Have you been listening to them forever but discovered something new this year? Favorite titles? New times/places to listen? This is your chance to introduce yourself and your general listening experience." </blockquote>
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<b>I've been listening to audiobooks and working in the industry for about eighteen years now!</b> Yep, I pretty much eat, breathe and live audiobooks. It's more than a job or a hobby, it's a lifestyle :-)<br />
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<b>I left Blackstone Audio last October to pursue freelance opportunities! </b><br />
Sometimes scary! But exhilarating too! I've been able to work on some great audiobooks! :-)<br />
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<b>I judged the category of Best Audiobook for "Children, Ages 8-12" for the Armchair Audies! </b>Wow, I learned so much about children's audiobooks from judging this category with my daughter (who is between the ages of eight and twelve!) You can read about what I learned in my post, <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/armchair-audies-best-audiobook-for.html" target="_blank">Armchair Audies: Best Audiobook for Children Ages 8-12 Wrap Up Post</a>, which also contains links to reviews of the contenders. The Armchair Audies judged seventeen categories this year and you can check out what's what at <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/">ArmchairAudies.com</a> :-)<br />
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<b>Favorite Audiobooks!</b><br />
Two books that greatly influenced me in 2012 were <u>The Weight of the Nation</u> (by John Hoffman and Judith Salerno, M.D., M.S. with Alexandra Moss; narrated by Bernadette Dunne) and <u>Black Genius: Inspirational Portraits of African-American Leaders</u> (by Dick Russell; narrated by Kevin Kenerly.) You can read a little bit more about the how and why they impacted me in my post,<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 15.994318008422852px;"> </span></span> <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/12/epiphanies-2012.html" target="_blank">Epiphanies 2012</a><br />
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I<b>'ve pretty much shuttered my blog, dogearedcopy.com!</b><br />
Except for special runs like The Armchair Audies and Audiobook Week (and Murder, Monsters and Mayhem this year and Zombie Awareness Month next year if I can get my act together,) I've ceased and desisted from blogging. I love the blogging community, and I'm still on twitter (@dogearedcopy) and always willing to facilitate whatever other blogging projects you have in mind that you think that I can help with; but the daily angst of trying to find the right turn of phrase for a review or posting content consistently has been kicked to the curb in favor of playing with puppies, frolicking in the sun and reading more!<br />
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<b>I hike! And bike!</b><br />
For exercise, I hike and bike a little; but I don't listen to audiobooks when I'm doing either. With the very real threat of bears, rattlesnakes and mountain lions on the trails, not to mention aggressive mountain bikers and hunters, I prefer to be more aware of my surroundings :-)<br />
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You can see what I wrote for the meme in years past:<br />
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<li><a href="http://dogearedcopy.tumblr.com/post/6247883528/2010-2011-my-audiobook-year" target="_blank">2010-2011, My Audiobook Year</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/06/audiobook-week-2011-2012-my-audibook.html" target="_blank">2011-2012, My Audiobook Year</a></li>
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A couple of other JIAM posts :-)<br />
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<li><a href="http://literatehousewife.com/2011/06/audiobook-interview-with-grover-gardner-and-tanya-perez/" target="_blank">Audiobook Interview with Grover Gardner and Tanya Perez </a>(interview conducted by Jennifer Conner (@lithousewife at literatehousewife.com) #JIAM2011</li>
<li><a href="http://karenwhiteaudiobooks.com/2012/06/01/the-many-hats-of-tanya-perez/" target="_blank">2011-2012, My Audiobook YearThe Many Hats of Tanya Perez </a>(Behind the Scenes interview conducted by Karen White (@KarenWhite at Home Cooked Books: karenwhiteaudiobooks.com) #JIAM2012</li>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-91085766862456352042013-05-22T00:01:00.000-07:002013-05-22T00:01:00.710-07:00Armchair Audies: Best Audiobook for Children Ages 8-12: Wrap Up PostJudging the <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> category of Audiobooks for Children ages 8-12 was an extremely interesting, revelatory and educational experience for me! I have no experience producing children's audiobooks much less reviewing them; but I felt that I was more than up to taking on this challenge armed with my secret weapon: Actual Children Aged 8-12! That's right, I conscripted my daughter and her friends to a series of audiobooks, samples and questions; prepped the listening experience months in advance by listening to other children's audiobooks; and finally taking Heidi's (Bunbury in the Stacks) and my own assessments in hand before making a call!<br />
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<u style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy.html" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">by Laura Amy Schlitz</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">narrated by Davina Porter</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/audio-books/Splendors+and+Glooms/143255/?link_num=2&" style="background-color: clear; color: #993322; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Recorded Books. Inc.</a><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">, </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Ⓟ </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">2012</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">12 hours, 2 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">This was the first book that we listened to for the Armchair Audies and personally my favorite: the production quality is edge-to-edge and the narration irreproachable. I was, however taken aback by how dark the story is. I wondered if the Gothic feel of this book might be attributable to the influence of other successfully dark books like Neil Gaiman's <u>Coraline</u>; if it might be a hearkening back to the rather frightening dark tenor of the of the original fairy tales or; if, as someone in a group thread mentioned, it might be a matter of manifesting fears in a way that children could face and cope with them (ref. Bruno Bettleheim <u>The Uses of Enchantment</u>.) Regardless, there is quite a bit of morbidly scary imagery that a sensitive child may not care for. Anyway, my own daughter's take was that she like the narrator's accent and the scenes with the puppets performing; but that she wasn't quite clear what was going on in some parts. She would, however, recommend the book to her best friend who is a more advanced reader and likes stories with witches and magic and such.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-cheshire-cheese-cat.html" target="_blank">The Cheshire Cheese Cat</a></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4 hours, 16 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I had extremely high hopes for this book, but it proved to be a bust. From the opening screech to the last, I found the pitch and pace annoying. I was hoping that the talking animals would appeal to my daughter but she tuned out from the start; and the many literary references and puns went over her head. To be fair, not many kids her age would be familiar with Dickens and <u>The Tale of Two Cities</u>, Wilkie Collins' <u>The Woman in White</u> and/or William Makepeace Thackeray and his pepper problems; but there is nothing in the story to indicate that these people should be of interest or even real-life characters. Eventually, my daughter tuned out the words like so many adult conversations and became increasingly interested in iPad app games and the radio :-(</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/same-sun-here.html" target="_blank">Same Sun Here</a></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> 2012, </span>Candlewick/Brilliance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5 hours, 47 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">One thing that I learned listening to this audiobook is that children do not care about the narrator matching the age of the character that the narrator is reading! Appropriate casting is very much a top priority with me; but of course the number of narrators aged 8-12 is pretty small and; kids seem to hear their own voices in the intent and delivery of the narrator, not in the pitch. So, while I found Silas House's narration "too old" for the character of River Justice in </span><u style="text-align: start;">Same Sun Here</u><span style="text-align: start;">, my daughter could not have cared less. Another thing that I learned is that often books for this age group, even chapter books, contain illustrations that are part of the reading experience. Sometimes you notice and sometimes you don't. If you don't notice, that's a pretty good sign of a well-written book and a better audio experience as there is no sense of having been bereft for having chosen the audio over the print. There are illustrations in the print edition of <u>Same Sun Here</u>, but I didn't realize it until I went to go check on the spelling of "Masoorie" that the authors used! That said, even though my daughter was more engaged with this book than with <u>Splendors and Gloom</u> and <u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat,</u> when I realized that she thought "Dadi" and "Daddy" were the same person and "Masoorie" was the way she thought Neela Vaswani was pronouncing "Missouri," I also realized how important visual cues can be with a story :-/</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/wonder.html" target="_blank">Wonder</a></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by R.J. Palacio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">narrated by Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">8 hours, 6 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Man, oh man! I cannot tell you how this audio experience broke my heart! The story is amazing, but it could have been, should have been a better audio production. Nick Podehl was great; but Diana Steele sounded like Marge Simpson, Kate Rudd didn't pre-read the book (or didn't pay attention if she did) and one or two minor editing issues drove this to the bottom of the favored-to-win the Audie list. My daughter was interested in the story; but will be reading it in print instead.</span><br />
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<u>The Freedom Maze</u></div>
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by Delia Sherman</div>
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narrated by Robin Miles</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> 2012, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Listening Library</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8 hours, 34 minutes</span></div>
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I didn't have to listen to this for very long before I had heard enough to rank it over <u>Wonder</u> and <u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u>! Despite some sibilance issues which may have been a matter of bad de-essing or compression processes, Robin Miles' soothing voice was very welcome. I then created a chart of "Pluses" and "Minuses" for each title in the category which effectively ruled out <u>Splendors and Glooms</u>. When it came down to the final two choices <u>The Freedom Maze</u> had a much more intriguing premise than <u>Same Sun Here</u> and, I suspect my daughter found the magic in <u>The Freedom Maze</u> more palatable than in <u>Splendors and Glooms</u>. Heidi, over at Bunbury in the Stacks had already come to the same conclusion as to the winning entry so we had a consensus decision as to the winner of the Armchair Audies Best Audiobook for Children Ages 8-12: <u>The Freedom Maze</u>! </div>
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You can check out my reviews of the titles above by clicking on the title beneath each cover (except for <u>The Freedom Maze</u> for which I have not written a review yet) and, Heidi's reviews over at Bunbury in the Stacks:</div>
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<li><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-the-cheshire-cheese-cat-by-carmen-agra-deedy/" target="_blank">The Cheshire Cheese Cat</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-the-freedom-maze-by-delia-sherman/" target="_blank">The Freedom Maze</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-same-sun-here-by-silas-house-and-neela-vaswani/" target="_blank">Same Sun Here</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-splendors-and-gloomsfire-spell-by-laura-amy-schlitz/" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-wonder-by-r-j-palacio/" target="_blank">Wonder</a></li>
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-54875564861518688072013-05-16T12:01:00.000-07:002014-05-24T08:54:37.553-07:00Wonder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Wonder</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by R.J. Palacio</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">narrated by Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;"> </span>2012, Brilliance Audio, Inc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">8 hours, 6 minutes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Children, Ages 8-12</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The world is a hard place. And people are bastards. And kids are cruel. Especially to kids like Auggie Pullman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">August "Auggie" Pullman was born with a severely mal-formed face and raised in the relative shelter of his home and neighborhood environs - which is not to say that he has been shielded from public scrutiny or the visceral reactions he provokes upon those who chance on him. From outright screams of horror to glances stolen peripherally, Auggie is all too aware that he is a freak show and an outcast. But after years of home schooling, Auggie's parents decide to send their son to a private school in Manhattan. Entering fifth grade as a new kid is a challenge anywhere at anytime for anyone, but for Auggie, without proven social skills and a history of ostracism, the prospect is particularly daunting. <u>Wonder</u> tracks Auggie's first year in school from several perspectives: from Auggie himself; his sister, Olivia ("Via"); his best friend Jack; Via's boyfriend, Justin; and from Via's best friend, Miranda. What follows is a chronicle of the failings and triumphs of Auggie and the people close to him as he struggles with the transition to a wider world and proves that while "the universe has not been kind to Auggie," the scales are not irredemptively tilted against him either:</span><br />
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<i> "…it’s not all random, if it really was all random, the universe would abandon us completely. and the universe doesn’t. it takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can’t see. like with parents who adore you blindly. and a big sister who feels guilty for being human over you. and a little gravelly-voiced kid whose friends have left him over you. and even a pink-haired girl who carries your picture in her wallet. maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. the universe takes care of all its birds."</i></blockquote>
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<u>Wonder</u> is a poignant story that well illustrates personal triumphs as well as a sort of karmic justice in play. Issues are all resolved as a testament to adversity-forged character, direct action or good fortune. If anything, perhaps <u>Wonder</u> is a little bit overly optimistic, reaching for that feel-good moment at the expense of reality; but then again, to a middle-grader it may prove to be a vaccine inoculating against the worldly cynicism and darkness that has crept into our common culture. Auggie's case is extreme and rare so it may take a mentor to make the correlation for the young listener between Auggie and other "outsiders" that are more commonplace.</div>
