Audiobooks: when you're too busy to read

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Audiobooks: when you're too busy to read

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

I've listened to a few Great Courses (before Audible, too), and two of them on Audible, and they were pretty nice. But I've tried a few that were a complete chore to listen to, actually for no clear reason I could give. But the series is definitely a reasonable choice, if only for financial reasons.

Uh, today may be not the best day to make such decisions since I really haven't slept well today.

# ? Dec 25, 2014 07:50

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# ? May 14, 2024 11:25

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

I decided to try searching for audiobooks through Amazon for a change, and I thought I stumbled upon something interesting. My first find was http://www.amazon.com/Divorcing-Narcissist-One-Moms-Battle/dp/B00NJ0OMUC/ref=sr_1_14 Now I've listened to the excerpt, and I have a question - what drugs do you have to take to narrate like that? Also, does anybody else feel like that or is there something wrong with me?

# ? Dec 26, 2014 11:26

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Doctor Who audiobook bundle over at Humble. A shitload of nerdlord audiobook content and an Android game for ~$15

https://www.humblebundle.com/books

Might even suspend my Audible membership for a few months while I make my way through all this!

# ? Dec 26, 2014 23:54

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

quote:

Thank you for your inquiry. As a valued customer, your experience is important to us. We invite you to answer the question below regarding your Customer Care experience. Your feedback will help us better serve your future needs.

Did the support Customer Care provided exceed your expectations?

Yes No

What is this question? :psyduck:

I mean, yes, recent events in my life don't make me particularly optimistic. What does that have to do with the quality of your customer care?

# ? Dec 27, 2014 11:49

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

It's silly question but they want a good sounding soundbite to advertise with.

# ? Dec 27, 2014 18:31

Clinton1011: Jul 11, 2007

supermikhail posted:

I decided to try searching for audiobooks through Amazon for a change, and I thought I stumbled upon something interesting. My first find was http://www.amazon.com/Divorcing-Narcissist-One-Moms-Battle/dp/B00NJ0OMUC/ref=sr_1_14 Now I've listened to the excerpt, and I have a question - what drugs do you have to take to narrate like that? Also, does anybody else feel like that or is there something wrong with me?

I might be mistaken but isn't audible owned by amazon? Does amazon have audiobooks that they don't list on audible.?

# ? Dec 27, 2014 19:09

Kraps: Sep 9, 2011; This avatar was paid for by the Silent Majority.

Clinton1011 posted:

I might be mistaken but isn't audible owned by amazon? Does amazon have audiobooks that they don't list on audible.?

Yeah, they should have the same selection. That narrator sounds like a "Press 1 for English" recording, pretty amazing.

# ? Dec 28, 2014 02:53

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

Clinton1011 posted:

I might be mistaken but isn't audible owned by amazon? Does amazon have audiobooks that they don't list on audible.?

Yes, no. I thought maybe the Amazon site provides additional search options, but it actually turned out less helpful, because of the lack of instant preview (by which I mean the blurb and other information popping up when you mouse over)... I still think it was a useful break from the usual (vicious) routine.

# ? Dec 28, 2014 04:00

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

supermikhail posted:

I've listened to a few Great Courses (before Audible, too), and two of them on Audible, and they were pretty nice. But I've tried a few that were a complete chore to listen to, actually for no clear reason I could give. But the series is definitely a reasonable choice, if only for financial reasons.

Uh, today may be not the best day to make such decisions since I really haven't slept well today.

Have you gotten the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio shows yet?

# ? Jan 7, 2015 21:43

Fiendish Dr. Wu: Nov 11, 2010; You done fucked up now!

Speaking of Audible (and quality narrators), I've been listening to The Children of Hurin narrated by Sir Christopher Lee, and I'm loving it. He's such a dramatic narrator and sounds so fluent speaking the fictional languages (makes sense considering he speaks a thousand languages in real life). However, I do listen at 1.5-2x speed often because he does get a little slow. I want to find more book narrated by him. Also I'll be really sad when he dies

# ? Jan 7, 2015 23:08

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

Wade Wilson posted:

Have you gotten the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio shows yet?

First, why "yet"? Second, I've listened to them, but off-Audible. And around that time I also read all the books. Quite a shock.

