The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by John Harris

Source: Epic of Gilgamesh podcast (iTunes, Podbay)

Length: About 4.5 hours
Reader: John Harris

The book: The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest pieces of literature ever discovered. The epic poem is a loosely joined series of stories about Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian king, and Enkidu, a savage man sent by the gods to distract Gilgamesh from his kingly excesses. Along the way, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends (or more than friends? There is a possible homosexual relationship, depending on how you interpret the words). Written before the Bible, the poem also includes the earliest account of the Great Flood story, known more familiarly as the Noah story.

I found this book to be a fascinating look at what life was like in the ancient world. From a literary standpoint, I was amazed to see Gilgamesh, the protagonist and a king, portrayed as a bad person that needed intervention from the gods. Long before the modern times, people were looking at the ruler as both a source of trouble and inspiration. As a story, however, the Epic of Gilgamesh can be tough reading (or listening). The writers of the time did not have the same sense of pacing that we have today, plus there are sections missing or partially damaged, leaving out some of parts of the story. Read it to find a different world, not to be entertained by plot and character development.

NOTE: This story contains explicit sexual and violent content. It is not recommended for children.

Rating: 7 /10

The reader: John Harris reads his own prose translation from Sumarian. He includes notes on the text, explaining both the state of the source text and the meaning or relevance of the story. His reading itself is a bit dry and academic, with the pacing a bit on the slow side of my preferences. I listened to the iTunes version, which includes some music between sections, so when I sped up his speech, the music became distorted. At normal speeds, though, the music helps lend some drama to the story and the recording itself of both music and text is clear and clean.

Purchase a text copy of The Epic of Gilgameshat Amazon

Some great audiobooks for free

Today, three absolutely great audiobooks are being offered totally free, for a limited time. First off is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, available from Audiobooks.com. I've reviewed a LibriVox reading of this classic novel before, but this is a professional audiobook. I highly recommend it if you've never read this story before. It's available for download until 10 am Friday.

Second are two books from Sync: Monster by Walter Dean Myers and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Monster is a Michael L. Printz Award winner and National Book Award nominee about a teenage African-American boy on trial for murder. It's a full-cast unabridged recording and comes highly recommended. I can't wait to listen.

Lord of the Flies is another classic. It tells the story of a group of boys, stranded on an island, who have to establish their own society. Their decent into savagery is a compelling insight into the nature of civilization. This recording is a 1976 reading by the author. From the sample I heard, it's less polished than newer editions, but the chance to hear Golding's own voice narrating is a compelling reason to listen. Both Monster and Lord of the Flies will be available for download until next Thursday morning.

The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3's | iTunes)

Length: 6 hr, 55 min
Reader: Kristen Hughes

The book: Arriving at a friend's house in the English countryside a few minutes after a murder has taken place, Tony Gillingham is thrust into a classic-style locked room mystery. He takes on his role as amateur detective with enthusiasm, finding false identities, hidden passages and blown alibis as he delves deeper into the secrets of the Red House and its inhabitants.

The best mysteries are those that use the mystery as a backdrop for an additional layer of complexity: The mediation on guilt in And Then There Were None, the exploration of a corrupt town in Red Harvest , the fusion of magic and the modern world in the Dresden Files. This book is simply a fun mystery novel, not much more.  It's worthwhile as a few hours of entertainment or as an insight into Milne's writing outside his Winnie-the-Pooh series, but it's also not a must-read.

Rating: 7 /10

The reader: I've mentioned it before, but Hughes is an excellent amateur reader. She doesn't have the polish and voices that are the hallmarks of the pro's and some of the other great readers at LibriVox, but her narration is warm and pleasing. This style of reading is less of a dramatic performance and more of a friend reading to you at your bedside. The little quirks and imperfections make it more enjoyable knowing it's an ordinary person on the other side of the microphone.

Buy a paperback copy of The Red House Mystery

Three free audiobooks available today

From Sync, there's two audiobooks that will be available for download the rest of the week. Anne Frank Remembered is the memoir of Meip Gies, the woman who helped hide the Frank family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.  The audiobook was a finalist for a 2010 Audies award, honoring the best audiobooks published that year.

The second book from Sync is Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wien.  This novel is about an American female pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary who is captured by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp. Last year, Sync offered another audiobook by Wien, Code Name Verity about a female pilot and a spy during World War II; it was one of my favorite listens of the year.

The third book being offered today is from Audiobooks.com, Nancy Drew Diaries: Curse of the Arctic Star. This one is available for one day only, so if you're a fan of the Girl Detective, download it now. A new audiobook will become available from the same website at 10:00 AM on Friday and Nancy Drew will be gone.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Source: Podiobooks (iTunes| individual mp3s)

Length: ~5.5 hr
Reader: Mark Douglas Nelson

The book: How great would it be to live in a world without death and without need? Would everyone be happy? Would everything be perfect? In his first novel, Cory Doctorow imagines a not-so-distant future in which people have the ability to upload their consciousness into a digital format, allowing them to "restore from backup" should anything go wrong with their physical bodies, such as death. Problems of food supply, basic needs, and pollution have been taken care of through technological advance, so there's no need for money as we think of it. Instead, people accumulate "whuffie," a digital currency based on social standing and creative accomplishments.

