Brilliant Audible!

As everyone knows, Bev is a BIG fan of audiobooks and Audible, the UK's largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. 

Anyway, two nice things have happened this month - firstly, Bev downloaded Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  This is a story about a freak incident which gives people a glimpse of their lives 20 years in the future, raising interesting questions about free-will, the possibility of the future being pre-determined, and the impact such visions could have on future inventions and the economy.  If your future vision showed a company on the brink of bankruptcy, what would you do?  Move your investment somewhere else, bringing about the very vision you saw in the future?  Thought-provoking is how Bev described it, and despite a serious lack of knowledge about particle physics, she found it rivetting.

The next nice thing that happened to Bev was that she found that she had a free credit in her Audible account.  Curious, she contacted Audible to find out if this was a mistake or not, only to discover (to her delight) that they had used her review of Flashforward in their monthly newsletter and had given her a free audio credit to use on any book of her choice between now and November 2010! 

Thank you Audible for making Bev a happy person by providing such a fascinating book and for giving her a free credit!  Oh, and by the way, take it from Bev that the book of Flashforward is a million times better than the series on Channel 5 that is based on the book.  The TV series is trying to be all things to all people - part mystery, part spooky tale, party conspiracy theory - and is being stretched over 22 episodes so loses the strong and focused story line of the book.  Listen to Bev's advice and read the book!  You won't be disappointed and may even learn something interesting about particle physics, large Hadron Colliders and the Higgs Boson :-)

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

This week we have been mainly listening to A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. This is Bill's description of his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail (or AT as it is sometimes called) with his fried Stephen Katz. It is very funny and we have been chuckling all the way to and from work whilst listening to their encounters with bears, hillbillies and weird hikers. This audio book comes highly recommended by us bears, because it makes us laugh and it gives us fresh ideas on how to scare local walkers and hikers!

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

This week we have been mainly listening to John O'Farrell's "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain - Or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots In Charge", which is very funny. Bev thought this might fill in some gaps in her knowledge of the history of Britain while being an enjoyable listen on the way to and from work. Bev loved history at school, but she covered some historical periods in great depth whilst missing others out completely, including most English history (she was educated in bonny Scotland so was taught Scottish history, much to most English people's surprise - doh!). Anyway, this is her attempt to fill in the missing "bits".

So far we have encountered the Romans, Anglo Saxons, Normans and Plantagenets - we have just finished listening to the story of Richard II, the Black Death, the peasants' revolt and the Hundred Years War, all of which is fascinating stuff and is brilliantly read by John O'Farrell himself. This is a great way to take a dry subject and turn it into something really enjoyable.

The audiobook is unabridged and is over 16 hours in length, so we still have lots of British history to enjoy and lots of upper class idiots to laugh at! At this rate, we will be the best read and best informed bears in Britain!

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

This week we have been mainly listening to Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island! This witty book had Bev (and us bears) chuckling all the way to and from work. The book is Bill Bryson's description of his 7-week journey round Britain on public transport before he departs for the US. His descriptions of the places he visits and the people he meets are funny and, if you know the places, wickedly accurate though Bev was disappointed by his description of John O'Groats - it wasn't cruel enough for such a foul and tacky tourist trap!

The thing that makes this book charming is that Bill Bryson, even when he is rubbishing a town or the strange behaviour of British people, is genuinely fond of Britain and its inhabitants.

As Bev starts yet another Bill Bryson book - A Walk in the Woods - we highly recommend Notes from A Small Island, especially for the hilarious description of his visit to a Glasgow pub where he struggles to understand the rather inebriated locals - this made Bev go misty-eyed with memories of similar incidents, either when she failed to understand the inebriated locals or when she was an inebriated local herself. Enjoy!

P.S. Talking of inebriation, Glagow probably has as many words for inebriation as the Eskimos have for snow. We love the Glaswegians - they know how to party!

This week we have been mainly listening to......

This week we have been mainly listening to an unabridged reading of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. This is an excellent story written in a documentary-style, telling us of the invasion of the south of England by a group of Martians, and their plans to take over the entire planet with the use of experimental flying machines.

Bev had read this book many years ago (possibly when it was published in 1898) but had forgotten many of the details of the story. We bears are not that old, of course, so this was our first reading of this excellent book and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ok, we are off to find something else to read whilst travelling to and from work each day. It certainly beats road rage or listening to tedious radio stations. At this rate, we will be the best-read bears (and chimp) in Hertfordshire :-)

This week we have been mainly listening to......

