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I'm starting off the year with another Alastair Reynolds audiobook - Revelation Space narrated by John Lee  Also thanks Mister Macys who has convinced me to listen to Salt (mostly because I'm gay for Scott Brick)
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Jan 2, 2011 15:57
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Just finished A Wizard of Earthsea read by Harlan Ellison. His enthusiasm irritated the hell out of me. Next up, Steppenwolf read by Peter Weller.
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Jan 2, 2011 16:27
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Syrinxx posted:I'm starting off the year with another Alastair Reynolds audiobook - Revelation Space narrated by John Lee I think it's his best work, besides Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Shadow". (My favorite Sci-Fi authour, ever) Got his newest book ("Pathfinder" Part 1), and "Empire of Blue Water" this month, which is an awesome book (so far) on Captain Morgan. 
Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jan 3, 2011 |
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Jan 3, 2011 10:48
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coleman francis posted:Triple recommending More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman. On a similar note, I'm listening to Areas of My Expertise right now. Hodgman and Coulton bullshitting is the best part. "I do have my extra-large hands on today."
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Jan 3, 2011 19:56
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I just finished "The Executioner's Wife" read by Henry Strozier. Strozier is amazing. I then started "The Last Town on Earth" and happily discovered it too is read by Strozier! I've listened to 20-30 audiobooks and Strozier is far and away the best reader - voice, timbre, speed of reading are all fantastic - in my opinion. As a side note, both of those books lend themselves well to the audio experience.
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Jan 23, 2011 19:30
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I just finished Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich and moved onto Wicked Appetite by the same author. Book is good, but drat it, it's the same narrator. Who I like, don't get me wrong, but there are several characters where I have to keep reminding myself what book I'm listening to because the narrator uses the same accent for them. Next book I'm definitely taking a break from Janet Evanovich... quote:Don't listen to it on long walks unless you are comfortable giggling a guffawing while in the presence of strangers. My big problem. I've gotten to the point where I just carry on and ignore the stares when I burst out laughing on the train. Not my fault they don't have anything funny to listen to.
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Jan 30, 2011 00:48
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Dickeye posted:On a similar note, I'm listening to Areas of My Expertise right now. Areas of My Expertise was pretty good, but it can't hold a candle to his follow up book, More Informaion Than You Require. The second book is absolutely hilarious but mostly I think he just reads it a lot better and his punch lines have a lot more punch.
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Jan 30, 2011 04:50
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Audiobooks with musical accompaniment - there are plenty of bad examples, but does anybody know of any good ones? Done right, it could be amazing but it would no doubt be so much work that it'd blow out the production budget.
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Feb 2, 2011 02:35
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It's the end of the month, here's what I've bought this time: Pathfinder Book One Orson Scott Card  Narr.: Stefan Rudnicki, Kirby Heyborne, Don Leslie, Kristoffer Tabori, Scott Brick Take every popular time travel movie or TV show, and combine them: Back to the Future, Bill & Ted, Star Treks, and shake thoroughly. This book is one awesome  of science fiction.5/5 Empire of Blue Water Stephan Talty Narr.: John H. Mayer A History of the infamous Welsh privateer William Henry Morgan (yes, the dude on the rum bottle). It's got pirates and poo poo, and it's awesome. 4/5 Emperors and Idiots: The Hundred-Year Rivalry Between the Yankees and the Red Sox Mike Vaccaro Narr.: Scott Brick (Moneyball) Includes the rivalry of said teams, the origins of "The Curse", Bernie Mac's Cubs Folly of '03, and the Sox' victory in 2004. The book starts in the Ruth Era, then jumps back and forth a lot between the Dimaggio/Ted Williams years, and the (then) present day. Could've used better editing, but it's a great book. I don't like following the sport (  ), but I love it's stories.5/5 The Second World War: Milestones to Disaster Sir Winston Churchill Narr.: Christian Rodska The history leading up to the beginning of WWII, culminating in the taking of Paris. The first in a four part series, as told from Winston's perspective, telling it as he saw it, and from what he learned in the war's aftermath.  This book is only $5.50 for members until February 8th. GET IT NOW. 4/5 Upcoming credit purchases: Probably the next two parts of Churchill's history. Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Feb 3, 2011 |
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Feb 3, 2011 03:06
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As a middle school teacher, young adult fiction is what I listen to most so I can keep up with what the kids are reading while commuting and also find good stuff to recommend to them. Top Recommendations: Bloody Jack series - written by L.A. Meyer and read by Katherine Kellgren (sample) This is the best of the single readers. Later in the series L.A. Meyer has been writing more songs into the books specifically because Kellgren is so loving awesome. Beautiful singing, fantastic adventure on the seas. Kellgren is great in everything she does, but she and Jacky are made for each other. Tiffany Aching series - written by Terry Pratchett and read by Stephen Briggs (sample) Briggs does a wonderful job of being hilarious and touching, which Pratchett himself is so good at. Another case of a reader just capturing a tone and feel perfectly. Hunger Games series - written by Suzanne Collins and read by Carolyn McCormick (sample) This is a great story all by itself, but McCormick brings the desperate-yet-resolved vibe that Catniss deserves. (If you're noticing a pattern, I like strong female leads to counter this Bella Swan bullshit.) Airman - written by Eoin Colfer and read by John Keating (preview) Artemis Fowl series - written by Eoin Colfer and read by Nathaniel Parker (sample) Airborn series - written by Kenneth Oppel and read by Full Cast Audio (sample) David Kelly reading Matt Cruze captures his boyish wonder perfectly and I find it infectious.
