Official Blurb
Leander Stillwell was an 18-year-old Illinois farm boy, living with his family in a log cabin, when the U.S. Civil War broke out. Stillwell felt a duty “to help save the Nation;” but, as with many other young men, his Patriotism was tinged with bravura: “the idea of staying at home and turning over senseless clods on the farm with the cannon thundering so close at hand . . . was simply intolerable.” Stillwell volunteered for the 61st Illinois Infantry in January 1861. His youthful enthusiasm for the soldier’s life was soon tempered at Shiloh, where he first “saw a gun fired in anger,” and “saw a man die a violent death.”
Stillwell’s recounting of events is always vivid, personal, and engrossing. “I distinctly remember my first shot at Shiloh . . . The fronts of both lines were . . . shrouded in smoke. I had my gun at a ready, and was trying to peer under the smoke in order to get a sight of our enemies. Suddenly I heard someone in a highly excited tone calling to me from just in my rear, –’Stillwell! Shoot! Shoot! Why don’t you shoot?’ I looked around and saw that this command was being given by . . . our second lieutenant, who was wild with excitement, jumping up and down like a hen on a hot griddle. ‘Why, lieutenant,’ I said, ‘I can’t see anything to shoot at.’ ‘Shoot, shoot, anyhow!’ ‘All right,’ I responded. . . And bringing my gun to my shoulder, I aimed low in the direction of the enemy, and blazed away through the smoke. But at the time the idea to me was ridiculous that one should blindly shoot into a cloud of smoke without having a bead on the object to be shot at.”
The Story of a Common Soldier is a compelling coming of age tale that will appeal not only to Civil War buffs but to anyone who enjoys autobiographies. Written at the urging of his youngest son, when Stillwell was a mature man–a lawyer, judge, and member of the Kansas legislature, it combines graphic detail (provided by his war diary and letters written at the time to his family) with the insights of a thoughtful man looking back on those horrific times.
My Review
The official blurb tells it like it is. This is a memoir, one of the best actually, so often memoirs are of officers rather than the privates, and this one fills that gap nicely.
The book takes the main character right through the war, from being a newbie in the line, right through various battles and promotion to the end. One point that particularly caught my ear was how he started to be a deliberate straggler and was then brought up short and mended his ways when his officer spoke to him. Not a telling-off but a disapointment. It's that difference that gets through to good soldiers ( IMHO ).
I found the daily life of this chap facinating, from how he found food and the clothes he wore through to the battles he took part in. All in detail and all very personal.
The writing was very good and the reading likewise good. I really enjoyed this book and recomend it to any history buffs out there.
Reading 2
Production 2
Story 3
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter one
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Monday, 28 December 2009
Short Science Fiction Collection 21
Official Blurb
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.
My Review
The usual SciFi collection blurb from our friends at Librivox. I keep wishing they would put a bit more effort into blurbing these collections. I tend to feel that the standard blurb is likely to put people off. Just a bit dry.
Straight off, I can tell you that this is a good collection of stories. Looking over the collection I personally rated 7 of the stories as Good, 2 as OK and only 1 as poor. That's not bad going considering the disparate sources or the stories.
I'll be linking to my fave which was about a man salvaging a shipwreck in space, that had a few surprises! Then there was the good one about a Pygmy planet with metal monsters and another with robot love and yet another with space-commandos doing battle.
This little collection covers pretty much everything I like about sci fi, mysteries, battles, spaceships and science...fiction.
A good collection well worth the time to download and stuff in your ears.
Reading 2
Production 2
Story 3
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to my fave story
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.
My Review
The usual SciFi collection blurb from our friends at Librivox. I keep wishing they would put a bit more effort into blurbing these collections. I tend to feel that the standard blurb is likely to put people off. Just a bit dry.
Straight off, I can tell you that this is a good collection of stories. Looking over the collection I personally rated 7 of the stories as Good, 2 as OK and only 1 as poor. That's not bad going considering the disparate sources or the stories.
I'll be linking to my fave which was about a man salvaging a shipwreck in space, that had a few surprises! Then there was the good one about a Pygmy planet with metal monsters and another with robot love and yet another with space-commandos doing battle.
This little collection covers pretty much everything I like about sci fi, mysteries, battles, spaceships and science...fiction.
A good collection well worth the time to download and stuff in your ears.
