This past weekend I did something unusual. I didn’t watch television. Sounds odd but it is a bit of the revelation Chez Tink. I occasionally listened to IPod music on the speakers Mama Mao also got me for Christmas (yup you see them in that photo dontcha!) and watched an episode or two from DVD (oh how I love thee Father Ted! And how I am saving up for Are You Being Served!!). But otherwise there was no technology sucking me in and challenging me to see if that ass sized indent could meld into one with my sofa/bed.
And you know what Monday night when I got home from the homicidal tendencies day I didn’t turn the TV on either. I knit and watched 2 episodes of Father Ted and then read a book. And I really liked that. (Goes against my cracking trend to not actually put the internets in the flat nor put in the cable TVs either- as part of me really wants them so that I dont stay late at work, and so that I can watch TV in English, which may or may not be a good thing either...)
So now I am thinking I might want to (once I whip ITunes technology around and shout at it how… It’s my bitch) download some books and listen to them on the speakers while I knit at night. I did just win a Blingo $10 ITunes gift-certificate after all!
But after I had this brilliant stroke of light in the head... I couldn’t really think of books off the top of my head. Most of the time I pick my books by going into the store looking around and taking home what interests me. I try to swirl some classics in there, I want to get some enrich the grey matter books on the shelves too, I have a particular weakness for Royal biographies (and other biographies too actually), I can be known to crack over a "popular" pop book, and every once in a while I bring home some smut books too.
So I am really all over the boat. Somewhere a year or so ago there was a classics book list that shuffled around, but I can't remember a thing off of it for my life. ITunes- not helping so much actually. And Audible.com last time I checked didn’t have that great of a selection, and I am not sure I am that interested in a membership deal as this idea might not be so brilliant. Cause really... smart it resideth not here!
So I am turning to the wealth of intelligence that is out there in the internets. This is for anyone out there who might be doing the audio books route- have you and suggestions? And for the rest of you that read… any non knitting book suggestions? (I already splurged the yarn money and then some to get IK books (hurt ones actually) and bought me the Vogue Reference book- which Amazon.fr says will be delivered some time around the END OF MARCH. GAH!!!)
What sayeth thee for my first guinea pig on this technological experiment: a book James??
Posted by Stinkerbell at January 24, 2006 08:35 PM | TrackBackDepends on what you like to read: Horror, I definitely suggest Dean Koontz. Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston are good co-authors on suspense/mystery/horror. Maggie Shayne is good for vampires, witches, etc but with a romantic twist. There's always Nora Roberts if you want kind of romantic but also a story without all the bodice ripping. There's Sight Hound by Pam Houston that made me bawl by the end, but it was really sweet.(And that was because I've always wanted an Irish Wolfhound and I went through leukemia :P) If you like British/Irish humor, Marian Keyes is a MUST. She's one of those authors that makes me laugh out loud. Um.. Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey if you like fantasy stuff... Christopher Moore if you like tongue in cheek kind of oddly surprising horror that's more comedy than anything else, definitely good for a laugh. The only one I didn't like was Fluke, just because it dragged on.
Yeah, there's a reason I don't work at a bookstore anymore. Or a craft store! :D
Posted by: Angelle at January 24, 2006 09:26 PMAudiobooks...hmm, lessee. I did listen to an awful lot of them that I got at the library during my semester from hell. I was commuting every weekend four hours each way and I listened to maybe 25 books in about four months? That was early 2005, so I got some popular stuff, some classics. Really liked a few things, really hated some others. I think with audiobooks, you have to have different criteria...like the voice! You have to really like the person's voice, even if it is the author reading it. I generally like the author's reading of it...like John le Carre! So. British. Awesome spy novels. Also Fannie Flagg, if you like Southern lit. She is very funny and won a Grammy for one or two of 'em. Hey, maybe you could check the Grammy website to see what audiobooks are stellar?! Also, for humor, I enjoy David Sedaris (when I can find him!! har.)
With audiobooks, you have to be wary of bad, bad abridgements. Like even when it says the author gave his/her blessing, it still doesn't mean it's good. I generally liked the Dive from Clausson's Pier, but when the tape crapped out on me at the end, I went to the bookstore to read the last couple of chapters, and the book was SO MUCH BETTER!
Also I felt compelled to keep listening even if I didn't enjoy it ('cause it was the only thing I'd brought with me), but that could mean hours and hours of wasted time.
Other books I liked: Donna Tartt's The Little Friend. (also good is her first novel, The Secret History...both read by the author), Tarzan, Lord Greystoke (whatever the title is). Audio is a good way for me to listen to classics that would otherwise bore me to tears.
Bill Bryson's books are hilarious travel accounts, and I think all are good.
Don't forget children's books! Like The Secret Garden (relatively short, and so charming), The Indian in the Cupboard, etc.
P.S. As for "chicklit," I did NOT enjoy The Devil Wears Prada, but I did like the Nanny Diaries (read by Julia Roberts). Sorry so long!
Posted by: Rachel at January 24, 2006 11:06 PMI think anything read by Samuel West is good. Particularly 'The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous' and 'Peter Pan'. The Classics tend to cut down quite well for this sort of thing.
~x~
Posted by: Jane in London at January 25, 2006 02:38 PMI gots all kindsa book recommendations...even a whole site for them!
And, Are You Being Served? Classic. Absolutely classic.
Posted by: Chris at January 26, 2006 02:03 PMHi - I read a lot and now and then do a book trade online I call blog this book. Inevitably, I have more books than I can fit in bookcases, so I try to trade them out with other people. I still have too many, and if you like, I could send you a little box with a few interesting reads inside. It's a pretty random selection of fiction, good stuff though, just not enough room here for me to keep them all and I'd love for someone else to have them. Interested? email me and I'll grab a couple for you. I'm moving in february anyway, so a purge is more than overdue.
Posted by: gaile at January 31, 2006 07:28 PM