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Jaded Burnout posted:Something something jumping spiders As I told a friend of mine, I feel like Children of Time started out with the idea Space Ninja Spider Astronauts! and everything else was added on to work up to that point. I'm a ways into the second one, and yeah, my biggest compliant is that they start out so slow, but it pays off later on for the worldbuilding. I started off the audiobook of the second after reading a paperback of the first in a weekend, and the first hour or so with the humans was such a slog, but now it's picked up markedly. The "Critical Looks at Scifi/Fantasy" thread thinks it's an absurd book, but I enjoyed it. Edit: Fixed spoiler tags (not sure what I did wrong), but now my shame is quoted. boxen fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Jul 18, 2019 |
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Jul 17, 2019 02:23
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boxen posted:As I told a friend of mine, I feel like Children of Time started out with the idea Space Ninja Spider Astronauts! and everything else was added on to work up to that point. Hey friend your spoiler tags didn't work (I fear this everytime that I use them). That is also how I felt about the second one. luscious fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jul 18, 2019 |
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Jul 17, 2019 15:50
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I also just reached the "Holy gently caress!" part of Children of Ruin. HOLY gently caress!
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Jul 18, 2019 07:20
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boxen posted:Edit: Fixed spoiler tags (not sure what I did wrong), but now my shame is quoted. I'm an idiot. boxen posted:I also just reached the "Holy gently caress!" part of Children of Ruin. WHICH PART The Golem and the Jinni is amazing
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Jul 18, 2019 17:10
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luscious posted:I'm an idiot. The part where THE OOZE TAKES OVER THE GUY'S GODDAMNED BRAIN AND STARTS PRETENDING TO BE HIM, AND YOU GET HIS INTERNAL MONOLOGUE AS HE STOPS BEING HIMSELF AND THEN HE JABS A GODDAMNED SYRINGE INTO HIS EYE THROUGH HIS BRAIN. Also, the part where the leader dude tries to warn octopus guy to never visit the planet, and octopus guy says "yeah okay but why are you bringing a shuttle here" and the leader guy has one split second of horrified comprehension before the thing takes over and starts talking about adventure again. Jesus. I was listening to that right before bed. That was a mistake. I'm up to shortly after that, back in the "present" time. So, if anyone is thinking about reading Children of Time/Children of Ruin, I really enjoyed the first book as a "what if" scenario, its kind of a light read, more hard sci-fi I think. I enjoyed it. The second book goes along the same lines until it rather abruptly...doesn't. I'm really enjoying it. I read the first one in paperback, the second in audiobook and I'm enjoying the narration. The reader puts just enough accent into the different voices that you can tell people apart, but it doesn't seem to be they get to be so much as to be a caricature. The second book seems waaaay more British to me, but I'm not sure how much of that was stuff I just didn't pick up in reading the first, and how much is because the reader of the second audiobook has an English accent.
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Jul 18, 2019 19:55
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I really only listen to audiobooks when I'm working out. Any recommendations for books that are good to listen to in short bursts? Maybe short story collections or books with lots of small chapters? The Stephen Fry Sherlock Holmes collection has been perfect for this (and it's probably the best bang for your buck on Audible) but I'm struggling to find anything that fills a similar niche. I'm not really picky about genre. Anything that's easy to follow while riding a bike would be good.
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Jul 21, 2019 05:35
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Lester Shy posted:I really only listen to audiobooks when I'm working out. Any recommendations for books that are good to listen to in short bursts? Maybe short story collections or books with lots of small chapters? The Stephen Fry Sherlock Holmes collection has been perfect for this (and it's probably the best bang for your buck on Audible) but I'm struggling to find anything that fills a similar niche. I'm not really picky about genre. Anything that's easy to follow while riding a bike would be good. Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris come to mind. Anything by Kurt Vonnegut will have relatively short chapters.
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Jul 21, 2019 05:59
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Bhodi posted:Speed up / Slow down. Your mind is going to wander if it isn't at the right speed to keep you concentrating on it. This has helped massively. luscious posted:You may actually only like Cast Under an Alien Sun so maybe start with that one. I'm about two thirds through this one and I'm not sure about it yet. I'm beaten down by the constant use of sexual threat in media and there's a lot of it in this one. Also a lot of Smart White Guy Educates the Savages which just makes me feel uncomfortable. But I'll stick with it!
