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

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Can I get a rundown on a list of the :agesilaus:

Great Classics :agesilaus:

of literature and/or non-fiction that everyone wants to read but turns out to be a boring slog, made great by audiobook? Things like Jeremy Irons in Lolita.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 00:12

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 22:41

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

I don't believe any of you have ever read Paradise Lost, and you don't want to.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 04:16

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

The Paradise Lost line is actually a quote from Mark Twain, from the whole "everyone wants to have read the classics but nobody wants to read them" thing. I appreciate the Candide rec, anything in those lines (Flaubert, or maybe a good reading of a Russian author)? Already read Caesar, but how do people feel about the Xenophon and/or Plutarch's Lives on Audible?

Any recommendations in the vein of [i[Walden[/i] or the like?

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 06:43

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Apoffys posted:

The translator had made the incomprehensible decision to change it from the original 3rd person narrative to a 1st person narrative.

I...what? That's just bizarre. These recommendations are great, so thanks! Looking forward to Littlefingers's Art of War.

I'm just sad now that there isn't a Kenneth Branagh version of Paradise Lost (the good parts). Imagine him rousing the troops of Hell.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 17:06

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Rocksicles posted:

Cool, i'm in. Gracias.

No, try Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth and if you like it go to Dogs of War. He was a reporter who liked to research the details with sources that were very true to life, so the whole book reads very authentically.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2018 23:15

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Yes, there was also a 1973 movie that adhered more closely (at all) to the book

# ¿ Jan 28, 2018 02:29

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Out of the PKD books, I've never heard anyone mention Martian Time Slip, which is absolutely nuts and fantastic to listen to on a long drive.

I'm pretty sure this is the one I've listened to:
https://www.amazon.com/Martian-Time-Slip/dp/B01CPT0B6Q

It'll fit the bill in terms of near future, high tech low life, nothing makes sense aesthetic of cyberpunk, but don't read anything else about it before jumping in.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2018 18:23

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Awesome, let me know what you think of it.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2018 19:32

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

On China by Henry Kissinger is your best bet.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2018 21:25

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Mister Facetious posted:

If anyone's looking for a combination of Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Ringworld, Han Solo, and Farscape, may I recommend 85 hours of:

Galaxy Outlaws: The Complete Black Ocean Mobius Missions 1-16.5

Just some very chill space hijinks.

space fanfiction is very bad unless the author is good and there being 85 hours makes me think it's some stream of consciousness from a dude who's only diet is other sci-fi. confirm/deny?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2018 22:07

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

What are the best histories and historical texts in Audible?

# ¿ Mar 6, 2019 21:46

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

The Illiad: Fitzgerald Translation; narrated by Dan Stevens is my personal recommendation. Fitzgerald isn�t the �best� translation, but he aims for clarity and legibility, which really helps on a first read and also in audio form. You can always read it later with another translation. And Dan Stevens in that particular recording is perfect. He reads the prose poetically and gives each character just a hint of character, but never oversells it or gets in the way. It really brings the story to life.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2019 12:47

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

1.25x sounds too much like Ben Shapiro

# ¿ Aug 16, 2019 18:53

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Get both, without question.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2019 01:37

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

How about recommendations on Sssssspppppaaaaaace? Non-fiction; history or technical oriented as much as possible?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yMy7JuGpJM

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 00:29

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Mister Facetious posted:

I'll post my collection after work in about three hours.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 00:55

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Mister Facetious posted:

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon*
- Todd Zwillich
* Audible Original of the month, so it's pretty short.

This is what got me on this kick. Exploring New Horizons looks like more of the same inside baseball at NASA. Thanks for the other recommendations. How well do you think Hawking's Brief History of Time would work aloud?

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 05:00

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Try it for a while, milk a few free months and buy the cheap books or do the kindle shuffle. It's worth it.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2020 02:32

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Putting items on your wishlist is a good move too, because it�ll single them out for you in 2-for-1 deals and daily $5 sales. You have to work for it, but you can really get a very solid value out of Audible.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2020 13:44

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

NikkolasKing posted:

sI just wanna give a shoutout to Ukemi Audiobooks.

