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Mood posted:I forget who it was, but there was an unabriged Neuromancer audiobook that was fantastic. Really? My first audiobook was (abridged ver.) Neuromancer, and I thought it was read by Gibson himself. Maybe I was mistaken? It had that one band, you know, Bono and the Edge etc. doing part of the musical backdrop -- and in the 80s, they were pretty "cutting edge" I should mention. The reader sounded like a real stoner, but it fit really well. My audio copy remains one of my favorite books, and was sort of like a comfort food to me. I've almost memorized it, I love it so much. I'm currently listening to "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Gibbon every other night at the gym. I'm very grateful to Librivox for making that possible, as I might have never taken the plunge and started such a series otherwise. Now I feel like I might have to read the text as well, it's so good.
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Jan 27, 2010 10:40
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I forgot, Librivox has the first three of the immortal classics (cough) of the "John Carter of Mars" series also. For a crash course in pulp and the roots of space opera, it's a must-read. The reader quality is appropriate to the material, and the poor readers often can't handle the vocab, but it's still a great intro to the garish, low-res world that's provided inspiration for the art of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo, not to mention much comparatively literary artists like Leigh Brackett and the whole Star Wars series. The visual scene of Princess Leia, captive to Jabba the Hut, is lifted straight out of the John Carter of Mars series, except her outfit is more skimpy in Burroughs' version. I hear that this series will be adapted to film next summer. I will no doubt watch it at some point.
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Jan 27, 2010 11:12
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SaviourX posted:I'm 28. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I went with it. Sorry. I couldn't remember the name of the band at the moment. So I was only partly joking. Not a big U2 fan, really. Thanks for confirming that he read it. Gibson has moments of prose in this novel, like most of them actually, that stand above the entire book, and to hear them in his own voice really does it for me. Better than porn. He has so many faults as a writer I could ridicule him to death, but when finished I still love him as he was a peculiar voice for my generation. The Gibson posted:The shuriken had always fascinated ::Nostalgic Emoticon
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Feb 1, 2010 09:34
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The Gibson posted:`You ever think maybe it gets on my nerves, you coming Sorry, hadda.
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Feb 3, 2010 12:37
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Kestral posted:Regarding Neuromancer, if you're a fan of the book you owe it to yourself to hear Gibson read the abridged version at least once. Yes, abridgments are abominations, yes you should read or listen to the full version first, but Gibson's faint drawl and unusual cadence are absolutely perfect accompaniments to the book. Hell, even the abridgment adds a certain disjointed, psychedelic quality that actually works. Couldn't agree more. Since posting in this thread I've located an online copy of the text and re-read it again during a night of semi-serious drinking, and I am not only impressed once again at the text; but in consideration of how drat well I know every word of his abridged recording I'm equally impressed at the editorial task of selecting what text to leave in or out, or the act of the abridgement itself. Gibson has a talent for words that's more usually found in a gifted advertising copywriter, and made the right choices throughout, IMO. And I'll put it bluntly: he sounds kinda like a real stoner character you might have met at a video arcade in the 1980s in this recording, which is perfect for the book. An online text for the novel, as well as a few of his best short stories are located here: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/neuromancer/#part1
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Feb 17, 2010 04:07
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Agile Sumo posted:World War Z I bought this on the multiple recommendations here. It is a pretty fun audiobook. In fact I bet I like it better than I would the print version.
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Apr 14, 2010 03:18
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Last night I dl'd "The Lair of the White Worm" by Bram Stoker from Librivox. Also, Kipling's "The Man who Would be King" and the Eddas Volsungasaga, which I'm gathering is more the root or grand-daddy of the Ring cycle, Rheingold, etc. than anything else is. Listened to the first chapter at the gym before my mp3 player goofed on me, but I managed to gather that it's far more bloody and profane than the stories of the Rheingold, the Nibelungen, or the Ring ever were. Never mentioned it but Altemayer's "The Authoritarians" was great. And I just listened to Al Franken read his own "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them." I'd love to work for that guy. And to revise my opinions on WWZ, I think I was kinda taken in by a viral campaign. I don't think this would ever warrant a 2nd listen. I did enjoy it but it didn't leave a deep impression.
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Apr 21, 2010 03:59
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My report: Eddas Volsungasaga is the best recording I've gotten from Librivox yet. It was a remarkable story and a passionate reading. Highly recommended for anybody who's ever had interest in things like LOTR, the Nibelungen or any such stuff. This is AWESOME! Tough English for many Americans, no doubt. If you've read any old English though, I trow it won't be too tough.
