Audio distraction: podcasts, audio books, radio on demand

I guessed that from your username.

I am a massive HP nerd.

 

Yay what house are you in? And what’s your favourite book of the 7??

 

Ravenclaw! Though I'm also a bit of a Hufflepuff.

Favourite book - 7.

And yourself?

 

I’m hufflepuff although perhaps a bit of Ravenclaw too, I love Luna Lovegood!

I would have to say book 5. It really left an impression on me - I remember reading it well into the night and crying so much when Sirius died. But the book was so long and so detailed, I loved it. The whole order of the Phoenix, room of requirement!

This is my wizarding world “passport” you can make online of your favourite things - I love dobby and hagrid

 

I guessed.

Aww yeah. I was pretty young (8) when I read OotP, so I didn't really appreciate the grief thing, but now I cry whenever I read that scene with Harry in Dumbledore's office at the end.

 

Aaw yes. And then book 6 and book 7 were very sad as well. Dobby
Jk Rowling apologies each year for someone she killed in the books but didn’t this year.

I can recommend Mugglecast as a Harry Potter podcast if you like audio and don’t listen to that one already. I try to get my Harry Potter fix every day - so either I re listen to the audiobooks, podcast, or read a few pages of one of the many new HP scrapbooks or pop up books they’re coming out with now!

 

For the last 2 days I've been trying to get audio books to 'work'.

I don't mean technically, I can get them to play.

They were just annoying, irrelevant noise through my phones speakers, so I tried headphones, which were no better.

Maybe it's coz I find headphones uncomfortable I thinks, so today I had a little bluetooth speaker turn up.

It is much better, but audiobooks still don't do anything, it's still just noise.

I remember, sort of, when books were 'fun' but it seems now, even when I remove the difficulty with reading, they do nothing.

This is 'disappointing'.

 

My daughter has to " do something" when listening , she can't simply listen. ( Ironically she says it doesn't go in if she just listens)

 

Me too, ‘it doesn’t go in if’ I ‘just listen’.

 

Anyone got any recommendations for Science Fiction audio books? I enjoyed the Martian, and suspect I would enjoy Ted Chiang ( he wrote the short story on which the film "Arrival" was based) if only he did audio books.

 

I loved “The long way to a small, angry planet” by Becky Chambers. There are 2 more books in the series, as well.

 

The TV version of The Handmaid's Tale would be far too intense for me, but I read the book some decades ago and thought it was very good. You can hear a reading of Margaret Atwood's just-published sequel "the Testaments" on radio 4 iPlayer/Sounds App for the next month. I enjoyed it a lot, though I didn't think it was an original like the first book.

 

This thread has gone a bit quiet. Let's see if we can revive it.

I'm currently binge-listening to the "Subtitle" podcast.

Just a few of the topics, the range is wide and the concept of 'language' interpreted loosely:

"Subtitle" is part of the Hub & Spoke stable of podcasts (https://www.hubspokeaudio.org). Some of the other podcasts there sound interesting, too. I've already subscribed to "The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong". How could I not, with this description:

 

It isn't included here, but I want to mention that since I'm so severe I can't concentrate on neither audio books nor shows/movies, music is the only thing that keeps me alive, and specifically hip hop and electronic for the most part! Seriously don't know how I'd survive without it.

 

This is a beautiful podcast from Melissa Harrison, a novelist and nature writer. Ever episode is like a step into the Suffolk countryside. It’s very quiet, relaxed & human with lots of nature sounds, a bit of poetry, a guest, a bit of this and that. Some chill background music, not jarring. Doesn’t require much concentration & love it as a bit of background I can tune into/out of depending on how I’m doing.

Every episode start, ‘how’re you doing’ which I love as an opener.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-stubborn-light-of-things/id1506585676?i=1000488346378

 

Boring Talks - This a BBC series I turn to quite a lot of I’m sleepless & all the usual strategies don’t work. I find it occupies my mind just enough, but it lives up to its title, and usually helps me to get back to sleep or at least rest with mind engaged.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05t3gr2

 

Just what I need, thanks Ruth, bookmarked.

your other suggestion sounds like a promising one for me too.

 

Welcome to the forum @FicaR94!

I’m sorry you’re not able to enjoy audiobooks and films/ tv. For me it’s the other way round these days as I can’t listen to much music. I miss it.

Perhaps sometime you would like to share a video or two of music you enjoy in this thread -https://www.s4me.info/threads/music-and-other-videos.16/

 

My daughter is currently enjoying my Scribd subscription ( I opened an account a couple of years ago to access a few technical papers before I found Sci-hub). She thinks it's brilliant as there is no limit to how many things you can access per month, you don't have to wait for some audio and ebooks ( unlike library) , there are magazines available too and you can organise things in lists. She has a subscription for " Listening books" which she uses too- but you have to wait for some things and that means the urge goes.

With Scribd you also get free access to MUBI which is a film geek site which I am enjoying, and a comic art/ graphic novel site- all for less than £10/month.