Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "audio-books"

Ingesting? Really? Yes and we all do so more often than you might think, as it's not just a conscious thing.

You hear snippets of conversation on a train and a writer's mind will want to fill in the gaps. I refuse to believe that is just me!

A reader's mind may well be reminded of stories they've read based on similar themes to what they've overheard. There will be something!

Ingesting stories can also be done via audio books/going to oral storytelling events and so on. We ourselves are stories and our lives reflect tales that have influenced us.

Look at what your favourite stories are and ask yourself why you picked these. It is the reason why these stories speak to your soul that is so fascinating.

Really great stories do reflect what we know of ourselves and humanity in general. We take in those stories with themes that fascinate us most.

The good thing then is to have a healthy reading diet. Stories take us to places we physically cannot go. This is especially true for science fiction and fantasy, but stories should feed our minds and open them.

So ingest plenty of tales (and the best non-fiction is a creative narrative too) and enjoy what's on the menu!

My favourite format is paperback but I am fond of audio books.

I managed to convert family members to the sheer joy of Terry Pratchett's Discworld thanks to audio books. We can get through two of them each way on our annual jaunt to the far North of Scotland.

I think what I like most about audio books is hearing the characters come to life. It's a bit like eavesdropping on a conversation.

From a writing viewpoint, you also get to hear the rhythm of the dialogue, how the author handles hesitation, repetition etc.

Speech in whatever format of book cannot be exactly the same as real speech. You'd never want to read all these umms, ahhs, coughs and false starts! All it can do is mirror an idealised version of speech.

But hearing that helps you to write it yourself.

Happy listening!

Audio books come into their own for long car journeys. It has been a joy to re-listen to Raising Steam and Snuff from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series on my way home from Scotland. Hope to listen to his Reaper Man later too.

And it is lovely to be read to as well. From a writing viewpoint, I get to hear how dialogue works. And I can always learn from that.

What are your favourite audio books? Do you prefer the book in audio or in print? What makes a book work for you in audio?

For me it has to be the way the narrator brings the characters to life. A good narrator makes all the difference.

Well, I trust you do have plenty of books on your Christmas wish list!

There is a tradition in one of the Nordic countries where Christmas Eve is spent eating chocolate and reading books. I like that - a lot!

Don’t forget audio books. There are plenty of ways to take in stories. Reading will always be my first love but listening to stories comes in at a respectable second.

And these are great for people who might not want to sit down with a book but who are happy to listen to a story while doing something else. You take in more than you might think.

Re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather and watching the adaptation of it is on my list of things to do and A Christmas Carol will be on the agenda for me to revisit again at some point in the run up to Christmas.

I’ll almost certainly be watching the Muppet version. Not only is that a great adaptation, Gonzo, as narrator Charles Dickens, reminds people to go and read the book at the end of the film. I love that and I’d always second that suggestion!

Okay, you know when you’ve got books as presents. The shape is a dead giveaway but it doesn’t matter if you know what’s in the wrapping.

There will always be something special about unwrapping a book for Christmas.

And they do make fabulous presents.

Do you listen to audio books? I do sometimes, mainly on long car journeys (and there will be a time when we can do such things again!).

I love the Terry Pratchett Discworld audio books for these. Great story lines and plenty of laughs - what’s not to like about that combination?

On a long haul trip to Scotland, we can get through one complete audio book on the way up and another one on the journey home!

I think Going Postal, Raising Steam, and Men at Arms work particularly well but I won’t pretend to be unbiased here. These are probably my three favourite Pratchett stories.

What are your favourite audio books? Do you like funny or serious tales for these? Fiction or non-fiction?

I must admit I’ve not tried a non-fiction audio book? Any thoughts on these and are there any you would recommend?

I do know audio is a great way to get stories in to people who may not sit down and read a hard or paperback so let’s hear it for the audio book (some pun intended!).

I also love the way Talking Books make stories more accessible too.

And at the end of the day the story is the important thing. What you want is to find the format that suits you. (In my case, paperbacks, Kindle, and audio).

I could write chapter and verse on this week’s topic, appropriately enough. So where to start on why books are special to me?

My love of books and stories comes from my late mother who encouraged my love of reading and taught me to read before I started school.

Books were regularly given as presents. I would often buy books with pocket money and money gifts sent by my relatives for Christmas etc. I went to the library a lot.

Best of all, Mum had a lovely collection of books herself, which I now have. And I so wanted to have a collection of my own (which I have).

As well as being read to as a child, which is so important, I saw Mum read for pleasure herself more often than I could say. It sent the unspoken message that this was definitely an okay thing to do - and it is!

Then there are the books with particular meaning. I treasure the Bibles given to me by my late parents and the one given to me by my son.

I love The Reader’s Digest of Classic Fairytales two volume set. I spent hours reading those and loving the beautiful illustrations. I remember the shock I first had on reading The Little Mermaid in here and discovering fairytales didn’t always have happy ever after endings.

I identified with the way The Ugly Duckling felt and cheered when all did work out well in the end. (You know full well as a kid it doesn’t always work that way in life, You know it even more as an adult).

I treasure my paperback of The Lord of The Rings and my copy of Pride and Prejudice.

For me, there is absolutely nothing about a book to dislike.

I like my paperbacks, my hardbacks, my audio and ebooks. The format doesn’t matter.

The fact it is a book does!

Happy reading!

I love audio books - really useful for long journeys. The first ones I listened to, and which are still great favourites, were the Terry Pratchett Discworld ones, narrated by Sir Tony Robinson.

These were great for another reason. I got my better half into these stories thanks to the audio books and it mean for several birthdays, wedding anniversaries etc., presents for him were sorted! Alas no more because we’ve got the lot!

What was the first audio book you enjoyed? What made you go for it? Had you already read the paperback? I had with the Discworld ones but my other half had not.

I’m never worried about book formats. People find different ways into stories.

There will always be a need for the printed book but I do love it when those who are not great readers, such as my other half, discover and love stories another way. Audio books are a fabulous invention.

One of the things I love most about stories is there are so many ways to take them in.

My favourite will always be the paperback, followed by the hardback, followed jointly by ebooks and audio. I especially love audio books for long journeys and will look forward to hearing some old favourites again when I go on holiday later in the year.

But don’t forget audio itself comes in more than one medium. Stories on radio work astonishingly well, whether they are readings from books or plays (which are scripted stories).

Also film and TV can share stories amazingly well. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson got members of my family into that terrific story.

They would never have read the book. I had read it, loved it, and thought the film trilogy did the original justice. (Though I must admit I would have liked the films to have included what really happened to Saruman after Sauron’s fall).

I also love the fact adaptations to help breathe new life into classic books. Win-win for the written word there I think.

Am looking forward to a break away in May but I already know what my holiday reading will be. It will be whatever I am currently reading on my Kindle.

The ebook comes into its own for this kind of thing, of course. No packing of heavy books. No limitation on what you can take to read either. All I must remember to do is pack my charger (especially since it does my phone as well!).

I don’t read what is normally known as holiday reading. Not really my genre though I can appreciate why the lighter reads are wanted for the summer season. (They’re even more important to cheer people up if the weather is a wash out as it can be in the UK).

For me, my light reads are the humorous books I love - Wodehouse and Pratchett works especially.

I usually get to listen to some Pratchett audio books on the journey to and from my destination so get some extra stories in that way. All counts as holiday reading in my book, some pun intended!

I’m just listening to the tales rather than reading them but audio books are fantastic inventions. I get to take in even more stories and revisit old favourites -nothing to dislike about that.