In this society, the protagonist Jules is living in Disney World and working on restoring the animatronics to the vision of the park's engineers. This puts him at odds with others who would like the attractions to be updated to the latest brain-immersive technology. If this doesn't seem like an incredibly important conflict, then we're in agreement. While the ideas and world expressed in this book are fascinating, the story and characters fall a bit flat.

Rating: 7 / 10

Reader: Mark Douglas Nelson has a radio announcer's voice that's clear and expressive. His declamatory style can seem a bit corny sometimes, but I've rather have his voice than someone who doesn't care. The recordings have a bit of music played over the beginning and end of each section, but the story itself is unaccompanied and clean.

Buy a paperback copy of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Free audiobooks galore!

Several free audiobooks are available today. First up are two from Sync, The Living by Matt de la Pena and The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. The Living is a YA novel about a teenage boy who works on a cruise ship. A massive earthquake and tsunami hit, and he has to find a way to survive. The Perfect Storm is based on a true story about a group of fishermen who face the combination of two storms in the Atlantic Ocean into one megastorm. The book was made into a hit film several years ago.

From Audiobooks.com, the free book of the day is Reckless by Maya Banks. From the description, it's a trashy romance novel, but I'm sure some people will be interested in that. Who am I to judge? If that's not your thing, the same website will have a different free audiobook every weekday this June.

Finally, if you've never joined Audible, you're missing out. You can try Audible and get two free audiobooks by using my link Plus, right now, there's a 2 for 1 sale, so you could get 4 audiobooks with 2 credits. If you cancel before your month's up, you'll still get to keep all your audiobooks, so there's really no risk, especially since Audible is an Amazon company. I've been a member of Audible in the past and it's a great deal.

Audiobooks.com is giving away free audiobooks

Audiobooks.com is giving away a free audiobook as a download every day in June. I've missed the first few days, but today (June 9) is Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, read by Jim Dale, an excellent narrator. The book itself is a great adventure; I've reviewed a LibriVox version here.

To get your free audiobook, download the Audiobooks.com iOS or Android app. Then, go to Booklists and Bestsellers to find the free book of the day. Download it and it's yours to keep!

If you haven't tried out Audiobooks.com before, you can also take advantage of a 30 day trial membership and download a free book. I recommend The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, or the unabridged Simon Vance version of The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brien (the fourth book of the Aubrey-Maturin series, but a good starting point). I've listened to all of these as audiobooks and can confirm that they're great books and great performances.

This week's free audiobooks

Another two free audiobooks are being offered by AudioSync. The YA book, A Corner of White, is a magic-portal fantasy about teenagers in two different worlds communicating by letter. The classic, Dracula, is about . . . Dracula. I've previously reviewed a free version here, but this is a multi-reader, professional version, so you may prefer it over the other. Happy reading!

House of Mirth by Edith Warton

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s | iTunes)

Length: 12 hr, 32 min
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: Lilly Bart, an unmarried woman on the fringes of New York high society, is trying to parlay her looks and eligibility into a suitable marriage to a wealthy man. But in the Gilded Age, a single woman without family protection was at the mercies of rumors and Lilly's self-willed spirit make her particularly susceptible to intrigue. The rules of society and the whims of love both seem to be working against Lilly as she tries to climb the social ladder, or at least avoid poverty.

Although set in roughly the same time period, this book plays out as the inverse of Downton Abbey.  Where Downton is English and rural, House of Mirth is American and urban. Where the Crawleys are an aristocratic family trying to hold onto its wealth, Lilly is trying to work her way into wealth and privilege. Yet, the battlefield of manners and drawing-room politics are similar. I ended up enjoying this book much more than I thought I would.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Elizabeth Klett is one of Librivox's best readers. She has an expressive American voice that makes the story easy to follow. Klett doesn't exactly "do voices" here, but her intonation and expression change enough to make it clear who is speaking and give the speaker some characterization. The recording is clean and nicely produced.

Buy a paperback copy of  The House of Mirth

Sync audio gives away two more audiobooks this week

It's Thursday, so Sync Audio has released another two audiobooks for free. In what is becoming a pattern, I find one of the books intriguing enough to download, while the other holds no interest for me.

I'll start with the less exciting of the two. The Book and The Crown is a fantasy / romance novel set in an alternate history Europe with magic and court intrigue. According the Goodreads reviews, there's lots of love triangles and illicit sex and YA angst. If that's you're thing, have fun, but I'd rather read something else.

The other book being given away, Sea Hearts (also released under the much better title The Brides of Rollrock Island), sounds like a trip. The novella version of the book won the World Fantasy Awards and the author, Margo Lanagan, wrote the excellent and creepy short story "Singing My Sister Down," so I have high expectations.There's not much I can tell about the plot other than that it involves a witch, magic, seal-girls and revenge. It sounds absolutely insane and wonderful.

