S/D: Audiobooks

I’ve gone off these a bit

Like I still listen to them but I feel like I enjoy them most often despite the readers, who can feel like a nuisance intermediary for the text - the tunnel was the book that really turned me on to these and as a rule a good book read by the author is best, I find a lot of these actorly types approach every work of literature as though they’re Stephen fucking Fry reading Harry fucking Potter, all storytime cadences and squawking cartoon voices

Oh but also I meant to say, someone’s done a recording of the complete novels of mark twain and put it on audible for like £0.80, a penny per hour. Might be a “get what you pay for” type deal but still, tempting at that price. (I have never read any Twain but was thinking of making it a thing next year, this could be a companion piece)

I'd imagine most of Twain's stuff is on Librivox for free

Yeah that’s definitely what I thought too (note to self: know what librivox is)

https://librivox.org/

Ohh, liBRIvox

You may not like Simon Vance, but whazzabout Simon Prebble?

Turns out I only don't like him reading Patrick O'Brian. He's perfect for Anthony Powell.

brian blessed has an autobio that he reads himself. in that voice. all the way through.

I'm driving from Seattle to LA in a couple weeks and would appreciate any recommendations. I've got Graham Hancock and Yuval Harari loaded up but I'm honestly not that excited by either. Would love a lively reading of some epic that I'll never read or a good music bio.

Just a few I’ve enjoyed the last few months:

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Beastie Boys Book - very fun cast of narrators
You Can’t Win by Jack Black - memoir of a former hobo written in the 1920s. Big influence on Burroughs.
The Brothers - Steven Kinzer bio on the Dulles brothers. Fairly infuriating.

Currently enjoying Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Have never been that interested in Manson stuff until this year. This blows the lid off a lot of the theories of Manson prosecutor/biographer Vince Bugliosi and raises questions about who he protected.

Thanks Chris. Beastie Boys was indeed an excellent audiobook. You Can't Win is on my radar. Will definitely seek it out.

Currently really enjoying the mellifluous sound of Juliet Stevenson's voice reading Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield.

Have you heard her read Daniel Deronda?

No, but it's on my list.

I've just sent back a book because the narrator sounds like a robot. Are they actually doing this yet, I wonder?

Oh man, I just listened to The Path to Power, the first part of Robert A Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson, narrated by Grover Gardner, and it was GREAT. Compelling, funny, informative, so very long. Really excellent stuff. I highly recommend it.

I’ve gone off these a bit

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 17:11 (four years ago) link

Like I still listen to them but I feel like I enjoy them most often despite the readers, who can feel like a nuisance intermediary for the text - the tunnel was the book that really turned me on to these and as a rule a good book read by the author is best, I find a lot of these actorly types approach every work of literature as though they’re Stephen fucking Fry reading Harry fucking Potter, all storytime cadences and squawking cartoon voices

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 17:17 (four years ago) link

This is still kind of where I’m at tho I go back and forth. I haven’t listened to anything this year & cancelled my audible sub ages ago. The silly voices are a real obstacle, I always like when an author reads their work relatively free of affect and I supply the characters’ voices just as I would when reading print books.

A funny thing I’ve encountered a few times is when an American narrator will be reading an American book set in America and because there’s a character named sergeant o’rourke or Bobby Macfuckface or whatever they feel they have to attempt a horrible faux Irish accent for this person & you’re like… I think this character is actually just American mate, you don’t need to do this

I am in the middle of a long-ish McCartney biog but the narrator is reading every other phrase almost with one eyebrow cocked, so it's got this weird air-quotes-ish feeling.