Gubu.ie

I keep on thinking about joining in with threads like "What are you listening to at the moment?" but thats really for music and then there's "What book are you currently reading?" no still not quite the right place.

So here's a thread just for those that listen to Audiobooks.

Embarassing to admit but I was looking for something really light so last week I started the CS Forester Hornblower series all read by Geoffrey Howard a bit boys own but a pleasant easy listen with good narration. Which reminds me sometime soon I intend to go back and listen to CS Foresters The Good Shepard, basically its the book that the fairly recent Tom Hanks film Greyhound was based on. Then I'll watch the film again, the connection with the book if you read it or listened to it is really obvious. Link to The Good Shepherd audiobook.

Audible have the Hornblower series starting with Midshipman Hornblower read by Christian Rodska another excellent narrator.

Just to show that I really tend to go for light easy listening I recently finished listening to all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I started on his collaboration with Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth read by Michael Fenton Stevens but after the first book (of 4) I couldn't manage another one as I didn't feel the narration was right for the book. But that can be the issue with Audiobooks one narrator may be great for one person or ruin a book for another.

That's fine by me because it falls in the category of not music and not reading. If you can say something about a podcast and better still link to it then post about it here.

Back to audiobooks I think I've listened to everything on audible that I'm interested in that covers WWII but if anyone comes across any audiobook that covers that period or anything on military history I'd be very interested.

I'd love to get a copy of Flagship Hood, Ted Briggs book on his history on the ship up until its final moments. I listened to it on Audio Cassette about 20 years ago and would love to hear it again.

Get the Vindolanda series, 3 books and all excellent


AD 98: VINDOLANDA.

A FORT ON THE EDGE OF THE ROMAN WORLD.

The bustling army base at Vindolanda lies on the northern frontier of Britannia and the entire Roman world. In just over twenty years time, the Emperor Hadrian will build his famous wall. But for now defences are weak as tribes rebel against Rome, and local druids preach the fiery destruction of the invaders.

It falls to Flavius Ferox, Briton and Roman centurion, to keep the peace. But it will take more than just a soldier's courage to survive life in Roman Britain.

This is a hugely authentic historical novel, written by one of Britain's leading historians.

Kolymsky Heights
Top notch spy infiltration book, the MacGuffin is a touch disappointing after the infiltration but then the exfiltration makes up for it.
If you do get it skip chapter one, it just Phillip Pullman reviewing it with minor spoilers.

"Terrific" - Washington Post "The best thriller I have ever read!" - Phillip Pullman
Kolymsky Heights. A Siberian permafrost hell lost in endless nights, the perfect setting for an underground Russian research station. It's a place so secret it doesn't officially exist; once there, the scientists are forbidden to leave. But one scientist is desperate to get a message to the outside world. So desperate, he sends a plea across the wildness to the West in order to summon the one man alive capable of achieving the impossible ...

Fast-moving, exhilarating and starring a highly unusual hero, Kolymsky Heights is an unforgettable thriller with a spectacular denouement.

I can't follow an audio book unless it's full cast. I haven't found many but if you like sci-fi, you have to check out Escape Velocity.

Elite: Escape Velocity
https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?c=sha ... how/122243

It's set in the world of the games by Ian Bell and David Braben but it's so good my wife even completed it.

Other than that, I do keep a browser tab open to keep an eye on the Free Daily from Blinkist. But it's usually on how to work more productively or profitably.

That said, today's is about Native American achievements so I'll give that a listen.

I'm just about to start on "Love and Summer" by William Trevor - a BBC Audio book in excellent condition that I got on eBay for £7.19 incl.p+p. I'm a big William Trevor fan and also have "The Story of Lucy Gault" which I have read and listened to several times. Very soothing stuff but being male I'm not good at multi-tasking and have to switch off the computer, close my eyes and concentrate on the story.

Whats the deal with Audible? Do you have to sign up for a monthly subscription and then pay for individual books?

Seems like a gyp to me

Recently enjoyed Jimmy Carr's Before and Laughter. Part self-help book, part autobiography. Entertaining listen.

I was searching for an Audiobook of the "The Midden" by Tom Sharpe and came across another of his books - "Vintage Stuff" here: https://bookaudio.online/326-tom-sharpe ... stuff.html read by Stephen Fry. If you're a Tom Sharpe fan I can highly recommend this one - and it's free to listen.

Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914 by Max Hastings.

The only time I have these days for books either in print or audiobook format is for business and studies related subject matter.

There’s some amount of absolute sheite in that category but where sales related is concerned, I can wholeheartedly recommend:

Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount.

Inked, Selling the price increase and Sales EQ are also good. Fairly practical stuff if you’re in that line of work. I’m 25+ years into my sales career and still find his stuff useful.

I really liked "This is going to hurt" by Adam Kay, which he also narrates himself. Funny and sad at times.

The Rodfather.

Autopsy, by Patricia Cornwell. Part of the Kay Scarpetta series. I must say this is a big disappointment to me. Cornwell has gone down the same path as Jeffrey Deaver and James Patterson by just repeating the same format over and over again to the point where you nearly know "whodunnit" from the first page. The reader doesn't help either , no vocal inflection, just the same monotone. Pity, as I always looked forward to her new books but I suppose there is a limit to what you can do with any particular theme.

The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.

It's really a book of two parts.

The first is an investigation report of sorts.

The second is an autobiography of his own beliefs.
It's interesting partly because in parts he is very cognisant of his flaws of thinking and at other times its like he hasn't really thought out what he is writing.

The Matthew Bartholomew chronicles. Murder mystery series set in 14th century Cambridge. Entertaining and easy listening.

An End to Upside Thinking by Mark Gober.

It puts forth various arguments for consciousness not being produced by the brain. It also investigates and outlines some of the more strange aspects of consciousness studies.

Its interesting so far. The first chapter was a perhaps over-egging the pudding a bit.
However, its settled down now and is getting into the good weird stuff.

Do podcasts count?