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Thread: What are your thoughts on audiobooks / talking books?

  1. #31
    Johnny One Shot Basil's Avatar
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    The Ted, Chipper, Grady, I-285, Jimmy Carter...my God, Sancho, you used every major Atlantean reference known to man in that post, with the exception of Peachtree and the Clermont Lounge!

  2. #32
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Basil.... what-up?

    Heh-heh, I’m a victim of my surroundings. But I failed to mention the Cyclorama!
    Uhhhh...

  3. #33
    Our wee Olympic swimmer Janine's Avatar
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    I love audiobooks, but only the ones, so far with separate actors such as the Shakespeare series by Arkangel or Naxo. If one person is reading the book they have to be really good and have an engaging voice to capture my attention. I have tried it several times and if I have headphones on laying in bed at night it is a certain cure for insomnia. I always fall asleep.
    The Shakespeare plays with a group of performers work best for me, since I can imagine being right there onstage with the actors and seeing the whole scene in my mind so vividly. It makes me very creative visually, and it is great to absorb the correct English pronunciation and poetry of Shakespeare. The timing and diction make all the difference in the world. I love them. The poetry is also quite nice to listen to since the narrator reads it correctly with the spacing and timing and emotion in every line. It all depends on the narration in most of these books. Bad narration and you won't listen 5 mins. Good narration will captivate you. Try different types and find ones you will like. They can be quite an experience and exciting.
    "It's so mysterious, the land of tears."

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  4. #34
    shortstuff higley's Avatar
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    My dad devours audiobooks because he hasn't got the time to read them but is able to listen while he works. And really he doesn't feel like he's losing anything in the process; he can get as engrossed in an audiobook as anyone can a paperback. It's entertaining when I'm reading a particular book and he's either listening to the same one or planning to shortly, and we can talk about what's happening and follow each other.

    Audiobooks are harder for me because although I enjoy listening to them, I'm just a visual learner by nature and register information better when I read it. Sometimes I'll get an audiobook on a novel I've read already but would just enjoy listening to.
    '...A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.' --Dr. Mortimer, The Hound of the Baskervilles

  5. #35
    Registered User JaneEyre1986's Avatar
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    I'm not big on audiobooks, but I seem to actually want them more now that I don't have as much time to read. I really want to read Inkspell (my friend got me hooked on it), and I haven't had time. I'll have see if I can get her to bring the CD into work today.
    Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

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  6. #36
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by higley View Post
    My dad devours audiobooks because he hasn't got the time to read them but is able to listen while he works. And really he doesn't feel like he's losing anything in the process; he can get as engrossed in an audiobook as anyone can a paperback. It's entertaining when I'm reading a particular book and he's either listening to the same one or planning to shortly, and we can talk about what's happening and follow each other.

    Audiobooks are harder for me because although I enjoy listening to them, I'm just a visual learner by nature and register information better when I read it. Sometimes I'll get an audiobook on a novel I've read already but would just enjoy listening to.
    Higley, try what I describe at the beggining of this thread, reading along with the audio. I find I get the best of both worlds that way.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

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  7. #37
    Our wee Olympic swimmer Janine's Avatar
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    You know I never really tried doing that, Virgil. I guess I am too lazy to read along. I like best to listen to audiobooks at night, when I can wear headphones and shut my eyes and block out everything else. If I try listening to them on the stereo or on the computer, I can not follow what is happening at all. Strange, but I need total concentration to understand them. Recently I listened to "Pericles"; I had not previously read the play. I had to listen to it twice to understand what was happening exactly. If I had read the play I would have had no trouble, as Higley pointed out.
    That's interesting about your father Higbey, and that they two of you share your thoughts on the same books. What a nice thing to treasure. I read my father's books and think of him often, but he is no longer with us. It is nice to feel we shared the same thoughts and tastes in literature.
    "It's so mysterious, the land of tears."

    Chapter 7, The Little Prince ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

  8. #38
    Audiobooks of poems are actually quite good. As Virgil said, when there is great material and the performer is up to the task, it is quite satisfactory!

    Mind you, I only use them for poems, and short ones. As is has also been said, they are key to help with pronunciation when it comes to external languages. I love audiobooks in german from Rilke and Heinrich Heine, they help me a great deal

  9. #39
    Kat in a Hat kathycf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Janine View Post
    I like best to listen to audiobooks at night, when I can wear headphones and shut my eyes and block out everything else. If I try listening to them on the stereo or on the computer, I can not follow what is happening at all.
    I sometimes have trouble like that. I used to listen to audiobooks to pass the time at a tedious job and found myself stopping my work because I was trying to concentrate on the story.

    I think we are similiar, Janine, in the sense that I often find I need to block out everything in order to keep focused on the story. I guess things tend to make more sense to me visually then through listening.
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  10. #40
    Ataraxia bazarov's Avatar
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    My last audiobook was Grimm's Cat in shoes( that's surely not an English title) before 15 years ago.
    No!
    At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
    During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
    The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.

    To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
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  11. #41
    Registered User aeroport's Avatar
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    For a while, back when I first got my car and it had a cassette deck, I would check out some of Wodehouse's Jeeves books (they have several) and listen to those while driving. It worked well, because they are rather light reading, and they are all in first-person anyway, so the single narrator made little difference. However, I tried this with Far from the Madding Crowd, and stopped after one paragraph. No good.
    Unfortunately, since I got a CD player installed the joy of Wodehouse is one I've been forced to seek exclusively on the printed page, as books on CD are a bit scarce at the library, and are in some cases rather expensive. I had thought, however, just for fun, of going ahead and purchasing that audio copy of Ulysses I've had my eye on...

  12. #42
    Ace of Spades
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jamesian View Post
    I had thought, however, just for fun, of going ahead and purchasing that audio copy of Ulysses I've had my eye on...
    Significantly less brain-eye strain quotient?

  13. #43
    Kat in a Hat kathycf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bazarov View Post
    My last audiobook was Grimm's Cat in shoes( that's surely not an English title) before 15 years ago.
    No!
    Hmm, I think the title in English is Puss in Boots.

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  14. #44
    Registered User Anne Boleyn's Avatar
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    Audiobooks

    hum not sure this is the correct section but, is anyone else here who likes audiobooks?
    That is a recent discovery for me, I've always been the sort of "a book must be read not listened to" person, but I've recently experienced a couple of dramatized version of two books I've read years ago (the picture of Dorian Gray and Murder on the Orient Express) and enjoyed them very much.

    What do you think of audiobooks?
    Anne Boleyn

  15. #45
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Ann, we already had a thread on audio books. Here it is: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ighlight=audio. I posted my comments in there.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

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