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<u>Wonder</u> is an amazing story and should have been well served by an audio edition; but unfortunately, it wasn't. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">While casting women in the roles of young boys in audio/voice-over is not uncommon, the purpose of doing so is to match the soprano voice of the unchanged male voice. Diana Steele's voice may have matched the range and been delivered in with the raspiness that the text mandated; but she</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> could not let go of her feminine sensibilities enough to deliver the narrative convincingly enough as that of a young boy. One felt that these sections were being read by Marge Simpson - an idea that, once you've heard it, you can't "unhear" it. Kate Rudd, on the other hand, delivered the story's sections from Olivia and Miranda's point of view with earnestness, though she often rendered Auggie has having a voice of a mentally handicapped person rather than one with a damaged/repaired oropharnyx. As the text takes pains to indicate that Auggie not slow and that he has a raspy voice, Ms Rudd's choice was unfortunate and all the more glaring. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nick Podehl, while not the voice of a fifth grader, delivered his sections (Jack and Justin) truthfully and well. There aren't may textual cues to define Justin, so the challenge was in distinguishing Jack, a boy from the "other" side of Broadway. While initially, Nick Podehl's choice of an old-school New York accent for Jack was disconcerting, he does dial back after the first impression and the tone is effectively set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The only other issues with the audio were minor production quibbles: the processing on Diana Steele's voice for the quotes before her sections sounded oddly "metallic;" during one of Kate Rudd's sections as Olivia there was an egregious edit (end of one word/beginning of next word had zero interstitial space) and, in the same (Olivia's) section there seems to be silences inserted in between some sentences which made for an odd cyclical wave sound. [To be fair though, I won't discount that there was something awry with my listening set-up. Even though I chased down cables and checked for sources of interference, I could not determine the source of what might have been a bizarre grounding issue.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Other Stuff</b>: I purchased a digital dnload edition of <u>Wonder</u> (<span style="text-align: center;">by R.J.Palacio; narrated by </span>Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd<span style="text-align: center;">) </span>from iTunes. <span style="color: #333333;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333;"></span><span style="color: #333333;">This is an <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/2013/03/17/2013-childrens-for-ages-8-12-nominees-and-reviews/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> review :-)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>See Also:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Heidi's review of <u>Wonder</u> (<span style="text-align: center;">by R.J. Palacio; narrated by </span>Diana Steele, Nick Podehl and Kate Rudd<span style="text-align: center;">) at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-wonder-by-r-j-palacio/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a>!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My review of <u><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/same-sun-here.html" target="_blank">Same Sun Here</a></u> (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani) and Heidi's review </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-same-sun-here-by-silas-house-and-neela-vaswani/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a> :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My review of <u><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-cheshire-cheese-cat.html" target="_blank">The Cheshire Cheese Cat</a></u> (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs<span style="text-align: center;">) and</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Heidi's review at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-the-cheshire-cheese-cat-by-carmen-agra-deedy/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a>!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />My review of <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy.html" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a> (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and Heidi's Review of the same at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-splendors-and-gloomsfire-spell-by-laura-amy-schlitz/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a> :-)</span><br />
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-29056435479920232832013-05-15T00:01:00.000-07:002013-05-21T12:12:08.324-07:00Same Sun Here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Same Sun Here</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> 2012, </span>Candlewick/Brilliance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5 hours, 47 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Children, Ages 8-12</span></div>
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<u>Same Sun Here</u> is an epistolary novel featuring the correspondence between two 12-year old pen pals: Meena, an illegal immigrant girl from India living in a rent control apartment (without the landlord's knowledge or consent) in New York City and; River, a Kentucky boy from a rural coal mining area. Both first find common ground in their shared love of mountains, but their friendship grows as they promise to always write truthfully as to what their respective thoughts and feelings are.<br />
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Meena and River are both face challenges in their lives unique to their area: Meena lives a furtive life fearing eviction from her family's apartment while River's environment is being ruined by mountain top removal operations that threaten the health and safety of the area's inhabitants. What Meena and River have in common is having to confront the social injustices that force them into the role of victims. However, as Meena's parents patiently go through the steps of becoming U.S citizens and River's grandmother spearheads a grass roots movement to draw awareness to the coal mining company's devastation of the area, both kids are inspired to persevere in their own ways and find hope in their futures.<br />
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<u>Same Sun Here</u> is an excellent exposition of commonplace social inequity that infiltrates The Land of Opportunity and how, despite suffocating odds, small actions can provide the force for change. The letters are dated 2008-2009, which places the context of conditions during Obama's election campaign, victory and swearing-in to office. As such, there is a liberal flavor to the book, though there is no slamming of political conservatism or of Obama's political rivals.<br />
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The authors, <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Silas House and Neela Vaswani narrate their own work. Silas House has a voice that's a bit too mature to be playing that of a middle-grade student; but his native Kentuckian accent, his earnestness and, the fact that most kids don't care about the age of the narrator relative to the character, all work in his favor. Neela Vaswami has a girlish voice and her accented English poses no issue in terms of being understood. That said, young listeners may become confused without the visual prompts of the text to be able to distinguish between "Dadi" and "Daddy" and, what sounds like "Missouri" with what is actually "Massoorie." There are illustrations in the book, but the audio narrative does not suffer for not being able to display them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Other Stuff</b>: I purchased a digital dnload edition of <u>Same Sun Here</u> (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">) </span>from iTunes. <span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/2013/03/17/2013-childrens-for-ages-8-12-nominees-and-reviews/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> review :-)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See Also:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heidi's Armchair Audies Review of <u>Same Sun Here</u> (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">written and narrated by Silas House and Neela Vaswani) </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-same-sun-here-by-silas-house-and-neela-vaswani/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My review of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-cheshire-cheese-cat.html" target="_blank">The Cheshire Cheese Cat</a></u><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">) and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heidi's review </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-the-cheshire-cheese-cat-by-carmen-agra-deedy/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My review of <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy.html" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a> (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heidi's Review of the same at </span><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-splendors-and-gloomsfire-spell-by-laura-amy-schlitz/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a> :-)<br />
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-21566397946054215272013-05-14T00:01:00.000-07:002013-05-21T12:00:26.970-07:00The Cheshire Cheese Cat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Cheshire Cheese Cat</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> 2011, </span>Listening Library</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4 hours, 16 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Children, Ages 8-12</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Skilley is a cheese loving tom cat prowling the alleys of Charles Dickens' London in search of a safe haven. As it happens, The Cheshire Cheese, a local pub renowned for the excellence of its eponymous dairy product, is in search of a mouser! It seems to be a match made in heaven, but there are certain challenges that must be met in order for Skilley to secure the position - a rival tom cat, an erudite mouse named Pip, a stranded Raven of the Tower of London, a cleaver-wielding cook and a keenly intuitive kitchen servant...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u> explores the difficulties of being different, of having friendship tested, of the adversities that individuals face but that ultimately shape character. Skilley has certain traits that are decidedly un-catlike and, his ego in trying to construct and preserve his cat image affects his relationships with others. Evolving self-awareness and reconciling his true nature with his public face show how the individual can change and grow rather than be inhibited by perecived stigmas. It's easy to make the comparison of Skilley's social dilemas with the challenges a child might face in terms of self-identity (embracing that which makes us unique) and social interaction (what it means to be loyal and the consequences of betrayal.) The scenes on which these ideas are explored are an opportunity for the child to make the correlation between the anthropomorphized animals and themselves and, require a bit of thoughtful listening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u> has an interesting hook to the story in that Charles Dickens and a couple of other literary luminaries of the time make an appearance in the story. Dickens' himself is given interstitial passages that provide a third person point-of-view to the goings on at the pub. Wilkie Collins and William Makepeace Thackery also make an appearance, though not given voice. Deedy and Wright have also provided some Easter Eggs for those familiar with the mid-19th century authors, e.g.The story opens with the line, "It was the best of toms, it was the worst of times" and we bear witness to Dickens struggling to find the opening lines for <u>A Tale of Two Cities</u>. Given that not many children are familiar with 19th-century authors and their works, these references may go over their heads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are some gruesome bits in <u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u>: Mice are eaten and nearly boiled alive and, the description of rodent infestation (multitude and aroma) were a bit nauseating for those who have experienced the like (see "<a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2011/09/mice.html" target="_blank">Mice</a>"); and while the overall feel of the book is not dark, if your child/-ren has/have a sensitivity to descriptions of animal suffering, you may want to be prepared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Katherine Kellgren is the British-American narrator who voices the majority of the novel, providing the world view from Skilley's point-of-view. The book provides numerous opportunities to show off the narrator's talent with characterizations; but fair warning: The opening scene sets the tenor of the narrative with a screech and the story is delivered at near-breakneck speed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Robin Sachs, the late British-American actor, narrates the sections from Dickens' point of view and though infrequent, are nice reprieves from the pitch and pace from the rest of the narrative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Other Stuff</b>: I borrowed a CD edition of <u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u> (<span style="text-align: center;">by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright; </span><span style="text-align: center;">narrated by Katherine Kellgren and Robin Sachs) </span>from the Jackson County Library System (Southern Oregon.) <span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/2013/03/17/2013-childrens-for-ages-8-12-nominees-and-reviews/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> review :-)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Check out Heidi's Armchair Audies review of <u>The Cheshire Cheese Cat</u> at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/audio-review-the-cheshire-cheese-cat-by-carmen-agra-deedy/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">See also: My review of <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2013/05/splendors-and-glooms-by-laura-amy.html" target="_blank">Splendors and Glooms</a> (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heidi's Review of the same at </span><a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-splendors-and-gloomsfire-spell-by-laura-amy-schlitz/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a> :-)<br />
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-7416759494246495872013-05-13T00:01:00.000-07:002013-05-13T21:24:20.494-07:00Splendors and Glooms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u>Splendors and Glooms</u><br />
by Laura Amy Schlitz<br />
narrated by Davina Porter<br />
<a href="http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/audio-books/Splendors+and+Glooms/143255/?link_num=2&" target="_blank">Recorded Books. Inc.</a>, <span style="background-color: clear; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ </span><span style="background-color: clear; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">2012</span><br />
12 hours, 2 minutes<br />
Children, Ages 8 -12<br />
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The Phoenix Stone is a fire opal that grants great power, and a great curse, upon the person who possesses it. Cassandra, an aged woman and witch, has it and wants to get rid of it. Grisini, a wizard and puppeteer in London, wants it but can't get it. Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, Grisini's apprentices in fantocini, don't care about it, but are used as pawns in the wizard's scheme to acquire it. And Clara is the victim of enchantments and a kidnapping plot as her fate aligns with that of the others and to that of the Phoenix Stone. Actually, all of the characters are victims in this tale of intrigue taking place in London, 1816: Cassandra and Grisini are prey to their greed and ambition; Lizzie and Paresfall to the vicissitudes of being orphans at time when poverty and workhouses were common and; Clara of a survivor's guilt dating back to the death of all of her siblings.<br />
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<u>Splendors and Glooms</u> is a fantastic tale with magic and thrills and, rich in detail of setting and thought; but it is also a rather dark and sophisticated story. It is ostensibly aimed at children, ages 8 -12, presumably because the story features children in that age range. The story provides a number of opportunities to explore a different time, place and culture. Listeners actually of the target demographic might benefit from the insight of a more mature reader to more fully explain subjects as death masks, memento mori, London fog, child exploitation, cholera, ... than is addressed in the book itself. There is also some rather frightening imagery described in the story: witches burning, a lurid monkey-shaped bell pull, a scene in a crypt, a bit of violence and blood... in fact quite a bit more gloom than splendor overall. There is a trend in children's literature that encourages walking on the dark side, indulging in the more gothic themes that harken back to the original fairy tales, and <u>Splendors and Glooms</u> follows this trend.<br />
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Davina Porter is the British narrator whose work on this book is irreproachable. Her cultured voice, distinct characterizations, her ability to disappear into the text, mark her as a master narrator. In <u>Splendors and Glooms</u>, Davina Porter voices the POVs of an aged crone, an old, sleazy man, a pre-adolescent girl with theatrical training, an illiterate street urchin (boy) and a little rich girl, all with seeming ease. <u>Splendors and Glooms</u> is a relatively long book for children's fare, but the narrator's pace never flagged and was as strong at the end as it was in the beginning.<br />
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<b>Other Stuff</b>: I dnloaded a digital copy of <u>Splendors and Glooms</u> (by Laura Amy Schlitz; narrated by Davina Porter) from iTunes. <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span><br />