A while ago now I was wondering about how to get Martin Heidegger's Being and Time in audiobook format. Well...
https://www.audible.com/pd/Being-an...c3_lProduct_1_1

I also have a strong interest in Confucianism and was stunned to see this
https://www.audible.com/pd/Mengzi-M...c3_lProduct_1_1

Read by the translator and scholar himself.

It's all very cool and good if you like philosophy and trying to be smart as I am trying to do.

Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. They�ve got all the deep cuts I never read in college.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2020 02:10

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

There are a lot of good books in this weird free book Audible thing. It�s a very eclectic mix but a lot of stuff that�s been on my wish list forever is suddenly free. You can add it to your library, but apparently it disappears if you cancel your subscription. Not sure how that work.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2020 00:56

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

2-for-1 sale again at Audible. If you haven't read The Illiad recently or at all, you really owe it to yourself to try this:
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Iliad-Audiobook/B00HUWO1T2
It's Dan Simmons reading a good translation and he brings it to life. I can't shill it enough.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2020 15:42

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Another vote for as you wish. It was fantastic. Bought it for a car trip a few years ago and we sat in the car for another half hour after we arrived to finish it.

# ¿ May 20, 2021 00:58

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Robert Heinlein�s Citizen of the Galaxy is good teen lit sci-fi. It�s Kipling�s Kim, in spaaaaace.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2021 16:36

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Martman posted:

I know this is a very old post but I just wanted to point out it's narrated by Dan Stevens (actor from Downton Abbey, Legion, The Guest, etc.), not Dan Simmons (author of a couple cool sci-fi books and then later a bunch of terrible garbage). Made me much more interested when I clicked through on that one lol

but seriously it's really good.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2021 01:02

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

my kinda ape posted:

Anybody have a bunch of good recommendations you can throw at me? Due to Reasons I have 14 credits I have to spend by July and I figure I better just use them now before I forget until the last minute. I read/listen to a lot of history, sci-fi, and fantasy stuff but I'm open to pretty much anything. Mysteries/detective stuff is cool for instance.

https://www.audible.com/series/Chronicles-of-Amber-Audiobooks/B008LV5SPC
If you like the first one, just get the next 4. And if you like that, get the next 5.

History-wise, I've been enjoying biographies by this guy:
https://www.audible.com/author/T-J-Stiles/B001IXNXUC
They're all good.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 04:57

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

How is Thomas Pynchon on audiobook?

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 17:42

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Yeah I thought it might be basically impossible. Maybe the Crying of Lot 49, but I�ll probably just stick to *shudder* printed text for him

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 18:37

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

CommonShore posted:

well I don't need it to be free - I'd rather it be good and have a good selection and not be owned by Amazon. I just added my interests because I'm assuming that various platforms have smaller/more focused selections.

Honestly, Audible blows away anything else. If you're dead set against it.... I dunno, a library card? Buying books on the apple store?

# ¿ Jan 6, 2023 06:44

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Ralph Fienes reading Lolita is incredible. He absolutely nails the character of the narrator.

Audiobook of Dune is great, they have different characters for the voices of some chapters.

There�s Heart of Darkness by Kenneth Branaugh although I think that one is better read than aloud.

And the the Iliad and the Odyssey read by Dan Steven�s of Downton Abbey; he does a great job

# ¿ Apr 19, 2023 02:02

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

That Dark and Bloody River (novel)
The Pioneers (kind of slow and meandering but informative)
The Apache Wars
There�s also a good biography of Daniel Boone, which has quite a lot to do with Indian wars and settlement politics

# ¿ Feb 16, 2024 23:47

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 22:41

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

I thought the ensemble version was really, really well done. It has different voices for most characters, a little music and some sound effects, but they�re all good and not distracting. It helped me keep everything straight and listen to all 9,000,000 hours while building a staircase in my house

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 01:49

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