Still reading … er, listening

It occurred to me the other day that I hadn’t written, in quite a long time, about what I’ve been reading (other than “Screwed”). This is because I haven’t been reading much of late. I think there’s two reasons for this. One is that I’ve been on a video game jag. The second is because I’ve been reading Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Trilogy novels for like, well, forever. They are great books, but they are massive. For some reason, I’ve gotten bogged down in the last book. Not sure what’s up with that. It’s not because it’s not good. I don’t know.

At any rate, while I haven’t been reading many books, I have been listening to quite a few. Hedon and I have been more than thrilled with how the iPod has worked out for digital audiobooks and have been getting most of our books from Audible.com.

Two or three months back, Audible ran a sale of $4.95 for a selected number of first-in-series novels. I picked up five or six of those. This past week, they had a sale of $4.95 on 200 titles. We went a little crazy — bought more than 20 of them. If they keep up these sales, we’re going to have a full iPod in no time.

Here’s some of the books I’ve listened to in the last few months.

“Altered Carbon” by Richard K. Morgan. This is a first-in-a-series, science fiction, hard-boiled detective novel, set in a time when people have the ability to become immortal. The narrator is downloaded to Earth to solve the murder of a wealthy man, a man who is alive, thanks to having had a backup of himself in storage. I liked it okay, though it was clearly written with movie rights in mind. Lots of action scenes, that sort of thing. There are more books in this series, but I’d probably only buy them if they were seriously on sale.

“The Eyre Affair” by Jasper Fforde. Also a first-in-series novel, also sci-fi, also a detective sort of novel, but set in a future where people are heavily into literature. This one is hard to describe, what with it involving kidnappings of fictional literary characters like Jane Eyre and a character from “Martin Chuzzlewhit,” time warp holes popping up in the English countryside, vampires, designer formerly-extinct pets, mass murderers, wacky scientists, werewolves … well, this book doesn’t hold back anything. It was very funny at times, amusing almost all of the time, and I enjoyed it. I bought the sequel at the latest sale at Audible, but haven’t listened to it yet.

“Dead Until Dark” by Charlaine Harris. Once again, a first-in-series novel. We got this one because we really liked the HBO series “True Blood,” which is based on these Harris novels. Sookie Stackhouse, the protagonist, is a waitress from Louisiana who can read minds, and falls in love with a newcomer to town, a vampire. What is it with the vampires lately? Seems like half the novels at Audible involve a vampire in some way or another. Must be the “Twilight” craze that has caused it all. It’s not that I’m opposed to vampires; I love the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles. It’s just that all this vampire stuff is getting to be a bit much. Ah well. Anyway, I thought “Dead Until Dark” was pretty decent, though I like the HBO series much better. Hedon really loves these books, and has already bought the other seven books in the series. She says they get better as they go along, and she really, really loves the reader, Johanna Parker.

“Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon. This is an oldie but goodie first-in-series. I read this book a million years ago, but never read the rest of the series (the library didn’t have them). This is a time-travel novel, in which a woman in post World War II England is magically transported back in time to the mid 1700s. There are lots of romance novel elements to this book, but it’s better done than your average romance. The hero isn’t your cookie-cutter dark and brooding male. He’s actually likable. As a historical novel, it stands up pretty well. I’ve already finished “Outlander” and “Dragonfly in Amber,” the second in the series, and am now well into “Voyager,” the third novel. It’s good fun. Plus, I have a better grasp of the time period now than I had back in my 20s, knowing a bit more about the history of the Stewart vs. Hanover claims to the throne of England, and this adds more interest. Another plus is that these books are read by the most excellent Davina Porter, one of the finest readers out there.

“Little Dorrit” by Charles Dickens. Lest you think I have abandoned the classics, here comes “Little Dorrit” to save the day, although it is, admittedly, one of Dickens minor works. The great thing about master writers is that even their minor works are typically better than the best of the average writer. This was true of “Little Dorrit.” The character of Little Dorrit is born in a debtor’s prison to an impoverished gentleman and his wife. A large part of the novel is set in this debtor’s prison, but as is usual with Dickens, there are settings and characters galore. He has some pretty fine comic characters in this one, as well. A massive financial fraud in the novel, and the ensuing fallout, made it a particularly timely sort of read, considering world events of late. What do they call that? Serendipity?

I think that’s pretty much it. I will likely be listening to the Outlander series for some time to come. They are lengthy books — the fourth book is over 50 hours long. Past book four, I will actually have to read the others in the series since they are not available at Audible, and you can only get them from Recorded Books, where they cost about $60 each. Forgedaboudit. I paid $8 or less for each of the other four, thanks to sales and membership credits. I know I can get the rest on the Kindle for under $10, so that’s the way I’ll go. I swear, though, I will finish reading that Neal Stephenson book first!

When I’m done with the Outlander series, I have no idea what I’ll listen to next. Probably the Harris books. With all these sale books we’ve gotten, I’m going to have a ton to choose from. Can you believe I got one of my favorites, George Eliott’s “Middlemarch,” for only $4.95? Long live the Audible.com sales!

Geez, I sound like a huckster.