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As a bit of a history freak I love Conn Igullden’s books in which he makes characters of actual people and retells history in more of a novel form;

His Genghis Khan series is sensational - I have purchased multiple copies of the series to pass on to friends.
The Julius Caesar series is also excellent reading.

‘’A fantastic author who gives a fantastic perspective of world history.
 
So I recently learned that you can get audiobooks (and e-books) with an SA Library card and the "Libby" app. It works like a library where you get the book for 21 days, and if it's not in-stock, you can place it on hold (it gives you a place in queue with how many copies avaliable etc).

This has changed my world, as I drive 2 hours a day for work, and i've been able to start "reading" through books i've always wanted to. I've actually found myself more engaged with the audiobooks, especially with a good reader as the way they use their voices really adds to the experience.

So far i've gotten through

Foundation and Foundation and Empire (Second Foundation is on hold). Enjoyed the first 2, can't wait to get to the 3rd.

Animal Farm - Worth a listen for less than 2 hours, though by 2023 it's quite worn out in it's concepts (a bit like Monthy Python jokes in 2023).

The Great Gatsby - Amazing listen, up there with one of my favourites of all time.

and I've just started on Wuthering Heights, loved the first hour or so, excited to drive home this arvo to continue the story.


I've also got about 10 books on hold (literary classics are very popular)
 

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Anzacpaul said:
So I recently learned that you can get audiobooks (and e-books) with an SA Library card and the "Libby" app. It works like a library where you get the book for 21 days, and if it's not in-stock, you can place it on hold (it gives you a place in queue with how many copies avaliable etc).

This has changed my world, as I drive 2 hours a day for work, and i've been able to start "reading" through books i've always wanted to. I've actually found myself more engaged with the audiobooks, especially with a good reader as the way they use their voices really adds to the experience.

So far i've gotten through

Foundation and Foundation and Empire (Second Foundation is on hold). Enjoyed the first 2, can't wait to get to the 3rd.

Animal Farm - Worth a listen for less than 2 hours, though by 2023 it's quite worn out in it's concepts (a bit like Monthy Python jokes in 2023).

The Great Gatsby - Amazing listen, up there with one of my favourites of all time.

and I've just started on Wuthering Heights, loved the first hour or so, excited to drive home this arvo to continue the story.


I've also got about 10 books on hold (literary classics are very popular)
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I've been doing this for the last 12 months too... a friend gave me audible for my birthday last year for three months... but I'm "reading" at least one book a week now, so I joined the library to get access to free books. Audible obviously have a far better variety of books on offer but you have to pay for them. I used to be a voracious reader pre-child. Then just never had the time. Now if I read an actual book I nod off... so this is the best of both worlds.
 
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Just finished Full Throttle, a collection of short stories by Joe Hill.

Really enjoyed it. If you like Stephen King (which I certainly do) then you'd like this - Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and has a very similar vibe (and a couple of stories in this collection were co-written by the pair). My favourites from the collection would probably be Dark Carousel, Wolverton Station, Faun and You Are Released. But there weren't really any in there that I didn't enjoy to a greater or lesser extent.

Just started Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. Too soon to make any real assessment, but early signs are very good.
 
Anzacpaul said:
So I recently learned that you can get audiobooks (and e-books) with an SA Library card and the "Libby" app. It works like a library where you get the book for 21 days, and if it's not in-stock, you can place it on hold (it gives you a place in queue with how many copies avaliable etc).

This has changed my world, as I drive 2 hours a day for work, and i've been able to start "reading" through books i've always wanted to. I've actually found myself more engaged with the audiobooks, especially with a good reader as the way they use their voices really adds to the experience.

So far i've gotten through

Foundation and Foundation and Empire (Second Foundation is on hold). Enjoyed the first 2, can't wait to get to the 3rd.

Animal Farm - Worth a listen for less than 2 hours, though by 2023 it's quite worn out in it's concepts (a bit like Monthy Python jokes in 2023).

The Great Gatsby - Amazing listen, up there with one of my favourites of all time.

and I've just started on Wuthering Heights, loved the first hour or so, excited to drive home this arvo to continue the story.


I've also got about 10 books on hold (literary classics are very popular)
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You can also use the BorrowBox app to borrow eBooks and audio books from the library. I've been using that and Libby for a while now. I read all the time, and it gets expensive buying books.

