jiayuanc's reviews
268 reviews

Part 1 was so engrossing, and as an ex Catholic myself albeit one still interested in early Christian history, I thought Carrère captured the feelings of struggling with faith and belief and lapsing back into atheisism perfectly well. Part 1 is reflective and I could not put it down. 

Part 2 goes into the historical fiction of the life of Paul and Luke and this is where he lost me. Carrère presents facts mixed with his own speculation, often without differentiation, often just plain wrong. He info dumps on the reader, probably correctly assuming the average reader would not know the history of the early Christians, which is fair enough except he speculates on things, presents such speculations in the same breath as historical facts. If I wanted to spend time reading about the lives of the early Christians why would I not just spend it reading from actual historians specializing in that time, rather than listen to a journalist / screen writer? 

Dr Krasner spends two lectures on each of Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and Dracula. This is a very good introduction to each of these tales, and as an introduction it serves its purpose. But I do wish we spend just a bit more time with them all! The first lecture for each novel focuses on plot, characters, the themes and historical context. The second lecture talks about how contemporary works were influenced by the novel, and how in the cases of Frankenstein and Dracula, contemporary works have almost overshadowed and become more famous than the original novel. 

An enjoyable listen nonetheless. 

Excellent, really insightful companion to Moby Dick, outlining Melville's knowledge of ocean animals, and whether those "facts" still hold true based on our new scientific knowledge. King uses Moby Dick as the jumping off point to explore the various advances in maritime science and ocean biology - there is absolutely no need to have read Moby Dick before in order to enjoy this. 

This book has certainly inspired me to read Moby Dick again. It has allowed me to see deeper into references I previously missed, or just didn't know because I wasn't aware of what was the knowledge of Melville's time. Highly recommended. 

Good anthology of Mongolian short stories. A lot of the stories sound very similar though this may be because of the English translation work. My favourites listed below:

Adrian McKinty blessing us with two Sean Duffy stories within a month - this audio-only prequel tale, and then Book 8 finally out in English next month (March 2025)! 

"God's Away on Business" takes us through Duffy's first weeks on the Carrickfergus job. We get to see how he first settles up in town, and meet long time partner Crabby. 

It's a short one at under 2 hours listening time, and it's currently an audiobook-only release, but I find I don't mind much when I get to spend time again with Duffy, brought to life by the always brilliant Gerard Doyle. It still delivers on what makes this a series I keep coming back to - the witty prose and puns, the humour, Duffy's clever internal dialogue, pepper in his literary knowledge and excellent music taste and you've got a winner. There's an entire sequence in chapter 9 that had me grinning ear to ear! 

Here's to hoping we get a print release of this! 

Very thorough history of the books making up the Hebrew Bible and the books of the New Testament. Very insightful. 

This is such a difficult book to give a rating to. I read this for the first time as a 30 year old and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I read this as a child. But then again, as a child I would not have picked up so heavily on the moralistic, preaching attitude of the characters. I really did enjoy reading part 1 "Little Women", and I do relate so much to Jo March in this section, even as a 30 year old! This part was so cozy and warm to read, I loved getting to know the sisters and Laurie. 

But as we move on to part 2 "Good Wives" I began to feel more and more disappointed. The extolling of poverty as a virtue, the "lessons" of being a good wife and loving God were quite heavy handed, not in a way I could so easily put out of mind. And while I completely understand that LMA had to do as her publisher asked and marry off Jo, it is still disappointing, though I could rationalise around it if I really tried I think. 

I do see why so many people love this book and can relate to all the characters. It can be cozy and warm and a lovely read, despite it all. 

Some notes specific to the Penguin Deluxe Classics edition of Little Women - it says "annotated" in the description of the book but the publishers are referring to the contextual essays and glossary of unfamiliar words/slang (useful for younger readers or for older readers who want more background on the slang of LMA's day) at the back of the book. The text of the book itself is free of footnotes; the logic behind this choice per the editor is that footnotes would be "distracting". I found that I did not mind this choice and the essays at the back were very informative for putting this book into its historical context. 

Sam Mendes has a wonderful voice for this spooky Charles Dickens tale; the dolby atmos sound is haunting and definitely enhances the listening. I think the story on its own probably would not have been a favourite but the experience of the surround sound, music and rail chimes were excellent additions to drum up that creepy atmosphere. 

The star rating is for the story itself; the production by the sound team is top notch here.