The Culture Enthusiast

All about Audio
Top 10 Audio books and Podcasts

Books 8:00 AM

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I started listening to audio books on my freshman year in college. I had a long commute and an even longer reading list. Between work and classes, I had very little time and knew I had to step up my game if I wanted to cross off every single title on my courses’ required reading list.

That's when I discovered Librivox. I can’t tell you how grateful I am this site exists. They produce audio recordings of books in the public domain. That is, all the old books I love reading. The readers are so talented and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were either professional readers or actors.

Below are some of my favorite titles:

The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

The Waste Land is possibly the most difficult poem ever written. When we were studying it in college, I listened to this recording several times. Even today I can't read this poem without hearing this reader's voice in my head.

Poetry Speaks

Since we are talking about poetry, let me add an audio book that is not an online recording. Poetry Speaks is a poetry anthology that comes with 3 CDs of authors reading their poems. This was a Christmas present I got from my mom years ago and it has helped me not only to appreciate poetry even more but also to discover great poets (looking at you, Ogden Nash)

Edgar Allan Poe’s shortstories

I’m not as big a fan of Poe as I used to be, but his short stories are very entertaining and worth revisiting. My absolute favorite is The Cask of Amontillado. Ooh, no. The Tell-Tale Heart. Ok, it's a tie.

photo by Oscar Nilsson

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Drama is another genre that translates very well to audio. I try as much as I can to see plays but that can be difficult for a number of reasons. My solution has always been audio books.

The man who wasThursday by G. K. Chesterton

So far I spoke only about poetry, drama and short stories for a reason. I believe these are the best genres for audio books. I usually listen to audio books while doing something else (driving or doing chores) so for me a long novel wouldn’t really work. With that being said, I listened to The Man Who was Thursday during a road trip to D.C. It is a fairly short novel and so captivating that I listened to it during the trip and while I was commuting in the city. This was the only novel I ever heard on audio, but novels can be a good option for people with long commutes and good focus.

Shakespeare's plays (and poems)

Back to plays! I'm sad to say I've never seen a Shakespeare play on stage. I try to make up for it with audio books and my imagination. My favorite recording from Librivox is Much ado about Nothing.

Chekhov’s plays (and short stories)

Oh, Chekhov. You’re so good I had to put two of your plays on my list. The recordings of The Cherry Orchard and Ivanov were made by the same group of talented readers and they do a great job of helping us understand the characters’ personalities and emotions.

Now, podcasts belong to my post-college years. I usually listen to them while doing chores and sometimes even at work. Boredom is real when you live and (mostly) work by yourself.

photo by Felipe Belluco

Dead Authors

First I got hooked on this podcast, then I was sad to discover that it ended in 2015. I love the premise: each episode, the host H. G. Wells (comedian Paul F. Tompkins) travels in time and talks to a famous dead author about their lives and books. The episodes are definitely NSFW and two that made me laugh out loud are the ones with Albert Camus (Steve Agee) and Gore Vidal (Marc Evan Jackson)

Bookworm

Bookworm is an LA radio program more on the highbrow spectrum. Host Michael Silverblatt has very intellectual conversations with contemporary authors about their latest books. I don't listen to this show as much as I wanted because I don't read that many contemporary books. But Bookworm has been on the air for 17 years so you are bound to find an interview with an author you like. The interview with David Foster Wallace about Infinite Jest is worth checking out.

In Our Time: Culture

This BBC Radio 4 show is on the very highbrow spectrum but it's possibly my favorite. Readers from the UK know the format: host Melvyn Bragg and three guests discuss a range of topics in culture. Their archive is impressive and the shows are always very informative. My favorite episodes about books are the ones talking about Jane Austen's Emma, Kafka's The Trial, Alexander Pope, Chekhov, Camus and Taste.

I hope this list offers some interesting listening material. I know I read twice as much since I discovered audio books. Why not wash the dishes while learning about the druids?

Do you listen to audio books and book podcasts? What are your favorites? I’m always looking for recommendations!

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The comeback

Uncategorized 8:24 PM

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Something New by P. G. Wodehouse

Books 8:09 AM

source

Hey guys, please forgive my absence. I don’t have a great reason for being gone that long, it was mostly because of work. And partly because of winter. Anyways, I’m back and eager to share my latest obsession: P. G. Wodehouse.

But let’s start from the beginning.

Back in December, I read a million books just to finish my 2013 to-be-read list. One of the books I read was a collection of Chekhov’s plays.

Wait, let me go even further back.

Winter sucks. I don’t want to complain because, chances are, you live in a much colder climate than me. But I’m Brazilian. Snow days have zero appeal to me.

So, if you’ve ever read Chekhov, you know that even though it's incredible, it is also depressing as hell. Characters are stuck in the Russian countryside, sick of the snow, wishing to scape their own hopeless emptiness. Just like me during winter.

But I exagerate. I just wanted to read a funny book, but not any funny book. A classic funny book, which is hard to find. That's when I discovered P. G. Wodehouse. I started with one of his earlier novel, Something New (or Something Fresh, the U.K. title).

The story is about two young Americans who find themselves in London, bored with their writing jobs. An opportunity arises for them to go to Lord Emwrosth’s castle in search of a stolen collectible item (a scarab). Both want the 5 thousand-dollar reward. Competition and romance ensue as the American characters try to come to terms with odd aristocratic customs.

