@Th3solution@FuriousMachine yeah, I wouldn't do too taxing an activity while listening, unless I literally just wanted background noise. And the absolute ideal is late evening/night in place of a show or game, just absolutely chilling, meditative and focused on nothing but the words. But Audiobooks are great on long journeys to replace the drone of the open road (or the drone of other people 😄) That's when I really go into them most, I think. And it was choosing a book i'd already read (literally The Last Wish) that started me on this path. I knew I wanted to reread the Witcher books, had a long journey planned and knew I couldn't read and travel at the same time anyway and proabably wouldn't be dedicating enough time to actaully reread them all in book form as there are too many other things to devote time to. Excersise is also a good one for audiobooks, light exercise, anyway, even just walking. Anything more intensely active then music is better.
If you ever find you need sleep but aren't drifting off, a near guaranteed trick is to decide "I will definitely listen to a chapter or two in bed" and by half way through you will realise your mind isn't focused and you're ready to drop off. That requires rewinding to where you last remember taking in the words to avoid any confusion, though.
I think you'll find a way, Sol. Even if Furious cannot be lured in to my web to get the full Peter Kenny experience!
When it seems you're out of luck.
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@Ravix I've yet to try audio books and also still to try the digital route. I love a nice hardcopy, I'm not overly fussy about hardcover or paperback. There is nothing quite like cracking open a book and smelling that paper old or new.
If I was to try audio books are there any stand outs that you would recommend? I hear Dungeon Crawler Carl is excellent in that format. Me being me wanted the nice hardcover for my shelves though.
@Th3solution@Ravix@MightyDemon82 I've long since realised that I'm incapable of multitasking; I'm barely capable of singletasking! (fun fact: research indicates that very few people, if any, truly multitask; the processing is continually switching between the tasks, incurring a cognitive penalty for each task as the brain continually resets, making each task take longer, become more error prone and memory retention suffers. There are levels of this, of course, reciting Shakespeare while balancing your budget will be more difficult than the famous combination of walking and chewing gum).
I use music as background "noise" for pretty much everything I do, as it can easily fade into the background when I'm concentrating on other things and it won't bother me. When the same thing happens with a podcast or audiobook, I actually get a little cranky. If I were to put my mind to listening to something I want my mind to retain, I must focus on that and I find it difficult to keep my mind from wandering. Which is why, in pretty much all the scenarios you guys mention - commuting/traveling (I've never had a driver's license, so I'm never driving), wanting to wind down with something other than a game, a movie or a show - that's when I read. I will also read during most meals. Exercise and very mundane housework, like doing the washing up, are activities where I can listen to a podcast, but even then my mind would drift, so I prefer music for those activities as well.
When I want to actively listen to music, I am able to play very simple games such as solitaire or the likes, and still give most of my attention to the music. This is what I typically do when I take an LP out for a spin on the old turntable.
As for physical books, I miss them dearly (I too love the smell of cracking open a proper book), but issues with my eyesight and having very little available space for them makes digital my best option at this time in my life.
@FuriousMachine As for physical books, I miss them dearly (I too love the smell of cracking open a proper book), but issues with my eyesight and having very little available space for them makes digital my best option at this time in my life.
That sounds so hard to imagine going through, my books are like my children and I've seen 'some' of your collection (I haven't looked in a few weeks) I was talking to a pianist a couple of weeks ago about some music I wrote and I wanted to forward a piece to hear their opinion. They told me they simply can't because their hearing is starting to go, it made me turn my music down. Can you not get reading glasses or is it an issue with the light too? Like you enjoy the dark and you are losing focus because of it so you need the light of a Kindle or other device to provide that clarity.
Which reminds me I still have you as a friend on there, I just had to change my account name again. It's still up, just under a different name.
@FuriousMachine@GirlVersusGame I'm incredibly lucky to be almost 44 and still don't need glasses. I wore for a brief period as a kid, but my eyesight must have corrected itself. The optician was happy with my sight the last time I visited so for the time being I feel lucky considering all my younger siblings all wear glasses.
@MightyDemon82 Well this is embarrassing I thought you were eight two years old, now I just noticed it's your date of birth. Glasses absolutely work on some people, I've used them as fashion but they were obviously non-functional and you could tell.
