I've started to make a small collection of audiobooks, and I gotta say...this is the best thing since porn.

I've got a lot of Stephen King novellas and novels, and I ordered Master & Margarita a couple days ago. It's kind of fun to sit back and listen to a story in the same way you'd sit back and watch a movie. It can be a bit hard to pay attention at first, and if I lay down I end up falling asleep, but...yeah, it's pretty entertaining otherwise. It's funny when I find myself perking up and listening intently during some horror sequence in a King novel.

Are any of you big on audiobooks?

World War Z in audiobook format was pretty badass, the voiceacting was pretty amazing besides the fact that Wolrd War Z was an amazing book especially if your into the whole Horror Zombie thing.

I agree. As I spend hours in my car due to my job, I like to listen to a good book.

I can never pay attention. Reading is more immersive and engaging... and faster.

Although I think I would enjoy 'James Earl Jones Reads The Bible'... but I haven't picked it up yet.

Haha...I saw that on the shelf in the bookstore. I actually lol'd.

But as for paying attention...well, I'd say it's mostly an issue of what book you've chosen. If the book is interesting, then hearing someone read it to you surely won't make it less interesting. Likewise, hearing someone read something boring will be boring regardless. The benefit however, is that you don't have to trudge through the boring text yourself.

This is particularly useful for some of Stephen King's books. They are amazing once they pick up momentum, but with the exception of IT and The Stand (and Cell, of course, though Cell doesn't compare to these) I find the buildup for most of his books to be mind-numbing. Having someone read through it for me makes it a lot easier.

Audiobooks are excellent. I've made use of them before and still occasionally enjoy them.

Some books are simply better in audio form. Palahniuk and a wide variety of horror writers are noteworthy in this format. I regularly have an audiobook on my mp3 player.

Textbooks and non-fiction can be interesting to listen to as well. Something that you would never sit down to read isn't so difficult to listen to while you're doing other things.

The library is a good place to find a wide variety of audiobooks; downloads and torrents are always out there as well.

This is the word of the truthful man.

Edit: More info, I listened to it while i went skiing in Finland, it scared the shit out of me while they were talking about the ice unthawing and zombies coming out.

I once fell asleep while listening to an audiobook of 'I have no mouth and I must scream', as read by Ellison himself: Worst nightmare evar!

But he does do it very well. Especially since he wrote it, he can communicate it just the way it's supposed to come across.

www.librivox.org

edit: you guys read fucking trash. try expanding your minds.

Sites down. I agree though, in general nonfiction>fiction.

chronicles of narnia ftw

oh and various sitcoms

I enjoyed The Dresden Files books read by James Marsters

Yeah, I've listened to The Teaching Companies philosophy lectures, some by Robert Solomon and Rick Roderick otherwise known as the bill hicks of academic philosophy.

Listening to philosophy is an incredible way to further elucidate ideas from the books you read before hand, especially with a great professor.

[Edit] i found a link that includes a few philosophy lectures from Rick Roderick, highly recommended.

http://larshjo.tihlde.org/roderick/