Audiobook thread

[WD Forte]

I know most folk have downloaded or streamed movies, tv shows and music orf the interweb
but haven't heard audiobooks mentioned much here until recently so will start an audiobook discussion thread
to include related stuff like radio shows/lectures/poetry/whatever.
I'm a bit of an addict now and like them because you can listen whilst doing other things and have collected loads of them over the years
Some truly excellent, some truly bloody awful.


Too many to list but
For larfs I listen to:
Hancocks half hour, The Navy lark, Round the Horne (still gets me PMSL) I'm sorry I haven't a clue (with Humph of course)
Sir Henry at Rawlinsons end.

Any other AB fans?
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bikers smell of wee

[Suntan Sid]

[hellkat]

I downloaded Audiobooks onto my Kindle ages ago and did download a few over a year ago but got bored of listening to the third one.

I've now (finally) managed to download it onto my new phone as well (quite frustratingly I can't get it to work on my PC which would be massively useful).

But on the positive side: I quite often do basic book reviews, and did a review somewhere on an audiobook that I had first read and then listened to.

So an American girl who does the talking bit contacted me offering me free codes for downloading audiobooks (obvs mainly ones that she did) - if I would do a review once listened to them. She didn't ask that I did a good review, just that I reviewed it after I had listened (although yeah, the implication is there, isn't it, LOL).

So that was more than six months ago, and I downloaded the audiobook and never got round to listening to it.

But seeing as how I have now at least managed to get it onto my phone, I've just started listening to it this week, in the hope that if I give her the required review/s then she will send me more codes for free downloads. Yay.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[BumpingUglys]

Love 'em! Been listening to audiobooks for years now as I love to read but don't really get time these days, so audiobooks do the job nicely.

The caveat with them is that they don't work well if you're having to concentrate on what you're doing. Menial tasks are the order of the day.

So commuter cycling to work, yes. Measuring antibody concentrations, no. Washing up, yes. Out on the bike, no, etc.

I'm working my way through Haruki Murakami's novels, currently listening to 'after the quake'. Quirky and surreal stories from Japan, the current book a collection of short stories that relate to the 1995 Kobe earthquake in some way.

Favourites include:

Metro 2033/ Metro 2034 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Dark apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust living in the Moscow Underground.

The Nightwatch books by Sergei Lukyanenko. Dark fantasy about the struggles between the 'Light Ones' (mages and psychic ability users) and the 'Dark Ones' (werewolves and vampires) that have been policing each others activities for centuries.

Pretty much anything by Peter F. Hamilton. Hard space opera sci-fi set typically hundreds of years in the future, where body augmentation and nanotechnology is commonplace.

One thing I do find is that the narrator makes a massive difference and can make or break the story. So Rupert Degas, who read the Metro books and a lot of Murakami stuff, is excellent. As is John Lee who reads much of Peter F. Hamilton. Tom Baker reading his own 'The Boy who Kicked Pigs' was excellent too.
Conversely, I've had to switch off some Yankified Clive Barker books as they were unbearable. I just about managed to make it through Game of Thrones though Roy Dotrice's narration made every character sound like they were from Barnsley, and thick as pigshit to boot.
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Ducati M695

[DrSnoosnoo]

From my post in the Geek Zone;

I've just started. I can't believe I didn't do this a while ago. With 2 hours of commuting a day, it's a great way to spend the time.

I'm half way through The Martian now and very much enjoying it.

I want to go into the more Science-y books courtesy of Prof. Cox, Sagan et al. if I can get some audio versions of those.

I love books when I don't have to read them.
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Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[WD Forte]

Yep, the narrator can make or break/ruin it for me too
I found some old sci fi books I'd read years ago as audio books
but the narrator had the most dismal, flat, monotonous voice which made them unbearable.

I like historical fiction too and had read all the Patrick OBrien, Aubrey Maturin series ( Master and Commander movie based on it)
I began to collect all the audiobooks and found Patrick Tull aced it as narrator and if I couldn't get them with him reading, I'd wait and keep searching until I could.
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bikers smell of wee

[Nexus Icon]

"We're Alive!" is a good, zombie-apocalypse, full-cast audiodrama. It's concluded now but you can still hear all 150ish episodes on itunes, etc.

It clearly improves, technique-wise, as it goes on (footsteps of running people in the first episode made me chuckle) and it's a very engrossing way to spend 40 odd hours.
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Greetings from Shitsville!

[dydey90]

I made a thread about this aaaaages ago (12-18 months), but I can't find it now. There were a lot of good recommendations on there, I was after a few long series to get me through an 80 mile commute for a few months.
Would recommend:
-Discworld. 41 books, not too long and widely varied subject matter and characters in each book, all set in the same universe. Earlier books vary with narrator but are well worth it.
-Harry potter. Read by Stephen Fry, it's like stroking your inner ear with soft velvet.
-The Wheel of Time. Long, long, 14 book saga on a scale that dwarfs the Lord of the Rings. Really good, but takes a few dozen hours to get going.
-The Bartimaeus sequence. Trilogy and prequel, set in an alternate London where the government is run by corrupt magicians who derive all their power from summoning spirits. Told from the point of view of Bartimaeus, a cynical and sarcastic djinni. Aimed at young adults, but I was about 11 when I read the first book.
-The Kingkiller chronicles. Fantasy trilogy that's still in the works, been awaiting the final instalment forever. One of the best series I have ever read.
-Mortal Engines Quartet. Steampunk series featuring mobile cities hunting each other and exploring the principle of "municipal darwinism" in a post apocalyptic world after the 30 second war.
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