Reading SuperFreakonomics Listening to World War Z This is cool because the parts are read by different actors so it is like listening to a play. This is only my second audio book, are a lot of like that?
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) Is it suspenseful or sorta silly listening to a zombie audio book?
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) Audio books will eat your brain. Once I tried to listen to Shirers 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' on books on tape while driving across the country. I had to turn around make five round trips to finish it. By the time it ended Id spent eighteen hundred dollars on gas. (Damn you Seyss-Inquart! (I really hated that guy))
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) I'm kind of an audiobook junkie! They get me through my commute! No, not a lot are done by a full cast like that one. I actually own that one, but I usually get them from the library. Usually, the books are read by a single reader... though those readers are often great. A good reader can make or break an audio book. If you read a lot, you'll start to recognize names of the really good ones.
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) I agree. I don't have tons of experience with audio books, but I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid books that are read by the author, unless the author is someone in show business. I listened to Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden. It was a good book, but Bowden was a really bland reader, and so I found my attention wandering. The best reader I ever encountered was The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman. It was read by Nadia May-- May would read the various quotations from WWI-era world leaders in their appropriate accent. It was entertaining and delightful.
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) It's rare that a book on disk allows me to get lost in it the way reading on my own does. I've only ever listened to them consistently while in a car (they made a huge difference when I spend a few year commuting between Ann Arbor and Detroit). I found I like listening to non-fiction most, but one problem with that is that you don't have a paper book to go back to and re-read stuff to learn/understand it better, or just to have it as a resource. That's why I went out and bought book versions of things like Founding Brothers and A Short History of Nearly Everything. Bill Bryson is an intelligent and interesting reader of his own books. He does his own dry humor very well. However, his voice takes some getting used to. Will Patton does a fantastic job with some of James Lee Burke's Robicheaux books. Whoever published them started out the O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin books with a piss-poor reader and then switched to somebody who was much better about a third of the way through.
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) Audio books do have their limitations, as bungadiri points out. I listen only to non-fiction, too, because with non fiction it's not as critical if your mind wanders and you're like, "oops, I haven't been paying attention for the last five minutes." Right now, I'm listening to: Mark Kurlansky, The Basque History of the World. Very interesting so far. I really want to visit the north of Spain.
Re: So...what are you reading (Vol VI) I dont think the World War Z would work unless it was read by a cast. The book is entirely interviews and that would get old listening to the same voice reading all parts. I listened to Jon Stewart's Earth and himself and his entire cast read it and I think it really made an average book worth listening too. I have been downloading audio books like crazy as I found away to knock out some books of my several hundred book to-read list.
Some highlights in audio books: The Dresden Files - This series is read by James Marsters (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame). The good thing, is that he's a great narrator with just the right voice. The negative is that he mispronounces quite a few words on a regular basis. If you can get past that, then the books are a lot of fun. The Three Musketeers - This one is read by Michael Page. He does an absolutely wonderful job. His voice is so much fun, and there's a real sense of adventure. The Fountainhead - Wow does Kate Reading nail this one. It's like..... 30 discs. HUGE. But her pacing is phenomenal. I listened to a sample from a different reader, and it just didn't get me like Kate Reading's narration. Any Harry Bosch series novel (by Michael Connelly). These are read by Len Cariou, whose gruff voice is utterly perfect. George Guidall and Frank Muller are really good readers overall. Oh... if anyone hasn't read the Millennium series yet, then the reader for that is quite good. Simon Vance is his name.
Hm. She's still reading Ayn Rand's garbage prose, though, right? I'm going to disagree with bungadiri on the Aubrey/Maturin series...my recollection was that the readers were consistently fantastic and really brought his sense of language and diction to life. It's possible I didn't listen to them in order though, so maybe I missed out on the ones with an inferior reader. Overall, those book have been my favorite listening experience, I'd say. In general, I think genre fiction works better than literary fiction. Rushdie, McCarthy, Delillo, etc. I haven't been able to get into any audio books of their works. Biographies are great, though. John Adams, in particular.
For me it was the earliest books in the series and I thought whoever was reading it missed exactly what you're talking about liking best (plus the humorous sidebar comments were totally stomped on). I wonder if they had the new guy re-do them, though. IIRC, my first experiences were with cassette tapes so they might have gotten somebody new to do disks. Now that you mention it, I think you make a great point about genre fiction. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Eco) and 2666 (Bolano, and I knew I was a moron for trying it on CD) were lost causes. Both needed to be read rather than listened to. Had not come to that general realization myself, though.
I read the first of this series in the fall but havent read the second yet. So, I found this online and am listening to the second book. I have always been a fan of Marsters. I half expected him to be using his Spike voice!
Actually, he almost kind of does... when Bob talks. Of course, it's not really a Spike voice, but it's an English accent. There are some serious mispronunciations, but he's a good reader overall. "Heighth" is annoying... He says, "wreeth" when he means "writhe." He once even said "de-abilitating." I look past it, but I can't help but notice.
My favorite book of all-time. I am due for another read so I may have to check out the audio version. It is probably 20 hours long though.
Yeah, I hadnt got to that part when I posted the first time but I thought that immediately. He does a really good job with acting with his voice. He isnt just reading which I really like.
Just finished listening to The Time Traveler's Wife. A decent listen. Two readers do Clare's and Henry's parts. The female lead is good, and so is the male, but sometimes he tries to hard to be a bouncy and entertaining reader.
I was so spoiled by James Marsters reading the Dresden Files that I havent been able to listen to any others. Any recommendations on audio books that are read really well. Like the reader uses voices and actually acts out the parts via audio rather than just read. Marsters should do all audiobooks. He probably did over 100 distinct voices over the 12 books.
I just finished listening to, "At Home," by Bill Bryson. He does the read and is OK; he has a laconic reading style that if your tired and listening on the couch or in bed.... One thing about audio books for me is I can only listen to non-fiction. The novel for me is still a form that I need to read. The "Freakonomic" books and Malcolm Gladwell's book are read by the authors and I really like they way they read. The worst one that I can remember is the guy who read in between Johnny Depp an Keith Richards on the Richards autobiography. A very bad Keith imitation.
Hah. You're not kidding. He's really good. Have you gotten to Death Masks yet? Wait... "over 12 books." Did you listen to ALL of them?!?! Couldn't believe how he pulled off the Russian and the old Japanese man so well. I finished Blood Rites a couple days ago. I started Middlesex but I'm missing Dresden, so I requested two more from the library. I think I'm going to go ahead and finish the series before I try to get into something else.
I listened to the last 11. I went through a book every two days. I listened to them about 5 hours each day at work and then in the car. I burned them as an MP3 CD so that I could listen to them everywhere. I went through them in like 2 and a half weeks or so. I even listened to Side Jobs so I guess it was 12 books. I have tried to listen to like 4 audiobooks and I cant do it. Marsters was too damn good. I tried listening to Codex Alera which is Butcher's other series and is read by Kate Reading and I cannot do it.
Wow, Kate Reading is good too. She did an unbelievably great job reading The Fountainhead. Look for a guy named Michael Page. He's a good reader. If you've never read The Three Musketeers try that. It's a blast.