<br />
This is an <a href="http://armchairaudies.com/2013/03/17/2013-childrens-for-ages-8-12-nominees-and-reviews/" target="_blank">Armchair Audies</a> review :-)<br />
<br />
Check out Heidi's Armchair Audies review of <u>Splendors and Glooms</u> at <a href="http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-splendors-and-gloomsfire-spell-by-laura-amy-schlitz/" target="_blank">Bunbury in the Stacks</a>!<br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-3830379214716011032013-05-09T01:09:00.001-07:002013-05-11T20:27:12.830-07:00Studio A: 21st Century Dead (Story-Author-Narrator List)<span style="background-color: clear; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;"><br /></span>
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<u>21st Century Dead</u></div>
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edited by Christopher Golden</div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Biters</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Mark Morris; narrated by Bernadette Dunne</span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Why Mothers Let Their Babies Watch Television, A Just So Horror Story </span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(by Chelsea Cain; narrated by Cassandra Campbell)</span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Antiparallelogram</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Amber Benson; narrated by Paul Michael Garcia)</span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">How We Escaped Our Certain Fate</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Dan Chaon; narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">A Mother's Love </span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(by John McIlveen; narrated by Renee Raudman)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Down and Out in Dead Town</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Simon R. Green; narrated by Simon Vance)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Devil Dust </span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(by Caitlin Kittredge; narrated by Chris Patton)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Dead of Dromore</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Ken Bruen; narrated by John Pruden)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">All the Comforts of Home: A Beacon Story </span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow; narrated by Sean Runette)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Ghost Dog & Pup: Stay </span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">(by Thomas E. Sniegoski; narrated by Paul Michael Garcia)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Tic Boom: A Slice of Love</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Kurt Sutter; narrated by Chris Patton)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jack and Jill</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Jonathan Maberry; narrated by Tom Weiner)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Tender as Teeth</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Stephanie Crawford and Duane Swierczynski; narrated by Renee Raudman)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Couch Potato</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Brain Keene; narrated by Bernadette Dunne)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Happy Bird and Other Tales</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Rio Youers; narrated by Simon Vance)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: clear; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Parasite</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> (by Daniel H. Wilson; narrated by Kirby Heybourne)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-39355377400976063162013-04-23T18:53:00.000-07:002013-04-23T20:49:51.706-07:00May 2013 Book Release Calendar<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><b>**********MAY 2013 BOOK RELEASE CALENDAR**********</b></span></div>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A few titles with their release dates for May 2013*:</span><br />
<br style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">02MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A Guide to Being Born: Stories</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Ramona Ausubel)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Kirby Heyborne (Dreamscape Media)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Love Is Power, or Something Like That</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by A. Igoni Barrett)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Pacific</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Tom Drury)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by TDB (AudioGO)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Dead Ever After</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Charlaine Harris) - Last in the Sookie Stackhouse series</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Johanna Parker (Recorded Books)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Janet Malcolm and Ian Frazier)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Story of My People</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Edoardo Nesi)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><u><br /></u></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Red Moon: A Novel</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Benjamin Percy)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Benjamin Percy (Hachette Audio)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">14MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Americanah</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">14MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Inferno</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Dan Brown) - Book #4 in the Robert Langdon series</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Paul Michael (Random House Audio)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">14MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">My Struggle: Book Two: A Man in Love</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Karl Knausgaard and Don Bartlett)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">21MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">And the Mountains Echoed</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Khaled Hosseini) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Khaled Hosseini, Navid Nagahban and Shoreh Aghdashio (Penguin Audio)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">21MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by George Packer)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Robert Fass (Macmilan Audio)</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">23MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Fall of Arthur</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">28MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Hanging Garden</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Patrick Clear)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">30MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">You Are One of Them</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Elliott Holt)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Cassandra Campbell (Blackstone Audio, Inc.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">04JUN: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by David Margolick) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>**********MAY IS ZOMBIE AWARENESS MONTH!**********</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Fanboys VS. Zombies, Vol. 2</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Sam Humphries and Jerry Gaylord) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span><br /><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">07MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The End Games</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by T.Michael Martin) </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">14MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt - Neverwinter Tales</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Agustin Padilla, R.A. Salvatore and Geno Salvatore) </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span></span><br /><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">15MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Zombie Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos (How to End Human Suffering)</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by James Marshall) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">15MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Rise of the Vampire</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Erik Butler) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">15MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">ComicQuest: Zombies Unleashed</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Jeremy Elder) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">22MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Land of the Dead</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Chris Ryall and Gabriel Rodriguez) </span></span></span></span><br />
AUDIO: N/A<br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">28MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Hair Raising</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Kevin J. Anderson) - Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Series</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: Narrated by Phil Gigante (Brilliance Audio)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">29MAY: </span><u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Swamp of the Hideous Zombies</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (by Geoffrey Hayes) - A Stepping Stone Book (TM) </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">AUDIO: N/A</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">*Sources: </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.themillions.com/2013/01/most-anticipated-the-great-2013-book-preview.html" target="_blank">The Millions: Most Anticipated: The Great 2013 Book Preview</a></span><br />
<a href="http://bestsellers.about.com/od/newupcomingreleases/tp/2013-New-Book-Releases.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About: 2013 Book Releases</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.otherpress.com/catalogs/2013_spring_cat_web.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Other Press: Spring/Summer 2013 Catalog</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> (for listing of zombie titles by publication date)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amazon.com (for release dates and information regarding audio editions)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Information is transcribed from these above cited sources and is accurate insofar as posted on their respective sites as of 18.00: 04/23/2013. Listing does not imply endorsement or recommendation. I receive no monies, goods or services in return for listing the above titles.</span><br />
<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-26404690649130698612013-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:002013-01-29T04:35:41.870-08:00The Pink Chair: Tweets about "Untrained Narrators"<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgewbFeDoNuSoI7Z43ti9GUmVXHUOtjegCmsoM4O45MeQWgbsFEM3pGinEZiqPIoDKpj3oZY7q6bXlxM_xHUIZ7YxM7PvIwyVX4Zw3c7XoDZMlEH0_TPpEBiVMs9XEoW-rKZEKtCvimSXMW/s1600/The+Pink+Chair.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgewbFeDoNuSoI7Z43ti9GUmVXHUOtjegCmsoM4O45MeQWgbsFEM3pGinEZiqPIoDKpj3oZY7q6bXlxM_xHUIZ7YxM7PvIwyVX4Zw3c7XoDZMlEH0_TPpEBiVMs9XEoW-rKZEKtCvimSXMW/s1600/The+Pink+Chair.JPG" height="304" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lea Hensley (@lea_hensley) has written a Speaking of Audiobooks post titled, "Untrained narrators? I'm not interested" over at the All About Romance blog:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=9344#comments"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=9344#comments</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">The blog post spawned an hours-long twitter convo in which a number of different people from the audiobook community (listeners, reviewers, narrators and producers) from all different levels of expertise participated. I've copied my own tweets down in this post, only editing out things like "YES!" or a reference to Highlander for which you kinda had to be there to get ;-)</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Anyway, I see that Lea's blog will be hosting a 6 narrator panel in February to discuss "positive solutions - path to success" and I'm hoping that further on, she will hold a roundtable that includes producers/studio directors/casting agents.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 10:51am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">At one point all the A-List narrators were untrained narrators.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 10:53am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">If audiobook publishers never take a chance on someone, where are the future narrators to come from?</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 10:57am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Yes, Big publishers do! Let's think about the past three months when the work flooded the studios. Experienced narrators were swamped bu the books had to go out. New voices had to be found!</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 11:13am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">We have to take chances all the time. Some work out and some do not.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 11:14am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">You have to weigh the risk of the new talent vs the grade of the book</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 11:16am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Meaning that you're not going to put new talent on a high-end book...</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 11:17am</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Absolutely, positively QC must be present. I think that's wehere the real issue lies from the user's/listener's end...</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 11:22am </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Just be a little bit more clear, the free market model of which a certain audiobook pub uses is factoring in the backlash. The risk is minimized is placing the bets on backlist titles.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:13pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Just for discussion's sake, ALL audiobook publishers make these decisions re new talent...</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:14pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">While not on a Goliath scale, the matrix of of price, availability & appropriateness along with the risk factor are all played out daily.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:21pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">And too, what exactly *is* an untrained narrator?</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:22pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">There are no narrator schools and... workshops may introduce to the business but certainly aren't training grounds. ACting background is no guarantee either</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:24pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">So is it really about "training" as much as ongoing development?</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:24pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">And as a casting/studio director being able to identify potential?</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:25pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">I won't name names, but there have been artistic successes from narrators whose initial efforts were, quite frankly crap.You gotta know when to hold'em /fold 'em.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:47pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Ability to take direction = development. Once a narrator becomes concretized or resistant to direction, it's over.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:49pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">But again we get back to getting the newbie in the studio to begin with!</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 12:59pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">The reason why actors are generally preferred is bc they understand things like direction, subtext and how an audience responds.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 1:01pm</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">I often find voice over crossovers more of a challenge bc their direction is in regard to information being delivered in a short span rather than the long haul of a full narrative</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 1:05pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">... I view audio drama more akin to acting than voice over; but I was actually going back to what looks promising</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 2:57pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">I've often decried the extinction of studio directors from the audiobook industry. Now I'm witnessing the passing of casting agents...</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 2:58pm </span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">No, I'm sorry but assigning audiobooks is NOT the same as casting.</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">@dogearedcopy 3:08pm</span><br style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;">Honestly, not for the better. It may serve audiobook publishers in the short run in terms of profits, but the backlash will not be worth it. </span></span></div>dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-10343217449375561512013-01-28T18:36:00.000-08:002013-01-29T06:33:20.335-08:00House of Mirth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sL6ibW8681JIaEy5K33pZRVCCnI6zB-qfNggyOA3mTptfaXndnJrqSwgVgqi4pJz0uTz9DDKXmiYC17bFcNVEyBmHMSVvG_0fUuEDFKbK7c1sTXJv2P_lqXl-_39lj4jKEjJsB45YQNB/s1600/House+of+Mirth.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sL6ibW8681JIaEy5K33pZRVCCnI6zB-qfNggyOA3mTptfaXndnJrqSwgVgqi4pJz0uTz9DDKXmiYC17bFcNVEyBmHMSVvG_0fUuEDFKbK7c1sTXJv2P_lqXl-_39lj4jKEjJsB45YQNB/s320/House+of+Mirth.jpeg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">House of Mirth</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by Edith Wharton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The House of Mirth was first published in 1905</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Introduction and Notes by Jeffrey Meyer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Introduction, Notes and Further Reading Copyright <span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 16px;">© 2003 by Jeffrey Meyers</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Note on Edith Wharton, The World of Edith Wharton and <i>The House of Mirth</i>, Inspired by <i>The House of Mirth</i> and Comments & Questions Copyright </span></span><span style="background-color: clear; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15.994318008422852px;">© 2003 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.</span></span></div>