This week we have been mainly listening to an unabridged version of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. This is a gung-ho type of adventure set just before the start of World War 1, and it cracks along at an astonishing pace. It is about a German plot to steal the secrets of Britain and France's coastal defences, and involves lots of cloak-and-dagger stuff whilst everyone maintains a stiff upper lip. It is a little non-PC in places but never overtly offensive, and if you can ignore the non-PC comments then you will find it to be an excellent romp of a book. However, fans of the films will be disappointed that the Forth Railway Bridge does not make an appearance in the book!

Ok, I am off to call Bill a cad and a bounder, and possibly refer to him as Mr Whitey Bear (he he)!

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

An Uncommon Reader, written and read by Alan Bennett, which is about the queen coming across a travelling library in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and what happens when she discovers the joys of reading. This is a short book by Bev's standards - only 3 hours - and is reminiscent of Sue Townsend's The Queen and I. Both funny and sad, this story gives us an insight into the workings of the royal household, the dreariness of royal life and how duty has prevented the queen from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Definitely worth reading, this book has given us bears (and Mr Chimp) enough insight to realise that we are quite lucky not being royal bears - after all, who wants to meet lots of strangers and open shoe factories when you can have much more fun lazing around in bed with your pals, surfing the net, watching stock car racing (can you imagine the royals doing that?) and drinking gallons of cider! Oh, and reading books!

This week we have been mainly listening to......

This week / month we have been mainly listening to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a wonderful tale of magic set in England around the time of the Napoleonic wars. This is not a small book, even by Bev's standards - it is a massive tome of a book, equating to 32 hours of listening in the car, but was worth every minute! The book introduces us to an England that is a blend of real and imaginary characters, places and events, including the imaginary magicians of the title along with the real characters of Napoleon, Lord Byron and mad King George III as well as the real events of the Napoleonic wars. Susanna Clarke's world, like Tolkien's, is so perfectly realised that after a couple of chapters you are convinced that magic actually did exist.

We loved everything about the book, including the detailed history of magic introduced through the footnotes, the vast array of fascinating characters, the rambling plot around the Revival of English Magic, and we particularly loved the beautifully-described locations of Yorkshire, Fairy and the dark, gothic Venice.

Carlos once told us that there was no good modern fiction - what tosh, we cry! This is more than good modern fiction, this is the best!

This week we have been mainly listening to......

The Richard Hammond book "On the Edge" - this is about his horrific crash in a jet-powered car when the front tyre burst at around 300 mph, and about his recovery from the serious brain damage he suffered as a result of the crash. The book is fascinating and beautifully read by both Richard and his wife Mindy. Richard is the dare-devil joker, always seeing the funny side of things, but you also see the whole incident from Mindy's perspective, when she had to pick up the pieces after the accident. Alternately funny and desperately sad, this is ultimately a sobering book about how your life can change in an instant, as well as being an uplifting story of how adversity can make people stronger. Highly recommended, though have a large box of tissues to paw for the weepie parts!

We were keen to read this book to get an insight into what happened to Frankie during and after his spectacular crash at Hednesford last year. He was racing again three weeks after the accident, which must have taken an incredible amount of courage to do. And he would have been forgiven for not wanting to race at Hednesford again, but not only did he win the final there late last year, but to do so he had to overtake the same car at exactly the same place on the track where he had his accident! He's our hero!

Oh, and the book also explains what Bev went through when she fell down the stairs many years ago and hit her head. Yup, like her hero she was concussed. That probably explains why she is so loopy now.

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

Well, we have finally finished listening to The Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We would give it a big thumbs-up, but we can't because most of us bears don't have thumbs, so we will just have to give it 5 stars instead!

It is a deliciously dark and humorous story of a pawnbroker who buys people's secrets. Written in a Dickensian-style, the story is populated with a motley group of characters with descriptive names like Gumroot the tooth surgeon. Each person in the village has their own dark secret to tell; secrets that include grave-robbing, accidental deaths and pies made with rats. And having confessed their secrets, what they get in return is the ability to sleep at night.

Although written for older children, this book deals with some adult themes like good and evil, redemption, and natural justice.