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Apr 23, 2010 07:48
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Librivox Recording of Bram Stoker's "The Lair of the White Worm" My Report: Stoker's "The Lair of the White Worm" has given me the feeling Stoker was a little bit unhinged. It had a moment where the tension and gloom were so overpowering that I felt it too disturbing to keep listeing, but aside from that brief moment, the book was offhand more an example of weak writing than a good horror novel. I don't know, I guess it was worth it for that moment, if you can get over how cheesy it was. Spoiler: this book may have been the inspiration for Hitchcock's "The Birds." Anybody who enjoys novels of the "Darkover" series will probably enjoy this novel at least as much as I did. This book is more loaded with racist invective than any I've ever come across in any novel, BTW. The chief bad guy comes from Africa with his personal servant, a witch doctor and gasp, a black man. Several characters compete for who can spew the worst contempt and disgust for negroes in this 19th C English novel. Just a little warning. BTW I have some vague recollection of seeing the movie, and it was a camp classic of sorts. Some bizarre sexual overtones that were not present in the book, and not that much semblance to it, actually. And finally, most of the readers are quite good, except the first few chapter where the otherwise quite adequate reader has a bad mic or connection somewhere, so there's a nearly ultrasonic hiss that disturbs the hell out of me. He only has this problem for the first 3 chapters or so but still. (I've found that I'm especially sensitive to ultrasonics though and many people can't even hear them, including my wife.) Who am I to complain? It's free!
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Apr 30, 2010 01:55
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Access to Hester posted:Thank you for the great suggestions in this thread This one has been praised here several times. Just a side note, when I first read this praise, my mind read Brandon Irons, which for a reading of Lolita would be very interesting.
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Apr 30, 2010 03:18
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Well I guess I shouldn't harsh too bad on World War Z. It was enjoyable. I've now turned to a couple antique works, Librivox offerings in a similar vein I thought worth mentioning. Seems the general narrative based around being the last survivor of a plague, lately revived in "I am Legend," "Omega Man," and of course "Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price, began as far as works of English-Language fiction with "The Last Man" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. I'm having major difficulty with Ms. Shelley's Victorian lady's language and style though, personally. But it's notable as possibly the first English language plague-themed science fiction novel. Public domain and free download: http://librivox.org/the-last-man-by-mary-shelley/ More enjoyable for me, I guess being a guy and all I guess, is Jack London's attempt, published in 1912. More of a novella, it's the story of the destruction of the world's population from the perspective of nearly the sole survivor, a California university professor. Well read by volunteers and free to download and listen. http://librivox.org/the-scarlet-plague-by-jack-london/ And what compares eerily well to World War Z for me is The "History of the Plague in London" by Daniel Defoe, published in 1722 - a few years after the great plague. It apparently was released as spurious journalism, where in fact Defoe didn't witness all the events in the story in person but merely wrote down second-hand stories as his own. At this early time, apparently fictional writing; viz, "the novel" was a relatively new idea in England. It's a story of London during the year of the Bubonic plague in London, based on general recollections and anecdote, easily as frightening as World War Z, and if you liked one you will enjoy the other. Note that there are a couple chapters, including the first, where he mostly recites figures such as death tolls week-to-week. I kinda fast-forwarded through that part. Also, some of the archaic language may seem a bit strange to us now (Uses "I say!" for emphasis very frequently, for example), but generally a very easy listen for Americans nonetheless. Of some interest BTW is Defoe's speculations that the agent of the disease itself might possibly be seen through the use of a microscope. Mostly though he describes it as the will of God, or God's punishment. VERY well read. Free free free. http://librivox.org/a-journal-of-the-plague-year-by-daniel-defoe/ SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 01:36 on May 20, 2010 |
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May 20, 2010 01:30
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I'm really psyched. Seems the audio version of Anathem is finally reaching the "cut-out bins" stage at Amazon and ebay, which means I can finally afford it. I just bought a copy of this 28-CD novel for under $3 plus another $5 or so for shipping (!!). I've got a little road trip in a couple weeks, I can't wait.