Be warned it's a bit of an eccentric collection and that's maybe half. I've managed to catalogue six thousand+ online and eight thousand+ offline, I've been doing it since 2017 and it takes forever. I don't watch the news media so if something happens like say a terrorist attack I'll wait for the book and read every book on the topic then make my mind up. Or for example during lockdown when so many people went stir-crazy and followed conspiracy theories. I read eighty of those too (unfortunately) True Crime is at about six hundred because there's a lot of bad in the world and the only way you'll understand it is by reading the facts, disturbing as they might be.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
@GirlVersusGame It's a bit complicated, but it boils down to the fact that my eyesight changes frequently due to diabetes and changes in my blood sugar due to medication for another (hopefully temporary) condition, so after having spent a small fortune changing prescription for my glasses four times in three years, I made the decision to simply use disposable contact lenses, which is way easier to change prescription for (and without extra cost, I just order the next batch of lenses with the new prescription when it changes). An unfortunate side effect is that, even with multifocal lenses, I have difficulty reading small print without taking them off so reading Kindle on my phone or tablet is way easier as I can resize the font as needed (I carry a small magnifying glass in my pocket at all times for other occasions).
Hopefully my eyesight will stabilize enough when the current medical issues are resolved and I get a handle on my blood sugar levels to be able to go back to use glasses, which will then make it easier to read printed books again (as it is now, it is only really feasible to do before I put in the lenses in the morning or after I take them out in the evening).
There are perks for digital only as well, I automatically have my entire bookshelf with me wherever I go and, as mentioned, shelf space is something I don't have much of, so even if I get my eyesight sorted, I will probably still primarily read digital and continue buying only hardcovers of books I've read and loved and simply "must own".
@MightyDemon82 I've been wearing glasses and/or contacts for over 35 years so I've long since gotten used to it; it's only gotten complicated because of other medical conditions. Still, not needing glasses at all would have been preferable, so I hope your eyesight will continue to be strong for as long as possible (I guess some time in the next 44 years you'll probably need glasses in some capacity, but hopefully that day is still a long way off )
@FuriousMachine There are perks for digital only as well, I automatically have my entire bookshelf with me wherever I go.
That's why I get my books scanned then boxed away. I know they'll be safe and then as I travel I have a kind of home Kindle App that dials into the that library of books and away you go. I was looking into a new A.I. system to make that scanning faster but I've been using the current company so long that even if it takes longer I'd be depriving them of work. I like (as you said) the smell of a good book but I'm practical too, if I'm queuing up eighteen at a time I'm not carrying around eighteen heavy books and I'm wary of damaging them. I'm trying to preserve knowledge. It might be a kind of Fallout mentality but when a flame touches paper it takes those pages and you never see them again. I'm also looking into hosting certain volumes on the deepweb, some countries are denied access to knowledge, others can't afford it and I believe education and knowledge should be available to all. I'm still balancing the ethical implications.
I owe a lot to reading, it's shown me and continues to show me so many opinions and ideas, even if I don't always agree with them, it's a kind of lifeline. It's harder to read Fiction, it's enjoyable but I always have that little feeling like 'I could be learning right now'. Then like you I have to update the lists and you know how time consuming that actually is. we're screwed if Goodreads ever goes down, trying to organize anything will be a nightmare. Finding similar recommendations too, which is a big part of why I use it.
I've only tried contacts once, they were for cosplay so they aren't exactly something that would help there. I don't know how you get used to contacts, but you don't have long nails either. If you did you'd have no eyes left, you'd be like The Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth with your eyes in your palms.
@GirlVersusGame. If I live to 82 that will be a fine age, just a shame that when I'm gone I won't be able to see my family bitching about what to do with all my books 🤣.
That is quite the collection. Eccentric is good. I'll have a proper look sometime and no doubt add many to my TBR pile.
@FuriousMachine being able to carry an entire bookcase with you does sound amazing.
Here's hoping that your eyesight does indeed stabilize and you're able to enjoy reading long into the future.
I know what you mean about spending a small fortune on your prescription, as my other halfs eyesight is always changing. Very kind of you to say so. That would be the time to embrace audiobooks if our sight does start to fail us.
@GirlVersusGame Very cool that you're working to preserve knowledge (and that you resist the temptation to let AI deprive honest workers of their livelihood - AI would most likely do a poor job of it and you would have to spend a lot of time making sure that it hasn't changed or damaged the text. All AI requires scrutinous quality control and, as such, can end up taking longer and more effort than if you had a human do it in the first place).
The ethical conundrum of what you are considering is indeed a difficult one. Putting those things out on the deepweb will ensure that it will be available for those who would otherwise not have access to it, but it will also be available for those who simply can't be bothered to pay its worth for it, again potentially impacting livelihoods. I'm sure you'll figure out what you feel is right
I'm very glad that I didn't read your comment before going to bed last night, otherwise my night would have been filled with nightmares of Goodreads disappearing and me having a blank to-read list. At first blush that may seem like a good thing, having a fresh start and all that, but then I think of all the magnificently interesting books I have on my list that I probably would forget about and that loss would haunt me
If you'll ever need them you'll get used to handling contact lenses very quickly, long nails or not. The trick is to not put the lenses on the tip of your nails when applying them to your eyes, but rather on your finger pads (poking one's eye with one's nails is a mistake one only does once, I feel confident assuming). Of course, if you have fingernails so long that they are curling inwards you may have some difficulties, but in such case I believe everything involving finger dexterity would be troublesome
Interestingly, the location of the eyes is pretty much the only thing separating me from the Pale Man... oh, yeah, I also have a nose, but other than that: spitting image!