Reading 2
Production 2
Story 3
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to my fave story
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Kronos
Official Blurb
Two years after his wife's death, oceanographer and former navy SEAL, Atticus Young, attempts to reconcile with his rebellious daughter, Giona, by taking her on the scuba dive of a lifetime-swimming with a pod of peaceful humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine. But the beauty of the sea belies a terror from the deep-a horrific creature as immense as it is ancient. There is no blood, no scream, no fight. Giona is swallowed whole by the massive jaws. Only Atticus remains to suffer the shame of the survivor and his inconsolable grief turns to an unquenchable thirst for revenge.
Drawn by the spectacle, Trevor Manfred, a ruthless billionaire, approaches Atticus with a proposition: Trevor will make available all the advanced technology of his heavily armed mega-yacht, the Titan, to aid Atticus in his death-quest. In return, Trevor is to receive the beast's corpse as the ultimate hunting trophy. But in the midst of the hunt, Atticus makes a terrifying discovery that changes the way he sees the ocean's creatures and begs the question: what is Kronos? The answer sets him on a new and much more deadly course.
My Review
This story is exciting and absorbing. It grabbed me from the first chapter and just didn't let go. I was listening to a chapter a week, and couldn't wait for each new installment. As soon as it download I was popping it in my ears!
The story sets up some nice appealing characters right from the get go and starts putting them into a thrilling situation. The thrills just keep going from there,even when the story itself is not relating an action scene.
I found the bad guy in this story to be rather chilling. At first he seems harmless but as you get to know him , he grows as a threat until you know just what you're dealing with. A very well put together set of characters all round.
The reading was good too, not by the author which is usually the case at Podiobooks , and he had a good voice and nice pacing that kept me focused on the story.
Reading 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Podiobooks
Listen to the first chapter
Two years after his wife's death, oceanographer and former navy SEAL, Atticus Young, attempts to reconcile with his rebellious daughter, Giona, by taking her on the scuba dive of a lifetime-swimming with a pod of peaceful humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine. But the beauty of the sea belies a terror from the deep-a horrific creature as immense as it is ancient. There is no blood, no scream, no fight. Giona is swallowed whole by the massive jaws. Only Atticus remains to suffer the shame of the survivor and his inconsolable grief turns to an unquenchable thirst for revenge.
Drawn by the spectacle, Trevor Manfred, a ruthless billionaire, approaches Atticus with a proposition: Trevor will make available all the advanced technology of his heavily armed mega-yacht, the Titan, to aid Atticus in his death-quest. In return, Trevor is to receive the beast's corpse as the ultimate hunting trophy. But in the midst of the hunt, Atticus makes a terrifying discovery that changes the way he sees the ocean's creatures and begs the question: what is Kronos? The answer sets him on a new and much more deadly course.
My Review
This story is exciting and absorbing. It grabbed me from the first chapter and just didn't let go. I was listening to a chapter a week, and couldn't wait for each new installment. As soon as it download I was popping it in my ears!
The story sets up some nice appealing characters right from the get go and starts putting them into a thrilling situation. The thrills just keep going from there,even when the story itself is not relating an action scene.
I found the bad guy in this story to be rather chilling. At first he seems harmless but as you get to know him , he grows as a threat until you know just what you're dealing with. A very well put together set of characters all round.
The reading was good too, not by the author which is usually the case at Podiobooks , and he had a good voice and nice pacing that kept me focused on the story.
Reading 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Podiobooks
Listen to the first chapter
Sunday, 20 December 2009
A Traveller in War-Time
Official Blurb
This is a collection of a series of journalistic articles written during his travels throughout WWI era Europe that Churchill — the American author, not the famed British statesman — published in 1917; the book version came out in 1918. The writing is sharp, straightforward, and rarely sentimental, with loads of local color and occasional humor.
My Review
This is an interesting collection of anecdotes from the first world war. It does show is journalistic nature as nothing goes into too much depth and rather just presents a series of things that happen. The Journalist is merely passing through and does not seem to get himself too involved in what he finds.
This book was... ok. Not enough depth of detail for my own liking but just enough detail from the period to keep me listening. If you have any interest in the first world war then you might easily find this audio book to your taste.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the preface
This is a collection of a series of journalistic articles written during his travels throughout WWI era Europe that Churchill — the American author, not the famed British statesman — published in 1917; the book version came out in 1918. The writing is sharp, straightforward, and rarely sentimental, with loads of local color and occasional humor.
My Review
This is an interesting collection of anecdotes from the first world war. It does show is journalistic nature as nothing goes into too much depth and rather just presents a series of things that happen. The Journalist is merely passing through and does not seem to get himself too involved in what he finds.
