Y'know what's fantastic? Audiobooks. Audiobooks are one of the best thing in the world. See, I love being read to but it's hard to find people who want to sit still and read to me for hours on end. Especially when I'm trying to go to sleep or when I'm going to be crocheting for a long time. I'm an audiobook junkie. My favorites, I've ripped to my computer so that I can listen to them whenever I want (or put them on my iPod for use in the car). I love the Discworld audiobooks though, alas, the older ones read by Nigel Planer are a little hard to find and my copy of Men at Arms kind of sucks. The newer ones read by Stephen Briggs are fun, as well. (I am incredibly amused by the fact that his Carrot is Welsh. I'm not sure why that's funny.)
Good readers are incredibly important. A bad reader will turn me off a recording at lightning speed, even if it's a book I dearly love. I tend to avoid books that are read by the author for that reason. Reading well is a difficult skill to acquire (one that I've never manged, myself) and a lot of authors don't have it. Neil Gaiman does fairly well on his own books, though. Fortunately, one of my favorite readers (George Guidall) is incredibly prolific. And even if he weren't, seeing as he's read Dune, American Gods, Crime and Punishment and most of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I'm pretty much set.
And Constance, I know you've mentioned C. S. Lewis and Narnia recently - have you heard the audiobooks? Dawn Treader's read by Sir Derek Jacobi and is amazing and, although I'm perhaps overfond of Silver Chair anyway, I really like Jeremy Northam's recording of it. I'm very fond of his Puddleglum.
Audio drama? Also good. The BBC has a fantastic full-cast dramatization of that I was addicted to as a teenager. (Eventually, someone gave me a copy as a gift. The tapes are still under my bed, close to the stereo in case of audio emergency.) Audio drama is almost more fun, for me, than television. TV's all right, as far as it goes, but I tend to watch tv in an odd way, where I don't actually look at the screen much. Especially when I'm crocheting or doing something else with my hands. (I fidget. A lot.) So I end up missing a good bit of the narrative because it's visual. With audio drama, I get the acting, I get all of the narrative, and I get really good special effects because my brain generally has a bigger FX budget than most tv shows. 8) Also, I can listen in my car. (Audio dramas don't work at bedtime, though. Too exciting.)
I don't really have that many links for audio drama* but I can give you a nifty one for straight audiobooks - audiobooksforfree.com. Bunches of books on which the copyright has expired, all available for free and immediate download. The sound quality isn't fantastic, perhaps, but the selection is nifty and hey, it's free. (Also, the files are very small indeed so you can fit several books on even the smallest mp3 player.)
*I have one link for audiodrama but it's a bit specific and a little weird. Anyway. If you are a Doctor Who fan who doesn't know about Big Finish Productions, hie thee there immediately and find yourself a way to acquire a copy of Jubilee. You will not regret it.
(Yes, it stars the Sixth Doctor. Yes, you probably think you don't like the Sixth Doctor. I don't care - you will like Jubilee. And here are three advantages that Jubilee has over actual Sixth Doctor episodes: a) better writers, b) neither Peri nor Mel are anywhere to be found and c) you can't see the coat.)
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OK, I've had problems with bland readers on audiobooks in the past, and didn't really get into it as much as I'd hoped. But your recommendations sound great, so I'll give it another try. I walk a lot and always wished I could read while doing it; maybe this is my chance to finally get it together. Derek Jacobi on Narnia sounds like a sure bet, but my husband like the Dark Tower series, so maybe I'll try those, too (with George Guidall of course). Also, Martha Bayley highly recommends the Treasure Island audiobook we have here in the library--if you haven't, you may want to check it out. She says the reader is great.
Finally... I guess I better hie myself to Big Finish, too, since I think I could find it in myself to like Colin Baker, as long as there's (a) no coat, (b) no Mel, and (c) no Peri. Colin did have a few moments where he shown in spite of the Sixth Doctor scripts. On that note, I can see you really must like shiny things, since now you are a cybermat. At least on your bio. :)
Constance--
Pretty much all of the Narnia audiobooks are fab. At least, all of the ones I've listened to have been. (I have yet to listen to Horse and His Boy, as that's my least favorite of the books.)
I believe you can get the whole Dark Tower series as read by George Guidall now but some of the older editions are read by Frank Muller. He's a fairly good reader as well but he has some...hmm. Vocal tics, I suppose, that take a little getting used to.
Big Finish, in general, is totally awesome. I've only heard one production of theirs that I wouldn't recommend to people (Minuet in Hell) and even that was entertaining while I was listening to it. (Full of truly terrible American accents, though.) They've even got a couple that managed to make me like Peri and Mel. 8) And anything that will give me more of the Seventh Doctor and Ace is all right in my books.
(Cybermats are tiny evil metal gerbils of love. They are one of my favorite things.)
Hey, Sarah, don'tcha just love the narrator of the Harry Potter Books?
And have you ever heard Ragweed by AVI audiobook? AWESOME!
Your picture of you and your Corgi is so adorable. Tessa loved it.
You should post it to
http://pembrokeluvr.blogspot.com/
or Old Dogs Learn New Tricks
She is a CORGI FREAKAZOID!!!
Tell her Janet sent you.
westie_servant--
I actually haven't listened to any of the Harry Potter books on audio but I've heard from other people that they're fantastic. I'll have to give them a try someday.
And Rosie thanks you for your kind words. 8)
(btw - it's just "Sara". No h, please.)
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