Althouse: "Call me Ishmael."

September 14, 2012

"Call me Ishmael."

Or Tilda Swinton.

15 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
Robert J. said...: > They have got to be kidding.
> "a homoerotic encounter between Ishmael and the tattooed Queequeg"

It's really much more comedy than homoeroticism.

The important thing many people miss in Moby-Dick are the fart jokes. There are two at least.; 9/14/12, 10:23 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
Robert J. said...: > Audible.com has had the unabridged Moby Dick (20+ hours) as read by Frank Muller

To be serious for a moment, Muller's reading of MD is a true masterpiece of the audiobook genre. He is pitch perfect, quick, and clear. He gets the parts that are comedic, he gets the adventure parts that move fast, and he gets the literary parts that lift the language. Listening to this recording is the best way to appreciate MD by far.

I understand Muller died in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. A real loss.; 9/15/12, 11:31 AM