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Aug 13, 2019 20:14
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Jaded Burnout posted:I'm beaten down by the constant use of sexual threat in media and there's a lot of it in this one. Oh poo poo yeah, the whole friend's story. I remember that now. It does end and doesn't go back to that theme at all though so there's that. I have other recommendations from my "books written by women and narrated by women ONLY" phase if you want those? Jaded Burnout posted:Also a lot of Smart White Guy Educates the Savages which just makes me feel uncomfortable. I can totally see that. Jaded Burnout posted:I'll stick with it! I learned to stop doing that a long time ago! There's two big things you don't like so just stop!
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Aug 13, 2019 22:27
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Yeah, don't forget; if you hate the book, Audible will let you return it, no problem. So bored; I'm waiting for a half dozen authors I like to continue their series, and there's nothing yet.
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Aug 13, 2019 22:41
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Mister Facetious posted:Yeah, don't forget; if you hate the book, Audible will let you return it, no problem. Oh yeah, I did forget about that.
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Aug 13, 2019 22:48
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luscious posted:I finally pulled the trigger on The Golem and the Jinni - obviously going to be amazing but that I was not willing to go with before. You know what? It wasn't that amazing? It was a really great story and a really interesting premise and all that but it wasn't an amazing piece of writing. I listened to the entire thing but mehhhhh.
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Aug 13, 2019 22:50
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Just started the first sequel to Sabriel by Garth Nix, because the series is entertaining enough and Tim Curry's narration is goddamned fantastic.
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Aug 14, 2019 23:00
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Any suggestions for stuff to listen while going to sleep ? Short stories are probably better, a big collection would be ideal (and a narrator with a nice voice). I'm currently listening to the Conan complete weird tales omnibus, it's fun and I don't mind if I sleep and lose parts of the history since it'll just be some monster slashing or wizard punching that'll get resumed in the next night.
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Aug 15, 2019 05:31
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ZZZorcerer posted:Any suggestions for stuff to listen while going to sleep ? Short stories are probably better, a big collection would be ideal (and a narrator with a nice voice). I'm currently listening to the Conan complete weird tales omnibus, it's fun and I don't mind if I sleep and lose parts of the history since it'll just be some monster slashing or wizard punching that'll get resumed in the next night. I typically listen to some pulpy books I've listened to before and won't get too involved in because I won't be left wondering what happens next. Since you like Conan and fun stuff with magic and action, you might want to try some urban fantasy like Alex Verus or Dresden, both of which have pretty decent narrators. Rivers of London slots into a similar thing, but it is less pulpy. If you're dead set on shorter stories, you might try looking for things in the vein of Max Carrados, or My Man Jeeves. There was a fair amount of short, pulpy fiction published around 1920 of various genres that's littered all over Audible, though the narrators and audio quality can be hit or miss, depending on the age of the audiobook. Necronomicon, a collection of Lovecraft stories, is another thing you might like. Goes on sale often enough, decent length, decent narration.
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Aug 15, 2019 16:41
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Sometimes I use Librivox stuff to fall asleep so I don't feel like I'm "wasting" Audible credits on stuff I won't remember when I wake up. I think I've listened to the first chapter of Moby Dick like 20 times by now.
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Aug 15, 2019 17:42
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It took me a long time to get used to audiobooks, because I am a very fast reader. It felt like every book was going to take 4x as long as it would if I just read it. Then I met my trusty friend, the 1.25x option
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Aug 16, 2019 18:47
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1.25x sounds too much like Ben Shapiro
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Aug 16, 2019 18:53
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That sounds like a you problem.
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Aug 16, 2019 19:06
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I’d like to recommend Requiem for the American Dream by Noam Chomsky. I like the cadence of the narrator. Kind of sounds like a younger version of smarmy old Chomsky himself. Disclaimer: This book, like most Chomsky, is extremely depressing and should only be undertaken if your sadbrains are sufficiently controlled. It is a nice departure from the usual take of Americans being monsters to the world at large, to being monsters to ourselves!
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Aug 16, 2019 19:12
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ElGroucho posted:I am a very fast reader  ElGroucho posted:Then I met my trusty friend, the 1.25x option 
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Aug 16, 2019 20:11
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Lordshmee posted:I’d like to recommend Requiem for the American Dream by Noam Chomsky. I like the cadence of the narrator. Kind of sounds like a younger version of smarmy old Chomsky himself. I've got Manufacturing Consent, and it's a very interesting listen on American foreign policy and media coverage.
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Aug 16, 2019 20:26
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ElGroucho posted:Then I met my trusty friend, the 1.25x option I'm usually 2x, but I have done 3x on a different app before. 2x is easy enough, but anything over that requires so much focus on the words that you can't listen to the story.