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May 25, 2010 23:56
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Just finished the Librivox version of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.' Strongly recommend, especially if you are a fanatic for "Apocalypse Now" like I am. I think most of Conrad is public domain, so I'm going to look for more there. I'm going to try 'Nostromo' soon. (Nerd points, Nostromo is the name of the ship in 'Alien.') BTW, Some of these, the book is really meant to be read -- listening is not enough. That said, listening doesn't taint your experience like watching a film based on a book does. I may go back and read the book in some instances of all these many audiobooks I listen to at the gym and so forth. But when I do, I don't think my appreciation will be tainted like somebody who's watched the NZ version of LOTR and hasn't read the books. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 04:37 on May 29, 2010 |
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May 29, 2010 04:23
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I believe there's also a link to where you can disable drm or whatever a few pages back in this thread. I need to look into that because I want to subscribe to some service. I'm getting too old I guess but I don't enjoy music on my iriver as much as a good audio book nowadays, usually. I think DRM is disturbing and I don't want it on my computer. I bet Edwin Black has had his own thread maybe more than once at SA, probably at D&D. I'm currently listening to "Internal Combustion," a honey of an essay on the long history of energy cartels and trusts, and how they've determined so much of our lives today. Agree or disagree with his views, you will probably find some objectively interesting bits of history here and there. I have. I'm only on disk 3 so far and I listen mostly when I exercise, so it's slow but enjoyable. Read pretty well by Stephen Hoye, it's a complete unabridged version, 13 CDs. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Oct 24, 2010 |
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Oct 24, 2010 13:17
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Two books that go well together: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and "Internal Combustion" by Edwin Black. I found an audiocassette version of "Atlas Shrugged" at the thrift for $2 read by Edward Hermann, who was the secret head vampire in "Lost Boys," BTW. I've recorded it to mp3 and I'm giving it a listen, since I've laughed about Ayn Rand for the last 30 years since my "Ayn Rand phase" that lots of bookish teens used to go through back then, and now I wanted to see if she was really as shallow as I remembered. And yes, or perhaps she wasn't but her novel is. Definitely the kind of stuff Ronald Reagan would have approved of. But unfortunately the abridged version is leaving out some of the tastiest bits, like all the different sappy tales of "who is John Galt?" seem to be missing. And on a related note, I think my last audiobook, "Internal Combustion" should be read in conjunction with "Atlas Shrugged," for comparison. The story of how dishonest speculators abused the American capitalist system in order to eliminate public transportation and lock America into an exclusive reliance on gasoline-powered automobiles strongly reminded me of Atlas Shrugged, except that it basically really happened. And except that the lions of industry who Rand's supporters would probably celebrate were in most instances the perpetrators of the most heinous offenses she vented on in her writing. (Except charity, which she detests.) Mostly, that is. Black really paints a heroic portrait of Henry Ford, who in "Internal Combustion" more resembles one of Rand's larger-than-life heroes than almost anybody who's ever lived. And as a small aside, Black opines that it was Ford's PR officer who poisoned Ford with the notorious anti-semitism that's so marred his image for posterity, and apparently said PR officer was arrested as a Nazi spy during the war, too. BTW, Black also mentioned that the German Blitzkrieg was made possible with GM trucks, and fueled by Standard Oil, who provided the Reich an extraction technique for synthesizing petroleum from coal, which he says they refused to provide to the US. Very interesting stuff. Black's story, mostly derived from solid research, extant literature and real court cases, reads like an epic novel. It was a real page-turner, so to speak. As for Atlas Shrugged, an entirely made-up fantasy, sort of a big CEO's wet dream, seems kind of boring to me now. But I'm only up to tape 3 so far, out of 8. Almost dreading the rest right now, but it may get better or at least provide more entertainment as I rake the leaves. Maybe John Galt will come back to America if we offer him tax incentives? Surely it was the tax-and-spend liberals who drove him off!
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Dec 2, 2010 20:46
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Locus posted:Ok, I posted about this in a Stephen King thread, but Jessica Hecht is driving me bonkers narrating Full Dark No Stars. This might be a great way to read Stephen King, actually. At least for me it might make the reading experience more King-y. I also picked up a cassette version of a Patricia Cornwell novel at the thrift for to listen to during a 5-hour drive with my wife. I had to ask my wife if we could listen to the radio before the first tape was done. I guess I should have done a double take when I read "Move over, Carl Hiassen," in the raves on the back, but I guess I had some vague hope it would resemble Carl Hiassen or something on account of that. Horrid writing, definitely for the soap opera crowd. Hiassen is glib, sexist, rather shallow, reminds me of watching MASH on television when I was a kid, but at least he's clever.