I borrowed all of Michael Connelly's "Bosch" series, and also all of Lee Child's "Reacher" books and some of John Grisham's. I'm looking for a new series now.

I don't do too well with audio books because I fall asleep listening to them.
 
Crow54 said:
You can also use the BorrowBox app to borrow eBooks and audio books from the library. I've been using that and Libby for a while now. I read all the time, and it gets expensive buying books.

I borrowed all of Michael Connelly's "Bosch" series, and also all of Lee Child's "Reacher" books and some of John Grisham's. I'm looking for a new series now.

I don't do too well with audio books because I fall asleep listening to them.
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Have you read the Ben Hope series by Scott Mariani? if you're into action, I recommend giving them a go. Though I must admit, by book 28 which the series is up to it it's getting a bit long in the tooth, but the first 10-15 were good.

Also Matthew Reilly if you like non-stop action. I find his books a bit fatiguing as the ones I've read have almost no breaks in the action.
 
Anzacpaul said:
Have you read the Ben Hope series by Scott Mariani? if you're into action, I recommend giving them a go. Though I must admit, by book 28 which the series is up to it it's getting a bit long in the tooth, but the first 10-15 were good.

Also Matthew Reilly if you like non-stop action. I find his books a bit fatiguing as the ones I've read have almost no breaks in the action.
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No I haven’t heard of either of those authors. I’ll check them out, thanks.
 
Anzacpaul said:
Have you read the Ben Hope series by Scott Mariani? if you're into action, I recommend giving them a go. Though I must admit, by book 28 which the series is up to it it's getting a bit long in the tooth, but the first 10-15 were good.

Also Matthew Reilly if you like non-stop action. I find his books a bit fatiguing as the ones I've read have almost no breaks in the action.
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I don't love Matthew Reilly - I liked his original Scarecrow book, but eventually gave up as I found them to be a bit unrealistic. I've pondered Scott Mariani, but never started one.

I'd maybe look at Karin Slaughter or Steve Cavenagh's Eddie Quinn books?
 
Mostyn said:
I don't love Matthew Reilly - I liked his original Scarecrow book, but eventually gave up as I found them to be a bit unrealistic. I've pondered Scott Mariani, but never started one.

I'd maybe look at Karin Slaughter or Steve Cavenagh's Eddie Quinn books?
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I got given a Matthew Reilly book as a gift a few years back. The Great Zoo Of China.

I'm certainly no literary snob, I've read more than my share of lowbrow, pulp horror / fantasy / sci fi novels in my time. But this was probably the worst book I've ever read, certainly the worst one I've ever stuck through to the end. Because it was a gift I kind of felt compelled to finish it so that when she asked about it I could at least be polite and talk about it ("yeah, it was... uh... good... " awkward cough).

It was a poor man's Jurassic Park. Like reading something written by a primary school kid. Bizarre use of punctuation throughout. Must! Use! Exclamation marks! How else will people know what the exciting bits are supposed to be?!?

I guess it's not entirely his fault... surely an editor must have run an eye over it at some point prior to publication? There must have been somebody, somewhere along the line giving feedback on how to polish this particular turd, but apparently not. Or maybe the feedback got ignored. Or, more frighteningly, perhaps it was even worse before it went through that process.

Will never touch another one of his books, and if anybody ever gives me one again they'll get slapped across the face.
 
So just finished Wuthering Heights this evening. An amazing book, well heralded in my opinion.

I found it interesting my mother, having never read the book, proclaimed she was surprised at my reading of it, as a modern man having interest in a love story.
The book is more tragic and bitter cut with pangs of revenge lest about love, saving for a chapter or two within the whole epic.

Overall it's a clear 10/10 and I'm better for having read it.
 
So an update since my last post. I've now listened to the following:

Frankenstein
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Island of Dr Moreau
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1984
Anna Karenina
Around the World in Eighty Days
Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Tale of Two Cities

I found after Anna Karenina (34 hour audiobook) I needed something a bit lighter, hence the Jules Verne novels.