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<u style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The House of Mirth</u><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> is the tragedy of twenty-nine-year old Lily Bart who commits a series of egregious social faux pas that guarantee her downfall. Vain, a tease, pretentious, weak and bit stupid, Lily flits though the upper striatum of New York Society with a naïveté that is at odds with her upbringing. Trading in on her beauty and ability to charm the company she keeps, she flirts and snubs through parties on her way to… what? Unable to define her goals and discriminate to that end, she sabotages her opportunities on the premise of some vague morality. Though impoverished when her father is financially ruined and forced to live in a more circumscribed situation than what she was used to, she is nonetheless acculturated with the ways of the upper crust and thrives in the orbit of the wealthy. She knows the rules, the ways of the rich; and yet, she makes a series of incredulous decisions that defy not only convention, but common sense. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Edith Wharton has written a novel about societal Darwinism. Mrs. Astor’s 400 of The Gilded Age evolved, and arguably devolved, as established families lost money and standing and, new wealth and those of a “certain race” crept in. Those who failed to adapt would find themselves consigned to the fringes and even “out” altogether. The exposition of this process through a number of characters in the novel is extremely well portrayed, but none more so than with Lily herself. Lily finds herself caught in a time of transition into the new society at the turn of the century and struggling to adapt to newer circumstances. The novel is written with Lily’s voice and perspective (though technically in the 3rd person omniscient), yet, despite being privy to the inner workings of Lily’s mind which might lend understanding to her modus operandi, the reader finds a curious lack of the survival instinct. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">If there is a failing of the novel, it would be that the reader can never come into full sympathy with the protagonist. Whatever you may think of Lily, as a romantic figure, tragic victim, insipid socialite… it’s nearly impossible to know Lily herself. Perhaps this is because Lily doesn’t have a clear definition of herself either. The reader, like her friends, never really knows Lily and it results in a series of misunderstandings. How can you have faith in someone you don’t really know and can’t get a handle on? As one of Lily’s erstwhile friends, Carry Fisher put it when trying to explicate Lily’s situation, “…but I never <i>could</i> understand you, Lily!” Edith Wharton doe not give the reader a special insight into Lily so we can only judge her instead of love her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">This book qualifies for a personal challenge of reading a couple of Edith Wharton novels this year: <u>The House of Mirth</u>, <u>Ethan Fromme</u>, <u>The Age of Innocence</u> and <u>The Buccaneers</u>. I am reading at least three of these novels (<u>The House of Mirth</u>, <u>Ethan Fromme</u> and, <u>The Age of Innocence)</u> with @lithousewife :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This book also qualifies for the What's in a Name Challenge, #6 hosted by @BethFishReads at www.bethfishreads.com, as a book that has a title with an emotion ("Mirth") in it:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhya4OH5XwAFkod9l18cTD0m0Eoj9f6zANdmCpLk2xqE4N0LP0Qjf0NOS0kcj4AClL1UwK88SkW_FptnQQhSwySfCCaIuJPXBMsUK0hlF29rPgh5GsNXVRgM93MhJKabylciINKyUM5fNv2/s1600/WIN6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhya4OH5XwAFkod9l18cTD0m0Eoj9f6zANdmCpLk2xqE4N0LP0Qjf0NOS0kcj4AClL1UwK88SkW_FptnQQhSwySfCCaIuJPXBMsUK0hlF29rPgh5GsNXVRgM93MhJKabylciINKyUM5fNv2/s1600/WIN6.jpeg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This book also qualifies for the Mount TBR Challenge hosted by Bev at <a href="http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2012/11/2013-mount-tbr-my-signup.html" target="_blank">My Reader's Block</a> and on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/84884" target="_blank">goodreads</a>. I've had this book opn my shelves since November 21, 2012:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFNDANhyphenhyphenbiCK8uB4laStCUQ7O2ax84d2OA_KH4qykbkOupT3Lz5NlJAxGnLbXbnO3wrkHlU0VUosI3rRxpN8JJdnpztuWdcKc9CS3zrm0ZDSMSwF1tu-f8Nkf3eAL5rT4B4JajzkQI1M2/s1600/Mount+TBR+2013.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFNDANhyphenhyphenbiCK8uB4laStCUQ7O2ax84d2OA_KH4qykbkOupT3Lz5NlJAxGnLbXbnO3wrkHlU0VUosI3rRxpN8JJdnpztuWdcKc9CS3zrm0ZDSMSwF1tu-f8Nkf3eAL5rT4B4JajzkQI1M2/s1600/Mount+TBR+2013.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I did not read the </span><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Introduction, Notes and Further Reading</span><span style="background-color: clear; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;"> by Jeffrey Meyers or; the </span><span style="background-color: clear; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;">Note on Edith Wharton, The World of Edith Wharton and <i>The House of Mirth</i>, Inspired by <i>The House of Mirth</i> and Comments & Questions.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: clear; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;">I purchased The House of Mirth (by Edith Wharton; Introduction and Notes by Jeffrey Meyers) from Barnes & Noble in Medford, OR.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: clear; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: center;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span><br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-28941582446892218532013-01-25T21:05:00.001-08:002013-01-25T22:28:47.709-08:002013 Audio Book Challenge: Flirting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://teresasreadingcorner.com/2013-audio-book-challenge/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYVUU5Rk-8Vl7gJ7n5wS6TNK_QDfCjEm1z9tU1zZmgFQT0Yav8bomfrN-Evz3MwRwzXsYRm7RIHHacuAU001jwmn-Jpi2MJPP-kh8fVmWqWDbKeZvQvYB93QfaV58aQh3jqyLAdnSa8CH/s1600/2013-Audio-Book-Challenge-300x202.jpeg" /></a></div>
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Teresa is once again hosting the Original Audio Book Challenge (click on the image above to head over to the site.) There are five levels to the challenge, the first being "Flirting" wherein a participant listens to six audiobooks. I've completed this level and am now committing to the next level, "Going Steady" which is twelve titles! Without further todo, here are the titles and commentary for the six audiobooks I have listened to so far this year:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglvqIiNvGiA8xMS0QbStzVZ5zy2uyAo_dalmCpinLaMwlNKsqIVW4S2uqhp6ftZv4alzuR83Tk1XPAuv4sr7OPuQeoHANIt6p_U5DGETyp3jWylnHARZxbeSqkKNWO0tr3az4OPsaNZUUY/s1600/Bad+Beginning.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglvqIiNvGiA8xMS0QbStzVZ5zy2uyAo_dalmCpinLaMwlNKsqIVW4S2uqhp6ftZv4alzuR83Tk1XPAuv4sr7OPuQeoHANIt6p_U5DGETyp3jWylnHARZxbeSqkKNWO0tr3az4OPsaNZUUY/s1600/Bad+Beginning.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<u>The Bad Beginning </u></div>
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(by Lemony Snicket; multi-voiced production starring Tim
Curry)</div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>October 24, 2004, Harper Audio</div>
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2 hours, 29 minutes</div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Children, Ages 8-12</div>
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This was an impulse purchase that somewhat defies my usual
listening/audiobook practices in that I have already read and enjoyed the first
three Series of Unfortunate Event books and, grittier noir fare is more to my
liking. But there it was, in the $5.95 "bin" at iTunes and I thought,
"What the heck. I haven't heard the multi-voiced version..." For the
uninitiated, the Series of Unfortunate Events is about three children who are
orphaned and subsequently remanded into the care of legal guardians. In <u>The Bad
Beginning,</u> the children encounter their first and greatest nemesis, Count Olaf,
who hopes to gain control of the Beaudelaire fortune. At the beginning of the
book and audio, the narrator warns you repeatedly that this is not a HEA tale,
and yet I must admit to being somewhat chagrined to realize that the book does
not indeed end happily ever after! But hope must spring eternal, as after all,
I continue to read more in the series! In the books, the illustrations of Brett
Helquist grace the covers and chapter headings. I don't know what the original
medium was, but they give a feel of having been rendered in pen-and-ink and are
somewhat reminiscent of Edward Gorey's Victorian-like artwork. You don't get
the artwork with the audio of course, but the trade off is that you get Tim
Curry as the narrator! He has a lovely, smooth, slightly aged British voice
that knows how to render the angst and pathos of the story without totally creeping
you out. You sense that he is in control of the story and your attention.
Harper Audio has cut his narration with some other (uncredited) voices for the
multi-voice edition and for the most part everything works. The talent voicing
Mr. Poe is wonderfully snuffly and priggish and, with the exception of Mr.
Poe's children, the children actually sound like children (as opposed to adults
pretending to be children.) Count Olaf is nasty and oily and the children are
precocious without being annoying. The only quibble I had was at the beginning
of the production when the sound effects were applied a bit heavily and, there
was an odd three-stroke monotone key that was applied at least twice during the
story. I have no idea what this sound effect was supposed to be or signify so
it was a little bit distracting. Still, all in all, well worth the money.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfALeQLbxJHcaMwchUz0PO13H5t7eMt9vQWEGelk84pIFkdenp9QRwabdGLyCSTNt85Tr5awUWpDduhRO_W_DxFeJd2zoW2B_av94eZGA8wxjQnunVQXVbvlDikQyy6oe1sGM3ZPTRJwQR/s1600/Reptile+Room.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfALeQLbxJHcaMwchUz0PO13H5t7eMt9vQWEGelk84pIFkdenp9QRwabdGLyCSTNt85Tr5awUWpDduhRO_W_DxFeJd2zoW2B_av94eZGA8wxjQnunVQXVbvlDikQyy6oe1sGM3ZPTRJwQR/s1600/Reptile+Room.jpeg" height="181" width="200" /></a></div>
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<u>The Reptile Room </u></div>
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(by Lemony Snicket; narrated by Tim Curry)</div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>September 9, 2003, Listening Library</div>
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3 hours, 11 minutes</div>
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Children, Ages 8-12</div>
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The Beaudelaire orphans have now been remanded into the
custody of their distant uncle-by-marriage, Uncle Monty who is a herpetologist.
Count Olaf returns to threaten their very lives in a scheme of boldly conceived
subterfuge. Lemony Snicket's brilliance lies within making absurd situations
feel real with the tension; his humor; and not only explaining vocabulary words
but in applying those words analogously to provide greater comprehension. Tim
Curry's voicing of Lemony Snicket/the narrator, Count Olaf and Mr. Poe was
fabulous; the kids? Not so much; but overall it was very entertaining. If I did
find my attention wandering a little bit, I think it's only because I did just
recently read the book in print and I gave myself permission to think about
something else at the less engaging parts. I bought the 3-CD set in 2011 and
while it doesn't include all of Helquist's artwork from the book, the packaging
is pretty nice: The cover matches the book cover, the interior contains a clip
of Helquist's work in the CD beds and there is another graphic printed
edge-to-edge on the CDs themselves. If you are wondering why I'm mentioning the
artwork, it's because the quasi-Victorian feel of the illustrations adds to the
overall feel of the work.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I purchased a retail copy of this audiobook from an online vendor (barnesandnoble.com ?)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0de_hS88qjTohS5LRbQor2yZnzqsbUuRExiztoCIY1NAitVMwLeEFUFDevCDPAhGhrZJAkFu8VUjPlYo_SiETCUuQvPNnxjcaAsHwdwlMJqlqXaONw7OfOwaojiVIAx4dhEvn8NTChRpF/s1600/Origami+Yoda.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0de_hS88qjTohS5LRbQor2yZnzqsbUuRExiztoCIY1NAitVMwLeEFUFDevCDPAhGhrZJAkFu8VUjPlYo_SiETCUuQvPNnxjcaAsHwdwlMJqlqXaONw7OfOwaojiVIAx4dhEvn8NTChRpF/s1600/Origami+Yoda.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<u>The Strange Case of Origami Yoda</u></div>
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(by Tom Angleberger; narrated by Charlotte Perry, Mark
Turetsky, Greg Steinbruner, Jonathan Todd Ross and, Julia Gibson) </div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>October 2010, Recorded Books</div>
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2 hours, 14 minutes</div>
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Children, Ages 8-12</div>
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The book is a "case file" compiled by 6th grader
Tommy as a way to figure out whether the advice-dispensing finger puppet worn
by the class loser is genuine in its mysticism or an elaborate hoax perpetuated
by the wearer. The collection of anecdotes which serve as testimony to the
validity of Origami Yoda is humorous and the overall story arc is very clever. Mark Turetsky was very good as the story's narrator Tommy, but the rest of
the cast sounded too old to be believable as a bunch of eleven- or twelve-year
olds. The book did not contain the marginalia and supplemental material that
was included in the book and; my daughter thought it would have been great had
the publishers included a copy of "The Twist" (by Chuck Berry) at the end as
bonus material; but nonetheless, my daughter enjoyed it so much that she asked
if we could listen to the other books in the series :-)</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> I dnloaded a digital copy of this audiobook from iTunes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC0t-s3yw9Z0MqQlbuZX1su3uTyb4X0ytQtk-2RdY6a_B7hoPbOiBAQ1MzlOLyROplq98H6hBAhX7ofq2EMlhg-zUNs18XaWZn_shUvNYCoxSWLTW7BehzMY0vH-gLhWWcoe64FYyOVfW/s1600/Darth+Paper.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC0t-s3yw9Z0MqQlbuZX1su3uTyb4X0ytQtk-2RdY6a_B7hoPbOiBAQ1MzlOLyROplq98H6hBAhX7ofq2EMlhg-zUNs18XaWZn_shUvNYCoxSWLTW7BehzMY0vH-gLhWWcoe64FYyOVfW/s1600/Darth+Paper.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<u>Darth Paper Strikes Back</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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(by Tom Angleberger; narrated by Mark Turetsky, Julia Gibson,
Jennifer Ikeda and Ali Ahn)</div>
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</div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>October 2011, Recorded Books</div>
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3 hours, 45 minutes</div>
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Children, Ages 8-12</div>
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Dwight/Origami Yoda are threatened with expulsion from
school after Dwight appears to have threatened another student.