# ? Jan 8, 2015 05:38

Talmonis: Jun 24, 2012; The fairy of forgiveness has removed your red text.

I just finished Matterhorn: a Novel of the Vietnam War; and this may be the best audiobook I've ever encountered. It's not afraid to show the ugly politics involved in that war, including race politics and the ruthlessness of raw ambition. Not for the weak stomach, but a gut wrenching, emotional novel.

# ? Jan 13, 2015 15:11

Robotnik: Dec 3, 2004; STUPID
DICK

With Golden Son having just come out I'd like to thoroughly recommend both it and the preceding book, Red Rising, by Pierce Brown and read by Tim Gerard Reynolds. The books are very much hero's journey and standard fare space opera but the narration is so well done that even if the book was average (and I think both are quite a bit more than that) it turns into a total delight.

# ? Jan 13, 2015 17:59

The Science Goy: Mar 27, 2007; Where did you learn to drive?

Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" has me hooked already, and I'm only 20 minutes in. No wonder it had such a long waiting list in Overdrive...

# ? Jan 13, 2015 18:07

Scrot Eel: Jan 22, 2002; Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!

CaseFace McGee posted:

Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" has me hooked already, and I'm only 20 minutes in. No wonder it had such a long waiting list in Overdrive...

All of his writing makes good audiobooks. He doesn't do the narration on "A Walk in the Woods" but it's well-performed and works great as an audiobook. I'm listening to it at the moment.

# ? Jan 13, 2015 23:32

savinhill: Mar 28, 2010

Talmonis posted:

I just finished Matterhorn: a Novel of the Vietnam War; and this may be the best audiobook I've ever encountered. It's not afraid to show the ugly politics involved in that war, including race politics and the ruthlessness of raw ambition. Not for the weak stomach, but a gut wrenching, emotional novel.

It's been a long time since I've read a good Vietnam book but I used to devour them when I was younger, this will be perfect for me as an audiobook.

Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:

Speaking of Audible (and quality narrators), I've been listening to The Children of Hurin narrated by Sir Christopher Lee, and I'm loving it. He's such a dramatic narrator and sounds so fluent speaking the fictional languages (makes sense considering he speaks a thousand languages in real life). However, I do listen at 1.5-2x speed often because he does get a little slow. I want to find more book narrated by him. Also I'll be really sad when he dies

I've had this one for awhile and it's probably my all time favorite audiobook narration. Lee's voice is just so fitting for the epic, mythical nature of the material. I wish he narrated more fantasy books like this.

# ? Jan 15, 2015 21:31

ssb: Feb 16, 2006; WOULD YOU ACCOMPANY ME ON A BRISK WALK? I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU!!

savinhill posted:

It's been a long time since I've read a good Vietnam book but I used to devour them when I was younger, this will be perfect for me as an audiobook.

This is not an audiobook so is maybe inappropriate for the thread but I'm going to link this anyways.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~stefan/sa/KillingforPeace.pdf (hosting mine)

Some guy on the forums way back when typed up his dad's memoirs and they're really good.

# ? Jan 16, 2015 15:29

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

I just got reminded that I'm registered at Scribd, and somehow they're in on the audiobook gig now. It's a monthly subscription at $8.99, although I'm not sure how they make that work. I can't report on quality, though, since I'm still trying to get through my Audible backlog, but right off the bat, there's no blurb popup which my privileged rear end finds very inconvenient... Oh, wait. Well, it opens a popup when you click on a title, which is almost the same, or maybe even better... Well, any subscribers here?

# ? Jan 16, 2015 16:45

Fiendish Dr. Wu: Nov 11, 2010; You done fucked up now!

savinhill posted:

I've had this one for awhile and it's probably my all time favorite audiobook narration. Lee's voice is just so fitting for the epic, mythical nature of the material. I wish he narrated more fantasy books like this.

I'll probably start picking this up again next, though I just finished The Peripheral by William Gibson, which was extremely good, and am in the mood for more sci-fi.

So, I'm looking for a recommendation. I'm not sure if I want to do another Gibson yet, or if I should try Caliban's War in audiobook (loved reading Leviathan Wakes) or go for a classic. edit: Been wanting to read Solaris or start on the Rama series or Foundation series.

Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jan 16, 2015

# ? Jan 16, 2015 17:13

jeeves: May 27, 2001; Deranged Psychopathic
Butler Extraordinaire

Rama is not a series. The first book was good and the rest are basically knock offs written by a ghost writer.