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Dec 2, 2010 21:05
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Locus posted:I actually listened to an audiobook narrated by King himself recently, and he was way better. He actually sounded slightly morose, wry, tired, etc, as fit the book. Not bursting with barely controlled ADHD style cheer. Well that would by definition be the most King-y way to do it. I really like audiobooks read by their author. Now on tape 4 of Atlas Shrugged. It's definitely picking up. I'm totally re-learning that charity and compassion are for sub-human pussies.
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Dec 2, 2010 23:39
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bpower posted:One of my favorite sites is https://www.radioarchive.cc. Its a torrent site containing spoken-word material originally broadcast on free-to-air radio, mostly from the BBC. Its completely legal, uploading copyrighted material from commercial sources results in a instant ban. Thanks much! Will definitely check it out!
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Feb 20, 2011 07:19
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Welp, finally joined Audible. When I realized I could get Zinn's unabridged People's History with a trial membership, that sold me. Very excited. Only audiobooks I've been enjoying lately have been Reamde, Atlas Shrugged, and re-re-re-listening to Gibbon's Decline and Fall from Librivox, which I strongly endorse, irregular quality of readers from one chapter to the next notwithstanding. I have also purchased a whole slew of Terry Goodkind novels, drawn by the promises he was sort of a sword-n-sandal Ayn Rand, which I'm hoping will provide hours of merriment. Am I a masochist? I dunno, but I've recorded all the Republican debates to audio this year. 
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Jan 31, 2012 06:28
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Kestral posted:Confession time: I love that version to death. drat skippy. I love that version. No voice actor could have done it justice like Gibson did. If you don't relate to his voice, that's OK. You're probably just not from the same demographic.
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Jan 31, 2012 07:06
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Hey, I'm sure it's been mentioned previously, but Dan Carlin is pretty good. I'm presently listening to his "Death Throes of the Roman Republic" series and it's very entertaining. Except I'm listening to him at about 125% speed because he speaks a little slowly for my attention span -- but otherwise I like his delivery. Highly recommended. I listened to pt. 2 for a couple hours while doing yard work, and then when I came inside I listened to it again. http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php?page=hharchive
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Apr 26, 2012 02:03
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I note that Audible sells a lot of classics that are past expiry on their copyright and many of which have free versions available at Librivox. Quality may vary but frankly, for me, the quality of readers even for commercially available books can really suck too and the readers who are enthused enough to do it for free can be very, very good. So you can sometimes save your credits for something more recent. For instance, queued up on my list is Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays. Audible wanted a credit for one of the essays, under 2 hours' worth. I said screw that, looked it up elsewhere and now can spend my monthly credit on something more current. Of course you get a few who volunteer at Librivox just to work on their English and some of those are not as good ... YMMV. Regarding readers: I generally like a totally transparent reader who is faithfully delivering the words of the book, not a voice actor or a dramatist. I know a lot of folks differ on that. Just finished Tina Fey's auto. While I'm impressed with her television, the auto mostly made me want to cradle her in my arms and say 'you poor, poor overworked, neurotic thing.' But then, she made it pretty clear it wasn't written for men. (Bought it for my wife! NoHomo! And Tina, my neuroses would kick your neuroses collective rear end.)
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Jun 6, 2012 04:58
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Cross-posting but I'm selling my copy of Neal Stephenson's Reamde for $6 at this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3491648&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post404851402
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Jun 28, 2012 07:06
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coyo7e posted:This twofor sale is a bit weird when you go through with a purchase, it didn't show me the price of the items at all, just went straight through sale confirmation. It automatically took 1 credit from me that I'd had, but I was a bit concerned that it'd decided to charge me like 35 bucks for some audiobook that I couldn't even find a price for. Well I just did it and it was easy. My wife was leaving on a long road trip and I offered her one, but I gave her two. For the road.
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Jun 30, 2012 00:48
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Just picked up "How I paid for College" by Marc Acito. Going to take it on a road trip next week. For what it is, it looks very promising.
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Jul 25, 2012 01:11
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Bhodi posted:Was this really necessary? I listened to the ones from Sunset Productions voiced by Zealazny himself a few years ago, they they were more than adequate. I quite enjoyed them, actually. Yeah, I'd rather have Roger read them himself. I think the best solution BTW for rendering the AA files to mp3 (or ogg or whatever) without DRM is Total Recorder. 'Nuff said.