Tommy, who created a case file to prove the credibility of Origami Yoda in the first book in the series, <u>The
Strange Case of Origami Yoda</u>, puts together another set of testimonials to show
how Dwight/Origami Yoda are actually <i>with</i> the Force. Harvey/Darth Paper serve
as the story's antagonist/s; but not all is at appears, even Harvey! The surprise ending, as well as the story throughout, is fun, funny and
clever, though the whole falls just a little bit shy of the brilliance of the
first-in-series. Mark Turetsky remains the star of the cast, and my daughter
doesn't care that the rest don't sound like her classmates! I've skimmed through the print copies of the Origami Yoda books and mentioned to my daughter that if she wanted to get the books to check out "Kellon's"
drawings (the illustrations in the book) or the activity pages in the back of
the book, I would have no qualms about doing so. I feel like she's missing out a little bit by not seeing the illustrations, but so she has definitely been entertained by the audio!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> I dnloaded a digital copy of this audiobook from iTunes.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsS3Px5A8a3EcRimHUXVi6gajMHa97QA3vZo1rX-dfasedGCUX_8dmoFoCjWjqxaa6-9lUUCnGEXB0JvZoVz11TOZV-TT3S4gbGC6jYrTPvzW5pM1QAoSBkSnIuB_Tu1VdaJq6mWkbGs9K/s1600/Fortune+Wookie.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsS3Px5A8a3EcRimHUXVi6gajMHa97QA3vZo1rX-dfasedGCUX_8dmoFoCjWjqxaa6-9lUUCnGEXB0JvZoVz11TOZV-TT3S4gbGC6jYrTPvzW5pM1QAoSBkSnIuB_Tu1VdaJq6mWkbGs9K/s1600/Fortune+Wookie.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<u>The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee </u></div>
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(by Tom Angleberger; narrated by Julia Gibson, Jennifer
Ikeda, Ali Ahn, Jonathan Todd Ross, Mark Turetsky and, Greg Steinbruner) </div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>August 2012, Recorded Books</div>
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3 hours</div>
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Children, Ages 8-12</div>
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This is another "case file" that the main
character, Tommy delivers in his investigation into an origami figure, this
time a fortune teller folded in the likeness of Chewbacca! The third in the
Origami Yoda series, it was as equally fun as its predecessors and Mark
Turetsky, the narrator who voices Tommy is excellent as always. This time he
outdid himself with truly the best Chewie impersonation ever! And I do mean
ever! The rest of the cast however sounds too old to be playing their roles;
but the target audience of children, ages 8-12 are unlikely to care. My
daughter, however did complain about one narrator (Julia Gibson who plays the character, Sarah) whose "esses"
"hurt her ears." It's a case of sibilance striking the eardrums
sometimes painfully. This could be an instance of the narrator having a lisp,
poor mic placement and/or, poor post processing. There were also some unusually
long pauses in the middle of the story which were a bit distracting. Here I
suspect poor editing. Check this one out from the library, listen for Mark
Turetsky's Chewie, then switch to print which has the added bonus of
"Kellon's" drawings :-)</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> I dnloaded a digital copy of this audiobook from iTunes. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1iLLsrE5blBkYR0VGXi8hfplb1cjYqpbIvTYXu3Tgtt5C00wJrOl3zkQrclnft-ZRf1oSKnyj0t5hYMJQS_UCCNH9dOtJtZ-CgEjCFdlngmrxyh9Ne1jmY-mE9KAI2rASENkEcrl44wi/s1600/Eleventh+Plague.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1iLLsrE5blBkYR0VGXi8hfplb1cjYqpbIvTYXu3Tgtt5C00wJrOl3zkQrclnft-ZRf1oSKnyj0t5hYMJQS_UCCNH9dOtJtZ-CgEjCFdlngmrxyh9Ne1jmY-mE9KAI2rASENkEcrl44wi/s1600/Eleventh+Plague.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<u>The Eleventh Plague</u></div>
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(by Jeff Hirsch; narrated by Dan Bittner) </div>
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<span style="background-color: clear;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;">Ⓟ</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>September 01, 2011, Scholastic Audio</div>
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7 hours, 3 minutes</div>
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Young Adult </div>
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A fifteen-year old boy and his father are salvagers in an
American landscape ruined in a biological war with China. They end up in a
suburban settlement which offers them help and safety and, its own risks and
dangers as well. The story starts out dark and interesting; but fails to
maintain the mood or create an alternate tenor effectively. There are some
better-than-average descriptive phrases and the story is not without meaning;
it just fails to deliver on the promise of the opening passages. Nonetheless,
the narrator was excellent, voicing the young teens, older adults and females
without fault. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> I borrowed a CD copy of this audiobook from the Jackson County Libray System (Southern Oregon.) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #333333; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing the product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.</span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-72161023692430307942012-12-27T00:01:00.000-08:002012-12-27T10:05:04.368-08:00Epiphanies 2012<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of talking about "The Best Of" or even "My Favorites," I want to close out the year with a couple of books I read in 2012 that greatly influenced me:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>☆ MyFuture Self:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year, I had a great conversation with another blogger about what it takes to not be unhappy. It sounds trite, but the secret is in being happy with oneself and to that end, I embarked on a self-help program called "My Future Self." The premise is relatively simple: Imagine who you want to be and then do whatever it is that you need to do to get there! While there may be be people who will help you on your way, you are the one responsible for getting there. You are responsible for your own happiness.<br /><br />The first step I took was to clean up and organize my office space. I spent nine weeks on the Home Office Excavation:</span></span><br />
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<ul style="color: #333333;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-future-self-home-office-excavation.html">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 1 (Physical & Psychological Effects of Clutter) </a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-future-self-home-office-excavation_22.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 2 (Light & Planning)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-future-self-home-office-excavation_29.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 3 (Momentum)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-future-self-home-office-excavation.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 4 (Paper Demons)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-future-self-home-excavation-week-5.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 5 (Donations)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-future-self-home-office-excavation_19.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 6 (Sharing Space)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-future-self-home-office-excavation_26.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 7 (Letting Go: Sentimentality vs Pragmatism)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-future-self-home-office-excavation.html" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 8 (Letting Go: Projects)</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-future-self-home-office-excavation_11.html" style="background-color: transparent;">My Future Self: Home Office Excavation: Week 9 (Details)</a></span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;">The next step in My Future Self was to address my weight issue. There's no getting around it, I was fat. In fact, I was obese. I've spent the past eight months working on that and have lost, to date, over sixty pounds! Basically, I just eat less and move more! I didn't blog about my weight loss campaign, though I am considering putting up a few posts for next year, just like I did with the Home Office Excavation. Maybe it will help someone else to see what I did. Anyway, there a couple of things that were invaluable to me during this part of #MyFutureSelf. One was The Weight of the Nation, the four-part HBO documentary. If you need to lose weight, sit down and watch this documentary. It's free online (http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films) Basically, it's good to know what you're really up against when you try to lose weight. There is a companion book/audiobook, <a href="http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=7010">The Weight of the Nation</a> (by John Hoffman and Judith Salerno, M.D., M.S. with Alexandra Moss; narrated by Bernadette Dunne) as well. It repeats a lot of the information from the documentary (which is good for reinforcement) with a slight skew towards the more individual response. The other book is William L. Sullivan's <u>100 Hikes in Southern Oregon</u>. Instead of going for a gym or box membership and/or workout DVDs, I decided to increase my overall activity levels. I go on walks with the dogs and I go hiking now. My goal is to hike 100 trails by the end of 2015. To date, I've hiked about a dozen trails; but the pace should pick up in the Spring :-)</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_wwwVOcOZOc" style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" width="560"></iframe><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #073763;">My Future Self goals for 2013 include reaching and maintaining my ideal weight, going on more hikes and, (re-)learning German. As for that last bit, I'm having trouble finding a class locally, so I may have to resort to CDs and such. I have the Linguistics Team's <a href="http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=3646">The Complete Idiots Guide to German</a> and we'll see how home-schooling for yours truly works out :-/</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #073763;"><b>☆ Black History</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;">The other thing that was influential to me in 2012 was a book that I worked on: Kevin Kenerly narrated <u>Black Genius: Inspirational Portraits of African-American Leaders</u> (by Dick Russell). The audiobook was produced for audible and I'm not sure when it's going to be released; but it was an amazing recording experience. I got schooled big time in Black History, that it really is about American History and, that one way to marginalize a people is to deny their history... My daughter came home from school and talked about how close and cramped it was like on the Mayflower. I realized that she would probably never be told in school about the close & cramped conditions of a slave ship or even the life threatening crossings Cubans made and continue to make to reach American shores. My eyes were opened at how, even in the 21st century, there is a terribly imbalanced take on American culture, that it is biased toward the white male Anglo perspective. February is Black History Month; but really, I shouldn't Black History (and actually other American histories as well) be incorporated into Western Civ? I had a lot of great conversations with the narrator about everything under the sun including Paul Robeson (check out The Complete EMI Sessions 1928 - 1939), jazz, Ralph Ellison (whose book, <a href="http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/2012-2013/invisible-man/">The Invisible Man</a> is being mounted as a stage play by The Huntington Theater, January 4 - February 3, 2013), Cornel West and The Matrix movies, and Toni Morrison... For the first time ever, I'm actually really excited about an Oprah's Book Club 2.0 pick. It's <u>The Twelve Tribes of Hattie</u> (by Ayana Mathis). It's a about a black family during the first Migration (in the 1920s/pre-War) when Blacks fled the South for greater opportunities in the North.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stay Cool & Keep the Faith,</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tanya/dog eared copy</span><br />
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</span></span></span>dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-46167252297961497652012-11-21T20:15:00.000-08:002012-11-21T20:33:01.986-08:00What's in a Name? Challenge #5: Wrap-Up/ Challenge #6 Sign-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ah, it's time for my post-prandial wrap-up in the <a href="http://www.bethfishreads.com/2012/01/whats-in-name-5-gateway-to-challenge.html">What's in a Name? Challenge!</a> So far, I've read for five out of the six categories; but by December 31, I expect to have completed the entirety of the challenge. This past year, the six categories were:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <b>something you'd find in your pocket/purse/backpack</b> in the title: </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/scarlet-letter.html">The Scarlet Letter</a> (by Nathaniel Hawthorne)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I read like a mad woman over the first week-end of 2012 and posted my review on January 3 and; unbelievably, there were others who beat me not only in posting to this category; but in completing the challenge! It was a great reminder that this is not a competition! There are no prizes other than the reward of reading! So yes, I still won! :-D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, right after reading <u>The Scarlet Letter</u>, I promptly set to re-reading <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/handmaids-tale.html">The Handmaid's Tale</a> (by Margaret Atwood) and Nini Holmqvist's <u>The Unit</u>, and then onward to listening to <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/when-she-woke.html">When She Woke</a> (by Hillary Jordan; narrated by Heather Corrigan.) I also went on to read more of Margaret Atwood's works (<u>Alias Grace</u> and <u>The Blind Assassin</u>) and later in the year, <u>The Wordy Shipmates</u> (by Sarah Vowell.) It should also be noted that I drafted several long essays about society and morality and women and stuff and, on this Thanksgiving week-end, trust me, you should be glad that I didn't bore you to tears by actually publishing any of it :-)</span><br />
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<a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-flood.html"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>The Year of the Flood</u> </span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(by Margaret Atwood; narrated by Bernadette Dunne, Katie McNichol and Mark Bramhall; featuring music and lyrics by Margaret Atwood and performed by Orville Stoeber)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">More Margaret Atwood! I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure I could have done most of this challenge just using Margaret Atwood titles (<u>Snake Poems</u>, <u>The Penelopiad</u>, <u>Morning in the Burned House)</u> except that I didn't think of it until now. Also, I can't seem to think of an Atwood title with a topographical feature in the title, so it would have blown the idea up anyway :-/</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After reading <u>Oryx and Crake</u>, I was actually pretty mad at Margaret Atwood. <u>In the Handmaid's Tale</u>, I thought the epilogue was a few too sentences too many; but with O&A, not nearly enough sentences were written. I mean, really, would it have killed her to write one more sentence at the end to give us a sense of, well, an ending? Well, she did write a sentence more. Actually she wrote <u>The Year of the Flood</u> and it answers all of the questions raised in O&A for which I was grateful. <u>Maddaddam</u>, the third novel in the series is slated to be published in 2013, and while I'm looking forward to it as an expansion of the world that Atwood created, I don't need to read it to get a sense of closure.</span><br />
