Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

anleja · 08-23-2004, 09:15 AM

Wow, I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this, but I was under the false impression that only blind or illiterate (did I spell that right? I REALLY hope so) people listened to them.

I can listen to headphones at work, and I got tired of listening to the same songs over and over again, so I decided to check out some audio books from the library. The first I got was "Dogs of Babel" which was alright. The guy's voice was a bit strange when he spoke the female main character's part, but I guess I can't hold that against him. It is a pretty interesting story of a linguist who tries to teach his dog to communicate to him so he can learn the details of his wife's death, which only the dog witnessed.

The next was "World's End" by T.C. Boyle. He is one of my favorite authors, but sometimes in his writing you have to re-read a line to understand exactly what he is talking about, and it is hard to re-read a line when you have a tape-player that only plays and fast-forwards. I had trouble following it (I AM working at the same time, you know), so I think It'd serve me better to just read the book the old fashioned way.

Next was "The Grapes of Wrath." 20 hours on 15 cassettes. I'd never read it, thought I'd give it a try, being a classic and all. I got throught it okay, I think if I read it I would have a hard time getting through it. But on audiobook, if the part was boring, it wasn't much of a struggle to wait a few minutes until the next exciting event in the book happened. The guy reading it is very good, the book has many different characters and he does a pretty convincing voice for each of them (except Grandpa and Grandma, who have annoying voices, but they *spoiler* die soon enough anyway.

Now I'm listening to/reading "Life of Pi." I've heard good things about it, now that I'm almost done with it I'd recommend it. The main character is a boy from India, and the guy reading reflects that pretty well.

One more I almost forgot about was an audio version of the Darwin Awards, which is okay if you are in the mood of hearing story after story after story of people killing themselves with stupidity. Myself, it is okay in small doses.

quest1, I now want to check out itunes... they probably have a better selection than my library.

08-23-2004, 09:15 AM	#6 (permalink)
anleja disconnected Location: ignoreland	Wow, I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this, but I was under the false impression that only blind or illiterate (did I spell that right? I REALLY hope so) people listened to them. I can listen to headphones at work, and I got tired of listening to the same songs over and over again, so I decided to check out some audio books from the library. The first I got was "Dogs of Babel" which was alright. The guy's voice was a bit strange when he spoke the female main character's part, but I guess I can't hold that against him. It is a pretty interesting story of a linguist who tries to teach his dog to communicate to him so he can learn the details of his wife's death, which only the dog witnessed. The next was "World's End" by T.C. Boyle. He is one of my favorite authors, but sometimes in his writing you have to re-read a line to understand exactly what he is talking about, and it is hard to re-read a line when you have a tape-player that only plays and fast-forwards. I had trouble following it (I AM working at the same time, you know), so I think It'd serve me better to just read the book the old fashioned way. Next was "The Grapes of Wrath." 20 hours on 15 cassettes. I'd never read it, thought I'd give it a try, being a classic and all. I got throught it okay, I think if I read it I would have a hard time getting through it. But on audiobook, if the part was boring, it wasn't much of a struggle to wait a few minutes until the next exciting event in the book happened. The guy reading it is very good, the book has many different characters and he does a pretty convincing voice for each of them (except Grandpa and Grandma, who have annoying voices, but they spoiler die soon enough anyway. Now I'm listening to/reading "Life of Pi." I've heard good things about it, now that I'm almost done with it I'd recommend it. The main character is a boy from India, and the guy reading reflects that pretty well. One more I almost forgot about was an audio version of the Darwin Awards, which is okay if you are in the mood of hearing story after story after story of people killing themselves with stupidity. Myself, it is okay in small doses. quest1, I now want to check out itunes... they probably have a better selection than my library.