AudiobooksI’ve been doing some planning lately for how to proceed with my listening. One approaching problem is that in the car, I need CDs, preferably MP3-CDs (since they don’t need to be changed as often), and Amazon, annoyingly, stopped selling those around the time I got a car where I can play them (my previous car had a casette player, of all things). So about a week ago, I sat down and tried to find an alternative place to get Italian audiobooks on MP3-CD, and soon came to think of a bookstore mentioned in Vegantraveller’s log, which turned out to be an excellent place (
https://www.hoepli.it/libreria_internazionale.aspx). They have a huge selection of audiobooks in the format I want, and they ship worldwide (the shipping is quite expensive, however). Once I had placed the order, I found out that they needed five days to get one of the products from an external provider, but once that was in, I found out why the shipping is so expensive: they use DHL Express, which means that I will have it on my door in two business days. However, I also noted that they offer free shipping within Italy, so I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I or anyone I know gets the chance to travel to Italy.
The books I ordered, and which I expect to receive on Monday, are:
- La storia (Elsa Morante)
- L’Isola di Arturo (also by Elsa Morante)
- La coscienza di Zeno (Italo Svevo)
I have read the first and third of these in translation, but not the second. I think it was the mention of that book in Kanewai’s log that was the first spark of the process that led me to all this, first thinking about La storia and then thinking about getting the audiobook.
At the same time, I have cancelled my Audible subscription, mainly because I’m finding it difficult to spend all my credits and therefore could use a break before I spend any more money there. Meanwhile, I have plenty to work with:
In English:
- The Secret History (Donna Tartt, one of my favorite books from my high school years)
- Animal Societies (non-fiction)
- Runner World’s Complete book of Running (non-fiction)
- The Fishermen (Chigozie Obioma)
- A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
- Mansfield Park (Austen)
- Stephen Fry’s Vistorian Secrets (podcast)
- We need to talk about the British Empire (podcast)
Spanish:
- Crimen y castigo (Dostoyevsky)
- El ruido de las cosas al caer (Juan Gabriel Vásquez)
French:
- Le Décaméron
Portuguese:
- Dom Quijote
Russian:
- Мастер и Маргарита
Most of these non-English books I plan to listen to more than once. I’m also planning to do some more Danish listening soon, but I get those audiobooks from a Danish provider, and then there are languages that aren’t even offered by Audible, like Arabic, Sami and Icelandic. I think it will be a while before I need to get more books from Audible.
April Super Challenge update (total numbers)FrenchBooks: 3930 pages = 78 books
Films: 5856 minutes = 65 films
Read
Notre-Dame du Nil and started listening to
Le DécaméronAncient GreekBooks: 79 pages = 1 book
A few more pages of Herodotus
SpanishBooks: 353 pages = 7 books
Films: 519 minutes = 3 films
Finished watching
Dime quién soy, finished reading
Tiempos recios and started on
El misterio del solitarioPortugueseBooks: 262 pages = 5 books
Films: 1731 minutes = 19 films
Still listening to
Dom QuijoteSwedishBooks: 1240 pages = 24 books
Films: 2773 minutes = 30 films
No change
ArabicFilms: 1030 minutes = 11 films
Listened to the first chapter of
HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban three times. Learned the word for owl and getting used to the idea that the verb comes first in the sentence. Also, it’s fascinating how, if you know only 100 words in a language, those words are guaranteed to show up in any text or speech of any length. It’s not enough to make much sense of what you’re hearing, but at least it’s a reminder that you’re getting somewhere.
EnglishBooks: 7521 pages = 150 books
completedFilms: 5770 minutes = 64 films
Read
Hard Times,
To the Lighthouse,
Wide Sargasso Sea,
Mrs. Dalloway,
Beloved, and
The Importance of being Earnest, all for my literature classes. Finished
The Gift of Rain on audio (excellent in content but not quite as excellent in form), and I’ve also now added all my English literature lectures.
IcelandicBooks: 681 pages = 13 books
Films: 1036 minutes = 11 films
Listened to
Englar Alheimsins by Einar Már Guðmundsson, where I was able to understand some scenes here and there. I have now also read the book in Norwegian translation and filled in the blanks. I’m planning to listen through it in Icealndic again.
The English title of this book is
Angels of the Universe. It is the story, narrated in first person, of a man suffering from schizophrenia, from his childhood, through his illness, and ending in his suicide. Judging from the book’s dedication, it is inspired by the life of the author’s brother, who died the year before the book was published. It is exclusively narrated form the sick man’s point of view, which makes it a very insightful and very touching read. The novel was a very deserving winner of the Nordic Council’s literature prize in 1995.
SamiBooks: 53 pages = 1 book
Films: 539 minutes = 6 films
Started listening to the audiobook
Ilmmid gaskkas (fantasy for older children or teenagers), which I got at the library
RussianBooks: 265 pages = 5 books
Films: 1971 minutes = 18 films
Watched
Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky film about a medieval Russian painter, with my parents during the Easter holidays. It was well worth watching, especially if you are interested in the period, but we, at least needed support from the film’s wikipedia page to understand what was going on.
DanishBooks: 1316 pages = 24 books
Films: 1653 minutes = 18 films
No change from last month, except for a scientific article on Old Icelandic
LatinBooks: 98 pages = 2 books
No change from last month
GermanBooks: 283 pages = 5 books
Films: 2512 minutes = 27 films
Finished listening to
Der Name der Rose ItalianBooks: 337 pages = 6 books
Films: 1286 minutes = 14 films
Read the first chapter of
HP e il prigioniero di Azkaban, mostly to brush up on the content before starting the listening in Arabic. Listened to
HP e la pietra filosofale.
TurkishFilms: 196 minutes = 2 films
No change from last month
JapaneseFilms: 593 minutes = 6 films
No change from last month
Average per dayBooks: 39 pages (of 41/70) (stopped counting English pages at 100 books)
Films: 76 minutes (of 75/135)
Nynorsk634 pages = 12 books
A few academic pages