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<a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/11/form-land-of-moon.html" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From the Land of the Moon</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(by Milenus Agus; translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This review for this novella was the last review I wrote on this blog. It's not very good; but it's short. I point this out in the context of the next next two books for which I wrote <i>no</i> reviews:</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tortilla Flat</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(by John Steinbeck)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanted to love this novella. I really did. Having been to Monterrey, CA, I loved the idea of having an actual place to connect with the setting of the book. And really, come on! John Steinbeck! Who hasn't been moved by <u>The Grapes of Wrath</u>, <u>The Red Pony</u> and/or <u>Of Mice and Men</u>? Also, the jacket blurb offered something along the lines of an Arthurian tale: "Like the Knights of the Round Table, the dreamers who gather at Danny's house share joy and fellowship, triumphs and sorrows." Alas, the freeloaders, drunks and cheats who populate these pages have more in common with the crew hanging out at 7-11 with nothing to do than with the Romantic figures of Camelot. Seventeen chapters over two-hundred pages of post-war (WWI) vets who never quite get it together.</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Reptile Room</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(A Series of Unfortunate Events #2, by Lemony Snicket)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;"><u>The Reptile Room </u>continues the story of the three Baudelaire orphans who wind up in the custody of Uncle Monty, a respected herpetologist. Lemony Snicket always forewarns readers that these tales do not end HEA, and yet I find myself once again surprised that this is in fact true! I think hope endures on my part because I know that these are children's stories ergo they can't possibly be this "angsty!" Regardless, the stories are clever and and certainly had me wondering what was going to happen next!</span><span style="background-color: clear; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So what's up with that? Why didn't I post the reviews for the last two books I read? And seriously, the review for <u>From the Land of the Moon</u> was pretty half-assed at that. Actually, if you've been following my blog for the past six months, you'll notice that not much has been going on at all....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's time. It's time to own up that I just don't have it in me anymore as a blogger. Since July, a lot of things have been going on in my life, a lot of things have changed and blogging isn't working out for me anymore. So as the crude but apt saying goes, "It's time to shi!t or get off the pot." On 12/01/2012, I'll be closing the blog to comments. I'll still be on twitter (@dogearedcopy) talking about books that I'm reading and, I'll still be around to support other bloggers' features as best I can. I just won't be posting here so much if at all. It's a sad but ultimately correct decision that I've taken way too long to arrive at; but now that I've said it, it's terribly freeing :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I love you all,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Stay Cool and Keep the Faith,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tanya</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. - What about the sixth book, "A book with <b>a type of house or domicile</b> in the title"? I have a copy of <u>The Kitchen House</u> (by Kathleen Grissom) sitting here and I fully expect to have read it by the end of the calendar year and declare #wain5 completed. If you're interested in what I think about it, follow me on twitter... :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">P.P.S - Why, yes! Ys, I am participating in What's in a Name? Challenge #6! "What?!" you say, "I thought you just said no more blogging!" Yes, it's true. I'm going to be participating as a non-blogger by posting comments at www.bethfishreads.com/ <a href="http://www.bethfishreads.com/2012/11/whats-in-name-6-sign-up.html">What's in a Name? Challenge #6</a> :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I've actually spent the past couple of days pulling down the stacks and sorting out books, finding the ones that would qualify for next years challenge:</span></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">up or down (or equivalent)</b> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Deep down True, The Girl Below, The Diva Digs up the Dirt</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <span style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">something you'd find in your kitchen</span> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Loose Lips Sink Ships, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Breadcrumbs</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with a <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">party or celebration</b> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Feast for Crows, A Wedding in Haiti, Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">fire (or equivalent)</b> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Burning for Revenge, Fireworks over Toccoa, Catching Fire</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">an emotion</b> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Baltimore Blues, Say You're Sorry, Dreams of Joy</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A book with <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">lost or found (or equivalent)</b><span style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span> in the title: <span style="font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Book of Lost Fragrances, The World We Found, A Discovery of Witches</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(Text captured from www.bethfishreads.com/ <a href="http://www.bethfishreads.com/2012/11/whats-in-name-6-sign-up.html">What's in a Name? Challenge #6</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I've a couple books lined up for each category; but let's see what 2013 actually puts in my path :-)</span></div>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-36528759049458328852012-11-12T00:01:00.000-08:002012-11-12T06:00:55.147-08:00From the Land of the Moon<br />
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<a href="http://www.europaeditions.com/book.php?Id=108">From the Land of the Moon</a></div>
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by Milena Agus; translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein</div>
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Europa Editions, January 2011</div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;"><u>From the Land of the Moon</u><b> </b></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;">is a novella about a Sardinian woman searching for love in the post-war years amongst the metaphorical and literal ruins of her life. </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">The woman recognizes that her nature is perhaps flawed as true love seems to remain elusive. Her quest assumes at times, sad, pitiable, desperate and creative forms that echo the pathos of Anna Karenina and Madam Bovary. The woman moves about the Italian landscapes of Cagliari and Milan as the country rebuilds from the effects of Allied Bombing and Nazi retreat. The settings of the story provide the physical architecture of the woman's efforts and parallels can be drawn between the reconstruction and her state of mind. </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;">The story is told from the point of view of the woman's granddaughter after the woman, referred to as Grandmother, has passed away, providing a doubly unreliable narrative: The woman herself may have been insane and her story suffers from being two generations away from being immediately verified. </span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;"><u>From the Land of the Moon</u></span><strong style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;"> </strong><span style="background-color: clear; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;">is poignant without being maudlin and, the letter which serves as the final chapter is a powerful denouement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>From the Land of the Moon </u></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">qualifies for the <a href="http://www.bethfishreads.com/2012/01/whats-in-name-5-gateway-to-challenge.html" style="font-weight: bold;">What's in a Name? Challenge #5</a> hosted by @BethFishReads at www.BethFishReads. The title, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>From the Land of the Moon</u></span><b style="font-size: small;"> </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">contains a word that is "something you'd see in the sky</span><b style="font-size: small;">": "Moon"</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I borrowed a copy of <u>From the Land of the Moon </u>(by Milena Agus; translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein) form the Jackson County Library System in Southern Oregon. I receive no monies, goods and/or service in exchange for reviewing this product and/or mentioning any of the persons that are or may be implied in this post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" --- Stephen Stills</span></div>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-6704952033726553282012-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:002012-10-09T09:39:01.874-07:00Studio A: V Wars (Chapter-Author-Narrator List)<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: both; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0in 8.8pt 0.0001pt 25pt; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><u>V Wars</u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Edited by Jonathan Maberry</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Introduction<span style="letter-spacing: 2.55pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: clear; color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">• <span style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="background-color: clear;"><span style="color: #222222;">Dacre</span><span style="letter-spacing: 1.8pt;"> </span><span style="clear: both;">Stoker</span></span><span style="background-color: clear; letter-spacing: -0.6pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Grover Gardner</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jonathan<span style="letter-spacing: 2.4pt;"> </span>Maber<wbr></wbr>ry<span style="letter-spacing: 0.9pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Roadkill”<span style="letter-spacing: 1.75pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.55pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nancy<span style="letter-spacing: -0.8pt;"> </span>Hold<wbr></wbr>e<span style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">r</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">John Rubinstein</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">2</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Love<span style="letter-spacing: 1.05pt;"> </span>Less”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.8pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">John<span style="letter-spacing: 1.1pt;"> </span>Ever<wbr></wbr>son<span style="letter-spacing: 1.4pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Gabrielle deCuir</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">3</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Epiphany”<span style="letter-spacing: 1.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.5pt;">Y</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">vonne<span style="letter-spacing: 1.35pt;"> </span>Nav<wbr></wbr>arro</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Roxanne Hernandez</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">4</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Love<span style="letter-spacing: 1.05pt;"> </span>Less”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.3pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.8pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">2<span style="letter-spacing: -0.9pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">(Concluded)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Gabrielle deCuir</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“The<span style="letter-spacing: 0.45pt;"> </span>Ballad<span style="letter-spacing: -0.45pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">of<span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"> </span>Big<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;"> </span>Charlie”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.7pt;"> </span>Pa<wbr></wbr>rt<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span>1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">K</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">e</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">i</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">t</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">h</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> R.A.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;"> </span>DeCandid<span style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">o</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lisa Renee Pitts</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">5</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Heartsick” <span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.15pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Scott<span style="letter-spacing: 0.45pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">N</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">i</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">cholson</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Arte Johnson</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Junk”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">6<span style="letter-spacing: -0.9pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">(</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">C</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">o</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">n</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">c</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">l</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">u</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">d</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">ed)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Roadkill”<span style="letter-spacing: 1.75pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.55pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">2<span style="letter-spacing: -0.9pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">(</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">C</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">o</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">n</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">c</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">l</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">u</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">d</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">ed<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">John Rubinstein</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“<span style="letter-spacing: -0.3pt;">V</span>ulpes”<span style="letter-spacing: 1.3pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Gregory<span style="letter-spacing: 2.2pt;"> </span>Fro<wbr></wbr>st<span style="letter-spacing: 0.4pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cassandra Campbell</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Escalation”<span style="letter-spacing: -0.65pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jonathan<span style="letter-spacing: 0.55pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">M</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">aberr<span style="letter-spacing: 0.35pt;"><wbr></wbr>y</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Stefan Rudnicki</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Stalking<span style="letter-spacing: 0.65pt;"> </span>Anna<span style="letter-spacing: 0.35pt;"> </span>Lei”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.55pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">1<span style="letter-spacing: 1.6pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">J<wbr></wbr>ames<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">A.<span style="letter-spacing: -0.6pt;"> </span>Moore<span style="letter-spacing: -1.6pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wil Wheaton</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“The<span style="letter-spacing: 0.45pt;"> </span>Ballad<span style="letter-spacing: -0.45pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">of<span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"> </span>Big<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;"> </span>Charlie”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.7pt;"> </span>Pa<wbr></wbr>rt<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span>2<span style="letter-spacing: -1.1pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wil Wheaton</span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“The<span style="letter-spacing: 0.45pt;"> </span>Ballad<span style="letter-spacing: -0.45pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">of<span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;"> </span>Big<span style="letter-spacing: 0.2pt;"> </span>Charlie”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.7pt;"> </span>P<wbr></wbr>art<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span>3<span style="letter-spacing: -0.9pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">(</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">C</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">o</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">n</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">c</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">l</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">u</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">d</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">ed<span style="letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Epiphany”<span style="letter-spacing: 1.65pt;"> </span>Part<span style="letter-spacing: -0.35pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">2<span style="letter-spacing: -0.9pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">(</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">C</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">o</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">n</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">c</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">l</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">u</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">d</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 19px;">ed<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Last<span style="letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Bites”<span style="letter-spacing: 0.45pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">•<span style="letter-spacing: 2.3pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jonathan<span style="letter-spacing: 0.55pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">M</span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">aberr<wbr></wbr>y <span style="letter-spacing: -1.85pt;"> </span></span></div>