This book was... ok. Not enough depth of detail for my own liking but just enough detail from the period to keep me listening. If you have any interest in the first world war then you might easily find this audio book to your taste.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the preface
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Little Fuzzy
Official Blurb
Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources…
My Review
The author H Beam Piper is usually pretty good, so I looked forward to this story. It didn't disapoint. It's set on a fairly frontier world of the future and the lead character becomes entranced with little fuzzy creatures start turning up. He invites one into his house and is surprisd at its intelligence.
It's a well put together story, and emotes, fun, love and anger at human stupidity and greed and this all adds up to a good story line.
Now having said that, I will add that I think the story goes on a little at the end, that is to say it gets a little preachy, but that doesn't last long, and if I can forgive Crighton, his brain dumps, I can forgive Piper his little speech.
A delightful reader made this a fun listen.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources…
My Review
The author H Beam Piper is usually pretty good, so I looked forward to this story. It didn't disapoint. It's set on a fairly frontier world of the future and the lead character becomes entranced with little fuzzy creatures start turning up. He invites one into his house and is surprisd at its intelligence.
It's a well put together story, and emotes, fun, love and anger at human stupidity and greed and this all adds up to a good story line.
Now having said that, I will add that I think the story goes on a little at the end, that is to say it gets a little preachy, but that doesn't last long, and if I can forgive Crighton, his brain dumps, I can forgive Piper his little speech.
A delightful reader made this a fun listen.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
Friday, 11 December 2009
You Know Me Al
Official Blurb
Big, fat, dumb, lazy, vain, headstrong and cheap, Jack Keefe is a journeyman pitcher with the Chicago White Sox in the rowdy days of the Deadball Era, circa 1915, ruled by the likes of Ty Cobb and John McGraw. In You Know Me Al, we follow Jack Keefe’s life on-field and off, via the letters Jack writes to his old chum Al in his home town of Bedford, Indiana.
Ring Lardner was a Chicago sportswriter who covered the White Sox, and he brought an insider’s knowledge of clubhouse life together with his biting wit and gift for the vernacular to create a comic gem in You Know Me Al. The six Jack Keefe stories that compose this volume were originally written as individual magazine articles, but the epistolary format made it easy to collect them into a single running narrative covering Jack’s first two years in the Big Leagues.
It isn’t necessary to know baseball history to enjoy the book, which is as much about Jack’s troubles with girlfriends, wives and babies as it is about the Chicago White Sox. For the baseball fan, however, this glimpse into a bygone era adds an extra layer of fascination. In any case, Lardner’s portrait of the professional ballplayer as a dumb, drunken narcissist is as funny today as the day it was written.
My Review
Gosh, what can I add to that blurb, it says everything I was going to say! Well I suppose I can tell you that the reader creates a fantastic voice character for not only the protagonist but also many of the people he runs into. The voice of the reader is what really brings this book to life.
I suspect that a stright reading of this book would have fallen rather flat, but the characterisation in the voice of the reader makes this audio book into an absolute joy!
The humour is subtle and between the lines. As you learn to know and love the lead character, his traits are what will get you laughing. It's hard to explain really, but only once you know this guy does the humour flow out.
To summarise, this is a great read, light humour at its best.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
Big, fat, dumb, lazy, vain, headstrong and cheap, Jack Keefe is a journeyman pitcher with the Chicago White Sox in the rowdy days of the Deadball Era, circa 1915, ruled by the likes of Ty Cobb and John McGraw. In You Know Me Al, we follow Jack Keefe’s life on-field and off, via the letters Jack writes to his old chum Al in his home town of Bedford, Indiana.
Ring Lardner was a Chicago sportswriter who covered the White Sox, and he brought an insider’s knowledge of clubhouse life together with his biting wit and gift for the vernacular to create a comic gem in You Know Me Al. The six Jack Keefe stories that compose this volume were originally written as individual magazine articles, but the epistolary format made it easy to collect them into a single running narrative covering Jack’s first two years in the Big Leagues.
It isn’t necessary to know baseball history to enjoy the book, which is as much about Jack’s troubles with girlfriends, wives and babies as it is about the Chicago White Sox. For the baseball fan, however, this glimpse into a bygone era adds an extra layer of fascination. In any case, Lardner’s portrait of the professional ballplayer as a dumb, drunken narcissist is as funny today as the day it was written.
My Review
Gosh, what can I add to that blurb, it says everything I was going to say! Well I suppose I can tell you that the reader creates a fantastic voice character for not only the protagonist but also many of the people he runs into. The voice of the reader is what really brings this book to life.
I suspect that a stright reading of this book would have fallen rather flat, but the characterisation in the voice of the reader makes this audio book into an absolute joy!
