Had credits waiting to be used on Audible, so this morning I downloaded "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer and "Hitch-22" by Christopher Hitchens. A lot of the time I favor books read by the authors themselves, although I have to say my favorite audiobook of all time (so far) has been Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", read by the wonderful Simon Prebble. But a close second is David Foster Wallace reading his (abridged) collection of essays, "Consider The Lobster." I find DFW's voice so soothing sometimes, even as he describes the offputting ambiance surrounding the AVN awards, the porn industry's Oscars.

I haven't downloaded and listened to any podfics in a while. It feels like I'm just taking a break, until I find myself in a new fandom and I must consume as much fic as quickly as possible.

It was weird to have the same voice that I remember reading the Juarez part of Bolaños "2666" showing up in a much less spooky book, "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. It's one of those books that show up on the first table right as you walk into a Borders or Barnes&Noble, where I discovered to my horror that Glenn Beck is also now a novelist.

I downloaded "The Passage" hoping for a sort of "The Stand" redux, done at least as well as that book turned out to be. I loved it as a teenager. Was it 20 years ago already since "The Stand" was published? More? Anyway, I still think of King's novel as the most fun you can have while you read about the end of the world. I'm at almost at a quarter of the way through, and the author seems to have decided that descriptions of the world falling apart have been done enough times. I'm a bit disappointed, but yeah, he handles it pretty well by only giving glimpses, which in a some ways is a lot scarier.

I just realized I haven't downloaded podfic in a while. I have to go and see what's been posted in the last few months. So many things to listen to! Podfics, audiobooks and podcasts (Spill and /Filmcast are my current favorites), but only so much time to listen.

I don't know how it is that some fics work so much better as audio files, it's not just the excellent narrator (FayJay), but WOW, the The Incestuous Courtship of The Antichrist's Bride podfic is SO MUCH FUN.

Just the thing to bring glee to my day!

Downloaded some more podfics and had to get rid of some of them right away. Bad mixing in of music and voice, making the narrator almost unintelligible. Developing a thing for some readers, which I can count on will be fun. However, I've been in a weird mood for a couple of days and can't settle on listening to anything for very long. Get itchy and restless with most stories. A weird one that might be just the thing to listen to today is The Incestuous Courtship of The Antichrist's Bride, which is not my favorite by Fleshflutter because I like her more serious stuff better, but I think the fic has a great reader in FayJay and has the possibility of being a better podfic than a lot of Fleshflutter's other stories.

There have been a lot of times I've been listening to old favorites in SGA and SPN and realize that they don't do it for me in audio form.

A thing I absolutely love about podfics is that I'm able to revisit fandoms that I haven't thought about in quite a while, re-experiencing fics that I sometimes only vaguely remember in detail. But in the middle of listening to these Smallville podfics I had moments where I clearly remember myself in my old apartment, reading these kickass Clex fics and enjoying them so very much. I'm lucky in that the reader's voice does the stories justice.

While the Tempest Hurled by rivkat, read by cathexys.

The Presence of Fire by rivkat, read by cathexys.


Oh, and funny enough, unlike J2 podfics, it seems when it comes to Clex I like them a lot darker. I blame Lex.

I can't always tell if revisiting a fic via podfic will be as enjoyable as I would expect from a story I enjoyed the first time around. Gave a stab at the SGA fic "No Refund or Exchanges", which I remember liking, but after a while I decided to switch to Old Country by Shalott (SPN, Sam/Dean, Winchesters go to Hogwarts) and yes, that was what I needed. I'm listening to it right now and I'd forgotten a lot of details, it's a pretty long story.

Another fic I've listened to lately that I very much enjoyed was Sam Winchester & the Terrible... Very Bad Day by Leonidaslion. It's SPN, Sam/Dean. This one I liked more as an audio book. Really, I don't know how that works, only that I really liked listening to this while taking a nice warm bath :)

Uploading a bunch of new podfic today. Candle_beck has continued to post readings of her own SPN fic and they are all very well done. Also, some new astolat Master & Commander stuff has been recently recorded and I began listening to some of it. Duende is still my favorite all around M&C fic by astolat, the reading is great, although the sound is quality bad, but nothing I can't live with. But this new M&C fic I don't think I ever even read before (Jack and Stephen IN SPACE!). So I'm all ready for a day of tons of data entry style work, which I've been putting off but must get to today.

I'm at page 52 of Infinite Jest and I need to pick up speed if I'm going to make the 75 page mark by tomorrow. Saturday's are usually good reading days. I tried reading last night in bed and let me tell you, this is not a book I can read while lying down. Porny fic? Yes. Anything more plotty than that and I fall asleep. I miss my youngerself's capacity for reading in bed all night :(

Eventhough I love candle_beck's stories, as audiofic they seem to lose something. This happens to me with a lot of stories, where I remember the fic being better than the retelling in audio form. Then there are the happy exceptions.

And I Have Asked To Be Where No Storms Come, by candle_beck, read by the author. It delivers all the kicks of the story and made me appreciate her characterizations even more, as hearing is slower than reading and so I could pay attention to what she did. Her John specially, the way he sees Sam and is unable to let go of his ideal future with his sons, and just knowing as the reader/listener that he has it all wrong.

Deleted my last.fm account a few days ago, saving the service from trying to figure out how to use the podfics I scrobbled in their stats. I did bother me to delete the account, I had spent some time there, mostly because of non-fannisht types who I've been in touch for a while, most of them from Mexico. If any of them visited my profile, like I used to do with theirs, they might have been temporarily confused by how many times I'd listened to Sheppard's Law or Your Brains Are No Match for My Tractorbeam.

Last new one I heard that I really enjoyed was Can’t Point the Way to Your Heart, a SPN RPS fic, which worked so well for me as an audiobook. I enjoy lighter stories, romantic comedies with happy endings, a lot more in this format than in the text originals. It helps when I consistently enjoy the reader, and juice817 is among my favorites.

Some additions to the long list of podfics that I'm keeping :)

J2
The Collected Going to Hell 'verse, parts 1-3 by chash. This one is read by my favorite reader, juice817.
"Anne of Green Gables" fusion w/J2. I found this hilarious and adorable.

L.A. Confidential
2 fics, Partnership and Payback, by astolat, read by twilight.
Both fics are Bud/Exley. Partnership in particular is a great story.

Merlin
Beltane by astolat, read by winkingstar
Gen fic. Considering how big this fandom is getting, I'm surprised by how few podfics I've been able to enjoy.

SGA
Fireball by celli, read by shaenie.
Mckay/Sheppard, NASCAR AU. Calming sort of fic for me. A lot of times I get bored with the not saving the galaxy AUs, but I got sucked into this one as a podfic a lot more than when I first tried to read it a couple of years ago.

SPN
Sub Rosa, by Malcom St. James, read by sadcypress (a reader that I'm fond of).
Sam/Dean "Beauty and the Beast" AU. It's cracky, yes, but not to the point that it makes me not care about the characters.

Accidents Will Happen by holli, read by juice817.
Gen fic where a bunch of teenagers accidentally resurrect John. I LOVE this reading.


ETA: I forgot my earphones at home! I can't use my iphone to listen to anything today!

:(