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dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-61431524095254745702012-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:002012-10-08T00:01:00.916-07:00Coraline (10th Anniversary Edition)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u>Coraline</u></div>
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10th Anniversary Edition</div>
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by <a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/">Neil Gaiman</a></div>
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Illustrated by Dave McKean</div>
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<a href="http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Coraline/?isbn13=9780380807345&tctid=100">Harper Collins Children's</a></div>
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Published 04/24/2012</div>
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Coraline discovers an alternate reality though a small door that at first, seems to open onto a bricked up wall in the new house that her family has moved into; but in fact leads her to her Other Mother and Other Father. Coraline's Other Parents extend a tempting invitation to remain in this Other place which is very much like the one she has left; but much better in terms of the food, care and, attention from parents that Coraline craves.<br />
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There is a temptation to view <u>Coraline</u> as something of a dark and distorted version of <u>Alice in Wonderland</u>: there is the young female protagonist, a looking glass, an enigmatic cat, a prandial setting in which the absurd reigns... and yet, to insist on this analogy would diminish Gaiman's work as merely derivative ---- which it certainly is not, at least not in the pejorative sense. There are certainly multiple influences, literary in form and style that have come to bear in this young adult tale; but it would be more apropos to consider <u>Coraline</u> as the extension of literary tradition. e.g. that of the Knight's Tale or even of the troubadour tradition.<br />
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The tenth anniversary edition of <u>Coraline</u> also includes interviews with Neil Gaiman at the end of the book: the first set of questions & answers are from when the book was first published and the second set of questions & answers are on the occasion of the book's tenth anniversary. Gaiman mentions that <u>Coraline</u> is a book about bravery and it is; but more than that, though Gaiman himself does not draw the correlation, <u>Coraline</u> speaks to the classic tales of heroism and quest that are usually reserved for boys. <u>Coraline</u> is a Knight's Tale for girls: Coraline is an Everygirl who wants for nothing extraordinary, but is cast upon a mission or quest for three things - three things that will engender True Love from a Mother figure and, who ultimately must confront a dragon. The leitmotif of the dragon is introduced in the epigraph by G.K. Chesterton and reinforced with descriptive phases in regard to the antagonist and again underscored in the interviews.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Fairy tales are more than true; not because<br />
they tell us that dragons exist, but because<br />
they tell us that dragons can be beaten. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
--- G.K. Chesterton </blockquote>
<u>Coraline</u> is a fairy tale, a Knight's Tale, a very dark tale that draws on some fine literary traditions; but presents the reader with novel and creative images that make it uniquely the work of Gaiman.<br />
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<b>For parents:</b> The imagery in <u>Coraline</u> is very dark and may not be appropriate for children who are prone to fearfulness or nightmares, especially of rats, actors and/or the door in your house that leads to the crawl space. Parents may also have to answer questions about parental love, neglect and abuse, smother love, abstract concepts of creativity and parallel universes.<br />
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<b>See Also:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.mousecircus.com/">Mr. Bobo's Remarkable Mouse Circus</a><br />
<a href="http://coraline.com/">Coraline.com</a><br />
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<b>Other Stuff:</b><br />
I purchased <u>Coraline,</u> 10th Anniversary Edition (by Neil Gaiman; with illustrations by David McKean) from the Barnes & Noble in Medford, Oregon. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing this product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post. <br />
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This post is part of the Murder, Monsters, Mayhem feature being hosted by Jennifer L. at her blog, www.jennsbookshelves.com<br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-40883472526993125342012-10-01T10:29:00.002-07:002012-10-01T10:39:52.545-07:00Murder, Monsters, Mayhem: A Return to Blogging<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I couldn't resist! It's been awhile since I've blogged; but I do so love Murder, Monsters, Mayhem that I've decided to come back, if only for a little bit! Some of the things I have in mind are a couple of print reviews, a few audiobook reviews, at least three graphic novel reviews, a couple of movie reviews and maybe a couple of photos! I'm not making a hard commitment as to what I'm going to be covering if only because I want this month to be fun and pressure free :-)<br />
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I've been away from blogging for almost three months and there are things I've missed, i.e. being a part of the blogging community in a dynamic way. I feel a little estranged from some of my favorite people and that sucks. But what I haven't missed is the pressure to produce meaningful content while I've been working on leading a more physically active life. I've led a primarily sedentary lifestyle for too long and it was literally killing me. On top of the <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/07/journal-entry-blogiversary.html">blogexistential crises</a> I had been experiencing, I will be honest and admit that I didn't know if I was going to come back at all.<br />
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But now that I am back, and in order to avoid a Blogger Burnout Relapse, there are going to be couple of changes. One is is that there is not going to a regularly scheduled <i>anything</i>! I will post when I can and hopefully that will eliminate the anxiety attacks at 5:00 a.m. when I don't have something to go up at 7:00 a.m. And too, I like the idea of not feeling guilty if I go out to dinner instead of having epic angst-ridden battles over the correct turn of phrase (Um, yes, I did have those kind of days/nights. I know, ridiculous, yes? YES!) The second change is that some of the reviews may actually be more op-ed in style (I will clearly label them as such) - informal and personal. Hopefully this will free me up from the strangle hold of writer's block that I would sometimes experience. They were quite a few reviews that never made it out of draft mode because I simply could not get beyond the purely subjective, and sometimes admittedly ad hominem, approach. Does that mean I'm going go about ranting unchecked? NO! It just means I need to give myself permission to let some of my personality show through. The third change is that I would like to cover a wider variety of material besides audiobooks. With that in mind, I'm thinking of blogging to a monthly theme as opposed to a format. Blogging to participate in features such as MX3 may be the way for me to go for awhile :-)<br />
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For those of you who have stuck with me, THANK YOU! You know who you are and I love you! Your patience, understanding and continued friendship mean a lot to me as I continue to find my voice and place in the blogging community.<br />
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Now let's get this blog rolling....<br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-12455565028053206322012-07-09T00:01:00.000-07:002012-07-10T07:08:04.683-07:00Journal Entry: A Blogiversary & A Blogexistential Crises<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bust of Janus, the god who looks forward and back, at the Vatican<br />
Photo from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Janus-Vatican.JPG">wikipedia</a> (click on link for info)</td></tr>
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It's the second anniversary of my blog! What?! No cake?! No giveaways?! What gives?!<br />
What gives is that I'm going through a very serious blogexistential crises. This means I'm looking at what I started out to do with this blog, what's been actually happening with this blog and, trying to decide what direction I want to take it next.<br />
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Three years ago, I had an unwieldy document on my computer: It was a list of books I had read or wanted to read; reviews of books and audiobooks; charts and recipes, photos and quotes. It also had movie commentary, links to web-sites, an archive of discussions and random bits of non-sequitur thoughts thrown in. It was more than a journal. It was like a scrape book of my brain! The really cool thing was that I could cut and paste at will, add things in whenever I wanted and pretty much do my thing. I had originally wanted to transfer the entirety of the contents to a web-site and set up very sexy UI; but very sexy is also very expensive, time & labor intensive and, runs into a series of rights issues. I was told that a blog would be my best option. And so, I settled on the rather limited structure of a blog.<br />
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Over the next couple of years I've really tried to make this work: focusing in on a specific thing (audiobook reviews), introducing features and participating in other blogs' projects; but what I have found is that my content has become rather limited, my contributions have become rather erstwhile and, quite frankly I'm not having as much fun as when I was just fooling around with my word doc.<br />
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So, I've either got to fish or cut bait, and I haven't really decided what I'm going to do yet. Looking back at my blog & twitter stats and my e-mails, I see a lot of traffic for industry related news and an almost obscene interest in a photo taken of a mushroom that looked like someone pooped a brain! But that's a far cry from value I had originally hoped to bring to the table.<br />
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On the other hand, I've had a blast getting to know other bloggers and I count a couple of them as very good friends of mine. I've immensely enjoyed the projects and adventures we've shared and I love them and everything we've shared. I feel like a jerk for that not being reason enough in and of itself for just slogging through this blogexistential crises.<br />
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But I need to stop, or at least pause. I've got some decisions to make and until then, this blog will be going on hiatus. For the month of July, at the vey least, I'm going to go do some stuff and think about stuff and when I'm done, I'll let you know what's what with respect to this blog :-)<br />
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Until, then,<br />
Stay Cool & Keep the Faith,<br />
Tanya<br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-24727125987644482942012-06-29T00:01:00.000-07:002012-06-29T00:01:00.501-07:00Audiobook Week, Listen Up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BPovyPUmYAZSXKC3n8c55cqHUqOJxMDGH-thkhpb0tjOa1VhL1mI9U_WJyhI_RrLMySROJWBVapylbK3714p4D510ZXgN13ukHEViqhWishG8p6MlSWCOUjiK8xe2_XlAH5lf_eGAMi5/s1600/AudiobookWeek2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BPovyPUmYAZSXKC3n8c55cqHUqOJxMDGH-thkhpb0tjOa1VhL1mI9U_WJyhI_RrLMySROJWBVapylbK3714p4D510ZXgN13ukHEViqhWishG8p6MlSWCOUjiK8xe2_XlAH5lf_eGAMi5/s320/AudiobookWeek2012.png" width="195" /></a></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #073763;">Where do you learn about great audiobook titles? Find reviews? Buy your audiobooks? Share your secrets with the rest of us!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">One feature of my job is that I select the titles that go out to listener advisory services, which is another way to say that I send out free audiobooks to reviewers! Some of the listener advisory services are easy in that they want the whole monthly slate of titles or all titles in a specific genre. Other reviewers require more thought: Reviewer "X" really doesn't like narrator "Y" (and never will) or can't stand violence against animals or only likes a very narrow sub-genre... Then there's the part where I'm asked to provide only the best of the best and that's really tough. There are big titles with big narrators; but then again there are some smaller titles with great narrators too! At this point, I actually use an unusual standard, What was the narrator's response to the book when it was assigned or while s/he was recording it? There are narrators who are game for anything and everything and will take whatever we throw at them; but then there are those narrators who come back and say things like, "Oh. My. God. This book was absolutely incredible! I love this book! That denouement was mid-bending!" Or whatever. You get the idea. It's that little extra something that, while intangible, comes through on the recording. I never hesitate to recommend these titles even if I have not personally listened to them or worked on them. In this way too, those same audiobooks make it onto my own personal TBL-to list.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">But believe it or not, I actually listen to audiobooks above and beyond the borders of the Blackstone Audio campus! My tastes are extremely eclectic and so I heavily rely on other bloggers' opinions. The blogs of Bob Reiss (@guildedearlobe at<a href="http://theguildedearlobe.wordpress.com/"> theguildedearlobe.wordpress.com</a>) - Zombie, PA, SFF; Jennifer Connor (@lithousewife at <a href="http://literatehousewife.com/">literatehousewife.com</a>, - litfic, #shakennotstirred #ArmchairAudies #ListenersList; "Beth Fish" (@BethFishReads at <a href="http://bethfishreads.com/">BethFishReads.com</a>) - whose tastes are as equally as eclectic as mine, plus she also reviews graphic novels; and Jennifer Karsbaek (@DevourerofBooks at <a href="http://devourerofbooks.com/">Devourerofbooks.com</a>) - wide range of different genres as well - are written by major audiobook advocates and audiobook bloggers whose views I respect immensely. I also like reading audiobook reviews from people who don't normally blog about audiobooks; but feel so strongly about what they've heard they have to post (e.g. Mike Alatorre a.k.a. @le0pard13 at <a href="http://le0pard13.com/">It Rains... You Get Wet</a>) - movies and references to "she who will not be named" and; some of the up-and-coming audiobook bloggers like Cassandra Neace (@CassandraNeace at <a href="http://indiereaderhouston.com/">Indiereaderhouston.com</a>) - whose enthusiasm for the audiobook form is refreshing. There are dozens of others as well who are probably reading this and saying "What About Me?" To those audiobook bloggers who I have overlooked (mea culpa), please feel free to leave your blog URL in comments below!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Where I actually get my audiobooks varies. Sometimes I pull them off the shelves over at the warehouse; sometimes I request a review copy from another publisher; sometimes I troll the publishers' sites and, yes, I've been known to try an audiobook I would not normally have considered if it was on my Maybe list but is now on sale :-)</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-86221004458385344172012-06-27T09:01:00.002-07:002012-06-27T10:00:32.544-07:00Audiobook Week: Mid-Week Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BPovyPUmYAZSXKC3n8c55cqHUqOJxMDGH-thkhpb0tjOa1VhL1mI9U_WJyhI_RrLMySROJWBVapylbK3714p4D510ZXgN13ukHEViqhWishG8p6MlSWCOUjiK8xe2_XlAH5lf_eGAMi5/s1600/AudiobookWeek2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5BPovyPUmYAZSXKC3n8c55cqHUqOJxMDGH-thkhpb0tjOa1VhL1mI9U_WJyhI_RrLMySROJWBVapylbK3714p4D510ZXgN13ukHEViqhWishG8p6MlSWCOUjiK8xe2_XlAH5lf_eGAMi5/s320/AudiobookWeek2012.png" width="195" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Current/most recent audiobook:</span></div>