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Feb 3, 2011 03:43
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groverat posted:Tiffany Aching series - written by Terry Pratchett and read by Stephen Briggs (sample) I've always felt that Nigel Planer was better of the two.
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Feb 4, 2011 11:44
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The two most offensive things in the history of audiobooks are (1) Jesse Bernstein's voice for the winged horse character, Blackjack, in the Percy Jackson series and (2) Connor O'Brien singing in the old recording of Lucifer's Hammer. "Puuuure cul-ture" is a running joke in my house. There's a reason the old sci-fi standards are getting new productions, and that reason is Connor O'Brien's godawful nasal voice. More recommendations: Twilight series - written by Stephenie Meyer and read by Ilyana Kadushin (sample) Yes, yes, I know. I recommend this because it is better to listen to this reader then actually hold this book in front of your face if you are, for some reason, compelled or threatened into reading these books. Otherwise, ignore it. The Strain 1 - written by Guillermo del Toro and read by Ron Perlman (sample) The Strain 2 - written by Guillermo del Toro and read by Daniel Oreskes (sample) Perlman's reading was much better, and I don't know why he doesn't do the second book. If he was too busy they should've waited for him. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - written by David Sedaris and read by David Sedaris, Dylan Baker, Elaine Stritch, Sian Phillips (sample) Elaine Stritch's sections are ridiculously funny. While I would like David Sedaris to just follow me around and read everything I see aloud, the variety is fun.
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Feb 5, 2011 04:44
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Charlie Mopps posted:Audible is a good source for audiobooks. I have looked at Audible, but it is monthly subscription based. Why do you pay a monthly subscription and still have to buy the books? It would seem Im just paying an extra fee for no reason. That hardly makes any sense. strategery fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Feb 9, 2011 |
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Feb 9, 2011 22:29
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strategery posted:I have looked at Audible, but it is monthly subscription based. Why do you pay a monthly subscription and still have to buy the books? That hardly makes any sense. Pretty sure you get credits every month to pick stuff up with. Listened to Wigfield over the last few weeks. God that was funny. Colbert basically played his TV character, but as an author.
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Feb 9, 2011 22:35
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strategery posted:I have looked at Audible, but it is monthly subscription based. Why do you pay a monthly subscription and still have to buy the books? That hardly makes any sense. You get credits each month. My plan: AudibleListenerŽ Platinum Membership:$22.95 a month. Receive 2 credits each month. That means last month I spent 1 credit (about 11 bucks) and got a 41 hour long space opera that would have cost $40 to buy most places. *edit* Oh yeah, I recommend Pandora's Star, and the sequel Judas Unchained for long scifi space opera stuff that's a great balance between entertainment and quality scifi. Any shortcomings are made up for by John Lee's classy narrating. Locus fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 9, 2011 |
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Feb 9, 2011 22:37
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I've been listening to Neil Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle narrated by Simon Prebble for the past few months and so far I'm loving it. I love Stephenson's work, but the size of the Baroque Cycle is a bit daunting and I don't really have time to really delve into it in actual book form. I've been listening to a few books a month while commuting to work and jogging and it's a pretty fantastic production overall. Go listen to it!
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Feb 9, 2011 23:14
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Locus posted:You get credits each month. My plan: Okay, that makes more sense. From the website, I get: quote:Get your first 3 months for only $7.49/month* So is the price as I see it now ($7.49) discounted already, or is it 30% off something else? Just trying to understand pricing here before I take a plunge.
