Field Trips in Fiber - Adventures in quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art.

Audiobook Review - The Australia Triology by Bryce Courtenay

You know, the book world is like any other. You only hear about the POPULAR books, not necessarily the GOOD books. For example, I loathe Nelson DeMille and John Grishom books and yet they are hugely popular. I think they are both lazy writers and not much better than paperback romance novels for character development and plot. (Of course, that's just my opinion as with everything on this blog.) On the other hand you've probably never heard of some of my favorite authors, like Kyle Mills.

 I listen to so many books that I will read just about anything and I am always buying books when Audible has sales. If it's on sale and sounds remotely interesting I will give it a try. If it's horrible at least I bought it on sale! It was through and Audible sale that I found 3 of my all time favorite books.

The Potato Factory started it all. I downloaded it, read it and immediately downloaded the rest of the triology. I was thoroughly hooked and hardly talked to my husband during the 2 weeks that I listened to these books. I was so sad at the end of Soloman's Song because I knew I would never hear from these characters again. 

That doesn't happen to me very often and that's why I want to tell you about these books.

The Australian Triology was written by Bryce Courtenay. In the intro to the book he says that it is his thank you to Australia, his adopted home. At it's essence it's a fictionalized history of Australia from the early penal colonies through the 1st World War. I'm sure these were hugely popular in Australia but I had not heard of them before I tripped over them in the Audible catalog. If you like historical family sagas then you msut read these books. The books are enhanced by the masterful narration of Humphrey Bower, who narrates most of Mr. Courtenay's books.

Here are the descriptions fromt he author's site:

The Potato Factory 

Ikey Solomon and his partner in crime, Mary Abacus, make the harsh journey from thriving nineteenth-century London to the convict settlement of Van Diemen's Land.

In the backstreets and dives of Hobart Town, Mary builds The Potato Factory, where she plans a new future. But her ambitions are threatened by Ikey's wife, Hannah, her old enemy. As each woman sets out to destroy the other, the families are brought to the edge of disaster.

Tommo and Hawk

Brutally kidnapped and separated in childhood, Tommo and Hawk are reunited at the age of fifteen in Hobart Town. Together they escape their troubled pasts and set off on a journey into manhood. From whale hunting in the Pacific to the Maori wars of New Zealand, from the Rocks in Sydney to the miners' riots in the goldfields, Tommo and Hawk must learn each other's strengths and weaknesses in order to survive.

Along the way, Hawk meets the outrageous Maggie Pye, who brings love and laughter into his life. But the demons of Tommo's past return to haunt the brothers. With Tommo at his side, Hawk takes on a fight against all odds to save what they cherish most.

Soloman's Song

When Mary Abacus dies, she leaves her business empire in the hands of the warring Solomon family. Hawk Solomon is determined to bring together both sides of the tribe - but it is the new generation who must fight to change the future.

Solomons are pitted against Solomons as the families are locked in a bitter struggle that crosses battlefields and continents to reach a powerful conclusion.

If you are disturbed by violence (there are wars and fights) and sex (Tommo and Hawk are young men, after all) then these books are not for you. If you love great characters and a deeply researched story then you will love the Australian Triology.

 

 

Audiobook Review - Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnik and William L. Simon

I back on my non-fiction reading jag and this is a really interesting one. If you are at all interested in computer and the internet you might like  Ghost in the Wires.

From the publisher:

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world’s biggest companies—and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn’t just about technological feats—it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.

Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI’s net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat-and-mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and to an ultimate showdown with the feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

This book is Kevin's story and it's fascinating. He provides a lot of detail about how he used social engineering and hacking skills to get into all kinds of systems.  He started as a young teenager hacking the phone system to get free phone calls.

What I don't understand about him is that he knew the risks, he knew he was being tracked and if he had just stopped for even a few months he probably would not have been caught. He has become a hero to the hacking community but I admit that I had no empathy for him. He was indignant that the legal authorities would use some of his own tactics to catch him. He considered it unfair!  He never once admitted that what he was doing was wrong and never stated any regret or apology. He contends that he did no damage. 

Although I dislike the author I still recomment the book. It's a compelling read and very educational. The narrator, Ray Porter, also does a great job. If you want some background on Kevin Mitnik, Wikipedia is a great plave to start.

 

 

Audiobook Review - An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

I like reading "deep" and "heavy" books. I love history, biographies and really intense novels. But occasionally I need just a good story and I found it with An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor and the best part of it is that it's part of a series!

Here's the synopsis from the authors web site:

"Barry Laverty, MD, can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but already he knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and glens of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie OReilly. The older physician, whose motto is never let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things, which definitely takes some getting used to. At first, Barry cant decide if the pugnacious OReilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met, or possibly the best teacher he could ever hope for. Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry soon discovers that he still has a lot to learn about country life. But if he sticks with it, he just might end up finding out more about life and love than he could ever have imagined back in medical school."

There's no great controversy or dilemma in the book. It's just a good story about life in small town Northern Ireland in the 1960's. Patrick Taylor is masterful at character development and putting his reader right in the moment. You will love all of the unique personalities that make up this entertaining story. It's all delivered with the wonderful Irish accent of narrator, John Keating.

Audible has 6 books in the Irish Country series and I'm looking forward to listening to another one. Afte I finish the 41 hour long Washington: A Life.

Audiobook Review - The Adventure of English

Most books I read seem to work as well in audio format as in paper format. Some books really do work best in paper format but I have found a book that is really best in audio.

The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg has been out almost 10 years but I only recently found it. The book was written as a companion to a British TV series of the same name that ran in 2003 but the book is excellent on it's own.

The story starts 2000 years ago when the Celts were pushed to the Western edges of what is now Great Britain. The Frisian language of today is closest to that original language. 

The book takes us on a trip with the language as it developed through power struggles, religious influences and became the most prominent global language.

I know that books like this are not interesting to a lot of people but I found this one to be really entertaining and educational at the same time. If you like an occasional non-fiction book you might consider this one.

The benefit of reading this book in audio format is that the reader, Robert Powell, does a wonderful job of handling different pronunciations and dialects.

Audiobook Review - Anthony Trollope novels

Do you like British period novels? Love Jane Austen? Then you will likely love Anthony Trollope. I listened to all of these novels several years ago and was very sad to get to the end of his library. 

There are 2 series that I read: The Chronicles of Barsetshire and The Pallisers.  You can find out about the order of the books in the series here. 

The Palliser novels are six novels.

The common thread is the wealthy aristocrat and politician Plantagenet Palliser and (in all but the last book) his wife Lady Glencora. The plots usually involve English politics in varying degrees, specifically in and around Parliament.

The books are:

• Can You Forgive Her? (1864)
• Phineas Finn (1869)
• The Eustace Diamonds (1873)
• Phineas Redux (1874)
• The Prime Minister (1876)
• The Duke's Children (1879)

The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by the English author Anthony Trollope, set in the fictitious cathedral town of Barchester. These classics of Victorian literature concern the dealings of the clergy and the gentry, and the political, amatory, and social manœuvrings that go on among and between them.

The novels in the series are:

• The Warden (1855)
• Barchester Towers (1857)
• Doctor Thorne (1858)
• Framley Parsonage (1861)
• The Small House at Allington (1864)
• The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)

The writing is brilliant and very clever and I was very happy to find these books after I finished all of the Jane Austen library. If you've never read these, give Can You Forgive Her? a try. I think you will be hooked too and they are not nearly as serious as the last book I recommended!