Yes, I skipped the audiobook review this week. I'll have one up next week.

This week's Sync includes Walter Dean Myers and X: A Novel

Sync is continuing its free audiobook giveaway this week with two more books. One is a book of poetry, Here in Harlem by award winning author Walter Dean Myers. The second book is X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. The X of the title is Malcolm X, an interesting protagonist for a YA book, due to his polarizing rhetoric on race in America. This book is a fictionalized account of Malcolm X's younger days, co-written by his daughter, Shabazz. I haven't read it yet, but it looks to be an intriguing perspective.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Source: Lit2Go (iTunes link)
Length: 14 hours, 23 minutes
Reader: Rick Kistner

The book: In 1864, the Confederate States Navy Huntley became the first submarine to sink a military vessel. Within a few years, most of the major navies of the world, including the French and British Navies, were experimenting with submarines. In this atmosphere of militarization of the ocean's depths, Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a novel about an advanced submarine that had great potential as a weapon, but was mainly used for exploration and science. The ship, and its enigmatic owner Captain Nemo, have become so well known in popular culture that it is worthwhile going back to the source to understand what their creator was trying to convey through their story.

As someone who first encountered the Nautilus through reruns of the 1954 Disney movie and the Disney World ride, I found the whole book to be a bit dry. Yes, there are some exciting parts like the voyage to Atlantis, the encounter with island natives, and the "devilfish" attack, but much of the book reads like a travelogue, with lists of destinations and types of fish seen there. Presumably this was more exciting in Verne's mind, exasperated as he was by politics and failed revolutions. Verne's novel encapsulates the fantasy of being able to escape the surface world and embrace the mysterious life of the ocean.

Rating: 7 / 10

The reader: I've commented many times on Kistner's reading. It's good without being outstanding. He does seem to rush his speech at times, but that is something the ear can adjust to within about 15 minutes. The recording is clear and well-produced. I recommend using the iTunes link for downloading even if you're not using an Apple device.

Buy a paperback copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Sync continues with free Terry Pratchett

Audiobook Sync is continuing this week with a novel by the great Sir Terry Pratchett. The free audiobook, Dodger, is not from Pratchett's well-loved Discworld series, but it sounds great anyways. Dodger is set in Victorian London and follows the adventures of a young street urchin. Pratchett always manages to combine great social commentary with hilarious comedy, so I highly recommend this one.

The other audiobook being given away this week is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I already have another audio copy sitting in my virtual to-read pile, so I'm less excited by this, but by all means pick it up if you're interested. As before, you'll need to download the Overdrive software to your computer or audio device and provide an email address to download these books. There are some geographic restrictions that also apply for certain books.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Source: LibriVox (Act 1 | 2 | 3)
Length: 2 Hours, 11 min
Readers: multiple

The play: “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” John Worthington, a.k.a. Ernest, has been leading a double life. In London, his friend Algernon knows him as Ernest. In the countryside, his ward Cecily knows him as Jack or John and believes that "Ernest" is Jack's black sheep brother in the city. This being a comedy, the double life comes back to bite John, and everyone tries on new identities for parts of the play, leading to more confusion. It's an old device that recalls Shakespeare's comedies, but Wilde (who knew a thing or two about putting up a false front) twists it beautifully until the false identities become more real than the actual identities. 

The funniness of the piece holds up, even after almost 100 years. Although it is meant to poke fun at British upper-class society, much of the humor is in Wilde's wonderful use of language. One-liners like "To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up," are funny even out of context, but the mounting absurdity of the play's plot make them even better. The great lines are almost too much to keep up with at some points and I found myself relistening just to catch the full wit of the words.

Rating: 9/10

The readers: Librivox does an interesting trick of having the actors record their lines separately, then has an editor paste all the lines together to make a finished recording. It shouldn't work, but somehow in this example, it does. There are places where the sound quality noticeably changes between readers, but  I didn't mind so much. The actors themselves do a remarkably good job, despite the impediment to comedic timing. I'm impressed that they were able to overcome the limitations of this style of compiling a play.

Buy a paperback copy of  The Importance of Being Earnest

I'm back!

Yeah, I know I haven't published anything in almost 3 years. I had given this blog up, since I had changed jobs, changed my commute, and didn't have as much time for audiobooks or blogging anymore. This summer, I'll have a bit more time, so I'll be posting occasionally.

The first big announcement for the summer is that SYNC audio is back! Sync gives away free audiobooks to everyone, though the program is designed to get young people interested in reading. No credit card is required, just a name, an email and a free download of the Overdrive software for your computer or portable device. They offer 2 different titles each week. This week, they're offering Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Beautiful Creatures by  Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Both books have excellent reviews and I've heard great word-of-mouth on both, though I haven't read either. These free books are only available for download until May 12, so go grab them now.

Sync will be back each week though the summer with new titles for download. I'll update as they're released.