My listening pleasure
- A connecting principle
Linked to the invisible
Almost imperceptible
Something inexpressible
- Synchronicity I
by The Police
I'll begin with Patrick O'Brian's Post Captain, the second in the Aubrey/Maturin series that begins with Master and Commander, which I've also listened to. The motion picture Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is based on the characters from the series and draws from several of the books. (The movie, BTW, is excellent. If you haven't seen it, you should.) I am really enjoying the books. O'Brian's detailed depiction of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars is the background for rich characters and an engaging plot. It was also nice to listen to a nautical themed book that didn't leave me wanting to gnaw my arm off like Moby Dick did. Sorry, Melville fans - I couldn't take it.
Next I listened to The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips. I really liked this. There are two main characters. The first is an Egyptoligist trying to find the tomb of an ancient Egyption king. The second is a detective investigating a case that begins as a missing person but becomes a double-murder. What is interesting is that story is told in the form of journal entries and correspondence from the Egyptologist, his fiancee, and the detective. Each has their own version of the truth and the reader (or listener) is left to figure out what's really hapenning.
Now I'm listening to Clout Atlas by David Mitchell. The book is actually six narratives. Each is interupted suddenly, mid-sentence, as the next begins. I'm only two narratives in, so we'll see how they are wrapped up later. What was funny, though, was that the first narrative has journal entries of a passenger on a late 18th century sailing vessel on the Pacific. It sort of combined the previous two books I'd heard.
Anyway, that's what I'm listening to. Read/heard anything good lately?
4 comments:
Podcasts man! Take a break from a book and get on the podcast train! Slacker Astronomy!
Say Yum!
And I just found a really neat suspense/thriller radio drama that's syndicated as a podcast - Very, very cool stuff. Espcially Claybourne. I'm up to episode 9 of the 19 they have available.
I have about 45 minutes each way in the car, and three books in the queue, so it's hard to take a break. But thanks for the tip.
Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa. It is extremely good, and told in episodes- easy to pick up and put down, good for waiting at swim lessons and gymnastics classes. My kinda book, a long historical novel about early seventeenth century Japan.
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