Althouse: "Call me Ishmael."

September 14, 2012

"Call me Ishmael."

Or Tilda Swinton.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Attractive idea. I like that you can download the chapters and there are some interesting readers in the list.

However, after listening to two minutes of Tilda Swinton's peculiar reading style -- quick murmuring bursts interspersed with annoying pauses -- I'm put off. I wonder if she's trying for the speed-up/slow-down rhythm of walking on a ship's deck.

In any event, combined with the low bit-rate typical of audiobooks, her delivery, and her British accent, the audio is difficult to understand. I feel like I need subtitles, so I might as well read the book myself.; 9/14/12, 10:09 PM
edutcher said...: They have got to be kidding.

"a homoerotic encounter between Ishmael and the tattooed Queequeg"

Gee, I missed that one when I read it at Villanova.; 9/14/12, 10:10 PM
Sydney said...: I see it's a UK production. They find homoeroticism in everything. Truly. I often listen to their book readings and novel dramatizations from the BBC while I'm doing paperwork at night. They always manage to tease out some homosexual theme heretofore overlooked.; 9/14/12, 11:23 PM
Tim said...: "They always manage to tease out some homosexual theme heretofore overlooked."

And who says English Public Schools don't make a lasting impression?; 9/14/12, 11:32 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I never knew so many celebrities were literate.; 9/15/12, 2:00 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I never knew so many celebrities were literate.; 9/15/12, 2:00 AM
Astro said...: If you've never heard one of the Patrick Tull narrations of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin sea novels, you've missed an audio delight. Too bad he didn't do Moby Dick. I'd have bought a copy. Tull was amazing.; 9/15/12, 3:26 AM
Toad Trend said...: Tim Curry.

Because the Lemony Snickets on tape series was so good.

And I wouldn't have known if not for car trips with my kids.; 9/15/12, 5:29 AM
kentuckyliz said...: It's hard to look right atcha baby
So here's my number, call me Ishmael!; 9/15/12, 6:45 AM
rehajm said...: Jessee Jackson reading Green Eggs and Ham was pretty good.; 9/15/12, 6:50 AM
Wally Ballou said...: Sounds like this will be an uneven production. Audible.com has had the unabridged Moby Dick (20+ hours) as read by Frank Muller, for years. It's on my "get around to it" list.; 9/15/12, 7:26 AM
John henry said...: I was a huge fan of Books On tape for 15 years, "reading" a book every 3 weeks.

They had an extremely eclectic and interesting catalog.

Audible.com not so much. the reading is often OK but they seem to want to dramatize the book where all I want is just to hear it.

For the past couple of years I have been downloading books from Librivox.com. These are all public domain books read by volunteers.

A few of the volunteers are not very good at all but most are fine.

Best of all, the books are high bit rate and each chapter is a separate MP3 file which makes them much easier to manage than Audible's weird format.

They do have Moby Dick if anyone has a burning desire for it. I listened to a few chapters a while back but could not get into it.

John Henry; 9/15/12, 8:57 AM
John henry said...: Oops.

Librivox.org, not .com

John Henry; 9/15/12, 8:58 AM