Graeme from Preston
- 78
- reviews
- 73
- helpful votes
- 206
- ratings
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Moby Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: William Hootkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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"Call me Ishmael." Thus starts the greatest American novel. Melville said himself that he wanted to write "a mighty book about a mighty theme" and so he did. It is a story of one man's obsessive revenge-journey against the white whale, Moby-Dick, who injured him in an earlier meeting. Woven into the story of the last journey of The Pequod is a mesh of philosophy, rumination, religion, history, and a mass of information about whaling through the ages.
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Magnificent book!
- By C.H. on 23-09-15
- Moby Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: William Hootkins
Classic adventure
Reviewed: 23-06-18
The classic adventure on the high seas is slightly inconvenienced by Ishmael’s cod science and philosophical ponderings. Narration was great if a little ‘hammy’.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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The Fireman
- By: Joe Hill
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 22 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Some flames burn too brightly to be extinguished. This exceptional new thriller from Joe Hill is essential reading for 2016 and perfect for fans of Justin Cronin's The Passage. In a world overtaken by a deadly and dramatic new virus, Harper is determined to live long enough to deliver her baby. But when all it takes is a spark to start a deadly blaze, she's going to need some help from the mysterious fireman.
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A Spark Off The Old Block!
- By Simon on 21-05-16
- The Fireman
- By: Joe Hill
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
Nice idea and characters
Reviewed: 18-03-18
The idea of a new deadly disease is exciting in its plot possibilities, and the characters are well rounded (though I couldn’t believe Hunter put up with her husband for a second after he got nasty). The rest of the plot is a bit derivative unfortunately.
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The Land of Laughs
- By: Jonathan Carroll
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Abbey is a man stuck in a rut. To kick-start his life, he takes a sabbatical to work on a biography of his favorite writer, the mysterious Marshall France. Although Abbey has been warned that France's daughter, Anna, has blocked all previous attempts at her father's biography, he is surprised to find her the soul of small-town hospitality and quite excited about Abbey's proposal. Even stranger than Anna's behavior, though, is the town itself. The people seem to know what their future holds - freak accidents and all - down to the hour.
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Laugh? No. Be disturbed? Yes.
- By Paul Snook on 10-05-16
- The Land of Laughs
- By: Jonathan Carroll
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Compulsive listening
Reviewed: 17-12-17
It was very hard to stop listening to this story which starts as a drama then weird questions arise before tingling fear right at the end. Superb writing.
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The Long Earth
- By: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Michael Fenton Stevens
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The Western Front, 1916. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone? Madison, Wisconsin, 2015. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some said mad, others dangerous - scientist when she finds a curious gadget: a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a potato. It is the prototype of a life-changing invention....
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Engrossing.
- By Martin on 10-03-13
- The Long Earth
- By: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
- Narrated by: Michael Fenton Stevens
Great idea but lacks character
Reviewed: 21-05-17
The idea of mail@graemehurry.com easily attained other Earths is s great concept to extrapolate with. Unfortunately I felt the scope Baxter tried to detail failed to give us characters to care about. Although there are many refreshing ideas the story failed to fully resonate the human experience this situation would invoke. I'd probably prefer a slower build up.
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The Wraiths of War
- Obsidian Heart, Book 3
- By: Mark Morris
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Alex Locke is desperately trying to hold on to the disparate threads of the complex web of time he has created. He travels to the First World War, living through the horrors of trench warfare in order to befriend a young soldier crucial to his story, then to the 1930s to uncover the secrets of a mysterious stage magician. He moves back and forth in time, always with the strange and terrifying Dark Man on his heels, gradually getting closer to uncovering the true nature of his destiny with the obsidian heart.
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Tying up loose ends...
- By ALP on 10-11-16
- The Wraiths of War
- Obsidian Heart, Book 3
- By: Mark Morris
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
Tying up the loose ends, marred by lazy narration
Reviewed: 22-01-17
The story does little but tie up the loose ends of the time travelling Alex with little extra suspense. However it was the narrator who annoyed me more. He sounded at times like he was reading a text in class with emphasis and breaks in totally the wrong places making the listener work to imagine what the author meant.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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The Road to Wigan Pier
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Jeremy Northam
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A graphic and biting polemic that still holds a fierce political relevance and impact despite being written over half a century ago. First published in 1937 it charts George Orwell's observations of working-class life during the 1930s in the industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. His depictions of social injustice and rising unemployment, the dangerous working conditions in the mines amid general squalor and hunger also bring together many of the ideas explored in his later works and novels.
