Stephen Kennedy's Rants

Archive for the ‘My Reading’ Category

I just finished listening to Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency audio book from Audible.com

The audio book is is actually a dramatization by BBC Audio Books starring Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers), Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings) and Harry Enfield (Several British TV Shows and Commercials).

It is a fairly short read (3 hours and 49 minutes) but it is quite memorable. There are several quotes that I really liked from this book, "These lunch breaks are becoming daily".

If you have read any of Douglas Adams’ (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series) books you should really enjoy this book.

The story revolves around the murder of a wealthy businessman and the unusual way the the Holistic Detective, Dirk Gently (Enfield) who usually finds missing cats for old ladies, ,solves the case and clears his University friend Richard MacDuff (Boyd) using his special talents. I don’t want to give away any more of  the ending!

I chuckled out loud several times during the listening of this book. While short it is very well done with good sound effects and ambience.

I highly recommending listening to this book or reading the print version.

Spent my 2 Audible credits today… I had to make a difficult decision. There were 4 books I was interested in but could only choose 2. Here are what I am looking forward to listening to.

Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore.

Since listening to a Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, I have been hooked on his books although they are a little silly. I now have all of his books in either Audio format or paperback. I have also gotten SWMBO hooked on him as well. While his books are not for everyone we thoroughly enjoy them.

Watch for my quick reviews after they get the listen.

I just recently finished listening to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy read by Stephen Fry. Although I have read the original books, listening to the audio book was a pleasure and allowed me to relax and get truly caught up in the story. Stephen Fry does a superb job of reading it and truly brings out the characters.

This is just under a 6 hour read.

I have the other 4 books of the "Trilogy of 5" and am looking forward to listening to those although they are not ready Stephen Fry.

I highly recommend this book

Stephen

I have just created a new category here called My Reading. This will contain Brief descriptions of books that I am reading or listening to from my Audible account. Check back if you want some ideas on what you can read.

For anyone that is interested in audio books, I have an account with Audible.com. This is a monthly subscription, I have the Platinum Subscription, that gives me 2 credits a month for 22.95 USD, where I can download one or usually 2 audio books a month. While I find I have to really concentrate when I am listening to a book, I really like the experience.

I like the audio book format as I can listen when in my car, lying in bed or sitting somewhere. Often I find that I get more immersed in a book while listening. I do have to watch out that I don’t try doing something that involves too much concentration or I’ll start to zone away from the book.

You can try this out. The Twit Podcast network, http://twit.tv is sponsored by Audible so they give users a free audio book to try it out. Just find one of their codes to sign up and try a book. Audible, http://audible.com supports a great many devices, except for the Zune, so books are playable on most devices. I have found many great books that I am enjoying via the suggestions in the Podcasts.  Audible has over 45,000 titles so you are sure to find a book that you will enjoy.

Try out audible if you want and keep coming back to see some of my reading suggestions.