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Feb 9, 2011 23:25
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strategery posted:Okay, that makes more sense. From the website, I get: The example they provide there is confusing because the special price is different then the membership price. For example now that the special is over when I pull that book up it lists the regular price of $31.93 but also lists my member price $22.35. The discounts are not the big advantage to having an audible account its the credits you get every month. I get two per pay period and almost every book cost 1 credit. The new Wheel of Time book that came out only cost me 1 credit and the book is currently listed as $44.75 and that's with my member discount. That's 40 hours of audio book for 7 bucks.
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Feb 9, 2011 23:42
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The proper way to use audible is to use your monthy credits on anything that costs $40 or so. That way you're getting it a huge discount. Then if there's anything cheap you want, just buy it outright. You get that members discount and you save your credits for those long expensive books. This has served me well for a long long time.
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Feb 10, 2011 00:18
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If anyone uses iTunes, 39 audiobooks of public domain works are being sold for $2 a piece. It claims to be presented by Audible so they might be better quality than ones from Librivox or Internet Archive since I would assume these were recorded by professionals.
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Feb 11, 2011 04:44
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Island Nation posted:If anyone uses iTunes, 39 audiobooks of public domain works are being sold for $2 a piece. It claims to be presented by Audible so they might be better quality than ones from Librivox or Internet Archive since I would assume these were recorded by professionals. http://itunes.apple.com/us/collection/literary-classics-under-3/id28?fcId=418436251 Done by Brilliance Audio, which generally does a pretty good job. Generally I try to avoid buying Audible.com books from iTunes since you lose to ability to use with non-Apple devices, to redownload, or to stream, but the prices beat what I see on Audible's website significantly.
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Feb 11, 2011 05:10
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Hexadecimal Gnome posted:https://www.weread4you.com - just started up but already has about 8000 books on the site, more following each week. Okay, it's not got everything Audible has, but it's a good place to start for a lot of the books. Thanks for this. I made an Audible account a week or two ago and immediately cancelled when they wanted me to download software.
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Feb 11, 2011 13:03
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mastur posted:Thanks for this. That's a shockingly poor reason to cancel an Audible account. It's an unobtrusive little app that activates when you need to download a book, nothing more. You're missing out on an incredible amount of content for no good reason.
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Feb 11, 2011 18:15
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The reason is I don't want to. Poor, possibly, but still a good enough reason for me.
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Feb 11, 2011 19:01
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Island Nation posted:If anyone uses iTunes, 39 audiobooks of public domain works are being sold for $2 a piece. It claims to be presented by Audible so they might be better quality than ones from Librivox or Internet Archive since I would assume these were recorded by professionals. Mentioned earlier in the thread, but check out Lit2Go for public domain audiobook freebies. Your local library is another good source for free audiobooks, with interlibrary loan I can find an audiobook mentioned in this thread more often than not!
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Feb 11, 2011 23:01
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mastur posted:The reason is I don't want to. Poor, possibly, but still a good enough reason for me. If you have a smart phone, you can just download straight to that. That's what I do, and I loving love it. The Audible Android App is loving amazing.
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Feb 12, 2011 02:04
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A swell suggestion, I do not though. Perhaps sometime in the future, however far into it.
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Feb 12, 2011 02:27
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The General posted:The Audible Android App is loving amazing. Until it crashes all over the place or fails to download a file because it is "Unable to find file on server". I have never had such a fierce love/hate relationship with a piece of software.
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Feb 12, 2011 03:16
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The Wheel of Time books are all good on audio, a nice way to kill time while driving to work and back each day?
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Feb 16, 2011 13:48
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Someone already mentioned them earlier in the thread, but you really can't go wrong with the Rob Inglis reading of The Lord of the Rings. He's got a good speaking voice, a good vocal range for doing different voices, he sings all the songs, he speaks all the languages, it's just top notch stuff all around. Also it's unabridged, which is nice.
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Feb 16, 2011 21:37
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Tunahead posted:Someone already mentioned them earlier in the thread, but you really can't go wrong with the Rob Inglis reading of The Lord of the Rings. He's got a good speaking voice, a good vocal range for doing different voices, he sings all the songs, he speaks all the languages, it's just top notch stuff all around. Also it's unabridged, which is nice. He also recently did a reading Earthsea Cycle books which is head and shoulders above the atrocious Harlan Ellison version. He nails the crisp, lyrical, almost dreamlike quality of LeGuin's writing. Edit: His reading of The Hobbit is spot-on too.
