Moving Forward with Tremontaine

You might remember that, back in June, I sang the praises of Ellen Kushner and Company's Tremontaine, a serialized story published by SerialBox. I read the omnibus version of the first season and fell in love with the swordfighters, the scholars, and the lovers. I wanted to continue with the story but I assumed that the seasons were just in audio form and on the web and I didn't know if I had enough listening/computer time to make much progress in the series. I also thought that you had to keep up with their schedule and I was already hopelessly behind. Luckily, SerialBox reached out and got me onto their app and I discovered that each episode is actually in audio AND print form and is available forever. There are even extras included, like posts from each author as the episode they penned airs -- and they are all archived. Now I've started listening to Season 2 (or reading when I forget my earbuds or only have a moment or two to fit in a scene) and I'm not feeling at all rushed, even though the story has already moved on to Season 3, episode 8. I can buy episodes ($1.59 each -- what a deal!) or whole seasons at any time and just download them when I'm ready. However, I still can't decide whether to binge or take my time and savor each episode, like I would with the choicest Kinwiinik chocolate.

And if I do happen to finally catch up, Serial Box has seven other stories going right now in all different genres. More than one of them has already caught my eye!

With a cup of heaven (or maybe a tomato pie),
K

My Journey to Becoming an Audiobook Listener

Before September 2013, I hadn't really listened to audiobooks except for a couple of Harry Potters that I had bought for road trips. I was one of those jerky readers that didn't believe that listening counted as reading. I also didn't want to sit at my computer for hours on end and I didn't have a commute. Then came Ready Player One and the discovery of the Overdrive subscription through my wonderful library system. I couldn't resist listening to Wil Wheaton as narrator of an instant geek classic and thus began my conversion.

I have now tried out a lot of different kinds of audiobooks and listening situations. What works for me is this:

1. Middle grade, YA, or genre fiction: I tried listening to Victoria: A Life but I just couldn't keep up with names and timelines on audio. I needed the ability to look at relationship charts and photos. I need plot-driven fiction! I did listen to the Amy Poehler memoir but that was entertainment non-fiction, not the learning type.

2. A narrator with a good accent and good representation of various characters: I tried a theater group performance earlier this year and they were just too dramatic for me. There was also a Judy Blume book that I listened to where the adult narrator just made all of the kid voices whiny. It was awful.

3. The ability to listen on 1.25x or 1.5x: I am impatient and I don't want a book to last more than a few days. There have only been one or two times that I couldn't understand the narrator when I sped up a book.

I started by listening while taking walks and then added in some time during housework and yardwork, when settling down for a weekend nap, and finally just while sitting in the sun on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I've even been known to listen to the end of a great story through an entire evening.

A few of my favorites so far have been:

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, read by Bronson Pinchot

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, read by James Avery

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, read by Jim Dale

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, read by Cherry Jones

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (and all the other Discworld books and Nation and Dodger -- all read by Stephen Briggs)

The BFG by Roald Dahl, read by David Walliams

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (and other titles), read by Jenny Sterlin

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, read by Tantoo Cardinal

and Neil Gaiman reading any of his own books

One of the best things I've found about audiobooks is that I can actually listen to one book while having a different physical book in progress. I used to be a monogamous reader but now I have fun dipping into multiple stories through different mediums. Somehow, I'm able to keep the stories separate this way. The only thing I'm apparently not able to do is remember to review my audiobooks because they don't end up on my review stack. Oops.

Do you listen to audiobooks regularly? Do you have a favorite that I should try?

Happily converted,

K

RIP Reads 13 & 14: Spooks in Other Formats

During read-a-thon, I tried out the first volume of the Grimm graphic novel, based on the NBC television show. I'm a pretty big fan of the show and had been missing it all summer long so I was hoping for a fun read. And, while this collection was a bit repetitive (they didn't edit out recaps between issues when combining them for this book), the story was indeed fun and the characters were exactly like their television counterparts. If you don't watch the tv series, I think there was still enough character introduction at the beginning that you wouldn't be lost but I do think that this will likely be more interesting for existing fans.

I also wanted to grab an audiobook for the read-a-thon but, while I didn't get to it during that day, I didn't want to miss this chance to get more familiar with Ray Bradbury through The Halloween Tree. I listened to it over the past week or so and really enjoyed this tale that is part history lesson about the cultural origins of Halloween and also a harrowing tale of a young group of friends that must rescue one of their own. I did have to rewind and re-listen at one point after one small idea by Bradbury sent me off on a thought tangent about gods for about five minutes! His word choice is amazing and the flow of his prose is magical. As for the narrator, I thought Bronson Pinchot was engaging and easy to listen to but sometimes his kid voices were a little whiny.

Here's a preview clip for the 1992 Hanna-Barbera animated film version. It looks like the drama has been ramped up a bit!


Enjoying Halloween in many ways, K

RIP Read/Listen #4: The Graveyard Book

To shake up my RIP reads this year, I borrowed the audiobook version of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, narrated by the author, from the library.  Everyone seems to rave about it and, even though I rarely listen to audiobooks (really just Harry Potter stories on road trips), I decided to give it a try.  I loved the book when I read it last year so I thought it would be something nice to put on while I blogged and surfed the web.  Well, things didn't go quite as planned.

I adore Neil Gaiman's voice and some of his voices in this reading are quite entertaining.  His Miss Lupescu is the best and Scarlett's little Scottish accent is quite cute!  However, I just couldn't keep my mind on the story.  I caught bits and pieces but had to keep reminding myself to really listen.  I was doing a bit better by the last disc or two but still wasn't quite following along.  I'm normally a pretty good multi-tasker but I think that books are something that require my whole attention, whether they're written or spoken.

I still played the entire story and it has whet my appetite to revisit my copy of the book.  Sadly, though, I think it will be a while before I try an audiobook again.  I need a commute or something!

Finding that Neil Gaiman demands my full attention,
K