Frank Burkhard

No book has the right to be this perfect.

Rezensiert am: 08.06.2022

Holy smokes. I bought the paperback of "Story or die" the very next day after I finished the audiobook and there is now hardly a page in my copy that isn't just plastered in highlighter-markings. The sheer brilliance of condensed knowledge, effortless masterful sentences, perfect structure, ... no superlative does this justice. Lisa Cron proves her point by being an absolute boss at what she does: storytelling. This is a magnificent piece of work that deserves to be the reference in it's field.

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Too good to be perfect?

Rezensiert am: 16.05.2022

When doing less would be more.
Indira Varmas standard narration-voice is wonderful, but of course, being the outstanding actress she is, the characters tend to get over-performed. An audiobook is a different beast than a stage. A directors/producers mistake, I'd say.
There's a lot of shrill, high-pitched loudness one second, whispering the next. Too much range. Over the course of many hours, that's not exactly relaxing... At the same time, the casting of Bill Nighy looks great on paper, but his befuddled, sleepy voice is just wrong for the cheeky smugness of Terry Pratchett's footnotes. (It should have been... Jeremy Irons?)
That being said, it's great to have those books recorded with contemporary audio-quality.

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like

Rezensiert am: 16.05.2022

a slightly gloomy follow-up to the brilliant predecessor "The storytelling animal". Further expanding on the idea of storytelling as humanitys greatest tool for processing and passing on information. Written under the influence of a pandemic and a T...p administration, its an exploration of the darker, deconstructive effects of this specific tool-use. Not bad, not wrong, but clearly looking at the world through somewhat depressed glasses, bless him.

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80 out of 100 authors who perform

Rezensiert am: 19.11.2021

their texts via their own voices render their book UNlistenable.
Another 10 are ALMOST fine, or would be, for half an hour of listening time, but not for five or six.
Another eight authors out of the 100 are the rare exception, a pleasant experience, where voice, and pace, and rhythm form a cohesive whole that makes for effortless listening.
And THEN there are two out of 100, the unicorn voices:
Voices that you'd want to be last thing you´d hear when you die. Voices that could read you tax laws and phone books, and you'd want them to never stop, and while they speak to you, you would know: all is well, and always will be.
This is one of those two voices, where it almost doesn't matter what the text is about.
(But of course, the book is full of beauty and poetry, as is this voice. What a team.)

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The whole year of my cognitive behavioral therapy

Rezensiert am: 20.10.2021

- in one brilliant, kind, compassionate book filled with gentle nudges and little things to DO that WILL shift your perspective.
Based on "hard" science, but easily digestible. Yes, the cover is atrocious for such a magnificent and profound text, don't let that deter you!... and for my taste, Dr. Hendriksens voice is juuust a bit too forcefully chipper and fast for extended listening, but oh, the reward! I will keep this book around for quick access for the rest of my life.

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Wow. Oh boy. Wow.

Rezensiert am: 01.08.2021

So apparently Aaron Travis is a big name in erotic gay fiction, and deservedly so! This is blazingly hot, incredibly imaginative, twisted, and often sailing full-on trough the dark towards the outright cruel. Stunning in the all-blood-has-left-my-brain-now-and-went-somewhere-else sense. Holy f**k.
And Kevin Conners voice and narration are spot on. I´m someone who complains a lot about bad narration/voice performance, but this pairing leaves nothing to be desired.

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Eine Zumutung

Rezensiert am: 27.07.2021

als Hörbuch, bei aller grundsätzlichen inhaltlichen Brillianz. Kapitel um Kapitel voll mit langen, LANGEN! Blöcken vorgelesener Zahlenreihen, Binärcodes, Tabellenreihen. Hier eins von hunderten Beispielen (extrem gekürzt) "One zerozero one. One one one zero one zero one zero zero zero zero zero zero one one zerozero one zero zero zero zero zero one one. One one one zero one zero one zero oen one zero one zero zero one one. One one zero one zero one zero. One zerozero one.One zerozero one. One one one zero one zero one zero zero zero zero zero zero one one zerozero one zero zero zero zero zero one one. One one one zero one zero one zero oen one zero one zero zero one one. One one zero one zero one zero. One zerozero one...." Unhörbar.

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3 Leute fanden das hilfreich

The perfect! soothing voice alone makes this book

Rezensiert am: 21.07.2021

an outstanding, rare experience. Perfectly paced, calm, focused, an absolute joy to listen to! So, so many authors unfortunately read us their own texts (and are painful to listen to in the worst cases) - in most cases they just don't bring a) a pleasant hardware (voice) nor b) the technique (vocal performance).
This man, however, could read me tax manuals and I would gladly listen.
(PS, yes, the content of"Chatter" deserves every bit of your attention, it is brilliant, and important and fundamental.)

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2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

I came for a cheap sexy thrill,

Rezensiert am: 23.09.2020

but then I stayed for the utterly brilliant writing! The emotional intelligence of this author seems off the charts, really. The writing skills required for dialogue on that level makes me believe this is a pseudonym of one of the biggest names in literature. But it seems Mr. Hall is quite real, and judging by the quantity of his output, (and the intensity and urgency of this text) is just someone who would stop living, if he had to stop writing. I have never been so surprised. And indeed, on top of it, the speakers are a treat and very well cast. This book is thoroughly enjoyable.

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3 Leute fanden das hilfreich

"Read by the author".

Rezensiert am: 23.09.2020

In nine out of ten cases, ... in nineteen out of twenty cases, "Read by the author" is a warning sign. Unfortunately, Marcus Chown is the rule, not the exeption. The vocal performance of a long text or book is an art where mastery does NOT come along automatically by being an author, however good or bad. It's a completely different beast, with it's own set of rules and requirements, hence "performing arts". I don't know if it's the sense of ownership and control, that lures so many authors to perform their own works - or simple economic restraints. Whatever the reasons, like here, the result is usually an unpleasant experience for the listener.

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