Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm about halfway through Ready Player One, as read by Will Wheaton. It's the most amazingly geeky, fantasy wish fulfilment, pile of nonsense I've ever 'read'.

Very enjoyable.

Also, when Wheaton does a 'grown up' voice, he sounds just like Tim Allen.

Yeah it's undemanding but really good fun.

Currently listening to Doug Stanhope's "Digging Up Mother" which is fucking brilliant as an audiobook.

I tired a little of it by the end. His dull-voiced mates were doing too much of the narration as he was too sozzled to carry on.

Yeah, a bit maybe, I'm nearly at the end and really enjoyed it, though.

Talking books that have accompanied me on my ramblings and runnings lately have been, Children Of Time and We Are Legion (We Are Bob). Children Of Time was a space opera and a good one at that, definitely worth the time. I'm about halfway through We Are Legion which is more of a romp and loads of fun so far.

Ended up listening to all three of these "Bobiverse" books. They started off strong but each one was better than the last and I actually loved them by the end.

Loved Children of Time when I read it. So, very good!

Bought We are Legion a while back, but never got round to listenting to it. Started because of your recommendation and I'm really enjoying it.

I was put off because I'm wary of the somewhat new trend of[i] 'science fiction geek authors, writing science fiction that only references science fiction because they've only read science fiction, and all their characters are science fiction geeks that keep talking" and it boggles my mind it's getting big directors adapting it all*.

But half way through Bobiverse 1 and it's managed to side step (most of) that. It's just great fun. Addictive and I'm enjoying every second.


* e.g. The Martian, Ready Player One etc.

The unabridged His Dark Materials Books have Pullman as the narrator and a cast for the main parts. It's brilliant.

Clearly pulpy military scifi with a teenager's sense of humour is where it's at.

Ahem.

Yeah there are occasional nerdy references but they're only really ever asides, jokes about naming things etc. I loved all the hard scifi stuff about these space battles sometimes over in less than the blink of an eye having occurred at relativistic speeds, the time dilation, "frame-jacking". I just thought it was all pretty clever but not in your face clever. There's some pretty deep stuff in there but it somehow never felt contrived.

Currently listening to Enlightenment: Now. I've found myself getting increasingly morose about the state of the world, especially since having a daughter. But in a rational way this book lays out a compelling series of counterpoints to the gloomy intuitions about the trajectory of humanity that it can be hard not to acquire from years of following the news. And there's just some really interesting facts along the way. Definitely the book I needed right now.

I have 2 credits on Audiable.

I already have the chimp paradox and the dev ops handbook.

Any books in a similar vain to to listen to?

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman if you haven't read it

Powerful by Patty McCord.

Thanks, those will fit the bill.

I did not know you could pause audible.. will give me chance to listen to the books

Yep, you can also rewind 30 seconds or skip forward 30 seconds. It's a well put together player.

I meant my membership

Oh thank god for that. I thought you'd gone simple.

gone? I am simple...

I know, was just joshing

Started listening to Mythos by Stephen Fry, after I decided to give God of War another go on the PS4. Admittedly God of War deals with Norse mythology, but it was the trigger I needed.

I highly recommend it. Those Greek gods were some fucked up dudes, with a serious problem with eating their own babies and general familial murder. Fry's analogies and matter of fact language make it all highly relatable, though I must confess I struggle to keep track of who is who, there are some many names being thrown at you.

Thanks! I bought this after reading your post. I have fallen asleep three times, so have restarted it three times. I’m enjoying it, but also enjoying the words and descriptions run over me, and combined with my exhaustion i keep dropping off.

When I listen to audiobooks, I think I spend 30% of the time asleep. That's part of the reason I listen to them, a pleasant space to inhabit and doze off on the commute. Some books are brilliant for it. Shantaram is so ludicrously long that I could sleep for 30 minutes and not really miss anything of too much import.

But Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - I listened to that recently and every time I nodded off, another few millienia would pass. Really lost the plot. So I had to relisten to a lot of that.

Neil Gaiman's Norse mythology audiobook is good, if you can get past his slightly irksome accent. The Norse gods are even more ridiculous than their Greek cousins, with a healthy dose of cross-dressing, getting drunk, turning into sexy horses and stealing things from giants.

I happen to have that one reserved from the online library, I think. Yup, I do!

Available in a month and a half (a long wait as I reserved it about three months ago).

Nice, think I will give that a go next. Wherever they hail from, gods are dicks.

New Dresden Files audiobook!

Is it read by Spike?

Yep

Been listening to Obama's new biography this week. It's a weighty tome at 29hrs, he obviously speaks well but he isn't a bad writer either. I just wish I'd gone in with bit more background about how their whole system works. But anyway fascinating stuff, really enjoying it so far.

I finally got around to listening to the Norse Mythology boom when I was decorating Darwin’s room. I haven’t had any time for audiobooks these last few months, but as of today I feel like I need something to fill the loud silence, and just in case I need a day or two of rest after my vaccine I’d like to have something ready to listen to.

I would like something really easy to absorb. My favourite audiobooks are Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (which I’ve both listened to and read a number of times), Arthur & George, and I listened to most of the Rivers Of London series which were fun little diversions until they got a bit samey. In general book terms I liked Piranesi recently, and I loved Gormenghast the million years ago that I last read it, so I really like a bit of magic, escapism, alternative histories, stuff like that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I think we've spoken about Pratchett books before but those sound like they would fit what you want ?

