I just bought this audio book from audible.com. It is on 10 CDs.

I found this quite engaging to listen to. There were some points where I found Helena's behavior unmotivated and contrived. I couldn't figure out what she was acting the way she was. But never the less, I enjoyed the story.

RELEASE NOTES:

Controlled Release-- sending to fellow bookcrosser "Suebo".

Book arrived safe and sound in Philly, PA. Thanks so much! I can't wait to listen to this one!

I really loved this book. What a great spin on the Dracula story.

I am starting a bookring for this one.

Here are the participants so far. Anyone interested, please PM me.

Breeni
editorgrrl
schoolinathome
nightraine56
vampie
genielady
mellion108
Firegirl
sqdancer
Kiri
booklady331

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending off to Breeni

Received today! How did you know I needed new reading material for the car? I've been wanting to read this--thanks so much!

Edited to add that I'm an idiot--forgot this was a ring! I'll start listening ASAP!

Sorry for keeping this so long--my CD player in my car broke, and I've been hoping to have it fixed, but since that doesn't look to be in my immediate future, I'm going to send this ring on next week. Thanks for the opportunity, anyway!

RELEASE NOTES:

I still haven't had a chance to listen to this, but thanks to Suebo for giving me a little extra time and offering the opportunity to read this. I'll be mailing this out this week.

10 CD-Rs in a Ziploc bag. Abridged; 11 hours and 28 min. Written by Elizabeth Kostova. Read by (in order of appearance) Joanne Whalley, Dennis Boutsikaris, Rosalyn Landor, Martin Jarvis, Robin Atkin Downes, and Jim Ward. Time Warner Audiobooks, 2005. ISBN for the audiobook is 1594830371. Listen to an excerpt at audible.com or wbookmark.com.

From the publisher
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of: a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.

The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known, and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself, to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive.

What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed, and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler's dark reign, and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.

From AudioFile
One of the year's hottest novels uses the Dracula myth, historical/literary codes and puzzles, and faraway locales to target the audience that made popular successes of The Da Vinci Code and The Rule of Four. Six readers (Joanne Whalley, Martin Jarvis, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor, and Robin Atkin Downes) create an effective vocal format, which is punctuated with knife-chords of music and some sound effects. The multiple readers are especially suited to a book that, like Dracula, makes use of shifting points of view. Whatever transitions may appear in the novel seem not to have made it into the episodic audio, but the fun is hearing actors (especially Jarvis) perform a variety of roles and savoring the many high spots in a thrilling narrative.

From Publishers Weekly
It would take a lot to kill a runaway bestseller like Kostova's debut. Though the audiobook doesn't quite drive a stake through its heart, neither does it do it any favors. With six actors (including Martin Jarvis, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor and Robin Atkin Downe) playing twice as many roles, the audio would benefit from a listing of the cast and characters rather than the unhelpful "in order of appearance" credit on the box. Listeners learn about a centuries-long vampire hunt from a historian, Paul (Boutsikaris), as he slowly tells the saga of his covert research to his teenage daughter (Whalley, whose lush whispery voice and conspiratorial attitude is most convincing). Paul's tale is supposed to be a secret, painfully pried from him by his daughter for whose safety he fears, but Boutsikaris recites it in a nonchalant and impersonal way. Most disappointing, though, is the voice of Dracula himself. His accent and delivery is exactly the stereotypical vampire voice used by everyone from Bela Lugosi to Sesame Street's the Count. The eerie swelling string music is a nice touch.

I'm terrified of damaging this bag full of CDs, so I've copied them into my iTunes and am mailing them off (wrapped in the same bubblewrap they came in) to schoolinathome in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. I'll update this journal entry with my thoughts once I've finished the book. Thanks so much for sharing, Suebo! I heard Elizabeth Kostova discuss this book on public radio's Diane Rehm Show recently, and it sounds interesting.

****
The performances are great, with one glaring exception--Vlad Tepes. Publishers Weekly was so right about him sounding like the Count from Sesame Street! But I am going to keep an eye out for more audiobooks read by Martin Jarvis, who was especially good.

The entire book is only 18 tracks (3 of which are each more than an hour long), so it's difficult to find your place if you stop mid-track. And the discs overlap slightly, which sounds like a skip.

I received this today-
I really look forward to listening to it. I will try and get it started and back out ASAP! Thanks for sharing Suebo.

Ok I am sorry for still having this- I kept hanging on to it hoping I would get it listened to.

I too had a problem with my CD player in my car- and in the house I just can't find a quite room or moment to listen to it.

So I am going to pass it on. I hope to get my hands on the actuall book eventually.
Thanks Suebo
I have PM'd nightraine56, awaiting addy.

I got this in the mail today. I have started the 1st CD already and it's pretty interesting so far.

RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to genielady. Vampie never replied to my pm's.
I think I enjoyed this better by listening to it. I don't think I would have read the book. It would have been too much. This was good to listen to and I enjoyed it.

Recived in the mail from nightraine56 (it arrived very quickly, I might add), and I've just finished listening to Girl with the Pearl Earring, so I'm ready for this one. Good timing. I listen only when I'm commuting in the car, so it may take a litle while before I finish. Thanks for sharing - I probably would never have tackled the book, since I'm a slow and careful reader. ;-)

I'm almost finished, so I'll PM the next person and get it in the mail. I really enjoyed listening to it and now need to know more about the Dracula story (maybe read Bram Stoker's book next).

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed off to mellion108 today. Enjoy!!

Thanks for passing this along to me, genielady, and thanks to Suebo for sharing. I am finishing up a short audiobook right now and have another short audio bookring after than. I'll try to listen to this and pass it along as quickly as possible though.

Whew! I finally finished this monster of an audiobook! LOL It did a great job of keeping me company on a long drive to and from Cincinnati last weekend.

Thanks again for sharing, Suebo.

I enjoyed this book, but I think this is one I'd prefer to actually read. It drags a bit after a while, but I still liked it. I also liked that they put this together with various readers—that helped to spice up the reading quite a bit. A few of the CDs skip a bit, but I don't think anything too crucial was left out in my listen.

This was an interesting take on the Dracula legend. I'll PM Firegirl for an address and have this book on its way as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Sent along to Firegirl via Media Mail today.

Arrived safely. Will begin listening to it today.

I really, really enjoyed listening to this. I definitely agree that having several actors reading increased my enjoyment, though I was probably the least impressed by the actor reading the part of the father. He seemed a little unemotional for me, especially for reading such a emotionally driven character. It was a great twist on the Dracula story and I'm sure just about any Bookcrosser would appreciate the love for old books that runs throughout the story. I thought Helen's behaviour towards the end of the book was a bit odd and don't know if I entirely follow her reasoning, but I enjoyed so much of the rest of it that I could overlook that. It sounds like it was written almost with the intention of it someday being adapted to film; it could be a good one, I must say, assume it was well cast.

Thanks for sharing! Sqdancer received a copy from elsewhere so I've skipped ahead to Kiri and will be mailing it out that way on Monday.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES: As stated above, I sent this out as part of a bookring back in 2006. (No idea what happened to it, hopefully we'll hear back someday!) Lately I've been going through old released books and making official notes on those that haven't been journaled yet since we now have the "controlled" release option.