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Bookish Quotes
"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."
The Historian
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The Historian
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This book is in a Controlled Release!
9 journalers for this copy...
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Released 6 yrs ago (8/13/2005 UTC) at Mail in Los Angeles, California USA WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Released 6 yrs ago (10/26/2005 UTC) at sending to Breeni in Rockwell, North Carolina USA WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Released 6 yrs ago (11/28/2005 UTC) at Mailed to BC member in Mailed to another BC member, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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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. |
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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. |
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Released 6 yrs ago (3/20/2006 UTC) at Mailed to fellow Bookcrosser in St. Louis, Missouri USA WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Released 6 yrs ago (4/15/2006 UTC) at for a bookring in to a fellow bookcrosser, a postal release -- Controlled Releases WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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Journal Entry 18 by
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Journal Entry 19 by
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Journal Entry 20 by
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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. |
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Released 5 yrs ago (1/1/2007 UTC) at Mesa, Arizona USA CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
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