I’m just back into my audiobooks addiction. I am regularly drawn back to audiobooks, mostly for their practicality. I spend a lot of time reading for work, then sometimes I struggle to find energy left to read for pleasure too. I usually read at night, so you can see why after a whole day spent reading and writing for work, I don’t really feel like reading a book ‘for fun’. My eyes just cross.

Audiobooks instead, they are so practical. I have quite a few that I downloaded form iTunes or Audible, a dangerous website linked to Amazon. Lots of books. Very dangerous. I also like the voices some narrators do. Some actors are really good at making different voices for each character and it is also interesting to listen to books read by an American, a British actor or even a Swedish actor, as I combine book with audiobook to improve my quite poor Swedish “listening/reading & comprehension” skills.

The only downside is that you have to have a little self-control and stop the audio file before you fall asleep. Because if you listen to audiobooks at night, eventually you will fall asleep while the file is still playing. And no matter how hard you will try, you won’t remember the last thing you heard… &*£#!

Just a few names.

I don’t like that.

Actually, I don’t like reviews in general. I like comments from customers, readers or spectators. But critics reviews can fool you sometimes. Especially for books. You read this wonderful ramble on how fantastic this book is, magnifically written, sensational: “the new [random famous author]” and so on. Then you buy the book and it’s about half as magnificent as you thought it should be.

Don’t you find it a bit disappointing?

You’d think: now why the heck is she talking about book reviews? Well, 10 minutes ago I thought that maybe I could add a short paragraph next to each of the books that I have in my virtual bookshelf here. The titles are so random, maybe you’d like to have some info on the book, especially the less known ones. But then I thought that it’s a bit too much writing. I’m not sure I have the time to review each book. Maybe I can just add some symbol, a score, like +++. I’ll think about it. For now, here’s the list of online/real bookshops I buy books or films from.

Amazon.co.uk – Probably no description needed.

Waterstones – Oh, I could spend days in their main shop in Piccadilly Street!

Alibris.co.uk – I found some interesting books here at reasonable prices.

Adlibris.com – This one is Scandinavian based. It sells books, audiobooks/mp3 and CDs.

Bokus.com – Best online Swedish bookshop I found so far. Similar to Adlibris, but generally better prices. It also sells books, audiobooks on CD or the files can be downloaded after purchase (mp3 and iPod versions available).

Grant and Cutler – Really nice bookshop in London. Great selection, great service, also sells online and ships worldwide.

Discshop.se – Huge selection of DVDs, comparable with Amazon but much better service. Amazing how fast their standard shipping is, considering that they send from Sweden.

(to be continued)

some audiobooks websites

These are two websites I visit to look for free audiobooks.

OpenCulture.com

LibriVox.org

iTunes has quite some audiobooks for sale at reasonably fair prices and also some free podcasts. I am finding audiobooks interesting, One can also listen to plays. Pretty cool huh?
I discovered audiobooks a few months ago, when I was looking for something on iTunes. And I got hooked. Especially after eye surgery 2 weeks ago, even though I kept drawing and writing. Can’t help it!

Audiobook conversion tutorial (iTunes):

After you downloaded a .mp3 audiobook,

1- Add it to the iTunes library

2- Right-click on the file and select ‘Convert to AAC’

3- Go to the iTunes folder on your hard-disk and look for the newly converted file, it should be a .m4a file now.

4- On your Folder Options panel, uncheck ‘Hide extensions for known file types’.

5- Click on the .m4a file and rename the extension .m4b

This is iTunes audiobook format and will allow you to listen to the file, stop it, turn off iTunes/iPod and listen again later from where you left. This is not possible with .mp3 files, for instance.

Hope it helps!

Funny also because this all red tea thing started when I was reading one of Alexander McCall Smith’s books of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series… They take place in Botswana and although I have been there many many many years ago, I can still see the places as I read the books. One of the carachters drinks red tea, so I found the coincidence pretty amusing.

I’m now finishing another totally different book, which will probably take me to write another post pretty soon. It is a book about history, love, sadness, tradition, violence, madness, disillusionment. A whole lot of emotions that certainly don’t leave the reader numb.

To find focus again, sometimes one needs a book or even a re-read years later.

Then yesterday night I was wandering on the cable TV channels (yes, it IS true: in spite of the number of channels, most of the times there’s nothing on) and ended watching “An Unfinished Life”, another beautiful Lasse Hallström’s film. Well, I have to confess that I really like Robert Redford, and also Morgan Freeman; while I was curious to see J-Lo in a Drama role. Eventually, I really liked the film and also recommend it if you like dramas.

So… later I started thinking ‘is there a movie of his that I do not like?!’ I liked “Chocolat”. I liked “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. I liked “Something to talk about”. I loved “The Cider House Rules”.

Okay so, Sara likes Hallström’s films. And now that you that, people, you can sleep better