The Audiobook Thread

I'm new to audiobooks, having avoided them for a long time.
But now I have realized I can get other shit done whilst listening to books.

I find by listening to a book it's easier to get distracted and zone out and miss chunks of text. But it's a good way of getting a sense of a book in a shorter amount of time than reading it would take.

What are the best places to find them?
I had a bad experience with audible.com: I joined up for a specific version of an audiobook shown as available on their site; then I was told it was only for UK territories.

Currently listening to this: https://librivox.org/the-last-man-by-mary-shelley/
It's a volunteer/public domain site: some of the readers are fine, others can't read for shit or have a thick accent making comprehension difficult.

I've heard that despicable unscrupulous people find them on The Pirate Bay.
I've even heard that they then download them to my...i mean...their... phones and listen to them on long trips.

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Originally Posted by elevenism

I've heard that despicable unscrupulous people find them on The Pirate Bay.
I've even heard that they then download them to my...i mean...their... phones and listen to them on long trips.

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I've heard this too! Seriously, audible is so overpriced they are screaming at youto acquire them via other means.

I listened to the audiobook of A Scanner Darkly read by Paul Giamatti a bunch of times, loved it.

I got a big kick out of Revival by Stephen King, and also his new short story Drunken Fireworks, which is read by a comedian/humorist who REALLY kills it on creating voices for the drunk characters

I get audiobooks from the public library. They have CDs as well as playaways and oodles of digital downloads.

May I plug somethin'? A friend of mine who's a published author is reading an excerpt from his latest book Sorry, Wrong Country, a collection of short stories inspired by the craziness that is our country, Greece. Please, take a listen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh1xG0yaIs4

How do I make Benedict Cumberbatch fulltime audiobook narrator?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YComgzIQsss

Currently listening to Heads Will Roll by Kate McKinnon & Emily Lynne. This is so far from my wheelhouse that it's almost a chore to listen to. they don't appear to be making any points other than "Bernie was bad" and at least that was over quickly.

So many reviews say it's like an SNL skit that went on too long and I can't even give it that good of a review; it's more like an SNL skit that shouldn't have been produced. Doesn't help that a lot of the talent involved are SNL alum.

I've laughed a couple times and smiled at one or two turns of phrase but I don't really care to hear about a prince that likes to Spoiler: fuck birds in the cloaca. Seriously, wtf.

Welp, since my contract work as a sound designer for live theatre has completely dried up due to the plague, I started editing audiobooks as a side hustle. Here's the first one I worked on.

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Originally Posted by botley

I started editing audiobooks as a side hustle. Here's the first one I worked on.

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That's funny, I have advanced reading copies of "Rust and Bone" and "The Fighter" (same author).

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Originally Posted by MrLobster

That's funny, I have advanced reading copies of "Rust and Bone" and "The Fighter" (same author).

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What a coinky-dink! I do want to go back now and read Cataract City, since the stories in Cascade take place in/around the same fictional town.

My first John Scalzi book was an audio book of a story that he wrote and was narrated by Zachary Quinto called "The Dispatcher".

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One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge a supposed wrong.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.

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It's an interesting premise, and almost certainly one that's been done before, but it was a fun quick listen. Well anyway a sequel is out on Audible+ (whatever that is) and I'm pretty excited to listen to it.

It'd be interesting to see if the idea is optioned because it could be a fun 10-episode limited series and it's got the world-building that could expand into something like two or three seasons, each with a dedicated story.

I started listening to Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club) read some of his short stories. They are "sick" in both meanings. Also, they will keep you awake at night and will still make you laugh.

Here's a great clip, he rocks at reading his book!
https://youtu.be/zcnKn8Mmysg

Stoked to be working on the edit for this book right now!

I like listening to audiobooks when I do routine work.