@MightyDemon82 Thank you, I hope so too, but as with most things, one finds a way around these things if they become permanent.
You asked for audiobook recommendations and while that is a question better answered by @Ravix (who's most likely off on a tangent elsewhere in these forums at the moment, but will get back to you in due time, I'm sure ), I seem to remember us talking about Stephen Fry's Mythology series a while back, but I can't remember if you ever got around to reading them or if they were still on your to-read list. I would imagine they would be pretty good as audiobooks, though, as I understand Mr. Fry narrates them himself. I would imagine pretty much any audiobook narrated by him would be a good bet, though
It seem i cant get enough of epic storytelling and i have now started my yearly read of Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. It is one of my all time favourite books and one of my dearest childhood memories. It is a magical book and it is good that more people gets to know Tolkiens magical world through series and films. Still the book kicks ass and it is all i need to create some advent time. Oh well, there will be a showing of the movies when my reading is done. Being old i had the privilege of watching the movies in the cinema, top fun and part of my advent time.
Hopefully I wasn't tangenting too hard for you, good sir!
I'm very picky about audiobooks tbh, a lot I will listen to the narrator for the preview and nope out of right away. So really all I could recommend would be 'The Saxon Tales/The Last Kingdom' which is 13 books. Everything by Sapkowski which I loved to read anyway, but Peter Kenny is an iconic narrator, to mea class above any I've heard, and thankfully he narrates all of the Witcher books and the Hussite Trilogy as well. The Bob Mortimer books, as Bob narrates those himself, along with co-stars like Sally Phillips & Paul Whitehouse. (It really elevates it when an imagined squirrel has a 'boro accent, for example. Even if Bob's initial main character narration is a little bit hasty, it can't be denied that he has earned my pateince, and he grows into it the more he does. The style kind of works for the way it is written anyway)
And my next venture will be into Tolkein, as Andy Serkis narrates those now, I believe. I have the Silmarillion to try out when I get around to it. I'm sure he will be a top tier narrator for Tolkein, for obvious reasons. (He may also narrate some Pratchett and Gaiman? I'm sure I saw it pop up somehwere)
So yeah, that is maybe as far as my recommendations can go at the moment. But thankfully the quality I saught was also equally resperesnted in its quantity 😄
@Ravix So, on the subject of Mr. Kenny, I want to give an update. I’m a couple hours into The Last Wish and I’m going to have to admit that you are correct. I think I’m hooked. I started listening on a commute while I was driving to and from some job sites yesterday and when I got to my respective destinations (about 30 minutes apart) I didn’t want to turn the car off and go in for work! I wanted to keep listening!
Perhaps I’m more engaged with it because I do have some background on Geralt and Witchers now after playing the opening hours of the game, watched the first few episodes of the Netflix series, and having hung out here for the last several years and reading all the chats about the series. I wonder if I had no idea of anything about the world or Geralt if I would be so invested this early but I’m really enjoying it. So I can see, like you’ve told me for a long time now, how getting this background is going to probably be a good motivation to immerse myself in the game eventually. I already am feeling an itch to start the game! But I won’t yet because I want to obviously finish BG3 (killed Orin finally last night though 🎉) and I think I’ll be best prepared if I at least finish this book and maybe some more. I already feel inclined to buy the next Witcher audiobook.
As far as Kenny, I do agree he does really bring on a lot of the enjoyment by his performance, although I’m still early on so I’ll see how he handles the numerous characters we’re bound to come across later. My only criticism is he tends to vary his volume a little too much and when I’m driving with a little bit of background noise going on, I have to turn the volume way up to understand him when he’s whispering, and then he’ll deliver a line by a character really loud and boisterously and it will blast my ear drums. This won’t be a problem when I’m not in the car but I’m going to be consuming these books about 50% of the time in a car or plane over coming weeks. It’s also partly due to his British accents, which I love, but sometimes you folk say your words weirdly and I have to listen very closely and that can be hard when it’s a whisper or a mumble. 😄
Also, as you warned, I struggle a little with the character names. They are strange names to begin with and so when he says them in conjunction with his accent then it takes me a few repetitions for the name to register for me. I actually wish I had a hard copy of the book also so I can reference how these names are spelled and they will probably stick in my head better. I might have to rectify that.
