Audible Island Books

[Steven Koteff]

See I don't do audiobooks often but podcasts to me are a way of getting a bit of culture/enrichment when I don't have time to be reading (while driving, say, or running, washing dishes). 

But my attention still wanders because a lack of, of what...Insight Density? So what I started doing is I play podcasts at 1.25-1.5X speed, which actually helps increase Insight Density and further keeps me engaged more. 

Haven't tried it with audiobooks. But part of the problem with audiobooks, granted, and like I said, I usually only do them when I don't have the chance to physically read, so my attention is somewhat occupied as is. Too occupied to really get out of a great book what I'd get out of it reading. 

> On Jan 18, 2016, at 1:54 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> What I do is hit the "go back 15 seonds" button every fifteen seconds
> 
>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Lot's of people don't get it but early on I learned to compensate for the real time overflow by listening to the complete work over and over again. A simple 1 hr podcast might get 7 or 8 listens. (Jesus, I'll be working 14 hrs in one day!)  The Recognitions, I have to admit, I haven't gotten through a second time, but that's how it's done. -Allan in WV (what did you say?)
>> 
>>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The audience's agency in the pace of a book is central to literature as an art form, I think. Not that there's nothing to be gained by listening, just that there's also a ton to be lost, for me anyway. 
>>> 
>>>> On Jan 18, 2016, at 1:36 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Lovecraft read by Wayne June is fun stuff imo. And I agree with what you said Mark, it's hard for me to listen to the more complex stuff if I haven't already read it. The book goes on without me 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> I can only listen to 'great' books, works of fiction in which every sentence, every word, matters and must be (somehow) felt...
>>>>> if I have read the work at least once already. .....Moby Dick on a car trip to Michigan and back to New Jersey was (almost) as
>>>>> good as Jeremy reminding me of Humbert. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> So, I am done. 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 1:15 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> That's a great suggestion, Mark.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I don't do audiobooks very often but I'm partial to ones where the author reads his/her own work. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I doubt he gets much love on here but I think certain sections of Hitchens reading his memoir are very good/moving.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Think about the format. I usually save audiobooks for things where the language (and the physical act of reading it typeset) is maybe less of a focus--things that are less stylized, or that have their linguistic integrity compromised by translation, etc. So with audiobooks I lean disproportionately to non-fiction or lighter fare. I usually end up saving the format for books I'm semi-interested in, but not necessarily enough so to spend my precious desk-time with. Or for books I absolutely love and need to consume in another format (hence Irons's Lolita's appeal).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The first Knausgaard book on audio is decent--at first I thought the guy reading it was overwrought but developed some affection for it. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I heard a good audiobook of Anna Karenina once. I can imagine a perfect reading of Proust.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Go for something that has elements of orality/yarnness. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> If there's anything of Barry Hannah reading his work...
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:45 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> if still available, Jeremy Irons reading you LOLITA is unforgettable. 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 12:29 PM, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I can't believe my powers have recall have sunk so low today, but here's a manifestation of the problem:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I have credit for two audio books at Audible right now and have to use them by the end of the day and, although I admit that everything I want cost $7 or less cash(33 1/3's "Low", for example)  but the credits cost $15 each and can 'buy' recordings valued to over $50 each, so every purchase counts and I'm hesitant to 'just buy something.' 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I also have, for example, all the P titles that are in audiobook on audible snd most of the Jim Harrison (incl several never listened to) and many many more.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Listens are more for working in the greenhouse than for driving.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Leaning towards that recent title that's about a 'non fiction' love affair with an octopus but fear it may be more whimsical than real.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Open to suggestions, you don't even have to check Audible before checking
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I'm going to go sit in front of some bright lights
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> =Allan in WV
> 
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