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Road to Wigan Pier
- By M on 15-10-12
- The Road to Wigan Pier
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Jeremy Northam
A book of two halves
Reviewed: 11-12-16
The first part about life in a coal mining village is excellent. The second half is a commentary on class and politics and is finely tuned predictions which are half right and half wrong. The main stumbling block for me wad the narrator who talks with an overt contempt which sounds more like a bigot than balanced philosopher. He seems to have taken a view that the book is a diatribe against nearly everything. A judgement you nat not get when reading the book neutrally.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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White Fang
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Bob Thomley
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Jack London's classic adventure story about the friendship developed between a Yukon gold hunter and the mixed dog-wolf he rescues from the hands of a man who mistreats him. White Fang is a companion novel and thematic mirror to London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild.
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Excellent
- By Nakul on 27-10-12
- White Fang
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Bob Thomley
Brilliant book
Reviewed: 28-08-16
You can tell it was written for episodic publication, but the slow understanding of a wolf-dog is a wonderful insight. Any child hoping to own a domesticated animal should read this to get a feeling of how to treat it and how it feels.
The ending brings a tear to the eye but for one not in a bad way. Well read and essential reading.
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Country of the Blind
- By: Christopher Brookmyre
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The murder of a media moghul in his country mansion appears to be the result of him disturbing a gang of would-be thieves. The robbers are swiftly caught, but when they are unexpectedly moved to a different prison they escape. Back in Edinburgh, a young solicitor reveals to the press that one of the subjects had left a letter with her some time before the break-in which proves his innocence.
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Another Brilliant read
- By Mick on 15-07-15
- Country of the Blind
- By: Christopher Brookmyre
- Narrated by: Angus King
Entertaining if a little far fetched
Reviewed: 08-08-16
Within its own context this is a lovingly written story of betrayal, political lies, underestimation of salt of the earth characters and bloodshed. The fact the plot becomes very far-fetched is a minor consideration.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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The Black Angel
- By: John Connolly
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The Black Angel is not an object. The Black Angel is not a myth. The Black Angel lives. A young woman goes missing from the streets of New York. Those who have taken her believe that nobody cares about her, and that no one will come looking for her. They are wrong. She is 'blood' to the killer Louis, the man who stands at the right hand of private detective Charlie Parker, and Louis will tear apart anyone who stands in the way of his attempts to find her.
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Lecter eats Langdon in Marlowes office.
- By Nick GB on 11-06-12
- The Black Angel
- By: John Connolly
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
The supernatural breaks through
Reviewed: 30-07-16
An excellent, well written crime novel. But at this point on the series the supernatural bleeds through so it can't be denied any more. Previously there were hints of ghosts seen from a world beyond the living, but these could have been dismissed as psychological effects of guilt. No more. The Fallen angels live amongst us. Delighting in nightmare horrors. Charlie Parker falls unwillingly into the role of protector. But can one guilt ridden man save humanity from an evil so hideous it was banished from heaven and is beyond God's redemption? Let's hope so.
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Finders Keepers
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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1978: Meet Morris Bellamy ,the man who robs the safe of America's most famous reclusive writer, John Rothstein. But it isn't just the money he is interested in. Morrie is obsessed by the author's notebooks and is prepared to kill the author for them. 2009: Meet young Pete Saubers, whose father was knocked down by an out-of-control Mercedes in a job line-up. When he discovers a buried trunk of money and notebooks of a famous writer, he has the means to rescue his family from poverty.
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Mr Mercedes
- By Mel on 03-12-15
- Finders Keepers
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Will Patton
Out of carnage comes more human drama
Reviewed: 19-07-16
In the first Bill Hodges book, Mr Mercedes, lines of job seekers are mown down by a madman. This book is linked to the first only by two protagonists who are separately in that incident. The reader follows their families, their crimes and passions. Then their crimes and killings. Some of the ironies are poetic and there is the feeling that some of the themes come from being a famous writer with passionate fans. An insight rarely glimpsed, though not overused here. Well worth a read if you liked Mr Mercedes.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful