Audiobooks

CSC

Does anyone on this forum buy them instead of books?

I bought one recently and have to say I am finding it really good listening to it on my Ipod on the way to work. I think I am going to buy some more the next time I am ordering books.

Sergeant

Got a free Audible trial and downloaded A Confederacy of Dunces. Just couldn't get into the whole concept. I found it like listening to the radio/podcast, in that the mind can inadvertently start to wander.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

InvisibleBadger

It's a nice way to re-read a book, I recently listened to The Heart of Darkness on my way to and from college, it was a nice way to revisit it.

Lockstep

I borrowed the Lord of the Rings on CD off an officer I know; he found them really useful for keeping him amused when he was in Lebanon.

I found the CD version quite useful, it's been years since I read the books, and I remember them as being a bit too descriptive for me. They work really well in audioform, especially when I'm drifting to sleep.

Not too much a fan of audiobooks in general though, can't listen to them unless I'm trying to sleep.

TheWarrior

I am currently listening to World War Z on audiobook & find it superb. For anyone who isn't familiar with the book it is a zombie outbreak type story told by people scattered all over the world. The audio book has different dialects for each interview i.e a middle-eastern man telling of the Palestine experience, an African man the african story etc & it works really well.

Nody

I use them daily for going to work etc. but I only do it with "light" books and/or books I can't be bothered to read (Harry Potter series comes to mind for the second group, Wheel of Time in the first to refresh my memory for the first). Reason for them being light is you don't need to concentrate or think while listening (trying to do a book by Dalai Lama did not work for me).

I've also done a few informational books such as world religions etc. which also works ok but I had to go back at times and listen more then once to get the chapter.

I still prefer to read any books I'm interested in paper if I'm seriously interested in them though.

Hrududu

For some reason I can't do audiobooks. My mind won't make the switch to picturing what's happening when I'm listening to it. I love the idea of them though.

Crucifix

David Sedaris' audiobook stuff is great. Well suited to the format, usually read by the man himself.

The Mad Hatter

I find some books work better being read, and others work better as audiobooks. Some surprises appear - Ulysses, for instance makes a very good audiobook (possibly partly because the version I have is read by a full cast).

I don't find I get distracted away from the book too much - no more or less so than with books I read, at any rate.

sponsoredwalk

I am absolutely in love with audiobooks, but not really with works of fiction.

The only fiction audiobook I ever appreciated was Voltaire's Candide off librivox.org.
They have a full-cast Ulysses that I was tempted to try
but I got other things (plus the thing is absolutely massive!).

Non-fiction audiobooks that grip your attention are certainly the way to go but a great substitute
for books is audio lectures which the internet is full of.

If you're thinking of buying audiobooks I'd suggest any book on physics you can get,
they are the kinds of audiobooks like no other that will blow your mind.
Steven Hawking, Leonard Susskind, Brian Greene etc...

This link here has selections from a wide range of works by an impressive selection of authors.
Sigmund Freud
Jean Piaget
Gandhi
Emma Goldman
Victor Hugo
Walt Whitman
Descartes
Kant
Bohr
Einstein
Galileo
Plank
Schrodinger
Lyell
Galileo
Spinoza

Basically an amazing selection actually, & way more there!

The Mad Hatter

I haven't yet found an audiobook on librivox I've enjoyed. So many of the readers are so dull. I'm sure there are good readers on there, but I haven't found any yet.

Valmont

If it weren't for audiobooks, my dog wouldn't get walked nearly as much as he does. Sometimes music just doesn't cut it.

Dades

Audiobooks are made or lost on the voice of the narrator.

I'm going through the Song of Ice and Fire series (again) in audio as I'll have no way time to re-read them before George gets his finger out and releases the next book.

Look forward to my walk in and and out of work now because of them.

mikemac

Huge fan on audiobooks, I subscribe on audible.co.uk

Now there is an issue, audible.com have a huge selection but Irish customers are shunted to the UK store where has far fewer audiobooks, booooo
If I want a baseball or American football book on the .com site I can't get it as the UK site don't realy have many of these.
Audible may be losing my business if I find someone better

Needs a good narrator though, you can search by narrator so if you like one persons style you can check out what else they have done.

They certainly are not cheap though, buying a book is cheaper most times, I know there are additional costs in producing an audiobook but we pay online so realy, I think they could be cheaper.

Golden Smith

As long as what you're loooking is in the public domain, then I'd suggest checking out Librivox. If it's not in the public domain, their not going to have it.

Technocentral

CSC wrote: »

Does anyone on this forum buy them instead of books?

I bought one recently and have to say I am finding it really good listening to it on my Ipod on the way to work. I think I am going to buy some more the next time I am ordering books.

I love them, good at night if your trying to sleep and for listening to while going for a walk or traveling.

Technocentral

If anyone has Spotify there's loads of them on it though they don't advertise the fact, for instance I just discovered most of Bill Bryson's on it today!

Callan57

Golden Smith wrote: »

As long as what you're loooking is in the public domain, then I'd suggest checking out Librivox. If it's not in the public domain, their not going to have it.

Yea but they have some really dreadful readers ... boring voices, bad pronunciation.

Technocentral

Those PD ones are awful. I have Spotify Free and they have the real ones on it.

x_Ellie_x

I'm not a big fan of audio books. Especially when they are read by someone with a boring, flat, monotonous voice - that just makes your mind wander and puts you to sleep. Or even worst, read by someone with a raspy, nasally, throaty voice - too annoying to listen to, you end up switching it off after a few minutes and never going back to it. I'm only a fan of them when they are read by a number of actors reading different parts. It's better this way. It makes it much easier to picture the story and characters in your head.

johnayo

I also subscribe to Audible.co.uk and agree that it works better for light hearted books. All too easy to drift away from the story though.

eskimocat

There is a small selection of audio books in my local library. So I have at least two in my car at all times, especially for long journeys. Hate running into the end of a book with a couple of hours of travel time left.

Some are great and some are absolutely brutal. As a previous poster mentioned it really depends on the quality and tone of the narrator.

Hermy

I'm a big fan of spoken word and Beckett's Trilogy as read by Barry McGovern is one of my favourites - I never tire of listening to it.

LenaClaire

My brother is dyslexic and he loves audiobooks because he can get into stories without getting frustrated trying to read.

It is great because he loves fiction but it was so hard for him to read that he would just get frustrated and quit but now we can both "read" the same book and discuss it