Forgive me if what I am about to talk about is utterly obvious. I am not particularly computer savvy (you can ask Catie or Flannery to confirm this sad fact), therefore it is no surprise that I learned of podcasting very, very recently. So, while writing this post, I am operating under an assumption that you are not aware of this awesome new (um, the term coined in 2004;) source of audio content, just like I was not just a few months ago.
As a reader who listens to A LOT of audio books (that is how I keep my read books numbers high), I am always in a search for new, preferably free, ways of getting my hands on audio entertainment. My first encounter with podcasting happened via accidentally glancing at one of my Goodreads.com friend's conversation in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy group.
As a reader who listens to A LOT of audio books (that is how I keep my read books numbers high), I am always in a search for new, preferably free, ways of getting my hands on audio entertainment. My first encounter with podcasting happened via accidentally glancing at one of my Goodreads.com friend's conversation in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy group.
Here it is - my first source of mainly nerdy content. Escape Pod podcast is a great place to land if you are looking for science fiction. The founders of this magazine claim to bring its subscribers short stories from some of today’s best science fiction stories, and they are not lying. A wide variety of critically acclaimed shorts are presented here, and (mostly) well narrated too.
Any book lover will appreciate this cool story - Surviving the eBookalypse by Randy Henderson. Imagine that digital books in fact ruin publishing world as we know - piracy is so rampant that writers are forced to seek out their personal sponsors who they attract by reading them excerpts from their works, in person, in confined and soundproof spaces where audio/video pirating is virtually impossible. Life is tough, brutally competitive for writers, they have to fight for each and every reader. With so many self-published writers these days such future does not sound that far fetched. This story is funny too.
Any book lover will appreciate this cool story - Surviving the eBookalypse by Randy Henderson. Imagine that digital books in fact ruin publishing world as we know - piracy is so rampant that writers are forced to seek out their personal sponsors who they attract by reading them excerpts from their works, in person, in confined and soundproof spaces where audio/video pirating is virtually impossible. Life is tough, brutally competitive for writers, they have to fight for each and every reader. With so many self-published writers these days such future does not sound that far fetched. This story is funny too.
If you are looking for classics, LibriVox is a perfect place for you. This site's goal is to provide free audiobooks of the works available in the public domain (basically, anything published before 1923). It is a volunteer project, so you should adjust your quality expectations accordingly. From my experience, just like with the professionally recorded audio books, the quality varies. I recommend checking out the recording of The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton - beautifully narrated.
For lovers of the "serious" contemporary fiction, there are two great podcasts - The New Yorker Fiction Podcast and Guardian Books Podcast.
For lovers of the "serious" contemporary fiction, there are two great podcasts - The New Yorker Fiction Podcast and Guardian Books Podcast.
The New Yorker introduced me to Alice Munro, fan of whom I immediately became after listening to her short story Axis read by another writer - Lauren Groff. Another great offering, funny and sad, is Junot Diaz's How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie). | 
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Stories offered on this podcast are all read by famous writers and are followed by thoughtful discussions.
Guardian Books Podcast has a wider variety of materials - interviews, discussions, reading, a book club. Guardian introduced me to one of the best books I have read this year - Lauren Beukes' Zoo City in its Science Fiction Now and Tomorrow discussion.
And, finally, one last podcast I am going to mention. It actually has nothing to do with books and reading. It is Entertainment Weekly's InsideTV Podcast. Yep, I listen to it because it is funny and here they talk about Downton Abbey. If you are not hooked on this British costumed soap, you are missing out!
Guardian Books Podcast has a wider variety of materials - interviews, discussions, reading, a book club. Guardian introduced me to one of the best books I have read this year - Lauren Beukes' Zoo City in its Science Fiction Now and Tomorrow discussion.
And, finally, one last podcast I am going to mention. It actually has nothing to do with books and reading. It is Entertainment Weekly's InsideTV Podcast. Yep, I listen to it because it is funny and here they talk about Downton Abbey. If you are not hooked on this British costumed soap, you are missing out!
What about you? Do you listen to podcasts? And if you do, can you recommend me something interesting? I am going to pretend my iPod is not full enough already.
