Dear Pat,
I won’t be able to make any of your readings over the next two weeks, but I was wondering. How do you get ready for something like that? I’ve done a little public speaking in the past, and it terrifies me. I can’t help but think that it must be a million times worse if you’re reading your own stuff to a huge roomful of people.
So that’s my question. What does an author do to get ready for a public reading?
Best of luck on your trip.
Dan
The truth is Dan, I’ve wondered the same thing myself.
I mean, I know how *I* get ready for a reading. But I wonder what other authors go through when they’re getting ready.
A lot of authors I’ve talked to admit to having public speaking jitters. Some of them downright hate it. But that’s not a problem for me. Public speaking is old hat. I’ve done commencement addresses, sermons, lectures, and more panels than you can shake a stick at.
Plus I used to do improv comedy. And let me tell you, after you’ve done improv comedy, no other type of public speaking will ever scare you. It’s like a trial by fire.
In general, I imagine other authors think about regular things before a signing tour. They worry about who’s going to show up, or what they’re going to read. Maybe they dither over what sort of shirt they’re going to wear.
Me, I worry about my hair.
At least that’s what I’ve been doing for the last several days. I’m about to leave on a little signing tour, 8 readings in 9 days. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m looking forward to seeing who shows up.
The problem is, I haven’t had a haircut in about 8 months. It’s something that never occurs to me until I have to make a public appearance. Normally every 3-4 months I’m forced to brush up against the edges of civilization. I go to a convention, or a wedding, or something, and so I get a haircut to clean myself up for that.
But lately I’ve been so busy with revisions and the new baby that I haven’t done any of those things. And that means almost a whole year without a haircut. That means that I look like a cross between a hobo, John the Baptist come out of the desert, and a particularly shaggy Muppet. I look, in fact, like one of those green men statues. Except not green.
Normally I’m fine with this. But when I make public appearances I feel bad showing up looking all wodwo. I feel like if people show up to see me, I should try to groom myself down to the point where I won’t frighten small children.
But here’s the problem. This week when I tried to make an appointment for a haircut with the only person I trust to cut my hair and beard… but she couldn’t fit me in to her schedule. And I can’t trust some random barber. Last time I did that the fucker sheared me like a fucking sheep.
So now, the day before I drive off to do my signings, I’m faced with an awful choice. Show up looking like the crazy guy at the bus station, or risk a haircut that would make a prison barber wince. I still haven’t decided…
The other thing that I think about before I go on a trip like this is what I’m going to listen to in the car. I’ve become a sucker for audiobooks lately, and this trip is going to put me behind the wheel for almost 40 hours.
So I’ve got a return question for some of you out there. Do you have any good audiobooks to recommend? I’ve already listened to everything by David Sedaris, Neil Gaiman, and Garrison Keillor.
Here. I’ll start things out with a recommendation or two of my own.
The BBC dramatization of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
These BBC audio productions of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are really great. What’s even better is that they contain different materials than the original books. That means even if you know your the source material inside and out, you can still be pleasantly surprised.
The later ones weren’t done my Adams himself. But I have to say (and this is something that you will probably never *ever* hear me say again) I liked the ending of the final audiobook better than I like the ending of Adam’s original novel.
I know. Blasphemy.
Anyway. Trust me. These are brilliant. Share and enjoy.
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.
I listened to this just recently, and I was absolutely blown away by it.
That said, I don’t know how I’d describe the entirety of it to someone.
It’s funny without being goofy. It’s clever without being pretentious. It’s original without being desperate. And it has an element of what I consider the divine ridiculousness: a delightful, subtle, strangeness that is funny while still touching on some underlying truth.
I feel like I should say more about it, but I can’t think of what else to say. Except, perhaps, that it’s probably the best book I’ve read in a year or so. And Sarah really liked it too, if that sways you at all…
So what about you guys? Do y’all have any good audiobooks that you can recommend? I’m going to need a few more before I’m done with this trip….
P.S. I’m asking for audiobooks, mind you. Don’t recommend a book that you liked and you’re thinking *would* make a good audiobook. The narrator makes a huge difference in these things, so don’t tell me it’s good if you haven’t listened to it yourself.
pat
252 Comments
On my road trips between Denver & WI I prefer to listen to podcasts of This American Life, and old time radio's X Minus One series.