We found it hard to stop listening and Bev found her journeys to work passed much more enjoyably listening to this book.

A good read - don't miss it or we will send Tony the Chimp round to your house with a rat pie!

What we have been listening to this week, and Bev's cold

Ok, we have been listening to F. E. Higgins' The Black Book of Secrets this week, and are about a third of the way through the book. We are really enjoying this mysterious tale of a pawn broker who buys people's secrets - we are sure this will have an interesting ending, but we will let you know next week when we finish listening to it.

We would have been much further through the book if Bev hadn't suddenly developed a mysterious cold/virus last week, which has left her with a horrible chesty cough and feeling that she was too sick to go to work on Friday. She still sounds really rough, but she is hopng to be back at work on Monday so that we can all listen to the Black Book of Secrets on the way to and from work.

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

Ok, having finished The Hobbit, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, we are now listening to Book 1 of Lord of the Rings. This is Bev's favourite book, and she listens to it at least once a year - mind you, it is over 46 CDs in length, so it probably takes her a whole year to listen to it!

Anyway, we are really enjoying it, though it is much scarier than The Hobbit, and Phoebe is making us check under the beds and behind the doors before we go to bed at night in case a black rider is lurking there. Don't worry Phoebe, it is only a story, though a very good story.

This is yet another audio book that comes highly recommended by us bears, though it is not recommended for bears or bearesses of a nervous disposition. I am not sure how long it will take us to listen to 46 CDs - possibly until Easter or our summer holidays - but however long it takes, I am sure we will have lots of fun listening to the adventures of Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry and their companions!

This week we have been mainly listening to.....

This is Hamish here with what I hope to be a regular update on what we have been listening to on Tony the Chimp's iPod (see attached photograph).

We have been listening to a wide variety of music this week, including Mozart, Mahler's 2nd Symphony (a bit high-brow for us bears, but hey it was on the iPod so why not listen to it) and lots of Rock music, including U2, the Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers and the Killers - excellent stuff! Oh, and there was some house music in there as well for all the bears to dance to.

So, what audio books have we been listening to? Well, this week we have been mainly listening to - The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - the unabridged version read by Rob Inglis. it is an excellent book and an equally excellent reading by Rob.

This is the classic tale of a timid little Hobbit called Bilbo Baggins being volunteered to help a group of dwarves to recover their hoard of treasure from the dragon Smaug. And in the process of their adventures, Bilbo Baggins discovers that he is actually a rather brave and resourceful little Hobbit, rescuing his friends on numerous occasions and returning home a very different Hobbit from the one who worried about going out his front door without a pocket handkerchief.

And during his adventures, he encounters the creature Gollum and the magic ring, both of which are central to the sequel, Lord of the Rings.

All in all, a great read and an excellent audio book - this comes highly recommended by us bears, though Phoebe found the bits with the dragon Smaug a little scary.

Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

Bev and us bears have just finished listening to Robert Rankin's book "Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse", and we loved it to bits. This is mostly due to the hero, Eddie Bear, a teddy detective who has become our role model - he is a hard-drinking, bearess-chasing, Chandleresque private eye in Toy City with an excellent human side-kick called Jack. It is lots of fun, very rude in places and and definitely not a children's book - this is a grown-up bears' book full of fast car chases, gratuitous sex, explosions and some fairly gruesome murders.

We're off to get the sequel - Toyminator. If it's as good as the Hollow Chocolate Bunnies, then we are in for a treat.

Audio Books

Bev has always been a big fan of audio books, which she listens to while she drives - she says it makes her a safer driver because she is less stressed out. This was the reason she got the iPod - she wanted to be able to carry all her audio books with her and listen to whatever took her fancy, whether it be classic fiction or the latest potboiler. And look how useful it was on holiday, distracting Carlos from the scary views of mountain roads outside the car window! So, to any other audio book fans out there, Bev has two audio book sites she would like to recommend - Audible, which sells downloadable audio books for the iPod, and a new site called Silk Sounds, which provides audio books in Mp3 format for any Mp3 player. Silk Sounds focuses on selling classic literature read by well-known British actors and actresses at a reasonable price. So, flex your plastic and download an audio book today - you will never know how much fun you can have with a downloaded audio book and an iPod / Mp3 player until you give it a try! We're just waiting for Bev to download the Winnie the Pooh stories and we will be in heaven!