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Misadventures With a Bully President

river of doubtMost of us know something about the career of Theodore Roosevelt: cowboy, hunter, Rough Rider, statesman, president. But few of us know of his brief but dangerous sojourn in the Amazonian jungles of Brazil in 1914, where he came very close to meeting a rather inglorious and untimely end.

Authors Who Can Read

In most cases, my advice would be "drop it and run" if you were about to check out an audio book narrated by the author.    Bringing a story to life on the page is much different from hearing a story out loud.  There are, however, some glorious notable exceptions:

Gleek Out!: Beyond the Glee Soundtrack

I've spend the last 24 hours "gleeking out" over Glee: The Music, Season 1. Even though most of the songs have been available online since the show started, I love having everything on the official CD. But what do you do when you have all the songs memorized? Go back to the source material by the original artists!

Holmes On The Range?

The Holmes referred to in the title is, of course, the master himself, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.  While he does not actually appear in the story, he is central to the plot. Two cowboys, using the methods of the beloved detective, solve a rather convoluted mystery on a Montana ranch in 1893. This story has a lot to offer: murder (of course), and mayhem, shootouts, great characters, even good horses, all turned out with nice dashes of humor and some pathos.  The pacing builds a bit slowly, but the people you meet make the wait worthwhile. The reading by William Dufris is masterful; he even handles the women's voices well.  I love the way Mr. Holmes (or at least his legacy) keeps turning up in the most unexpected places!

The Power of the Narrator

I was looking at a blog post from Overdrive – our vendor for the Digital Media Catalog – the other day on audio book narrators. That got me to thinking about how important the narrator can be to an audio book. A great narrator can make a less than stellar book better while a terrible narrator can make a well written book terrible.

One source for suggestions is our Better in Audio list. These are titles that are improved by listening. Several of my favorites are children’s/YA titles:

Robert B. Parker Takes On the Wild West

Titus Welliver (of television’s Deadwood fame) does an excellent job of reading

Not another High School Musical

Two weeks ago I walked into the theater at Katy Mills expecting to see a fluffy, no brain needed, teen flick.  I walked out of the theater duly impressed by the depth of the plot, heading straight to the music store to pick up the fabulous soundtrack.  The movie I saw was Bandslam 

The Legendary Sounds of the West

Ennio MorriconeBack in the ‘60s composer Ennio Morricone, along with director Sergio Leone (both Italians) gave the western a whole new look, feel and soun

Catch the Fever!

While you are waiting for Dreamfever,the newest release by Karen Marie Moning, you can catch up on her Fever series. This series is a suspense thriller set in an urban fantasy world in Dublin, Ireland.


 

Darkfever


 

Bloodfever

Get Your Heart Rate Up With Lisa Scottoline

 
 
Looking for a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat? Something to make your daily commute or boring exercise routine go faster? Lisa Scottoline’s stories are full of mystery and suspense with many surprising twists. They are guaranteed to make the time fly by!

Lady Killer
Daddy’s Girl

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