In truly Seinfeld manner, the plot gets tricky and complicated but eventually all characters and circumstances are interconnected somehow.

I’m not really sure what subgenre this book is in. Romantic comedy/light detective story? Whatever it is called, I love this genre. This book is right there with Moonlighting and The Thin Man.

Because the only thing better than a detective story is a detective story where both detectives are romantically involved.

Needless to say, I couldn’t put the book down. I was reading it at home, listening to it in my car, sneaking a chapter here and there at work

However, before my enthusiasm gets out of control, let me give a little warning: comedy is subjective, tragedy is universal. My sister tells me that I’m not funny. My mother is the only person in the world who found In Bruges funny. Some people find violence funny (Quentin Tarantino, I’m talking to you).

So, to be more specific, this book will most likely attract the anglophile that finds English castles interesting and aristocracy hilarious. It will also attract readers that like a touch of romance but don’t want it to dominate the plot.

Unlike most classics, Something New was a laugh-out-loud page turner gem. A real winter-blues antidote for those times where a search for a lost scarab is the only thing that will get you out of your funk.

Have you read any of P. G. Wodehouse's novels? Check out 13 P. G. Wodehouse quotes guaranteed to make your day better

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The most overrated and underrated: Andrew Wyeth

Art 10:28 PM

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Movie collectibles: awesome or lame?

Movies 11:58 PM

Vest from Ferris Bueller's Day Off via Max Goldberg

There's something so ambiguous about collectibles.

For the person who is buying them - the person who has seen the movie hundreds of times, memorized the lines and basically wished they could live in the movie - a collectible is a sensible purchase. For everybody else, it's a waste of money. And perhaps a turnoff.

There's this episode of Big Bang Theory where this is presented perfectly. Leonard and his friends buy the time machine used in the movie "The Time Machine" which seems awfully big for their apartment.

Leonard thinks it's the coolest thing he's ever owned. Howard calls it a chick magnet. Real chicks, though, are not impressed. Penny calls all of them pathetic for wasting their lives with toys like the time machine.

Map from Time Bandits via Boing boing

I can see where she is coming from because I never spent huge amounts of money on collectibles or kept things inside their boxes in mint condition. I was more the type of person who befriends movie theater employees so that they can give me movie posters.

Is that really less lame?

To me, objects like a "Lord of the Rings" ring or a "Clockwork orange" purse (yes, I owned both) served a different purpose. They were people filters. People who got the reference were insiders, like minded people and possible friends. The ones who didn't were outside the loop, cultural parias.

Pin from The Truman Show via Zazzle

It sounds awful, but luckily I realized it in time and stopped that attitude. (However, I feel most people do that, in one way or another.)

As time passed by, I got rid of all my movie collectibles. But lately, I've had my eye on some really cool objects. They are the ones showed in this post (whether they are cool or not is highly subjective). I think I can make them work in a non-snoby, nerdy-in-a-good-sense way. I mean, when you know the first lines of "The Illiad" by heart, it just makes sense buying this ring, right?

No Conquest ring via ModCloth

Do you like collectibles or think they are way too nerdy?

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Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Books 4:37 PM

Northanger Abbey is certainly less famous than other Jane Austen novels like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. But it is not less fun or charming. It has all that good Austen stuff: despicable villains, exciting balls and, of course, a dashing hero.

To be honest, it took me longer than I expected to finish this book. Probably because the book tries to criticize and make fun of Gothic literature, which was in vogue at the time. I have the feeling that I miss out on a lot when it comes to satires because I don't fully understand what is being criticized. I’m not familiar with Gothic literature and much less with the hype surrounding it in Austen’s time.

Nonetheless, Austen presents the paradox of cute, delicate young girls enjoying horror stories in a very funny way. In a dialogue between Isabella and Catherine, the former says she has prepared a list of Gothic novels for them to read together:

- I have made a list of ten or twelve [novels] of the same kind for you.

- But are they all horrid, are you sure, they are all horrid?

- Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them.

Apparently, our teenagers that love gory horror movies like Saw are quite similar to 19^th century readers of Gothic literature.

But don't let this stop you from reading Northanger Abbey. Mr. Tilney makes it all worthwhile.

I liked him a lot, maybe even more than the protagonists from other novels. (Of course I'm referring to you, Mr. Darcy.)

Northanger’s hero, Mr. Tilney, knows how to play it cool. He is mysterious, smooth, don’t overreact when the heroin is rude or acts crazy. He likes the same things she does, but knows how to joke around as well.

He even warns Catherine of the danger of being obsessed with all things Gothic. I wonder what Jane Austen herself would think of the current obsession with all things Jane Austen.

Have you read/watched Northanger Abbey?

(I haven't watched the Tv movie where the pictures above come from, but I was stupid enough to go watch Austenland. Word of the wise: just because the movie has a British actor in it, that doesn't mean it's good.)

Images: 1/2 and 3 (though lame Photoshop was all me)

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The Culture Enthusiast

All about Audio
Top 10 Audio books and Podcasts

The comeback

Something New by P. G. Wodehouse

The most overrated and underrated: Andrew Wyeth

Movie collectibles: awesome or lame?

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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