Xela Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 A couple of months ago i hit a bit of a 'wall' with my reading. I just couldn't seem to concentrate enough to read. So I put my Kindle to one side and looked into audiobooks and I have to say I am a convert! I've listened to about 10 in the last couple of months. I'm tending to stick with non fiction like travel stories or autobiographies at the moment and think that having the person in question read out their autobiography adds something extra to the story. I've just finished the Danny Baker one and it was excellently narrated by the man himself and now onto the David Mitchell one and its started very funnily... Anyone else a fan of audiobooks? I currently use Audible as they seem to be the best out there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 19, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2014 Paging BOF... I'm not opposed to them in principle, but I'd still rather read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 The only audiobook I ever heard was Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly from the librivox website I thought that was quite good the girl reading put a lot of effort into it, doing all the voices and everything. The others I tried listening to though weren't quite as good. I have to read because sometimes I need to go over a things a few times before I understand, especially in non-fiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 19, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2014 I quite like to hear poetry read aloud. But preferably by an actor (BBC Radio 4's "Poetry Please" tends to have good ones) - the poets themselves are often useless at it, the worst I ever heard being T. S. Eliot reading The Waste Land. Awful, totally bad voice for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I like physically reading too but I'll listen to an audio book whenever I'm doing a bit of exercise; walking/running/weights etc. I find that if it's a good story, it helps me relax and takes my attention away from the physical toil and helps me exercise calmly and properly and most of the time, if I'm especially caught up in the story, I'll run or walk further than I've realised and the time will pass quickly. This is one I've recently finished - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_84VHuz28g 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Sometimes I download audio versions of plays or poems because it's better to hear both. With novels I don't really bother but I downloaded Ulysses because I'm going to re-read it and listen to it at the same time i.e. take a chapter/section per week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I quite like to hear poetry read aloud. But preferably by an actor (BBC Radio 4's "Poetry Please" tends to have good ones) - the poets themselves are often useless at it, the worst I ever heard being T. S. Eliot reading The Waste Land. Awful, totally bad voice for it. Somewhat coincidentally, here is Jeremy Irons reading Eliot's 'Four Quartets' http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q4pss I'm going to listen to it in a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Got one of Nietzsche's books which I found impossible to understand so gave up. I think it was recorded by volunteers who were American students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 19, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 19, 2014 I quite like to hear poetry read aloud. But preferably by an actor (BBC Radio 4's "Poetry Please" tends to have good ones) - the poets themselves are often useless at it, the worst I ever heard being T. S. Eliot reading The Waste Land. Awful, totally bad voice for it. Somewhat coincidentally, here is Jeremy Irons reading Eliot's 'Four Quartets' http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q4pss I'm going to listen to it in a bit. I was thinking about that very thing. See, I think Irons is a total clearing in the woods... but he does a good job on the 4Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz316 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Alan patridge audio book is brilliant! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Nick Cave - Death of Bunny Munroe Steve Earle - I'll never get out of this world alive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 I quite enjoy them, but what annoys me is the vast amount of audiobooks that are abridged. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Audiobooks don't count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) I think that the pleasures of reading text and listening to audiobooks are entirely different. It has to be said that the time available for reading is very limited and very often enclosing yourself in a book at home is not welcomed, when you are supposed to be listening about someone's day, or sharing the family's mind-numbing taste in TV. Anyone who spends their time in front of a computer monitor can find their eyes too fatigued to read for long. All these things limit how much time you can spend reading and how many books you can read, and audiobooks offer the opportunity to use time spent commuting or exercising more productively. With time so limited there are books which you just wouldn't even consider reading; audiobooks change that. When it comes to the quality of audiobooks the quality of the narrator is paramount and anyone who has listened to the free audiobooks available on Librivox, will know that listening to an English classic read with an American accent is unbearable, just as Raymond Chandler would be in any English accent. The narration should rightly be considered a performance and the ability of a narrator to give a distinctive voice to every character in a book verges on genius and adds to the whole experience. Martin Jarvis performing Dickens or Patrick Tull performing Patrick O'Brian, are truly wonderful, as are Ron McLarty performing Baldacci or Dick Hill performing Lee Child. I would say that sitting listening to an audiobook in your car, rather than the same old crap on the radio, is a much better and satisfying use your time and infinitely more pleasurable. Listening to an audiobook while exercising turns a boring necessity into a real pleasure. So I would recommend audiobooks but that is not to say that everyone likes them. But for me, listening to how Jack Reacher breaks a bad guy's fingers, is probably even more thrilling than reading about it. Edited January 20, 2014 by MakemineVanilla 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 I would say that sitting listening to an audiobook in your car, rather than the same old crap on the radio, is a much better and satisfying use your time and infinitely more pleasurable. I agree with this, but it rarely happens, as car journeys are reserved for music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Alan patridge audio book is brilliant! This! The only audio book I own, and it is amazingly good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) I would say that sitting listening to an audiobook in your car, rather than the same old crap on the radio, is a much better and satisfying use your time and infinitely more pleasurable. I agree with this, but it rarely happens, as car journeys are reserved for music. And there's the rub! Most people seem to be stuck playing the same tracks they liked when their music taste was set in stone, in their youth. I just wish they would try something new but it ain't going to happen. Paul Carrack's Living Years and the death of little Nell, are both sentimental, but at least you can have a good laugh at the latter. Edited January 20, 2014 by MakemineVanilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 Hers a question...If you have listened to the audiobook do you claim to have read the book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 I would say that sitting listening to an audiobook in your car, rather than the same old crap on the radio, is a much better and satisfying use your time and infinitely more pleasurable. I agree with this, but it rarely happens, as car journeys are reserved for music. And there's the rub! Most people seem to be stuck playing the same tracks they liked when their music taste was set in stone, in their youth. I just wish they would try something new but it ain't going to happen. Paul Carrack's Living Years and the death of little Nell, are both sentimental, but at least you can have a good laugh at the latter. That may be true in my case, but it includes tens of thousands of tracks (none of which is The Living Years). Hers a question...If you have listened to the audiobook do you claim to have read the book? Only if it's unabridged. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 20, 2014 Hers a question...If you have listened to the audiobook do you claim to have read the book? Only if it's unabridged. Ahhhh, suddenly it makes sense! Q - How can one man read so many books? A - Easy when he listens to 3 at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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