Tale of Two Cities

I've joined a gym this last week and apart from the fact that I keep on dropping my mp3 player I find it an absolutely ideal time to listen to the audiobooks that I never quite had patience for previously.
There aren't that many of these but I acquired from audible The American Boy, Night Watch, and The Time-travellers Wife and have never actually finished any of them. First however I have gone for a book that I've actually read.

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - Read Martin Jarvis
Book - Well its Dickens. I don't feel qualified to give a mark out of 5 to Dickens. If you love him you love him. If you don't then generally you can't stand him. I'm kind of sitting on the fence. When I last read him I found him immensely tedious but I'm willing to give him another pop since when I last read him I was 15 years old.

Reading
Primary Voice - The narrator I guess. If audiobooks were rock music Martin Jarvis would be some sort of legend and at that some legend that died young to protect his genius. The narration here is done in his usual laconic style and I could listen to that all day (4/5)
Secondary Voices - These are what makes the book for me. Packed with character and distinct. (5/5)

Regarding Blandings

A previous post touched on the subject of PG Wodehouse and his Blandings castle saga.
I proclaimed that no specific reader had tied it up but didn't realise just how true this is -
BBC audio (formerly Chivers) holds the rights somehow so in their full unabridged versions we have

1. A Pelican at Blandings - Nigel Lambert 4
   
2. Blandings Castle - James Saxon
3. Galahad at Blandings - Jeremy Sinden
4. Summer Lightning - John Wells 4.5
   
5. Uncle Fred in the Springtime - Jonathan Cecil 4
   
6. Something Fresh - Peter Barker 5
   

and no doubt others.
I haven't heard the second or third but the others I report in all respects superb.
I like Something Fresh partly because it doesn't follow the formula estabilished in later Wodehouse and partly for a technically ridiculous reason. Peter Barker occasionally uses the wrong voice for dialogue, particularly in unattributed volleys. Strictly this should detract from the performance but I think it adds to the fun, particularly when a slip means he uses the male lead voice to bemoan male ignorance and has the female lead apologise.
Bonus half mark to Summer Lightning since John Wells bumps up the quality with the most perfect cast imaginable.

Thinking it over it could be an exceedingly good thing that readers differ. You do not read Wodehouse for the plots but for language. Quite apart from being juvenile in the extreme and requiring considerable suspension of disbelief the plots are all basically the same so differing timbre and style adds that extra little nudge that makes it worth reading/listening to more than one. In any case with language and performances combined these are an excellent set of audiobooks and an investment in any will be worth the listeners while.

Psmith in the City

The third of the month has immense significance in terms of Audiobooks - it is my Audible renewal date. Each third of the month I get two bonus Audible book credits. Generally I go for one straight away and one book a week or so into the month. Todays new book is

Psmith in the City - by PG Wodehouse
Read by Jonathan Cecil

Book (4) - The Psmith line of books are early Wodehouse and he appears to have been writing for the English boarding school market rather than the more general audience that have come to love his Blandings and Jeeves books. Still they are quite enjoyable particularly since they explore a 20s world that is not all country houses and London clubs.

Primary Voice (5) - Primary voice in this book is a narrator and it is done wonderfully. Jonathan Cecil is a king of the audiobook world, particularly Wodehouse. His narrator is neither characterless nor excessively intrusive.

Secondary Voices (4) - The reader has fabricated a fitting set of characters with distinct and charactersome voices for all the major characters. Jonathan Cecil has a huge Wodehousian output and one would expect there to be some degree of crossover in the voices but no, these are superb and unique.

Atmosphere (4) - No issues here. Atmosphere is a product of the narrator and Jonathan Cecil is quite capable in this case of expressing highs and lows in the narrative.

Overall (4/5) - A reasonably good book well held up - and possibly even improved - by an excellent reading.


Trivia factoid - Wodehouse says in a preface to Something Fresh that Psmith is his only character based on a genuine person, namely Rupert D'Oyly Carte, son of the producer of the original Gilbert and Sullivan plays.

Audio Book Review - The Eyre Affair

I'm getting into a habit of being really harsh on people who have done pretty well nothing to deserve it. First Project Gutenberg, then AudioBooksForFree.com and now Gabrielle Kruger who reads



The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Read - Gabrielle Kruger
11 hrs 20 mins





The fact is I love this book and her narration didn't work for me at all. Actually that isn't entirely true... predominantly the book is a first person narration and her voice for the primary character was full of personality without being irritating. Secondary characters, however, pretty well sounded alike.

Book: 5
Primary voice: 4
Secondary voices: 1
Atmosphere: 3

Overall: 3/5

Its possible, I suppose, that this is a gender thing. As a guy am I more likely to pick up on bad male voices? Alternatively how are you supposed to do the male voices in a first person narration by a woman? I don't know but I do know that The Eyre Affair on audio didn't live up to the book.

Such is life.