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Feb 17, 2011 01:11
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Jonathan Marosz's reading of Theodore Rex is so crappy compared to Mark Deakins reading of Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. I don't know if I can get through it.
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Feb 17, 2011 20:49
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One of my favorite sites is https://www.radioarchive.cc. Its a torrent site containing spoken-word material originally broadcast on free-to-air radio, mostly from the BBC. Its completely legal, uploading copyrighted material from commercial sources results in a instant ban. Theres not a lot of unabridged audiobooks, its mostly dramatizations, but theres so many gems on that site its well worth digging through. Lots of classic SciFi from the 70s, crime/thrillers, comedies, historical/classics and documentaries. Some humble recommendations Search for Shakespeare for full cast performances of dozens of plays produced by the BBC. Stunning quality. Search for Wodehouse for similar success.Particularly worthy of your time is a recording of Martin Jarvis reading two Jeeves and Wooster stories in front of a live audience at a book fair. Its was described by The Times as a tour de force and its hard to disagree.Ive listened to them literally dozens of times. Star Wars - A New Hope,The Empire Strikes Back and The Return Of The Jedi. American NPR production with cooperation of Lucasfilm. Yeah, this one http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565110056/sofa-20/ref=nosim Really, theres so much on there that everybody should find something to suit. Just a quick reminder, this is legal! Anyway, I hope someone finds it useful.
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Feb 20, 2011 01:03
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bpower posted:One of my favorite sites is https://www.radioarchive.cc. Its a torrent site containing spoken-word material originally broadcast on free-to-air radio, mostly from the BBC. Its completely legal, uploading copyrighted material from commercial sources results in a instant ban. Thanks much! Will definitely check it out!
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Feb 20, 2011 07:19
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February Audible purchases: The Second World War: Alone The Second World War: The Grand Alliance The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy Sir Winston Churchill Narr.: Christian Rodska The remaining three parts of Churchill's account of World War II. In book three, you hear him tear a strip off Stalin, as by many accounts, he was the only one who saw Stalin for what he was: a paranoid, power-hungry, incompetent rear end in a top hat. 5/5 The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine Michael Lewis Narr.: Jesse Boggs (Reminds me of Graham Greene )An account of the events leading to the Sub-Prime Mortgage lending crash of 2007/2008, starring the few smart people who actually saw it coming, and proved it by making a shitton of money, when most of the banks lost their shirts. This book has a LOT of abbreviations, and as a layman, I've had to relisten to it to understand some of the more technical financial aspects of the book. 5/5 The Complete Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling Narr.: Johnny Morris (There's like 8 or 9 versions of this book on the site, all with different narrators) A collection of children's short stories, mostly revolving around how the various animals got their features. Like how the elephant got its trunk, the camel its hump, the leopard its spots etc. Really wanted to check out Kipling's stuff since re-viewing the original Sabu version of The Jungle Book. The Narrator is great, and goes the distance for the different animals and personalities in the book. You get the feeling Kipling wrote it for his daughter, as he makes many references to "my beloved". 5/5 Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Mar 2, 2011 |
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Mar 2, 2011 19:53
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I'm really enjoying Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell. It's a book about a mafia hitman turned medical intern, and the reader does a really great job of capturing the character's voice. Nothing too demanding, and it's got music at the tense moments! And sound effects!
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Mar 4, 2011 00:37
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That's why Star Wars books loving rule, too. Now if only the majority of them weren't loving abridged... 
Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Mar 4, 2011 |
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Mar 4, 2011 04:43
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So, here's a question, and I hope you'll pardon the naivete. I've learned over the time that I cannot under most circumstances stand any sort of "dramatic" rendition of text. Higher pitched words in dramatic moments, different tones for different characters, and so on drive me up the wall. I have no idea why, but it's the way I'm wired. I'd prefer if it was just flat monotone throughout. Is there a company or a particularly prolific narrator that specializes in this sort of thing. Most of the Audible content is dressed-up and performed rather too much for my taste.
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Mar 4, 2011 10:53
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 ... This is the probably the guy you want: Charlton Griffin. Alternately, doesn't Adobe or some other company have a Text-to-Voice program? I mean, if all you want is a flat monotone, why pay more than the price of an ebook? Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Mar 5, 2011 |
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Mar 4, 2011 11:57
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I have greatly enjoyed the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series as read by Patrick Tull. Tull really does bring out the best of the characters and his voice acting and range is superb.
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Mar 4, 2011 19:40
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