Next up is The Invisible Man by H.G Wells, then Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I am then preparing myself for the 63 hour epic of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
 

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Good to see a fellow bibliophile on here. That's a great reading list, although we'll agree to disagree about Wuthering Heights.
I'm more into contemporary fiction having done the classics. Problem for me is that I forget the plots of so many books I've read. It's called aging.
One good thing about it is that I could go back and reread what I've read. Cheap entertainment. :)

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Anzacpaul said:
So an update since my last post. I've now listened to the following:

Frankenstein
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Island of Dr Moreau
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1984
Anna Karenina
Around the World in Eighty Days
Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Tale of Two Cities

I found after Anna Karenina (34 hour audiobook) I needed something a bit lighter, hence the Jules Verne novels.

Next up is The Invisible Man by H.G Wells, then Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I am then preparing myself for the 63 hour epic of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
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I’ve considered tackling Atlas Shrugged a few times, but 1000+ pages combined with tiny text scares the sh*t out of me.
Good luck with the audiobook!
 
Anzacpaul said:
So an update since my last post. I've now listened to the following:

Frankenstein
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Island of Dr Moreau
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1984
Anna Karenina
Around the World in Eighty Days
Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Tale of Two Cities

I found after Anna Karenina (34 hour audiobook) I needed something a bit lighter, hence the Jules Verne novels.

Next up is The Invisible Man by H.G Wells, then Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I am then preparing myself for the 63 hour epic of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
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Also, if you're into dystopian novels and keen for something a bit different, try We by Yevgeni Zamyatin. It was written before Orwell wrote 1984, and not hard to see the echoes.
It was a critique of the growing authoritarianism in Russia post the revolution, and i think he was exiled for his troubles.
A strange book, but worth a read.
 
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Just finished Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. About a band that get together in London in the late 60s and their climb to fame and fortune. Absolutely loved it, most enjoyable book I've read in years. If you've read David Mitchell's other books you'll spot a lot of references to / characters from those books in here, but it's in no way essential to enjoying this. I'm not old enough to have been around at the time (and nor is David Mitchell, for that matter), but it FEELS very authentic, at least.

The most frustrating part for me is that I just really, really want to hear all of these songs now but I can't because it's fiction so they don't actually exist 😭
 
Jarman3 said:
Just finished Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. About a band that get together in London in the late 60s and their climb to fame and fortune. Absolutely loved it, most enjoyable book I've read in years. If you've read David Mitchell's other books you'll spot a lot of references to / characters from those books in here, but it's in no way essential to enjoying this. I'm not old enough to have been around at the time (and nor is David Mitchell, for that matter), but it FEELS very authentic, at least.

The most frustrating part for me is that I just really, really want to hear all of these songs now but I can't because it's fiction so they don't actually exist 😭
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Play(list) by the Book - Utopia Avenue, by David Mitchell
 
Jarman3 said:
I got given a Matthew Reilly book as a gift a few years back. The Great Zoo Of China.

I'm certainly no literary snob, I've read more than my share of lowbrow, pulp horror / fantasy / sci fi novels in my time. But this was probably the worst book I've ever read, certainly the worst one I've ever stuck through to the end. Because it was a gift I kind of felt compelled to finish it so that when she asked about it I could at least be polite and talk about it ("yeah, it was... uh... good... " awkward cough).

It was a poor man's Jurassic Park. Like reading something written by a primary school kid. Bizarre use of punctuation throughout. Must! Use! Exclamation marks! How else will people know what the exciting bits are supposed to be?!?

I guess it's not entirely his fault... surely an editor must have run an eye over it at some point prior to publication? There must have been somebody, somewhere along the line giving feedback on how to polish this particular turd, but apparently not. Or maybe the feedback got ignored. Or, more frighteningly, perhaps it was even worse before it went through that process.

Will never touch another one of his books, and if anybody ever gives me one again they'll get slapped across the face.
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The Great Zoo of China was his worst, in my mind. I've read basically all of them, since working FIFO they were ideal to finish on a plane ride (same reason I read all of Reacher).

But yes, his writing is....juvenile. He works OK in the Jack West / Scarecrow universe I think where it's been somewhat related to realistic concepts or he can crib from real history. When he had to make up everything wholesale, it was bad.
 
I've been using the Libby app a lot lately.

So far I have made it through:

Edge of Collapse - Kyla Stone Books 0, 1-3.
Red Sister, Grey Sister - Mark Lawrence
All Systems Red - Martha Wells
When we were orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro (one of my favourite authors)
A pale view of Hills - Ishiguro
A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Animal Farm - George Orwell

Currently reading/listening to The Great Gatsby and Holy Sister.
 
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