# ? Jan 17, 2015 19:10

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

Oh, yeah, that's the reason that after listening to Rama 1 I read the synopses for the rest, discovering that's not at all what I'd signed up for with the first book (nails-hard scifi, that is).

# ? Jan 18, 2015 07:14

java: May 7, 2005

you-so-craycray posted:

I'm sure its already been mentioned but 11/22/63 by Stephen king has to be one of the best I've listened to. In short: A man goes back in time to prevent the assassination of JFK, falls in love while he's there etc etc. he won't want to turn off the car.

I know this is from two months ago, but I just finished 11/23/63 and have to agree. It's really quite good.

# ? Jan 23, 2015 06:47

Fiendish Dr. Wu: Nov 11, 2010; You done fucked up now!

jeeves posted:

Rama is not a series. The first book was good and the rest are basically knock offs written by a ghost writer.

supermikhail posted:

Oh, yeah, that's the reason that after listening to Rama 1 I read the synopses for the rest, discovering that's not at all what I'd signed up for with the first book (nails-hard scifi, that is).

Well that's good to know. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 2001 and just knew I wanted some more Clarke. Will probably keep Rendezvous with Rama on the list for later.

I actually started City of Stairs again, and this time I'm really liking it. I don't know what turned me off last time.

Still interested to hear some rec's for a good series in the vein of Leviathan Wakes.

edit: holy poo poo, I just saw that The Quantum Thief is on audible. William Gibson in space? I think I found my next audiobook.

Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Jan 23, 2015

# ? Jan 23, 2015 15:13

Ariza: Feb 8, 2006

java posted:

I know this is from two months ago, but I just finished 11/23/63 and have to agree. It's really quite good.

I loved it as well and the narrator was very good. It got me through a really long drive and kept me interested the entire time, which is no small feat for me. I have a hard time getting through the first hour most of the time.

# ? Jan 23, 2015 16:04

jeeves: May 27, 2001; Deranged Psychopathic
Butler Extraordinaire

I highly recommend the Flashman novels to anyone who wants a bit of 19th century pre-Victorian British history combined with one of the best cowardly bastard anti-heroes ever.

The reader of the books has one of the best 'landed gentry british snob' voices ever, and it totally works as an autobiographical memoir.

# ? Jan 23, 2015 21:05

Arcanen: Dec 19, 2005

Everyone should check out the audiobooks of the Red Rising series (Red Rising and it's sequel Golden Son). The books themselves are absolutely incredible (Red Rising starts out as an extremely well done Hunger Games/Spartacus mashup that becomes so much more). The narrator is fantastic, having distinct voices for characters and delivering epic speeches in grand fashion that'll have you fist pumping in the subway on your morning commute.

# ? Jan 24, 2015 09:59

jototo: Sep 3, 2003

2 credits free on Audible for new/returning subscribers.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7618538-1-month-audible-trial-membership-2-audiobooks-free-new-audible-customers?v=1

# ? Jan 25, 2015 23:35

The Science Goy: Mar 27, 2007; Where did you learn to drive?

jototo posted:

2 credits free on Audible for new/returning subscribers.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7618538-1-month-audible-trial-membership-2-audiobooks-free-new-audible-customers?v=1

Worked for me, thanks! That gives me five credits over the past three months for a total of $6, not bad!

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:27

duz: Jul 11, 2005; Come on Ilhan, lets go bag us a shitpost

Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:

I'll probably start picking this up again next, though I just finished The Peripheral by William Gibson, which was extremely good, and am in the mood for more sci-fi.

So, I'm looking for a recommendation. I'm not sure if I want to do another Gibson yet, or if I should try Caliban's War in audiobook (loved reading Leviathan Wakes) or go for a classic. edit: Been wanting to read Solaris or start on the Rama series or Foundation series.

The BBC Radio version of the Foundation Trilogy is on Spotify. I happen to really like it though it's not quite the same as the original books.
Unrelated, but I see that browsing the related artists gets you audiobooks of various public domain stuff like Arther Conan Doyle.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:55

Fiendish Dr. Wu: Nov 11, 2010; You done fucked up now!

duz posted:

The BBC Radio version of the Foundation Trilogy is on Spotify. I happen to really like it though it's not quite the same as the original books.
Unrelated, but I see that browsing the related artists gets you audiobooks of various public domain stuff like Arther Conan Doyle.

