We didn’t really love the audio version of The Water Castle and I hated the way it ended but overall, it was a fairly good story. I liked the kids, mostly. I liked the premise, a lot. It just could have been better but I am glad it made the Cybils shortlist.
I’m still playing catch up with the books from JMP’s visit. I may never catch up…
We were listening to kids’ music on iTunes radio and I asked Jenn if she’d ever gotten JMP an audiobook. She hadn’t, so I reserved a couple from the library.
The Little Red Hen was fine… it came with a book that he enjoyed flipping through. You could just listen to the story straight through or you could listen to a version that had a signal to “turn the page”. I think he mostly enjoyed the music that played when each animal said “not I…”
The one I (we?) liked more was The Gingerbread Boy and Other First Tales — because more stories!
Two Children’s Audiobooks Read More »
Not only am I behind on reading, I’m behind on blogging what I have read. I’ve almost forgotten what I’ve read — thankfully, there’s GoodReads.
So, the easy one first. The Waking Dark. On audio. From the Cybils shortlist.
Shudder.
All the killing. And the descriptive killing.
Shudder.
Did not enjoy.
Also, too many characters and we found ourselves constantly confused by which was which.
Would hope my teens wouldn’t enjoy it if they read it.
Shudder.
Well it’s no Maisie Dobbs, but we enjoyed The Care and Management of Lies (on audio.) I kept wondering if any of these people were crossovers from the Maisie Dobbs series — even minor characters but TW looked it up and said no. I’m not convinced. If I had more free time, I’d go look a little bit and see if she is right.
War is hell. The ending was hell. Hell hell hell. I saw it coming but didn’t want to BELIEVE it was coming. Sigh.
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Lol
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp is a cybil middle grade book, I believe. We listened to it on audio and you’d think the fact that it was read by Lyle Lovett would make this a slam dunk. It did not, my friends, no it did not (lol — I’m laughing at myself for typing that, which you would understand if you’ve read this book.)
He started slowly and it took awhile to warm up to him. The whole book started a wee bit slowly and then suddenly, we were hooked.
The language is fantastic. The vocabulary — holy hell, sports fans… remember those dumb assignments where you had to find five words you didn’t know (while reading some library book) and write the definitions and it was impossible because you already knew all of the words. If you have a kid like that, try this book. Brilliantly done. Really.
I’m not generally a fan of anthropomorphism, but in this case — I loved the racoons and the canebrake rattlers, and the armadillo and even that horrid porcine family. Oh and the cat. I liked him, too.
I’ve also got a nasty craving for a sugar pie…
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We listened to The Screaming Staircase on audio and man that was creepy. I think this was on the Cybils middle grade scifi/fantasy list and if that’s true… I hope the middle grade readers can handle some really creepy, yukky descriptive content.
It was good. Really good. I liked all of three of the kids a lot. I’m looking forward to book 2.
Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase Read More »
We really enjoyed listening to The Rithmatist on audio. Except… it took a chapter or so to get into (alternate realities often do) and at the beginning or end of each chapter, they describe a rithmatic defense. It would have been nice to be able to see those lines as they were described. Instead, we kept going online later and looking at the drawings.
I don’t usually do this but… it was very Harry Potter-like. A boy. His father died. He’s at a boarding school. There are professors, some of whom the boy suspects of wrong-doing. There’s magic. There’s even a “symbol” — it may not be a lightning bolt on a forehead but… see, very Harry Potter-like. Which possibly explains why we enjoyed it?
TW noticed Billy Crystal’s Still Foolin’ ‘Em was on some award or best of list, for the audio version and decided that she wanted to listen to the book.
So. I reserved it.
I’m not a huge Billy Crystal fan. He’s ok but I am just as likely to find him unfunny as I am to find him funny. I’ve only seen a few of his movies. I liked him on Soap. I’m not in his age demographic. I’m not Jewish. I’m not from New York (though I do love New York.) I’m not a big baseball fan. Or a boxing fan, (though I do love Ali.)
And that’s pretty much how I felt about this audio book. I laughed out loud in some parts. I rolled my eyes at others. I growled audibly in a few places. It was absolutely worth listening to and I’m betting others will like this book a lot more than I did — and I definitely didn’t hate it.
If you like this, you’ll probably like the book:
Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going and Where Are My Keys? Read More »
We didn’t have any books on audio so I decided this was the perfect time to grab Beauty Queens. Nope, I’ve never read it — which is crazy because I’ve wanted to read it since it first came out. But, I also had a very strong desire to hear it on audio. I’m glad I held tight to that idea. It was SO MUCH FUN on audio. Seriously.
Loved, loved, loved it. We even listened to the acknowledgements and the author interview at the end because Libba Bray is funny as hell. And awesome. She is very awesome.
Best book from the Cybils shortlist so far this year! I loved Escape From Mr Lemoncello’s Library and I’m extra glad we listened to it on audio.
We chuckled our way through it and were sad when it ended. Equally sad that Nickelodeon optioned it for a TV movie. Sure wish Pixar would have grabbed it. It would make a great movie — and a great theme park attraction.
Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Read More »