The humour is subtle and between the lines. As you learn to know and love the lead character, his traits are what will get you laughing. It's hard to explain really, but only once you know this guy does the humour flow out.
To summarise, this is a great read, light humour at its best.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front 1914-1915
Official Blurb
The title is, I think, self explanatory. The nurse in question went out to France at the beginning of the war and remained there until May 1915 after the second battle of Ypres when she went back to a Base Hospital and the diary ceases. Although written in diary form, it is clearly taken from letters home and gives a vivid if sometimes distressing picture of the state of the casualties occasioned during that period. After a time at the General Hospital in Le Havre she became one of the three or four sisters working on the ambulance trains which fetched the wounded from the Clearing Hospitals close to the front line and took them back to the General Hospitals in Boulogne, Rouen and Le Havre. Towards the end of the account she was posted to a Field Ambulance (station) close to Ypres (Ieper, or in First World War speak ‘Wipers’)
My Review
If your interested in the first world war then I think you'll find this account rather a case of required listening. As the blurb says it tells the rather unheard story of a nurse who is close to the front lines. The womens point of view of the first world war is a rather undertold story.
The story related, is relatively simple, and we dont get deeply into the characters of the perople involved but we hear time after time what they have to do and what they have to put up with. I realise that last sentance may sound negative, but I don't mean it to be. The story telling is not repetative but the situation of wave after wave of injured passing through the hospitals and on trains tells a terrible story. You can tell, that the sister wants to get onto the trains from the rear hospitals to where she can do more good and then as the story moves on how hurt and almost dispairing the sister becomes. She starts to hint at the tragedy and you can "just tell" that by the end she is being worn down.
She tells us of the characters who pass through, the "chipper chaps" who though injured are happy because the war seems to be going well, and then the reverse. She also tells us a little of the other unheard story of the first world war, the use of British Empire troops from India and beyond. ( How many war movies have you seen where every face is white?! This, depite the fact that the Empire forces where involved in every theatre in huge numbers. )
It is a dramatic narrative that drags on your heart strings, presented here by a series of excellent female readers whos passion for the story shows in their work.
A word of warning. As with many of these period narratives lifted from letters, the Censor has been at work. The numbers,names and locations of some units are deleted from the text. The production team have in this case decided to use the "beep" to indicate these locations. You may find this distracting at first, as I did, but I became totally used to it in the second chapter. Don't let that put you off. The story and the reading are well worth listening.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
The title is, I think, self explanatory. The nurse in question went out to France at the beginning of the war and remained there until May 1915 after the second battle of Ypres when she went back to a Base Hospital and the diary ceases. Although written in diary form, it is clearly taken from letters home and gives a vivid if sometimes distressing picture of the state of the casualties occasioned during that period. After a time at the General Hospital in Le Havre she became one of the three or four sisters working on the ambulance trains which fetched the wounded from the Clearing Hospitals close to the front line and took them back to the General Hospitals in Boulogne, Rouen and Le Havre. Towards the end of the account she was posted to a Field Ambulance (station) close to Ypres (Ieper, or in First World War speak ‘Wipers’)
My Review
If your interested in the first world war then I think you'll find this account rather a case of required listening. As the blurb says it tells the rather unheard story of a nurse who is close to the front lines. The womens point of view of the first world war is a rather undertold story.
The story related, is relatively simple, and we dont get deeply into the characters of the perople involved but we hear time after time what they have to do and what they have to put up with. I realise that last sentance may sound negative, but I don't mean it to be. The story telling is not repetative but the situation of wave after wave of injured passing through the hospitals and on trains tells a terrible story. You can tell, that the sister wants to get onto the trains from the rear hospitals to where she can do more good and then as the story moves on how hurt and almost dispairing the sister becomes. She starts to hint at the tragedy and you can "just tell" that by the end she is being worn down.
She tells us of the characters who pass through, the "chipper chaps" who though injured are happy because the war seems to be going well, and then the reverse. She also tells us a little of the other unheard story of the first world war, the use of British Empire troops from India and beyond. ( How many war movies have you seen where every face is white?! This, depite the fact that the Empire forces where involved in every theatre in huge numbers. )
It is a dramatic narrative that drags on your heart strings, presented here by a series of excellent female readers whos passion for the story shows in their work.
A word of warning. As with many of these period narratives lifted from letters, the Censor has been at work. The numbers,names and locations of some units are deleted from the text. The production team have in this case decided to use the "beep" to indicate these locations. You may find this distracting at first, as I did, but I became totally used to it in the second chapter. Don't let that put you off. The story and the reading are well worth listening.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 3
Total 8/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to chapter 1
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