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Aug 16, 2019 20:38
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ZZZorcerer posted:Any suggestions for stuff to listen while going to sleep ? Admittedly I'm a good sleeper, but I listen to anything as I drift off. I'm usually asleep within 10 minutes and just chance I won't wake up and continue listening missing a bit. Using Voice, I just set a sleep timer and then, when I wake, just fast forward through bits I recognise.
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Aug 16, 2019 21:15
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ZZZorcerer posted:Any suggestions for stuff to listen while going to sleep ? Short stories are probably better, a big collection would be ideal (and a narrator with a nice voice). I'm currently listening to the Conan complete weird tales omnibus, it's fun and I don't mind if I sleep and lose parts of the history since it'll just be some monster slashing or wizard punching that'll get resumed in the next night. I really like factual/trivia books for this purpose, the last one I "read" was "Victorian Secrets", narrated by Stephen Fry. Pleasant to listen to, but each chapter is its own little story about some sordid piece of Victorian society. Not a subject I care enough about to keep me laser-focused on it, but just interesting/quirky enough to keep my mind occupied. I downloaded it earlier this year when I had laser eye surgery, I had basically a week of hanging out in my darkened apartment and not able to read text well on a screen or in a book. I know I listened to multiple chapters several times because I'd drift off halfway through.
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Aug 17, 2019 00:28
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Yeah, if you have an Audible sub, you get two Audible Originals™ short stories (<6 hours) per month for free. Higher than average production value too, if you're into that sort of thing.
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Aug 17, 2019 02:22
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Mister Facetious posted:Yeah, if you have an Audible sub, you get two Audible Originals™ short stories (<6 hours) per month for free. Higher than average production value too, if you're into that sort of thing. I always pick two and haven't been disappointed yet in the past few months
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Aug 17, 2019 03:07
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Thanks for the recs thread ! (I'm already listening to the Dresden ones, the narrator is pretty good, I'm finding it better to listen to than read)
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Aug 17, 2019 06:17
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This thread is helping me spot things I don't like about audiobooks. Latest realisation: I'm pretty much done with moderately spoken 60+ y/o man narrators.
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Aug 19, 2019 20:11
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Jaded Burnout posted:This thread is helping me spot things I don't like about audiobooks. Latest realisation: I'm pretty much done with moderately spoken 60+ y/o man narrators. oh god me too. Like I said before, I went through a woman author woman narrator phase. I listened to The Worldship Humility and loved it. I'm also listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno which is a podcast about a book. I feel in some ways that is close enough to an audiobook but I'm sure there's a thread for podcasts so I'll make my way there eventually.
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Aug 19, 2019 21:46
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luscious posted:
I tried, but i couldn't finish it. I like the characters, but I couldn't stand her accent for the main character.
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Aug 19, 2019 22:28
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Folks looking for good female narrators should check out Ashes if you're into cosmic horror / haunted houses, Light Brigade for socially conscious milSF, and The Library at Mount Char for deeply strange modern fantasy that will resonate with anyone who's ever played Nobilis.
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Aug 20, 2019 01:32
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I'm listening to Lost in Math, the woman narrating it is pretty good. quote:A contrarian argues that modern physicists' obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science It's a pretty interesting book
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Aug 21, 2019 07:02
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About to finish listening to Don Winslow's power of the dog series or w/e read by Ray Porter. Real big fan of Ray. Any other recs narrated by him?
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Aug 29, 2019 14:57
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I enjoyed Porter's work on Ghost in the Wires and 14.
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Aug 30, 2019 18:20
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:read by Ray Porter. Real big fan of Ray. Any other recs narrated by him? Audible pair him with Dennis E. Taylor, of the Bobiverse fame. I've enjoyed that, Singularity Trap and Outworld (which is the first of a series)
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Aug 30, 2019 21:10
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:About to finish listening to Don Winslow's power of the dog series or w/e read by Ray Porter. Real big fan of Ray. Any other recs narrated by him? He was born to read Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels.
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Aug 30, 2019 23:33
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Anyone have an opinion on How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England?
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Sep 2, 2019 08:36
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luscious posted:I listened to The Worldship Humility and loved it. I'm also listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno which is a podcast about a book. I feel in some ways that is close enough to an audiobook but I'm sure there's a thread for podcasts so I'll make my way there eventually. Thread? There's a whole subforum: https://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?daysprune=&forumid=255
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Sep 2, 2019 12:34
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I cannot more highly recommend A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Never mind the reviewers saying the audio sucks. It’s 99.9% fine. There’s some roughness near the beginning that goes away quickly. I should warn that if you have sadbrains this may not be good for you, but really it should be required reading for all US citizens at least. Very well done. As damning as it is, it isn’t really preachy. Just the facts.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:05
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