Atlantic ocean | Words And Peace

Jen at Devourer of Books, who organizes this Audiobook week, proposes this meme for today:

Current/most recent audiobook: I am currently listening to Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese; the narrator Sunil Malhotra is excellent, perfect accent for the task. Hmm, looks like this week is going to make me more attentive to narrators, thanks Jen!
This book is so well written, it’s hauntingly beautiful, and almost makes me want to go to Ethiopia; you REALLY need to be good to give me THAT desire!
It is full of surprises, not to spoil anything, you know that the son and the dad will meet again, but he showed up for me at a moment I really didn’t expect!

I usually listen to audiobooks only when I paint (have you had a look at my art by the way??) or do house chores, but I just have 2 more hours to go on this book, and I have to say I’m so intrigued by how things are going to evolve that yesterday I did spend some time on the porch just listening to it! Well, it could be also that I would like to be able to review it during this audiobook week.

Current favorite audiobook: My last audiobook was Atlantic, was Simon Winchester; as I said on Monday, this is my favorite non-fiction audiobook for the last 12 months. Simon Winchester is brilliant, and he is so good reading his own book. “Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, the New York Times bestselling author of Krakatoa tells the breathtaking saga of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean, setting it against the backdrop of mankind’s intellectual evolution” [Goodreads excerpt – click on the link to read my full review.]

One narrator who always makes you choose audio over print: no, I don’t choose audiobooks because of the narrator, it all depends what’s available in my library audiobook database when I want to listen to a new audiobook. One of my favorite readers however, is Orlagh Cassidy, who read The Postmistress. One thing I do enjoy everytime, is when the reader is the narrator. So far, it’s always been really good.

Genre you most often choose to listen to: none. As I said, it all depends on what’s available, and I enjoy fiction as much as non-fiction, historical novels, etc. I will try poetry one of these days.

If given the choice, you will always choose audio when: I don’t think so.

If given the choice, you will always choose print when: I don’t think so.

And I add this: Next audiobook: Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett.

Also, I always try to have at the same time going on: a fiction + non-fiction + religious book + 1 audiobook, in whatever genre; the last one was non-fiction, the current one4 and the next one are fiction.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE NARRATOR TO RECOMMEND?

HOW DO I KNOW THAT THIS NARRATOR
HAS SOMETHING COMING UP?

Atlantic:

Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries,

Titanic Storms,

and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

Simon WINCHESTER

AUDIOBOOK: 14:23 hours

MY THOUGHTS

I cannot add anything substantial to the great synopsis published on Goodreads (see below under “About the book”).
This is the most thorough “biography” I have ever read, and the most entertaining as well. One thing I would like to highlight, however, is the plan of the book, a genius idea I believe. Winchester arranges his development on each aspect of the Atlantic Ocean by following the order found in As You Like It by Shakespeare.

Here is how he explains it:

This was enough to hook me.
And the audiobook was read by Winchester himself, which is an additional treat!

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, the New York Times bestselling author of Krakatoa tells the breathtaking saga of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean, setting it against the backdrop of mankind’s intellectual evolution.
Until a thousand years ago, no humans ventured into the Atlantic or imagined traversing its vast infinity. But once the first daring mariners successfully navigated to far shores—whether it was the Vikings, the Irish, the Chinese, Christopher Columbus in the north, or the Portuguese and the Spanish in the south—the Atlantic evolved in the world’s growing consciousness of itself as an enclosed body of water bounded by the Americas to the West, and by Europe and Africa to the East. Atlantic is a biography of this immense space, of a sea which has defined and determined so much about the lives of the millions who live beside or near its tens of thousands of miles of coast.
The Atlantic has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists and warriors, and it continues to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Poets to potentates, seers to sailors, fishermen to foresters—all have a relationship with this great body of blue-green sea and regard her as friend or foe, adversary or ally, depending on circumstance or fortune. Simon Winchester chronicles that relationship, making the Atlantic come vividly alive. Spanning from the earth’s geological origins to the age of exploration, World War II battles to modern pollution, his narrative is epic and awe-inspiring.” [goodreads]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Simon Winchester’s many books include The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, Krakatoa, and A Crack in the Edge of the World. Each of these has been a New York Times bestseller and has appeared on numerous best and notable lists. Mr. Winchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by HM The Queen in 2006. He lives in western Massachusetts. See here to know more him and his work.

There’s also a Q&A with him here.

This book counts for

My Dewey Decimal Challenge