Well this is awesome, and I have spotify! Sounds like that's next on the list.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 23:05

Authorman: Mar 5, 2007; slamcat

CaseFace McGee posted:

Worked for me, thanks! That gives me five credits over the past three months for a total of $6, not bad!

I have spent a grand total of $7.97 on audible and now have 9 books, 2 credits, and 14 dollars worth of store credit.

I almost feel bad about this.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 23:39

supermikhail: Nov 17, 2012; "It's video games, Scully."
Video games?"
"He enlists the help of strangers to make his perfect video game. When he gets bored of an idea, he murders them and moves on to the next, learning nothing in the process."
"Hmm... interesting."

Oh, gently caress you!

What do you do, keep re-subscribing?

I put my subscription on hold at the end of December for 2 months, and maybe listened to half-a-book out of 4 in my backlog since then. I just have to hope that Audible won't be too sore when I also cancel at the end of February.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 03:40

Fiendish Dr. Wu: Nov 11, 2010; You done fucked up now!

Authorman posted:

I almost feel bad about this.

Use credit. Download book to device. Use 'Great Listen Guarantee'. Get credit back. Keep book on device.

I found this out by accident. :ninja:

# ? Jan 27, 2015 04:17

Scrot Eel: Jan 22, 2002; Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!

For anyone familiar with the movie, "The Room", I highly recommend "The Disaster Artist". I'm only an hour and a half in and it's already one of my all time favorite audiobooks. The story behind the making of the movie is spit take funny.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 07:25

Authorman: Mar 5, 2007; slamcat

supermikhail posted:

Oh, gently caress you!

What do you do, keep re-subscribing?

Keep your eyes on slickdeals, Audible is constantly doing these types of deals. They currently have the two free credit thing AND a 10 dollar gift cert for no reason. Also threaten to cancel randomly and they give you free stuff. I got that Matterhorn book Talmonis recommended for free just for threatening to cancel when I went to get the free credit deal. And then I did cancel and now I am three free books richer.

Also I can second jeeves' pick of Flashman, this reading is pretty great. He is just a smarmy, utterly despicable human being and is still not as evil as his British imperial contemporaries.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 07:52

fordan: Mar 9, 2009; Clue: Zero

Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:

Use credit. Download book to device. Use 'Great Listen Guarantee'. Get credit back. Keep book on device.

I found this out by accident.

So fraud then.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 15:03

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

fordan posted:

So fraud then.

The limit there is how much storage space you have on your device, depending on the book, you might get the entire Dresden Files library so far, but not much else.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 18:04

jototo: Sep 3, 2003

CaseFace McGee posted:

Worked for me, thanks! That gives me five credits over the past three months for a total of $6, not bad!

I signed up for that $2/month for 3 months deal, plus they had a promotion for $10 in free credits a couple weeks ago. They gave an additional $20 when I went to cancel, then this deal, and there was another $10 free credits the other day. So 5 credits plus $40 worth of audible credit for $6. There's even a $6.99 sale going on now. Slickdeals forums are pretty bad but I have an alert set to notify me for certain deals. Audible constantly has promos going on

# ? Jan 27, 2015 18:33

fordan: Mar 9, 2009; Clue: Zero

Wade Wilson posted:

The limit there is how much storage space you have on your device, depending on the book, you might get the entire Dresden Files library so far, but not much else.

I have a lot of storage space on my iMac for .aa files.

code:

Rand:~ user$ cd Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music/
Rand:iTunes Music user$ du -sh Audiobooks
 73G	Audiobooks
Rand:iTunes Music user$

I... I might have a problem.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 19:00

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# ? May 14, 2024 11:25

mastajake: Oct 3, 2005; My blade is unBENDING!

supermikhail posted:

Oh, yeah, that's the reason that after listening to Rama 1 I read the synopses for the rest, discovering that's not at all what I'd signed up for with the first book (nails-hard scifi, that is).

Oh man, that was a good read (listen). Thanks for the recommendations guys! I've never read any Stephen King, so now I'm trying out The Stand to see if it's as good.

# ? Jan 31, 2015 22:41

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