Another vote for Harry Potter.. But not by Stephen Fry but by Jim Dale!
The man is amazing. He is a natural storyteller. He won an Grammy for his naration of Harry Potter twice! Also, he is in the Guinness Book of Records for creating the most character voices in an audiobook (more than 200)
If a sentence would be: '"Goodmorning, Harry", said Seamus' then you would already know that Seamus said goodmorning because of the different voices Jim Dale uses.
I don't have any audiobook recommendations that haven't already been mentioned several times, so i'll just wish you a happy 'school-year' birthday, pat!
I haven't listened to many audio-books, but I really liked the audio rendition of The Mist, by Stephen King. You could really feel the tension growing as the mist got ever dense…
I'm going to second the Bujold Vorkosigan audiobooks – good for a laugh. Also something not yet recommended is an audiobook called "Cast of Shadows" by Kevin Guilfoile. I think it's marketed as mainstream but it's actually a SF/thriller set in the present.
See you in VA!
If your public library belongs to the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium, then you can download audiobooks for free via your public library's website (with your library card barcode usually). Just a tip from a friendly almost-Librarian!
I'm not a fan of Bill Bryson's readings of his own books. I find them to be rather flat and disappointing, certainly much less funny than when I read them for myself (and when I do read them for myself, I practically wet my pants laughing).
I have this hilarious full cast "audio book" of the Lord of the Rings on cassette… it might have been done by BBC, I'm not sure. It had my best friend and I laughing the whole trip from NY to Chicago, and on the way back we were so into it that we messed something up on I-80 and ended up a few hours off course… and now I can probably never listen to it again because whose car has a cassette player???
Haven't listened to any audiobooks, mostly cause I read so fast that listening to the book just takes too long. >,<
Also, what happened to the "Why I don't talk about book 2" blog? I was looking forward to that…
Any of the
Ian Fleming
(James Bond) audio books. They're so suave that you'll be randomly inserting all kinds of crap into your writing that doesn't even belong there! It's great!
On a rather unrelated note I was wondering if you needed to one again be reminded how amazing Neil Patrick Harris is?
Well, on the very mild chance that you do, please feast thine eyes upon this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TusJ8HSLaUs
Regards,
Dale
P.S I hope things are going well in the Rothfuss household
DID YOU KNOW?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was an audio production before it was ever a book. It's true! The series was originally broadcast in 1978–the book didn't come out until 1979.
Harry Potter narrated by Jim Dale =D
-Dresden Files: I don’t know if you’ve gotten through all of these yet, but I think James Marsters does a great job reading them.
-Closed on Account of Rabies: This is a collection of singers and actors doing takes on Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems (including Christopher Walken reading “The Raven” and Iggy Pop doing a very fine “Tell-Tale Heart).
-Enders Game (20th Anniversary Edition): I enjoyed the reading (and use of different readers) in this one.
-You said you’ve listened to everything Gaiman. Does that include the performances the Seeing-Ear Theatre did of his stories “Snow, Glass, Apples” and “Murder Mysteries”? They are my two favorite bits of audio Gaiman (and I like all of his audio stuff).
-The Drabble Cast (http://web.me.com/normsherman/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html): A podcast that does weird bits of flash fiction and short stories. The host is excellent and the off-beat humor tickles my strange bits.
-Escape Pod (http://escapepod.org), Pseudopod (http://pseudopod.org/), and Podcastle (http://podcastle.org/): Sci-fi, horror, and fantasy short story podcasts respectively.
-Wormwood—A Serialized Mystery (http://wormwoodshow.com/): A modern occult mystery serial performed (with actors and sound effects) like an old-time radio drama. Elements of Twin Peaks, X-files, and Buffy. The voice actor who plays the main protagonist does one of my favorite voice-character performances of all time.
Tony Hawks' Round Ireland with a Fridge. My whole family listened to it on a car trip years ago and it was fantastic. It's a true story. The author woke up after a drunken night to find a scrawled note betting one hundred pounds that he could not hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with a fridge in one month. So naturally, he decided to give it a go.
Gaiman's books are pretty great on audio. Or if you're into history at all and want a non-fiction alternative Simon Schama's _A History of Britain_. I think there are 3 volumes though. Personally I love the old stuff the best, so volume I, which I think goes from 3000BC to 1603 is my favorite.
