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Audible...and other audiobook delivery mechanisms that may or may not be available

ZOK

By ZOK
in Arts & Literature

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  • 4 weeks later...
morcs

morcs

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On 09/03/2017 at 04:12, deerokus said:

Catch 22 works so well as an audiobook, sound, rhythm and wordplay are so important to the prose that it feels like it was always written to be performed. 

 

I tried really hard and made it through the whole thing but I don't think I "got" it. I'm an idiot.

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  • 3 weeks later...
ZOK

ZOK

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8 hours ago, Scribblor said:

I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Wolf Hall is a phenomenal audio book.

 

Absolutely brilliant delivery and of course the book itself is a masterpiece.

 

 

Is that the one narrated by Simon Slater?

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ZOK

ZOK

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On 10/09/2017 at 22:21, Scribblor said:

Yeah, that's the one.

 

Cool, I've nabbed that one, thanks!

 

I'm just polishing off The Black Dahlia, definitely a cut above The Big Nowhere storywise (which is excellent), same quality Jeff Harding narration though. I think I'm going to have to listen to LA Confidential now.

 

 

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deerokus

deerokus

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On 15/09/2017 at 20:44, ZOK said:

 

Cool, I've nabbed that one, thanks!

 

I'm just polishing off The Black Dahlia, definitely a cut above The Big Nowhere storywise (which is excellent), same quality Jeff Harding narration though. I think I'm going to have to listen to LA Confidential now.

 

 

Black Dahlia is my favourite Ellroy book. It's leaner than his more revered classics, and has this really intense atmosphere and emotional weight. Also it was before he ruined his writing style! 

 

Never watch the terrible film adaptation mind you. It's pretty faithful in terms of story - probably to a fault - but is so badly executed and acted.  

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deerokus

deerokus

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8 hours ago, ZOK said:

I only know Dahlia and Big Nowhere, I've seen LA Confidential film of course, so it will be interesting to see how the book differs.

 

What happened to his writing?

He used the staccato telegraph-like sentence fragment style which really first appears in LA Confidential more and more in his later career, until it became all-encompassing and a bit overwhelming, and I found it makes his writing in a lot of his later work incredibly annoying to read. I could never get through American Tabloid for example, and I gather the sequel to that one is a really tough read because of it. 

 

Which is a pity, because on form his stuff is an absolute thrill. LA Confidential is great!

 

I wonder how that style comes across in audiobook form actually. 

 

 

Did the 4th Locke Lamora book come out yet? The second one was OK but dull compared to the fantastic first novel, and the consensus is the third is really bad?

 

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Delargey

Delargey

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On 19/09/2017 at 01:42, deerokus said:

He used the staccato telegraph-like sentence fragment style which really first appears in LA Confidential more and more in his later career, until it became all-encompassing and a bit overwhelming, and I found it makes his writing in a lot of his later work incredibly annoying to read. I could never get through American Tabloid for example, and I gather the sequel to that one is a really tough read because of it. 

 

Which is a pity, because on form his stuff is an absolute thrill. LA Confidential is great!

 

I wonder how that style comes across in audiobook form actually. 

 

 

Did the 4th Locke Lamora book come out yet? The second one was OK but dull compared to the fantastic first novel, and the consensus is the third is really bad?

 

 

It's not very good. Definitely worst than the second and not a patch on the first.

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Danster

Danster

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On 19/09/2017 at 01:42, deerokus said:

 

Did the 4th Locke Lamora book come out yet? The second one was OK but dull compared to the fantastic first novel, and the consensus is the third is really bad?

I really enjoyed all three, personally. The first is the best though, I don't think we're going to see the fourth one any time soon.

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  • 1 month later...
Vimster

Vimster

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Okay, I suspect this may have been answered, daft question time:

 

Lunchtimes for me are either reading or walking, I'd like to do both so am looking at Audible. Basically it says I can cancel and I keep my books. Does this mean, if I have a long book and don't finish it in a month I can cancel, finish it, then resub when I'm ready? If so I'll go for it.

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Vimster

Vimster

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12 minutes ago, dunni said:

You lose all your existing credits when you unsubscribe though. So before unsubscribing you need to make sure to spend all your existing credits first. See here.

 

So as long as I have 0 credits when I halt my sub I won't lose anything - that's fab, cheers.

 

Okay, I've chosen Dead Air by Iain Banks as my first book. Roll on lunchtime.

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ZOK

ZOK

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23 hours ago, Vimster said:

So as long as I have 0 credits when I halt my sub I won't lose anything - that's fab, cheers.

 

Okay, I've chosen Dead Air by Iain Banks as my first book. Roll on lunchtime.

 

Have you read it before? I don’t want to put you off as such, but it’s fucking awful, and you can return books on Audible.

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Vimster

Vimster

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1 minute ago, ZOK said:

 

Have you read it before? I don’t want to put you off as such, but it’s fucking awful, and you can return books on Audible.

I've read pretty much everything else by him, and so far I'm enjoying it. It's certainly not the best, and it's painfully chained to that time period.

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ZOK

ZOK

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Yes indeed. It’s not the worst of Banks’ straight fiction by a long chalk, and he can always scrape together some entertainment, but for me it certainly falls into the category of ‘books I wish I’d read something else instead of had I somehow known it was going to be so bad’.

 

But you can return it to Audible at any point and get your credit refunded (even after completion, iirc!).

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  • 4 weeks later...
Timmo

Timmo

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I've done 1.5x before pretty often if a book is dragging a bit or the reader is a bit slow. You get used to it very quickly. 2x is a bit much.

 

I'm getting better at abandoning books I'm not enjoying, though. There's not enough time to waste it on books you don't like.

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