The Great Blue Heron is the largest of the North American herons. They can often be seen on shorelines, river banks and ponds. They aren’t likely to visit the typical suburban backyard unless you have a pond with fish.
There is a Heron Rookery along the banks of a river a few miles from my house. They nest in colonies that can number into the hundreds but this one only had about 10 nests. It’s an odd sight to see such large birds standing in trees. (Click on the photo above to enlarge it for a better view of the nests.)
In flight they tuck in their necks and trail their legs straight behind them. They can curl their neck into an S shape thanks to a specially shaped neck vertebrae. This bird was landing in one of the nests.
This is one of the juveniles. Besides being smaller in size, an immature bird can be identified by its striped throat and breast and two-tone bill. Last year when I visited the nesting area I was able to get some nice photos of the adults herons fishing.
I’ve been complaining about not much rain this year. The water level of the river is low and the muddy bottom is visible in some areas. I was able to climb down the river bank and walk about a third of the way out before I hit mud. It’s finally raining as I write this so I hope our month-long drought is over.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Audiobook Recommendations
My favorite place for information on audiobooks is Audiobook Jukebox. There you can find links to reviews from all over the web.
Another is AudioFile Magazine’s website. They offer a selection of short reviews plus information on narrators.
And finally, I check the publisher’s webpages for upcoming and new releases. That doesn’t give me a reviewer’s opinion but it will give me listening time, narrators and a short description which is usually enough for me to decide whether or not to put the book on my watch list.
Where to Get Audiobooks
I am lucky to have a library system with a large selection of audiobook CDs. If my library doesn’t have the book they can usually borrow it from another library in the area, as long as I am willing to wait, which can sometimes be weeks. They also offer downloads through the Overdrive Media service.
Audible is another option for downloads making it very easy to listen on an mp3 player or iPod.
Another Giveaway
One of the audiobook CD choices I offered during the Literary Blog Hop was Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George. This was not one of the winning choices so I am offering it again for audiobook week.
Leave a comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. Anyone who entered during the Literary Blog Hop is already entered for this drawing. If you don’t remember you can enter again, I’ll only count one entry. US addresses only. This is a huge, heavy book and I need to ship media mail. I will draw a random winner, enter by Sunday, July 1st.
Patricia, Tara
and Lisa
have each won a copy of …
Summerland
by Elin Hilderbrand
(Book Tour)
Amanda
has won an audio CD of
The Good American
by Alex George
(Literary Blog Hop)
Sherry
has won an audio CD of
Red Mist
by Patricia Cornwell
(Clear Your Shelves Hop)
Another Chance to Win
There is still one more audiobook CD to win. Stop by the Audio Chat Post where I am offering a choice of two audio CDs. The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark or The Thief by Clive Cussler (US/Canada addresses only). I will draw from the comments that contribute to the discussion and choose a random winner at the end of Audiobook Week, midnight, Saturday June 30th.
——————————–
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Beautiful Ruins
by Jess Walter
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: June 12, 2012
Format: Hardcover | 352 pages
Rating: 5 of 5
Pasquale Tursi, owner of the Hotel Adequate View in the remote, secluded coastal village of Porto Vergogna, Italy, was amazed to see a beautiful woman arriving by boat. It was 1962 and she was an American actress, Dee Moray, working on the movie Cleopatra. She was sick, dying she thought, and had been sent there by the movie’s production assistant, Michael Deane, for a few days before continuing on to Switzerland for treatment. But Dee wasn’t sick, she was pregnant.
Fifty years later in Los Angeles, Pasquale Tursi is searching for Dee Moray. He finds Michael Deane’s studio and his assistant, Claire, who thinks he is there to pitch a movie, but she soon realizes the story he is telling her is real life.
We alternate between the events in Italy 50 years ago and the present day Los Angeles, with a few chapters taking place in the 70s. There are several different points of view and a multitude of characters. Most of these characters are flawed, tragically flawed, and for all their faults I still liked them and cheered for them like I would for an underdog. The writing is beautiful. At times funny, other times sad, but always compelling and engaging.
This is a difficult book to describe. There is so much going on but it is all seamlessly woven together. We easily transition between characters and time and place. Most fascinating are the stories within the story. There is a writer staying at the hotel in Italy in 1962; he is writing a book on his life story but in seven years he has only written one chapter. There is the aspiring screen writer in present day Los Angeles pitching his movie, The Donner Party, a story about cannibalism that is so bad it’s good, which Michael Deane pretends to like. And finally, the first chapter of Michael Deane’s Memoir, a fascinating account of 1960’s Hollywood and events on the set of Cleopatra, but the lawyers say he can’t publish it. We get to read each of these stories as a chapter mixed within the book. Eventually all are relevant to the bigger picture.
In the end, the pieces come together. We learn what happens to all the characters, loose ends are tied up, and the reader is left satisfied. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. There is also an absolutely gorgeous cover, a painting of the sun drenched Italian coastline, every bit as beautiful as the story itself. Highly recommended.
About the Author
Jess Walter is the author of five novels, including The Zero, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, and Citizen Vince, winner of the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel. He has been a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN USA Literary Prize in both fiction and nonfiction. 
