Mark
- 8
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- helpful vote
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Scrublands
- By: Chris Hammer
- Narrated by: Dorje Swallow
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In Riversend, an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest steps out of his church and calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself. A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation.
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Persisting with it but....
- By Kristy Von Demleux on 03-03-2020
- Scrublands
- By: Chris Hammer
- Narrated by: Dorje Swallow
A mystery within the machinations of the media.
Reviewed: 09-09-2020
Scrublands has enough plot twists and turns to keep most intelligent readers engaged and asking questions, weaving numerous plots, sub plots and side stories together with dramatic tension to function as a successful example of crime writing.
However, I found Scrublands a more interesting foray into the world of mass media and journalism in Australia. Hammer raises several questions on complexities of the truth, on the labelling who are heroes and villains, and on the old journalistic cliche of only serving the public’s right to know.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: Simon Armitage - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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When the mysterious Green Knight arrives unbidden at the Round Table one Christmas, only Gawain is brave enough to take up his challenge.... This story, first told in the 1400s, is one of the most enthralling, dramatic and beloved poems in the English tradition. Now, in Simon Armitage, the poem has found its perfect modern translator. Armitage's retelling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight captures all of the magic and wonderful storytelling of the original while also revitalising it.
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I’m glad I read and listened to it but I’m more thankful that it’s now over!
- By Mark on 29-12-2019
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: Simon Armitage - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
I’m glad I read and listened to it but I’m more thankful that it’s now over!
Reviewed: 29-12-2019
Whilst I appreciate that Simon Armitage has translated this classic old English poem into a contemporary voice and I enjoyed his playful alliterations and poetic reading, I found part 3 - by far the longest section at 51 minutes - so tiresome, repetitive and predictable that it counter balanced any other charm to the point where finishing the poem was as much a trial as Gawain’s own quest.
I question whether it has any value for me beyond a museum curiosity.

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Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Trevor White
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In the din and stink that is Cannery Row a colourful blend of misfits - gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists - survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Lee Chong, the astute owner of the well-stocked grocery store, is also the proprietor of the Palace Flophouse that Mack and his troupe of good-natured 'boys' call home. Dora, of the flaming orange hair and taste for Nile-green dresses, runs the brothel with clockwork efficiency and a generous heart.
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Funny, nostalgic and beautifully written
- By Helen on 22-02-2015
- Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Trevor White
Steinbeck - a writer of his time but also of ours.
Reviewed: 10-09-2019
Cannery Row is full of such heart, empathy and nuisanced characterisation, that slowly builds an evocative sense of a time and place, whilst still suggesting universal sensitivity and understanding that we should bring with us.
The narrator Trevor White, is also a master at bringing these classic novels with horde of characters to life. After Catch 22, this is my second audio of his I’ve listened to and both brilliant books were made all the better by his performance.
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Catch 22
- By: Joseph Heller
- Narrated by: Trevor White
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At the heart of Joseph Heller's best-selling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it.
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Brilliant!
- By Stuart on 15-02-2015
- Catch 22
- By: Joseph Heller
- Narrated by: Trevor White
This modern classic is still so relevant to these times!
Reviewed: 29-07-2019
Wow! What a fantastic epic ride into the modern dilemma, full of absurdist humour, the ridiculous, and the terrifying. That will stay with me a long time.
As other reviewers suggest, Trevor White’s performance to bring Catch 22 and Heller’s horde of characters alive is absolute incredible too. The best audio narration I’ve ever listened too. It is worth going with flow just to enjoy his reading.
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Walking Home
- Travels with a Troubadour on the Pennine Way
- By: Simon Armitage
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In summer 2010 Simon Armitage decided to walk the Pennine Way. The challenging 256 mile route is usually approached from south to north, from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm, the other side of the Scottish border. He resolved to tackle it the other way round: through beautiful and bleak terrain, across lonely fells and into the howling wind, he would be walking home, towards the Yorkshire village where he was born.
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Walking Home - A listener's response.
- By Mark on 04-05-2019
- Walking Home
- Travels with a Troubadour on the Pennine Way
- By: Simon Armitage
- Narrated by: Simon Armitage
Walking Home - A listener's response.
Reviewed: 04-05-2019
Rather than a cheerful recount of his walk through the pennine way - designed to entertain an audience with humorous anecdotes of his rip roaring adventures, Walking Home - A Poet's Journey - represents Armitage's range of emotional highs and lows, celebrating both the potential sublime and banal that he encounters on his way- whilst still frequently finding humour throughout.
However, the reality is that this walk is a hard slog and it is Armitage's honest personal reflections on the walk, on his companions and on his varying moods and fears that is most engaging aspect. This book is not a recount of a journey but a mediation on one person's personal response to that journey.
Listening to Simon Armitage narrate is just an additional pleasure!
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The Order of Time
- Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time flows at a different speed in different places, the past and the future differ far less than we might think, and the very notion of the present evaporates in the vast universe.
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Fascinating and thought provoking
- By JM on 28-08-2018
- The Order of Time
- Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
A stimulating and accessible time!
Reviewed: 20-04-2019
I found 'The order of time' a fascinating, stimulating and accessible exploration into the physics and philosophy of time. I've already listened and re-listened to most chapters twice in an attempt to take on board most of the ideas Carlo Rovelli presents.
However, I'm sure there's so much more and this is one audio book that I'll return to again - regularly - for the pleasure of the narration and the depth of the ideas under discussion. A great exercise in mental stimulation and awareness. Really enjoyable!
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The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea
- By: Randolph Stow
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea allows us a precious glimpse into a simpler kind of childhood in a country that no longer exists. In 1941, Rob Coram is six. The war feels far removed from his world of aunties and cousins and the beautiful, dry landscape of Geraldton in Western Australia. But when his older favourite cousin, Rick, leaves to join the army, the war takes a step closer. When Rick returns from the war several years later, he has changed, and Rob feels betrayed.
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A beautiful, poetic honouring of Australia.
- By Robert Stockton on 14-07-2020
- The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea
- By: Randolph Stow
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
Glad to revisit this Merry-Go-Round!
Reviewed: 12-01-2019
Whilst I was made to read this novel for my HSC in the 1980's, I loved it and must of really connected to it. I've reread it several times and was great to revisit it as audiobook.
Through the characters of the young boy Rob and his older cousin Rick, the novel presents philosophical questions of traditional institutions like family and national identity whilst representing a view of Australian society and values at a pivot moment of change after ww2.
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October
- The Story of the Russian Revolution
- By: China Mieville
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution, and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions?
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Comprehensive, Objective yet Self-Aware
- By Marcus on 28-04-2018
- October
- The Story of the Russian Revolution
- By: China Mieville
- Narrated by: John Banks
October may be better read than heard?
Reviewed: 12-12-2018
October definitely communicates the complexity of the Russian Revolution as a process evolving through the months leading up to the big events of History. Mieville uses the voices of thousands - beyond the big names - all struggling, opposing, arguing, voting and killing each other in the name of hordes of political factions and splitter groups championing their 'right way'. I was really intrigued and interested in the theatre of it all
However, I unfortunstely found this audiobook hard to listen to, hard to follow all the characters, who was who, and who they were exactly with or against, I ended up just listening , letting it wash over me- zoning in and out - getting a sense of the revolution but drowning in all the details and names. This narrator tries to do a great job to bring it all alive but I struggled to listen all the way to the end. Maybe this book would be better to read rather then listen to?
1 person found this helpful