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I'm currently listening to <u>A Discovery of Witches</u> (by Deborah Harkness; narrated by Jennifer Ikeda)<br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Impressions:</span></div>
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A couple of people whose opinion I highly respect recommended this title; but quite frankly I'm quite disappointed with it. I had no preconceived ideas about what it was about or what to expect other than that the story would be compelling. It's about a witch who calls up an alchemical text from the stacks At the Bodlean library at Oxford. I'm about halfway through and I'm just not feeling it. Jennifer Ikeda has a lovely voice but every passage in the book is treated with the same intensity, whether its that moment when the protag meets up with an avowed enemy or she's in a yoga class. The evenness with which the narrator delivers the story bleeds the excitement out of the tale. And then there's the issue of a couple of mispronunciations which is driving me batshit crazy: Stuff like Magdalene (College) being mispronounced "mag-da-lin" instead of "maud-lyn" and "dressage" being mispronounced as "dres-idj" instead of "dre-sahdj." There are a lot of suspect pronunciations but I'm too lazy to drag out the OED to do a look-up every time a not-quite-right-sounding word pops up. <br />
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(So why haven't I dumped the audio in favor of the book? Basically because I'm cheap. I spent my book allowance on a FitBit (a fancy pedometer) and the hold list on the library is rather long.) I'll get through this; but when the sequel is published I plan on getting <u>Shadow of Night</u> in print.<br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Current/most recent favorite audiobook:</span></div>
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One of my favorite audiobooks this year was actually released a couple of years ago, <u>The Ghosts of Belfast</u> (by Stuart Neville; narrated by Gerard Doyle.) I'm about to add it to my Personal Pantheon of All Time Great Audiobooks. The story is about a former IRA hit man, Gerry Fegan who is haunted by twelve ghosts. The ghosts will leave him in peace if he executes a vendetta against the people ultimately responsible for their respective deaths. It's a great story and Gerard Doyle is perfectly suited and cast for it! You can read <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/03/ghosts-of-belfast.html">my review</a> of it on this blog :-)<br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Favorite narrator you’ve discovered recently:</span></div>
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My favorite new-to-me narrator is Wil Wheaton. His narration of <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/03/ready-player-one.html">Ready Player One</a> (by Ernest Cline) was perfect! I often blow off celebrity narrators but this is an exception I'll gladly make :-)<br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">One title from your TBL (to be listened) stack, or your audio wishlist:</span></div>
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Hmmm, next up may be Hillary Mantle's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wolf Hall</span> (narrated by Simon Slater.) I tried reading the book before and was lost. Then I switched to audio and was equally lost! Then I tried listening to the book and listening together and it all made sense! I stopped for some reason though. I need to get back to it however and wrap it up so I can listen to <u>Bring Up the Bodies</u> (by Hillary Mantle; narrated by Simon Vance.) I've heard that <u>Bring Up the Bodies</u> is more accessible (whew!)<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Your audio dream team (what book or author would you LOVE to see paired with a certain narrator, can already exist or not):</span></div>
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I really can't go there! Let's just say that I make casting recommendations for a lot of books and sometimes I win and sometimes I don't :-/<br />
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<b>06/27/2012: 10:100: UPDATE! I'm changing my answer! I wish Xe Sands had narrated the final chapters to <u>The Last Werewolf</u> (by Glen Duncan) and then gone on to narrate <u>Talulah's Rising</u>. </b>dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-39896206345119430502012-06-25T12:01:00.000-07:002012-06-25T12:02:22.110-07:00JIAM2012 Photo: 25<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENV5MLiW9h8zCQKZF6hZLuDInvGER2oYSS3xOHmrgs1Lz42MBOfGxYEeaKzxG9YbeB8Z4c191S_kg02Ehi7fQqeN30vgAfsNlr1bYzQgoriBvIdq-7NFxhSvvPQjVDkDndasey5Aut4fg/s1600/Angry+Birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENV5MLiW9h8zCQKZF6hZLuDInvGER2oYSS3xOHmrgs1Lz42MBOfGxYEeaKzxG9YbeB8Z4c191S_kg02Ehi7fQqeN30vgAfsNlr1bYzQgoriBvIdq-7NFxhSvvPQjVDkDndasey5Aut4fg/s320/Angry+Birds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When do I listen to audiobooks?<br />
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<b>In #StudioA:</b> I'm a studio engineer and so it's generally a good idea to listen to the narrator while he's talking to you! Most recently, I listened to Kevin Kenerly narrate <u>First Evidence</u> (by Ken Goddard.)<br />
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<b>In the car:</b> I listen to a lot of audiobooks produced by the company I work for AND by other audiobook publishers. I primarily listen for my own edification; but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I was also not-so-subconsciously vetting or auditioning the narrator for possible future work. Some audiobooks make me miss my exit (e.g. <u>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</u> by Stieg Larsson; narrated by Simon Vance), make me late for work because I don't want to go in a crying mess or make it difficult for me to drive (e.g. <u>The Art of Racing in the Rain</u> by Garth Stein; narrated by Christopher Evan Welch) and/or have my DH coming out of the house wanting to know why I'm still in the driveway (<u>To Kill a Mockingbird</u> by Harper Lee; narrated by Sissy Spacek.) Occupational hazard, I'm afraid.<br />
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<b>On the exercise bicycle:</b> I used to listen to heart pounding music like Drowning Pool's "When the Bodies Hit the Floor," etc; but when I realized that I could sneak in a couple of extra minutes of an audiobook; I made the switch. I don't listen while I'm walking the dogs (I'm with my family and that would just be rude) or when I'm hiking (bear, rattlesnake, mountain lion and drunk hunter territory and that would just be stupid.) Right now, I'm listening to Deborah Harkness' <u>A Discovery of Witches</u> (narrated by Jennifer Ikeda.)<br />
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<b>When I'm playing Angry Birds:</b> I can't just sit on the couch or in a chair and listen. For some reason, when I try, I enter into some sort of catatonic state and quickly find myself asleep. Worse, when I wake up, I've found that I've got a crick in some body part and/or I've managed to drool. I can't explain it, but something happens to my alpha waves and I'm down and out for the count! But now, if I want to make a point of listening to something, I sit down with Angry Birds. It keeps just enough of my brain waves activated that I don't fall asleep. I mute the nook, turn on my iPod and play! BONUS: I don't have to listen to the pigs laugh at me when I fail to clear a level. For the ultimate of uber-meta listening, game playing experiences, <u>Ready Player One </u>(by Ernest Cline; narrated by Wil Wheaton.)<br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-52511454757048765682012-06-25T00:01:00.000-07:002012-06-25T00:01:00.044-07:00Audiobook Week: 2011-2012, My Audiobook Year<br />
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I've been listening to audiobooks for something like seventeen years now and have been working in the industry for nearly as long! Every year, there is something new that captures my attention in terms of book trends, narrating styles or changes in the industry itself; but to bring this closer to my own personal listening experience, I have to say that the thing that I've "discovered" this year is audio drama! Now I have listened to and worked on audio dramas in the past; but it has been only one of the many forms of audio that I listen to. This year as a part of the <a href="http://literatehousewife.com/the-armchair-audies/">Armchair Audies</a> (hosted by @lithousewife at literatehousewife.com) I decided to listen to a couple of audio dramas that were finalists in this year's Audies Awards. <u>The Mark of Zorro</u> (by Johnston McCully; dramatized by Yuri Rasovsky; full cast performance) was the first finalist I listened to and it was <i>great</i>: really well produced and a lot of fun! I was really hooked on the form and I ended up listening to all five of the final nominees! I'm now eager to claim the same category in next year's Armchair Audies. What was really interesting to me about the audio drama finalists, was that it held a few sub-genres in an of itself: studio productions, live staged readings, podcasts, and radio broadcasts. The things I look for in the performances are how quickly the actors get the characters up on their feet, edge-to edge energy (does the performance slag off at any point?) and how the sound effects are used. This is addition to the normal considerations of any audiobook as to being well cast and well executed.<br />
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<b>See Also:</b><br />
<a href="http://dogearedcopy.tumblr.com/post/6247883528/2010-2011-my-audiobook-year">2010-2011, My Audiobook Year</a> (My response to Jennifer K.'s (@devourerofbooks at Devourerofbooks.com) Audiobook Week meme last year)<br />
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If you want to know more about me you can check out these two interviews:<br />
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<li><a href="http://karenwhiteaudiobooks.com/2012/06/01/the-many-hats-of-tanya-perez/" style="background-color: clear;">The Many Hats of Tanya Perez</a> (Behind the Scenes interview conducted by Karen White (@KarenWhiteReads at Home Cooked books) for JIAM2012 and;</li>
<li><a href="http://literatehousewife.com/2011/06/audiobook-interview-with-grover-gardner-and-tanya-perez/" style="background-color: clear;">Audiobook Interview with Grover Gardner and Tanya Perez</a> (interview conducted by Jennifer Conner (@lithousewife at literatehousewife.com) for JIAM 2011</li>
</ul>
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If you want to know more about the Armchair Audies, you can check out the <a href="http://literatehousewife.com/the-armchair-audies/" style="background-color: clear;">Armchair Audies</a> (hosted by @lithousewife at literatehousewife.com) and the <a href="http://dogearedcopy.blogspot.com/2012/05/armchair-audies-audio-drama.html" style="background-color: clear;">wrap-up</a> I wrote for the audio drama category, which also contains links to the individual reviews :-)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">n.b. - Jennifer will be moving the Armchair Audies to it's own site before the next Audies start up, so stay tuned!) </span><br />
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<br />dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8141433271501351298.post-64456830919064008622012-06-21T00:01:00.000-07:002012-06-21T05:50:24.845-07:00JIAM2012 Photo: 21<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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None of our performing services agreements, whether actual or implied, include special items on the order on Van Halen's (in-)famous M&M clause; but there are certain things that some narrators want or need and, within reason the studio provides them. Some of these things have become a sort of ritual between the narrator and the studio staff and we are always willingly oblige for the simple fact that it makes the narrators happy and, ergo the sessions run smoother.<br />
<br />
Some of the things that narrators have asked for have included, but are not limited to:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>the same provisos that stage actors expect including water and scheduled breaks;</li>
<li>quarters (as in money) and company to the vending machines;</li>
<li>airfare, hotel, meals and/or snacks, and/or car rentals for guest narrators</li>
<li>transportation to/from the studio;</li>
<li>that the engineer pre-read the script to help them with figuring out what an author meant, if the typo is indeed a typo, or how a certain line might be read;</li>
<li>that the engineer not pre-read the script so that the narrator can read the engineer's expression and thereby provide direct reactive feedback to the narrator's performance;</li>
<li>chat sessions about the books and alternately, limiting or cutting the chatter and getting right down to recording (that the engineer shut up and just push the buttons or do lookups upon request);</li>
<li>use of an iPad, enlarged fonts on paper scripts; </li>
<li>specific chairs, lamps, tables, stands and/or foot rests for the booth;</li>
<li>specific studio;</li>
<li>specific engineer;</li>
<li>room temperature re-sets;</li>
<li>pillows to combat stomach growls from being audible</li>
</ul>
<br />
I know of one engineer who prepared special snacks for his narrators: sliced apples and a selection of teas and, other engineers who have had to basically become a guest narrator's personal assistant on and off the grounds of the studio. And, as I mentioned before, none of it is an inconvenience and we're happy to accommodate.<br />
<br />
<br />
That said, if you get me as an engineer, there are a couple of limitations I have and that you should know about:<br />
<ul>
<li>I will not join you on a smoking break.</li>
<li>I cannot for the life of me make coffee. I don't drink coffee and the mechanics of a coffee maker baffle me. Theoretically, I just need to pour water into one section of the machine and coffee magically comes out another part of the machine; but as anyone who has known me for five minutes will tell you, kitchen appliances (indeed kitchens in general) are a complete mystery to me and the results are never pretty :-/</li>
<li>If you need a ride in my car, my car has dog hair</li>
</ul>
<br />
As studio engineers we really only ask of the narrators four things:<br />
<ol>
<li>that you come in prepared (having done your homework) and ready to work;</li>
<li>that you take care of your voice/person on a physical and emotional level;</li>
<li>you not treat any of the studio staff with contempt or in a condescending manner and;</li>
<li>that you tell us what you want/need :-)</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>dog eared copyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17541260257975870624noreply@blogger.com031 Mistletoe Rd, OR 97520, USA42.173919 -122.668342842.172447999999996 -122.6708103 42.17539 -122.66587530000001