If you enjoyed Norse Mythology then you could also go for something else by Neil Gaimen , I've not listened (yet) but the Sandman Audio on Audible has been getting good reviews or you could try something like Neverwhere ?

I actually downloaded Neverwhere yesterday, by almost chance as Audible showed me it as I’d finished the Norse Myths. I really enjoyed the Pratchett books I listened to, though I think I lost my way with k owing which one(s) to go for next as I see a lot of people talk about some have to be listened to in a particular order to make sense, but every source I looked at said a different order, so I stuck mostly to the ones that people said worked as ‘standalone’ stories.

I'd say just about any can be a standalone , however they work better if you know a little of the history of the characters - they also are all set on the one world and generally in order so you occasionally get characters who are in one book show up later in another

One of the problems with the early ones (and Terry was open about this) is that they are not as good as the later ones - and some people then get stuck in some of the earlier books thinking they have got to read them before they do the later ones.

Other than the very last book (which i think you really do need some backstory for) I think any of the others could be viewed as a standalone - as long as you remember if you go backwards through them some of the characters are not as fully developed.

So :

Any Pterrys you've not read should be on the list my advice is to pick a guards or witches story where the 'story' part interests you and then if you like the series there are a lot more to read

For other Neil Gaimen ones he doesnt do horror as such but there are horror-y touches to some like Coraline - I liked Neverwhere , Startdust is great (and an amazing film if you've not seen it) , The Graveyard book , The Ocean at the end of the lane , Odd and the frost giants.

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that if you read any of these books you'd be onto a winner and then it might make the next one a more obvious choice if you knew that you particularly enjoyed the stories about the witches, or Ankh Morpork, or Death.

Equal Rites - what happens when the seventh son of a seventh son is actually a girl, and of course girls can't be wizards.

Guards! Guards! - First in the City Watch series. Ankh Morpork is a fantastically realised city and a real iconic part of the Discworld series. Vimes is a tremendous character, but almost all of the characters in the City Watch series are to be honest.

Reaper Man - Death is missing. Presumed, er...gone?

Witches Abroad - Third book in the Witches series but it's a great one and I think it's fine to read it first then go back and find out more about the characters. This one is about fairy godmothers, and one of Terry Pratchett's favourite ideas to play with which is that if everyone believes something it's true, like the existence of Death and the tooth fairy, or the idea that the servant girl has to marry the Prince.

I enjoyed Guards, Guards! And I loved Small Gods. I enjoyed Moving Pictures, though it didn’t give me such and escape as the other two. The ones about the little folk were good, too (the ones who live in a department store then drive a tractor to a shed)... I think I listened to three of those on Grim...’s recommendation.

I might try the Death one. He popped by in Small Gods, and he was great.

Is Coraline the same story as the film of the girl with buttons for eyes, or is that something else altogether?

If you enjoyed Guards! Guards!, you could start to follow the Ankh Morpork thread with Men At Arms followed by Feet of Clay. A lot of this series are some of my favourites, but then almost all of them from Equal Rites on could probably be considered my favourites. If I had to pick just one out of all of them, I might be able to convince myself that Monstrous Regiments is the best. But I might change my mind and go for The Truth. Or Feet of Clay. Or Going Postal. Or or or...

DEATH IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS AS WELL.

Yes its that one and that's why I'm saying some of the Gaiman ones have a bit of a horror type element to them l (I don't think Corlaine actually got buttons for eyes but the other mothers other children did?)

The small people in the department store is the Bromeliad trilogy and is Truckers / Diggers / Wings

I'll agree with SDG and suggest you go for the guards ones if you liked Guards Guards
Men At Arms is the next in that series and concerns a deadly weapon being stolen and the quest to recover it (the 'gonne')

For the Death ones I'd start with Mort which is death looking for an apprentice but they are all pretty accessible - if it wasn't the wrong time of year I'd say go for
Hogfather which is the assassins guild have a contract on 'the jolly fat man' and Death has to stand in his place to make sure Hogswatch happens

I bet this doesn't make any sense now that I've realised this is the audiobook thread.

Is the character different in the audiobook versions, somehow? Illustrated in the books in some way, maybe?

I’ll line a few more of the Pratchett up. Thank you again very much.

Death in the books always talks IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND IN A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FONT to all the other characters - the book explanation is the words just appear in your head without them actually being said out loud :-)

For most audiobooks the reader does try to give each character a slightly different voice and you would not be unsure of who a character is just by hearing a line of text but in the books if that lie of text is ALL IN CAPS then its almost certainly spoken by Death (*)


(*) even if its death in an ill fitting Santa Hogsfather outfit saying

HO HO HO

Ahhhhhh!

In the very early Discworld Audiobooks, Death spoke in a hugely booming and reverb filled voice.

It was annoying

He didn't understand doorknobs. Death is great.

Russell reminded me yesterday that after I read Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World I also bought the audiobook and listened to it. Anyway, it had been a couple of years so I put it back on yesterday and remembered that it was read by THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS. So, if for SOME REASON you want to imagine your beloved Wesley telling you about his deep seated beliefs in the importance of the scientific method whilst you lay exhausted on the hillside after his daring rescue attempt*, then you can.

*you know, if that kind of thing appeals to you.

I really like the idea of audio books, but they are no use to me.

Regardless of the time of day, if I started listening to one I'd probably be asleep in less than a minute.

When I used to read to my granddaughter, when she was a lot younger, I'd sometimes drop off while I was reading aloud to her.

I listen to them in the car, is that not an option?

Falling asleep? It's not seen as optimal.