His books have been New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR best books of the year and have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in Spokane, Washington.
Visit Jess Walter’s website.
Click HERE for the tour schedule.
——————————–
Source: Review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Stolen Prey
by John Sanford
Narrated by Richard Ferrone
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publish Date: May 15, 2012
Format: Audio, 11 hours | 30minutes
Audio Listening Level: Easy – Intermediate
Rating: 4 of 5
Lucas Davenport, investigator for the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is called to examine a crime scene where an entire family has been brutally murdered. It appears to be a retaliation killing in the drug trafficking trade, but Lucas isn’t so sure that’s what happened. The murder of a bank vice-president and his family doesn’t fit the profile; something else is going on here.
Meanwhile several bank employees, with the assistance of one of the computer programmers, are moving large sums of cash out of the bank and purchasing gold, effectively shutting down the money trail. They are oblivious to the fact that they are stealing from money-laundering Mexican narcotics dealers. These are the type of people that will do whatever is necessary to locate their missing funds, and that includes torturing and murdering whoever they think has any information.
This is the 22nd novel in John Sanford’s Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport, independently wealthy software entrepreneur turned crime investigator. Although there is a long history and back story from the previous volumes, this novel does well as a standalone. The author fills us in with any necessary details on Davenport and the supporting cast to help the reader better understand the characters.
The eleven hours of listening went by quickly in this fast-paced action-packed adventure. The narrator, Richard Ferrone, kept the story moving at a good pace. He has the perfect gravelly detective voice for Lucas Davenport (and also for Virgil Flowers, who makes an appearance in the book), but also has a wide enough range to do well with the female characters and the Mexican assassins.
I’ve read several of Sanford’s books and always enjoy his easy to follow style of writing. As the murders continued and the body count rose, he kept the dialog snappy and broke the tension with some humorous lines and exchanges between Davenport and his investigators.
Fans of the Prey series will enjoy this latest volume and those who like mysteries or thrillers and haven’t read one of these books yet should give this one a listen.
——————————–
Source: Review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Audio Chat
Sheila at Book Journey and I have been chatting about audiobooks and how much we love the format and why everyone else should love them too. Out of our conversation we came up with some questions that readers might have. I’ve answered a few here and Sheila has more of our conversation on her blog.
We know some of our readers already love audiobooks but there are a few of you out there we want to encourage to give the format a try, or another try as the case may be.
A Q&A on Audio
How long have you been listening to audiobooks and how long did it take you to be comfortable with the format?
What made you try audio again?
Audiobooks are an acquired skill. What should new listeners look for when selecting a book? What should they avoid?
The best way to find a good audiobook is to read reviews or ask for recommendations. A good review site is Audiobook Jukebox. When I review an audiobook I’m now including a difficulty rating ie Easy, Intermediate or Difficult. And not all narrators are the same. Some are such a pleasure to listen to that they could read the phone book and I’d enjoy it! Cassandra Campbell, can you hear me?
Things to avoid: Too long, complex plot, too many characters or changes in point of view, or multiple jumps in time and place. Having to constantly press the rewind button can get very frustrating. An example of a book I should never have attempted in audio was Neuromancer.
What was the book that hooked you on audio?
What audiobooks would you recommend to new listeners?
Wait, There’s More
Any non-audio listeners out there going to give it a try? Yes? No? Why not? Audiobook lovers, any audio recommendations for new listeners? Convince them to try?
Win an Audiobook:
I am giving away a CD Audiobook of your choice of The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark or The Thief by Clive Cussler (US/Canada addresses only). I will draw from the comments that contribute to the discussion and choose a random winner at the end of Audiobook Week.
More audio goodness can be found at Book Journey where Sheila will give you more reasons to love audio. Also, don’t forget to stop by the Audiobook Week Discussion Post hosted by Devourer of Books. There are discussions, reviews, link-ups and prizes for participants and commenters.
——————————–
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Audiobook Week Kicks Off Today
June is Audiobook Month and today begins Audiobook Week, hosted by Jen at Devourer of Books. There will be discussions, daily reviews, link-ups and other activities including prizes for participants and commenters.
I have been listening to audiobooks for a few years now and am always preaching their virtues. It’s a great way to squeeze in a few extra books. I have listened to 28 audiobooks already this year, and the year is only half over. All of these were while I was multitasking doing some household chore, driving, walking, gardening; I never just sit and listen. If I’m sitting, I’m reading.
A list of links to this year’s audio reviews can be found HERE and last year’s are HERE.
A Few Favorites
These are a few that I especially enjoyed. The audio production and the story were superb:
Audiobook Goodness All Week
There will be lots of audiobook goodness happening this week. Tomorrow I will have a Question & Answer post with Sheila at Book Journey and we will be chatting about all things audio and hopefully convincing a few more readers to give ‘listening’ a try. There will also be some prizes to win.
I am currently giving away an audiobook as part of the Literary Blog Hop, enter by Wednesday 6/27.
Stop by the Audiobook Week discussion post and linky for more good stuff.
Are you participating in Audiobook Week?
——————————–
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Under My Apple Tree 