Last year was my first full year of retirement, and part way through it I started into Audible audiobooks. One of my earliest ‘ reads’ was ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce , which I had struggled through once before as a paperback. What a revelation !
The audible version by Tadhg Hynes (with Kayleigh Payne as Molly), is very much easier to absorb, so much so that I have listened to it three times. Key to this is Hynes’ use of different accents for the various characters, making it much easier to know who is talking or thinking at any point.
In the past few months I have listened to:
Herzog - Saul Bellow
Dead Souls - Gogol
A people betrayed (Spain 1730 - 2018) - Paul Preston
Churchill - Andrew Roberts
Seasons in the Sun - Dominic Sandbrook
El viaje del elefante- José Saramago
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
The Globalist - John Walsh (a biography of Peter Sutherland).
I have now embarked on ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ‘ , narrated by Charlton Griffin, which is a reading of more than 120 hours.
Every one of the above mentioned audiobooks is of top quality, and I believe the format is ideal for a ‘lockdown ‘ , whether sitting in a garden or going for a walk. Of course your taste will be different, but it’s really worth diving in, and the cost is modest.
As part of my moratorium on listening to any news I needed something to replace my bedtime listening. Bought a radio with USB streaming capability and with a bit of jiggery-pokery I can transfer my audio book purchases cut up into hourly chunks to the USB and set my sleep timer.
So far I have listened to:-
Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker - This was bought for me by my daughter and is probably not the book you want to hear whilst going to sleep.
Nostromo - Joseph Conrad - The story is perhaps too involved for an audio book or bedtime listening and getting the right narrator is key as some of the classics have many audio versions - a lesson for buying audio books.
Elton John - Me - Taron Egerton has got Elton’s voice spot on. This book is so well written and read.
The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
The High Window - Raymond Chander - The Philip Marlowe series is read by Ray Porter - just brilliant Ray Porter has got all the voices and these are excellent stories - just loving this series.
Nostromo put me to sleep as a teenager. Should I try it again 50 years later?
Signed up for the trial myself and quite enjoying it. Have just finished “The Spy and the Traitor” the true story of a KGB double agent, definitely worth a listen.
Currently on “Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914”.
Seems to be a good selection of titles
“The Spy and The Traitor” was my first listen, about 18 months ago. Got me hooked!
Knowing my love of the George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman novels, My father in law used to buy me an unabridged audio book on cassettes every year. They were perfect for a drive to Scotland and back. And I’d say they would be ideal for lockdown too.
I signed up for an Audible monthly plan many years ago after catching some Victorian comedy on radio 4 midway through the season.
My biggest issue is that I’m extremely fussy about the narrators, and so many ar either dull or too heavily accented to make things enjoyable.
I often feel I’d be better off buying the books but I can rarely read for more than a few minutes without nodding off, probably as I’m a night bird and am up late, and defer reading to bed.
‘Flashy’ was one of my favourites in my early 20’s, 45 years ago…
I’ve had an audible membership for some time but hadnt made much use of it. At the end of last year a friend of mine told me about a netflix series that was soon to air called the Witcher. My friend is a big reader and we have similar tastes in material. He advised me to get hold of the Witcher novels and make a start on them but i find it difficult to find time for reading books. All the novels were available on audible narrated by Peter Kenny who is, quite simply, a fantastic narrator. I blasted through the lot of them and was completely addicted. If you like the swords and sorcery genre I can highly recommend these. I belive Peter Kenny has done some Iain M Banks novels. I think I might tackle these next.
Responding to the title of the thread, surely Lockpicking for Dummies, though I don’t know if available as an audiobook…
I listened to 1984 With Christopher Ecclestone as Winston and really enjoyed that, I think it was on the BBC.
My all time favorite has to be Hitch Hikers Guide to the galaxy though. Never tire of listening to that.
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