Speaking of reading or not reading, I'm listening to the audiobook of The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicles: Day One. I've found the story to be very involving, but it is also very, very long. I do like long books--Outlander and Watership Down are two of my favorites--however, these days I don't have as much time to read, and this story is moving slllllllllllllooooooooooooowly. The interesting thing is, the reviews on Goodreads vary really widely. Some people love the complex characters and intricate plot. Others claim both are cliche. Some people love the main character's first person narration. Other people can't stand him. Some people like the framing narrative, others want it gone. I could go on. I've never seen such polar opposite reactions to the same book--and everybody makes some degree of sense. I'm going to finish this volume, but I'm not sure I'm going to go on with the next one, which is just as long, and the reviews for it are even more mixed.
The other audiobook I'm listening to, which has been really interesting so far, is The Boys in the Boat, which is about the US rowing team that unexpectedly beat the Nazis at the 1936 Olympics. The audiobook is narrated by Edward Herman. He does a lot of voice work. He read Roger Ebert's biography too. I've heard him a lot on PBS and The History Channel. I'd really like to read an interview with him about his voice work. Maybe I'll look online and see if I can find one. Actually, the narrator of The Name of the Wind is really good too. I wonder if people who do voice work care whether they get good books/videos or whatever, or whether they don't. I saw a really beautiful nature documentary recently, which I think was narrated by Colin Farrell. If I were Colin, I'd rather do that than die in a mobster movie.
