Read-a-Thon: At the eleventh hour

Hour the 11th

Reading Location:at home on my couch

Currently reading: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner

Total Pages read so far: 433

Total Time spent reading so far: 347 minutes (5 hours 47 minutes)

Other Readers I have visited: The only place I visited during this break in reading was Devourer of Books, where the hour's challenge was posted. I got so wound up in answering Jen's question about audio books that I'm including my answer in this post.

Mini-challenges completed Back-in-the-Day Children’s Book Challenge, Shake Those Pom Poms and Attempting Audiobooks.

Finished Books: Angel's Advocate by Mary Stanton.

Comments: I have this curious relationship with audiobooks. If I happen to "read" the first book in a series in audio, I tend to need to read the rest of the series in audio instead of in text. I discovered this when, after listening to 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith, I tried to read Espresso Tales in print. I just couldn't enjoy it, so I ran out and bought the CDs and simply adored the story. So now, there's a new book in the series, The Importance of Being Seven, so I decided to listen to a sample of that book. Imagine my surprise when, unlike the 5 earlier books, this one was being read by David Rintoul and not by Robert Ian Mackenzie. Oh my! That's almost as bad as hiring a ghost writer! And, this new reader is going to take me some time to get used to.

Well, with that surprise, I decided to look at Corduroy Mansions, also by McCall Smith. Well, there are two editions available with two different readers—both unabridged! The first version is read by Andrew Sachs, and I think it is composed of all the podcast chapters which the The Telegraph broadcast as Corduroy Mansions was published in a serialized manner. The other version is read by Simon Prebble and I'm guessing it's a regular studio production. I listened to a short sample of each and I'm not sure I have a preference.

Lastly, I decided I'd see whether Davina Porter was reading the newest book in McCall Smith's Sunday Philosophy Club series: The Charming Quirks of Others. She's not! This book is being read by Hillary Neville. But, after listening to a sample, I'm feeling much better. I think she's not going to sound so terribly different from Ms. Porter.

So, while I'd much prefer to listen to Davina Porter—after all, she is Isabelle Dalhousie in my mind—I think I'll vote for Hillary Neville as my favorite reader/narrator of all the books I sampled.