2010 Audies – May 25th NYC

While there are four books listed here I suppose I should, more honestly, have put “two and two bits”! I read one of The Canterbury Tales (The Clerk) and the preamble or introduction to The Turn of the Screw. Kushiel’s Scion and The Midnight Charter are both solo narrations… keeping my fingers crossed.

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley

From the Publisher:
In a society based on trade, where everything can be bought and sold, the future rests on the secrets of a single document-and the lives of two children whose destiny it is to discover its secrets. In this spellbinding novel, newcomer David Whitley has imagined a nation at a crossroads: misshaped by materialism and facing a choice about its future. He has brought to life two children who will test the nation’s values-and crafted a spellbinding adventure story that will keep readers turning the pages until the very end.
For readers who love Philip Pullman, THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER combines great storytelling with a compelling vision – a many layered adventure with powerful and timely implications.
From AudioFile Magazine:
Young readers who enjoy tales of mystery and fantasy will find much to admire in Whitley’s story, which follows the fortunes of Lily and Mark as they struggle to survive in the isolated city-state of Agora. While the two seem to be on different paths—Lily is devoted to service while Mark strives for personal power—a dark prophecy known only by a powerful few binds them together. Simon Vance’s thoughtful, unrushed narration is the perfect foil for the book’s brooding atmosphere. Vance is a master narrator who brings characters of every type to life. M.L.K. 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2010

Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey

From AudioFile Magazine:
Imriel was once a pirates’ slave. It’s no wonder that he’s sometimes unpredictable and seemingly lost in a dark place—but he’s always loyal to the few he calls friends. During his sojourns, he studies at university and then travels to a friend’s wedding, ending up in a city under siege. There he fights for his life in an army led by a friend who has been possessed by the spirit of a dead general. In the hands of Simon Vance, this long book never lags. He’s adept at creating characters that quickly become familiar. His narrative voice is intimate and confiding. During the long preparation for the sustained siege, Vance keeps the action fresh and steady. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

From AudioFile Magazine:
Simon Vance reads the brief frame story of James’s novella; Vanessa Benjamin narrates the story itself, told by a governess who believes the evil ghosts of a former governess and servant stalk the young children in her charge. Both narrators are skilled and capable, and render James’s complex prose as clearly as it would be on the page, if not more so. Benjamin conveys the classic question of the governess’s reliability by making her voice pleasant and reasonable yet increasingly self-justifying and high-strung. However, her lower-class accent for the estate’s housekeeper is too broad, and the accent she gives the children seems oddly coarse. But through her narration the eerie, claustrophobic effect of James’s tale is heightened—just what a good audiobook should do. W.M. 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2009

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

From the Publisher:
At the Tabard Inn, thirty travelers of widely varying classes and occupations are gathering to make the annual pilgrimage to Becket’s shrine at Canterbury. It is agreed that each traveler will tell four tales to help pass the time and that the host of the inn will judge the tales and reward the best storyteller with a free supper upon their return.

Thus we hear, translated into modern English, twenty-some tales, told in the voices of knight and merchant, wife and miller, squire and nun, and many more. Some are bawdy, some spiritual, some romantic, some mysterious, some chivalrous. Between the stories, the travelers converse, joke, and argue, revealing much of their individual outlooks upon life as well as what life was like in late fourteenth-century England.

Featuring:
Martin Jarvis as Chaucer
Jay Karnes as the Knight
Ray Porter as the Miller, the Summoner, and the Monk
John Lee as the Reeve, the Physician, and the Nun’s Priest
Malcolm Hillgartner as the Cook, the Merchant, the Pardoner, and the Canon’s Yeoman
Ralph Cosham as the Lawyer
Amelia White as the Wife of Bath
Mathew Wolf as the Friar, the Squire, the Sailor, and the Manciple
Simon Vance as the Clerk
Kenneth Danziger as the Merchant
W. Morgan Sheppard as the Franklin
Carolyn Seymour as the Prioress
Rosalyn Ayres as the Second Nun
Mark Bramhall as the Parson