I'm going to have to agree with the many others before me and say Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I listen to audio books daily on my commute and its rare to find one that's as well read (and hilarious) as the narrator manages here.
I'd recommend Dennis Leary's "Why We Suck." Not for the faint of heart, but it will have you laughing all the way to Virginia.
See you in Springfield!
Pat, just wanted to say thanks for stopping in Lexington for the signing last night. I trekked four hours, and it was worth it, even if I did blank out upon seeing you and need prompting from my friend to remember what to say.
I hope you have a safe trip and enjoy the road journey.
Call to all fans. The Battle at suvudu is neck and neck between Kvothe and Aslan. We need a surge of Fan support to give Kvothe a clear lead. As I write this the battle stands 1% in Kvothe's Favor.
Shameless Promotion:
Anybody that couldn't make it to a signing and would like a chance to win a free signed book, as well as read how the Lexington signing went, you can check out my blog post here.
(I hope you don't care that I'm putting a plug in for my blog on this forum, Pat. If so, I apologize a thousand times over and beg your forgiveness.)
Pat, my brother saw you last night in Lexington. He emailed me a picture of you. Your hair and beard look wonderful. I am going to try to see you next week, hopefully you will look spectacular in all of your hair and beardedness!
Excellent young adult audio book series, regardless of how they come across in writing (avail at audible[dot]com):
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" by Rick Riordan
"Bartimaeus Trilogy" by Jonathan Stroud
"Artemis Fowl" series by Eoin Colfer.
"Tiffany Aching" subset of Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. These are a good way to sidle up to this author's work.
And then, for the beauty of language and story-telling art, the unabridged "Lord of the Rings", but not available at audible[dot]com last I checked. At about 13 hours a book, they've taken me a long ways on various 1000 mile drives.
Michael Kramer's reading of Mike Carey's Felix Castor books ("The Devil You Know", "Vicious Circle", and "Dead Men's Boots") are great. I'll also put in a recommendation for Douglas Adams' reading of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", I didn't quite realize what we'd lost until I heard him read this book. It's stunning.
While not an audio book per se, if you're looking for clever, humorous and occasionally moving spoken word performance to pass the miles, you can't beat Henry Rollins…start with "The Boxed Life" http://bit.ly/dsTjQS
Not a big fan of his music but his spoken word material is excellent.
Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys has a great reader-usually he reads his own (Graveyard Book and Neverwhere are also good on audio with Gaiman reading), but Lenny Henry read Anansi Boys and was wonderful.
I've also been listening to Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series on audio, and the reader for that is really good.
Any of Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series is good if you make sure the reader is Patrick Tull-one of my favorites.
Have a good trip.
http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/Fantasy-author-shares-writing-wisdom
You were on TV!
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is a great listen so far (I'm half-way through). It's a YA novel set during WWI, but with a hearty dose of Girl Genius just to spice things up.
:D I LOVE Shades of Grey, it's such an awesome book (don't worry TNotW is still my fave :P )
Anyway onto suggestion, while there are many awesome books out there for audiobooks I really like Terry Pratchett (I first read the books then listened to the audiotapes which were awesome!).
So ye something by Terry Pratchett, maybe Witches Abroad since it takes stereotypical fairytales and makes them seem so sinister ;)
i used to have a job cutting diamonds and would listen to audio books all the time. I have to recommend The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind. A wonderful series that i started listening to and finished reading. however it is a very long series.
OK so the truth is that I bookmarked your blog when I thought I might get points with my teenage son, because you asked permission to possibly mention your midwife on your blog! Periodically I click on the bookmark mostly because it's a chance for me to see a photo of that truly beautiful boy. The photo of the boy and the manuscript….way beyond adorable!!! And who in Sarah's family is getting married? I should get your email, this is probably not the way to communicate!! Have a lovely time driving with your beautiful boy and his remarkable mother. No one care about the hair!
the bloody jack series by L.A. Meyer. Young adult, historical fiction. The stories are very fun and the narration is fabulous.
Listen to your book… see if it is different from having read it 9000000 times when writing it….
I'm going to throw in another vote for 'This American Life'. I've been downloading them for months and listen to them when I drive from St. Louis to eastern NC and back.
Any of the Artemis Fowls, but in particular "The Lost Colony". Excellent naration. Also of note, "The Minister's Daughter", very Gaimen-esk in plot and pace.