@Th3solution oh, the names get infinitely weirder, but don't worry 😛 I feel like most recurring names are far easier to remember. And there will, of course, be the previously mentioned Dan-Dilly-Un issue from the translator not being able to spell. (It is far easier to deal with than The Last Kingdom, where they changed narrator after 4 books and the new one decided everyone's name was pronounced different. That was a mindf***. And right to the very end, every time he said 'Steeper' instead of Stee-appa, i'd murmur 'Stee-appa' under my breath, haha) but I digress.
My main focus of this comment is to say i'm genuinely over-the-moon that you are loving it, so far. It always brings a big smile to my face when this happens. And if you are hooked by the first stories, then i'm quite excited to hear your opinions as you advance. I was genuinely enthralled the other night as I was listening to one of the short stories i've read and heard before, even though I knew what was going on it lured me back in as if I were new to it, which is a really cool feeling and credit to the writing and narration overall.
I'm going to guess you are perhaps up to or around about The Lesser Evil? And I feel like I was hooked back in during A Grain of Truth as it advanced and unfurled. I'm currently within A Question of Price, but plan on getting some more listened to tonight!
It may help that you at least know what to expect in a way, but the books were still popular before the games, especially in Europe, and the game definitely opened them up to a massive new audience, but I think it is just as easy to get hooked on without the games, it's just you have to have happened to have discovered it to actually do that. Sapkowski had a pretty progressive style for his situation in the 90's, too. I don't know a lot about the politics of the time, but there was a shift from communism, which meant he had grown up and lived though everything that led to that happening which must have been pretty unique. A google lists him as "anti-clerical, pro-integration, multi-cultural, free-market liberal" but not overtly political. He is like, I suppose, how I am, I am not very political, but I have my own beliefs and honour system that I live by. Plus everyone thinks he's really just a grumpy old man, but that is simply his Polishness. As you learn more about Geralt, you will understand the nuances of certain character traits from both a Polish and Western standpoint. A lot of that is the dry humour, sarcasm, and percieved grumpiness. I really do love his writing style, haha. But yes, the progressiveness probably helps with making it accessible today to new readers.
There are a bunch of game fans that literally think he is a boring, grumpy, greedy author who isn't even that good, despite the game being so deeply understanding and true to what he created, with some added flair for the sake of it being a game with fun stuff to do, vis-á-vis fighting monsters. But the books are where you can really dive into their motivations, personalities and, eventually the politics of the world. Some people are just a bit impatient, perhaps, and want to go and fight some monsters which is, of course, much easier to do in a game, haha.
Let me know when you hit the next milestone, you can always spoiler tag anything of interest if you want to chat about specific moments and i'll know where you are up to 😄
@Ravix Some great recommendations there. Are the Cornwell books what the t.v. show was based on?
I've been meaning to get to "The Witcher" my only interaction with that is The 3rd game and Seasons 1 & 2 of the Netflix series. With you mentioning Lord of the Rings you are tempting me with a re-read (possibly also a re-watch) as I first read the books just before the films came to cinemas.
@MightyDemon82 if you liked the game enough to try the TV show then recommending the books is the easiest decision in the history of time. Because the TV show pretty much butchers the source material, whereas the game is made with such love and respect for it.
I did try to check on your game collection how you rated it, but it was not there. But, like I say, if you in any way enjoyed it, it is such an easy recommendation. When I finished the DLC's I was blown away and instantly bought and binged all of the books and it was just this combination of media i'd never experienced before, then I got the audiobooks, and I still listen to them every so often. It is pretty shocking when things are adapted so well and with the same spirit, but I can't honestly pick whether I like the games or books more, maybe leaning slightly to the books because it is more accessible to reread/listen those than put 100/200+ hours into to a full playthrough.
And if you have any intention of playing TW4, then the books will really help introduce you to Ciri, especially when you get into the fully fledged novels.
Yep, The Last Kingdom show came from The Saxon Tales which retroactively adjusted its name to match. The books span a far greater timeline so the show is far more condensed, but i'd rate it as a pretty damn good adaption. They are different enough to be seen almost like two seperate versions of the same story, but I don't think the way they adapted it damages the books or itself in any way. I think overall they made some good decisions to keep it moving at a tv friendly pace.
So even though i'd seen the show, the books kept surprising me with new elements. But I don't think if I went back to the show i'd think "but why didn't they add this bit" not often enough for it to put me off, anyway. I'd have to give it a go though for certainty.
I am lining up The Return of the King this week sometime, as i'm in the middle of a rewatch of the films. Hopefully the steelbooks are arriving soon, too muahaha.
But yeah, I want to hear your thoughts on The Witcher first, so I can fully commit to making you read or listen to those, so hold your horses on LotR 😄
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