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Aug 10, 2012 04:05
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wildmamboqueen posted:Hello thread! I've been a big fan of audiobooks since the walkman days, checking cassettes out of the library for long road trips. I was a big fan of "Seeing Ear Theater" on scifi.com back in the 28/k days. And I love the explosion of talent and titles in the past decade. Thx! I am a big Brunner fan and have never listened to an audio version of a novel of his. I will have to give a listen to what some have always referred to as his best novel.
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Oct 27, 2012 18:29
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Been listening to Fire on the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, in preparation of reading Children of the Sky. I've already read the hard copies of the first two but despite the fact that I bought the hard copy I haven't finished the third in the series, so I said screw it and decided to just listen to it. at any rate the first two are good for while I'm at the gym. Not as good as the first read so far but nonetheless I like the general themes that are just about the only thing holding these three together as a series, if in fact they are one.
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Jan 9, 2013 02:54
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Neal Stephenson's entire Mongoliad trilogy - including a prequel that Neal didn't participate in writing apparently - is on Audible, probably for a little while now. I try not to just follow the herd but I see I've either read or listened to every one of his books up till now, jeez. VERY pleased to have the Mongoliad ready for me. Also very pleased to see some of Harold Lamb's histories are finally making it to audiobooks too.
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May 1, 2013 06:13
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Strange Matter posted:Is The Big U worth reading/listening to? I know Stephenson doesn't really like it and only had it reprinted to water down the collector's market that had formed around it. I probably feel about the same about it myself. I think you could spend your money and attention more wiserly. Currently finishing the "Children of the Sky" by Vinge, before I move on the the Mongoliad. If I could recommend any science fiction this past year or two, it would be that "Zones of Thought" trilogy. Not that I read that much science fiction. ED: About 2/3 through Children of the Sky I have some misgivings about the book and Vinge's writing skills, but it's still pleasurable. Quick question: My only option for Audible to burn to disc is to use Itunes now? Does Itunes really suck? SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 04:54 on May 9, 2013 |
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May 4, 2013 09:11
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Strange Matter posted:I gave up on Children of the Sky before the end of the first Audible download. A Fire Upon the Deep did an excellent job at exploring the Tines' civilization, and it clearly wasn't necessary to go back to it again. I'd rather have seen Vinge explore a different civilization the way he did with A Deepness In the Sky. Ish, I'd agree. Few audiobooks I've had that seemed more laborious to finish. Maybe I'll change my mind later, I don't know. On a more upbeat note, I made this cool thingy to put my mp3 player in so I can listen in the pool as I do laps, and I took it on its first test run today, listening to the first book of the Mongoliad underwater. I was thinking of buying something, but just found a waterproof pill bottle that fit my geegaw and bought some cheap waterproof earbuds and I'm good to go. I usually do a pretty long swim and it's been getting boring. Mongoliad seems to benefit hugely by Stevenson's imagination and brains, yet even more hugely by the improvement to the prose and dialogue provided by Bear and the other guys, names I can't recall at the moment. This writer team appears to be pretty fricking spot on. About half into the first book and I'm pretty elated about it, underwater and all. Offhand I hope they do even more stuff like this. ED: And I'm not a big fan of dramatic audio productions of books; my philosophy is at least in theory that I just want the reader to be transparent, and to deliver the words to me and leave all the imagination and interpretation to me, but I have to say this one is a pretty fabulous reading so far. Love the audio is all I'm saying'. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 07:01 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 24, 2013 05:45
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bpower posted:Hardcore History just released a new episode about religious mania in medieval Germany. I don't think I ever sat slaw-jawed for so long. Its absolutely chilling. Highly recommended. Cool tanks! That's one fascinating episode in history. Pretty good timing too, what with me listening to the Mongoliad right now. Underwater. 
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May 30, 2013 01:31
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Currently listening to one of the two available readings of Moby Dick from Librivox. The young fellow reading is one of the best I've ever listened to, offhand. Sometimes with Librivox it's hit or miss but this guy is doing a great job. I've never read the book and it really reminds me of Pynchon, 150 years later. I can't help but think he must have been really into Melville, in addition to the Fu Manchu novels. And you may laugh when I say I'm reading it because I listened to Mastodon's "Leviathan." They are right; the book is totally metal.
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Aug 16, 2013 01:44
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