Scotty's long been a big fan of audio books. Not me, I prefer the tactile action of reading. Auditory vs visual learning, I guess... Initially, I found that listening to books is great when I'm knitting (especially bags) so I can *do* while I *listen.* For my birthday, my family sent me a baby mp3 player, which I promptly loaded with Harry Potter books*, to listen while I walk the dog... I'm hooked!! Now that I have Super Phone (with 2 extra G of memory) I've been listening while baking, while walking the dog, while cleaning up the house, while doing anything that doesn't require conscious brain efforts!
I've not been very brave about venturing out beyond books I know, beyond voices I LOVE. Then Scotty recommended Dune. Yeah, I've made it through 40 years of life without the books nor the movie (not a big Kyle MacLachlin fan, excepting his role on Desperate Housewives, which still gave me the willies!). One has to get past the fact that Connor (somebody) sounds much like Steven Hawking (I just looked on line, there is actually a version available read by Frank Herbert, I'm gonna have to check that one out!!). Now that I'm through the first book and on to Dune Messiah, I'm used to the way he sounds and I don't mind so much -- the story is rich enough to keep my attention beyond his monotone delivery (it's almost as if I can pinpoint the "takes" where he starts out flat and gets more animated as the story goes... until the next "take" begins). I can't wait to explore the universe of 10191 C.E. even further!
Also on queue: Complete LOTR, Complete Douglas Adams, some Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks & Ekhart Tolle.
Me & Charlie are gonna get some serious exercise while mama listens to all of these amazing stories ♥
*Harry Potter as read by Stephen Fry. I used to be a big Jim Dale fan & then Schuyler convinced me to give Stephen a chance... OMG! Jim is good, Steve is Freaking Amazing!!! If, like me, you are not sure who that Fry Guy is... Last night, surfing the web, I stumbled across his web page - he's the gay boss guy with the Koran in his safe from "V is for Vendetta" -- yeah! the guy we all love in that movie. He could read me the Wall Street Journal every morning and I'd be enraptured ♥
4 comments:
SO funny - I, like you, was very resistant to audiobooks, and have just recently been swept away by their day-to-day usefulness. And really, it isn't as though they have to replace the act of sitting down and reading the traditional way, right? They're just making it possible to fit even more reading time into our lives, which is always a very good thing! (And anything that makes housework go by faster is a very good thing.)
I love them too! I listen to them with the boys when we are on a long drive and alone when I am putting up vegetables. Nicolas and I download all of the "This American Life"s from their web site 9or from the NPR web site) and those are my favorite right now.
Ok, I'm gonna try the Stephen Fry Harry Potter CDs; I can't get over how Jim Dale calls "Harry" (HaaaarrE) from Ron's voice. It's a big family joke around here.
You want a good reader? Anything by Brendan Fraser. He reads Cornelia Funke's books. He is amazing!!! Inkheart and Inkspell are fascinating stories and involved and scary sometimes, her evil characters are Evil! Dragon rider is a bit more easy going. "Your Goldness" ah the voice of Brendan!
Diana, here are some things for you to watch:
Black Adder
Season II (Elizabethan)
and IV (WWI)
and if you're a Hugh Laurie/ "House" fan, season III (but not while eating or drinking anything until you get used to it.
Also, more serious but with Stephen Fry:
Peter's Friends
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