Audiobooks: July & August 2022

[smallhobbit]

Six more audiobooks:

And Then You Dye by Monica Ferris read by Susan Boyce.  
This was the next in the Needlecraft Mysteries series.  I suspect I skip through some of the story when I read the books because this one dragged and there seemed to be many small things which could easily be left out.

Murder Under The Sun by Agatha Christie read by Hugh Fraser.
13 short stories, expertly read by Hastings.  Too many Parker Pyne stories in my opinion, but otherwise very enjoyable.  A perfect summer listen.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams read by Pippa Bennett-Warner
This was recommended to me and was different from the things I usually listen to.  I found the story as it tied in with the dictionary very interesting, but some of the personal life of the heroine, Esme, was less important to me.  I can well believe that others react differently.  

Summer at Fairacre by Miss Read read by Prunella Scales
I was quite happy, enjoying the summer term at the village school and then moving into the long weeks of the summer holidays, with the surfeit of gooseberries and other village pre-occupations.

The Destructors and Other Stories by Graham Greene read by Stephen Thorne
An interesting collection of short stories, some of which I enjoyed more than others (always the way with a short story collection) but all with a satisfying twist at the end.  I have another four Greene stories in my TBL list - clearly he's an author I enjoy listening to in preference to reading.

Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving a Wider Audience curated by Shaun Usher 14 narrators
A wide variety of letters, (about 130 in total), each introduced by Shaun Usher.  I listened to it over a few months, frequently only listening to one or two letters a day.  Interesting for some of the insights the letters give.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Interesting variety! I have heard Stephen Thorne do various books. He's good.

[smallhobbit]

I like having a variety of books to listen to, then I can chop and change depending on my mood. Yes, I thought Stephen Thorne a good narrator.

[therealsnape]

No surfeit of gooseberries here (nor the delightful Fairacre world) but when we had some in the market I bought them at once and made crumble. I learned the term 'topping and tailing' from the Fairacre books.

[smallhobbit]

I do like gooseberry crumble. I do like the thought of the Fairacre books introducing you to new phrases.

[therealsnape]

Quite a few new phrases, that's the advantage of daily life stories such as these. One learns from detectives, too, but one should not limit one's conversation to malice aforethought, grievous bodily harm, blunt instruments and SOCO teams.

Miss Read, however! Not as green as he's cabbage-looking, [a girl] who is no better than she should be, many's the expression to which she introduced me.

Downside, I used the word frock for years, as well as dress, and then in another (far more recent) book a character said that someone 'used lovely old-fashioned words like frock'.

The problems you have when at least 80% of your vocabulary is from books.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, detective stories do have their limitations as far as vocabulary goes, whereas Miss Read can provide lots of useful daily phrases. There's nothing wrong with being occasionally old-fashioned!