Do you watch Torchwood and/or Dr. Who? If not – DO SO – and if only for the really good audiobooks for Torchwood, read by the actors themselves (The best reader is Burn Gorman). I especially liked "Slow Decay" and "Everybody says Hello".
Another reeeeeally amazing and good reader is Stephen Fry.
I can suggest the audio version of Wigfield; it's read by Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris.
We commenters could tell a story one line at a time. It seems that it would expand greatly as a story (at this point, 421 comments in three days is amazing). Such could be an interesting project with such a literary-minded following. Then again, it could just as easily be doomed to failure.
In the end, we could get a volunteer to animatedly read it and record it for you.
Here comes the fourth recommendation of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy on audio – apart from being an impressive and engrossing literature piece per se, its translation to audiobook is an outright masterpiece – truth be told, being a BBC production and all, it certainly outgrew the concept of 'audiobook' .
Im sorry if someone has already pointed this out but there is 237 comments and I haven't got time to read through them all but…
The original version of Hitch Hikers guild to the galaxy is in actual fact the BBC radio show and Douglas Adams wrote the books afterwards.
My dad swears blind that the radio show is superior to the books but I haven't heard them so can't really comment.
Looks like you have plenty of recommends for Audiobooks but I'll throw another vote in for His Dark Materials Trilogy read by Pullman. My favorite. In addition, I'm thrilled that you're coming to Cleveland as I've been one of the major whiners asking you to come here. I just had surgery but I'm gonna try my hardest to be there. I figure it will make a great photo op – you with your hair and me hunched over like Marty Feldman of Young Frankenstein fame. Travel safe.
I thought the audiobooks for Garth Nix's Old kingdom series were excellent. They're read by Tim Curry, who just happens to be all kinds of awesome.
Pat,
I just throughly enjoyed your reading and signing @ Prince's last night. I can totally see you on the comedy/philosophy circuit AFTER the Kingkiller tale is wrought…
Also, I really liked the sneak peek @ the Princess and Mr. Whiffle…
Thanks for being a great writer AND a really cool human being!
Benjamin
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet (or if anyone will read this, it being so far down the comment line), but A Scanner Darkly. It was amazing on audio book, made even better in that it was read by Paul Giamatti. His voice grips and warps your mind, it's one of the only audio books I've been able to truly say I've paid rapt attention too through its entirety.
Deamon and Freedom(tm) by Daniel Suarez both really excellent listens and a real "page turner"
Whats up Pat,
I used to travel between Portland, Or to the San Juan islands – about 5-8 hours – and we listened to the Nine Princes of Amber by Roger Zelazny. I highly suggest you check him out, his writing is highly unique in the usage of magic and the way it is implemented in the novels.
Enjoy,
Justin.
to anyone who suggested world war Z.do i need to read/listen to a zombie survival guide before world war Z.
Ravens gate, The wheel of Time Series, Empire By Scott Card, and The Name of the Wind,
Great book it really helps school go by faster
Jim Butcher's Dresden files is a great series to listen to. James Marsters is a wonderful reader.
for non fiction, i'll recommend
"ship of Gold in the Deep Blue See"
modern day pirates and suspense.
listened to on a 9 day 167 hour work week that encompassed 10 states and 4000 miles.
Okay, I've hated books, learning, hard work, etc. most of my life until I was handed a copy of Armor about six years ago. I haven't been able to separate myself more then a few feet from a book since. My friends all hate me now "where on a trip, can't you put the book down?" I'm all or nothing. Well, in order to be more productive, I started listening to audio books. I like Nick Podehl, but it takes me about 20 or 30 minutes before I start to sink into the story. but I've listen to day 1 multi times. Hands down Michael Kramer is the best and is unbelievable with the Wheel of time. Reading the books, I kind of lost it after the 4th book, but Michael Kramer adds something special to the characters and makes every book awesome. Kate Reading does well also, but again I had to get use to her. She did well with Furies of Calderon, good characters, and I like the kind of new magic. The Mistborn books by Brandon Sanderson was great too. A song of ice and fire was good to, but took about 20 minutes to get use to the reader. This is a great way to reread a series just before the next book comes out. Woot (wow, loot) Audiobooks! Getting my house work done now.
So I’m totally late on this but I’ve been travelling so have an excuse! The best audio books I’ve listened to are the Enders game series… or Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter – the man is a hero. Enjoy!