Lets Talk About Audiobooks

[Lunan]

I've porbably said this elsehwre(maybe even in this thread) but can I recommend listening to Steven Briggs reading of the Terry PRatchett books?
Phaze
on the "I've met Steven and he's a wonderful person and a fellow civil servant" ID

i bet andreas would have done an amazing job with heinlein or kipling

[WorkerCaste]

i bet andreas would have done an amazing job with heinlein or kipling

As a general thing, I haven't found that actors always make the best narrators, but I can't imagine Andreas not mastering it if he had chosen to.

[Lunan]

As a general thing, I haven't found that actors always make the best narrators, but I can't imagine Andreas not mastering it if he had chosen to.

i don't know, patrick stewart did a good job with a couple of dickens books, and nana visitor did a decent jod on a few of her reading even if they were abridged(god i hate abridged)

it really depends i suppose. david tennent does an ok job, not great but ok

[WorkerCaste]

i don't know, patrick stewart did a good job with a couple of dickens books, and nana visitor did a decent jod on a few of her reading even if they were abridged(god i hate abridged)

it really depends i suppose. david tennent does an ok job, not great but ok

Actually, Nana Visitor would be one of the examples of bad narration by an actor that I would've chosen. I only heard part of one of Orson Scott Card's "Alvin" books narrated by her, but I felt like she was reading to a five year old. She used an exaggerated delivery that drove me absolutely bonkers. Perhaps she did better on others and I've just been unaware since I run from her narration screaming.

[babylonlurker]

Audio books are perfect for "reading" when using the hands - and especially when the eyes are needed - driving a car, anyone ?

The other use I have for audio books is simple. Having to do a lot of screen and reading at work, the eyes need a rest at times, and audio stuff - books, plays, music - is my way of doing just that.

I, too will pick up the last Potter book and read it, simply because the audio version will be available later that the book itself.

So, in that respect , I could be "lazy", but I don't really care if someone else calls me that (except maybe the boss at work )

Have fun with reading or listening to (audio) books

[WorkerCaste]

Hi, babylonlurker! Welcome to the boards. For us, the audio version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" comes out the same day as the book itself. I'm buying one of each .

So, are you listening to anything good currently?

[babylonlurker]

So, are you listening to anything good currently?

Thanks for the welcoming,

Started listening to 7th Son by JC Hutchins, going slow and still have to decide if I continue to the end, since I have a *lot* of unlistened podcasts, Scifi - Fantasy - science - Ham Radio and of course "The Babylon Podcast" (no prize for guessing the subject of *that* one)

"The enemy is the one who tells you to *hate* that which is different"
The Reverend in "The Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place"

[babylonlurker]

Also I started writing on a blog a few weeks ago (so not many postings yet)

http://babylonlurker.blogspot.com/

you are welcome to take a look

[babylonlurker]

So, how do people listen? CD, tape, MP3?

I have the HP books on CD, converted to MP3 for my iPod, and some McCaffrey books as MP3CDs, also transferable to the iPod or any mp3 player

[WorkerCaste]

I just finished "The Odyssey" by Homer (not Simpson ) and now I'm just going to listen to music for a few days until the final Potter book comes out. No idea where I'll go after that.

[Lunan]

I just finished "The Odyssey" by Homer (not Simpson ) and now I'm just going to listen to music for a few days until the final Potter book comes out. No idea where I'll go after that.

i have to say going thru all 7 hp books in order was an interesting experience. i still feel book 7 felt a little too rushed
oh and i thought bumping this thread was a good idea too

[NotSoWize]

I've been having a lot of fun with the Discworld books and the Jeeves and Wooster books on CD. Although some of the narrators are better than others, something about British comedy and audio books just seems to go together really well.

Another great narrator I've come across is Simon Vance reading Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series. Great naval historical novels, these are the books that Russel Crowe's "Master and Commander" movie was based on. Really good stuff.

I'm not sure why I seem to like British narrators better than most of the American's I've listened to, maybe I'm just a sucker for an accent.

[WorkerCaste]

I listened to the Aubrey/Maturin books as narrated by Patrick Tull. I enjoyed them tremendously. Recorded Books was the publisher for those. The only thing I passed on was the final, incomplete book. Patrick O'Brien was working on the 21st (IIRC) volume and didn't complete it. The incomplete book was published, and Recorded Books published it on audio, but I decided against reading that one. O'Brien would often give the characters a downturn in fortune at the beginning of an arc, and I was afraid that being unfinished it would end at a low point. The end of the last completed book was a high point, so I left it there. Did you read the unfinished work, NotSoWise, and were my assumptions correct?

A number of my favorite narrators do have British accents, but there are definitely Americans I like, too.

[NotSoWize]

I'm only up to the seventh or eighth book in the series, so I have no idea where things will go from here. Right now both characters are on a bit of high, so I'm sure they are doomed in the next couple of volumes!

[nicholas]

I've been having a lot of fun with the Discworld books and the Jeeves and Wooster books on CD. Although some of the narrators are better than others, something about British comedy and audio books just seems to go together really well.

Another great narrator I've come across is Simon Vance reading Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series. Great naval historical novels, these are the books that Russel Crowe's "Master and Commander" movie was based on. Really good stuff.

I'm not sure why I seem to like British narrators better than most of the American's I've listened to, maybe I'm just a sucker for an accent.

I agree with the discworld narrators. There's various brit comedy books, Tom Holt has a good collection. I do tend to prefer the same narrator throughout a series of books, it helps you to recap and feels more like a continuation. It does seem strange, to me, when I get a book read by someone else than I am used to in terms of for a specific author.

Didn't realise there were Jeeves & Wooster Audiobooks.

I tend to listen to audio books late at night or at the gym (more than once I've LOL at the gym - then embarrassingly try and avoid the gazes!)