Anyone who has been reading this blog regularly may be aware that audiobooks and I don’t go together that well. I have listened to parts of Richard Armitage’s audiobooks and, even though I love his voice, I just can’t enjoy them and so have given up on them. It’s not Richard’s fault, it’s audiobooks in general. I don’t enjoy the reader making up all sorts of voices that often don’t quite gel with what I have in my head; I prefer to read the books myself, with my own tone in my head. I like to skip through bits if necessary or linger on bits that touch me or make me think, all at my own pace. Even as a child, I didn’t that much enjoy being read to, I have always wanted to read myself and savour a story in my own way. So, I prefer reading the books myself or seeing movies of them (sometimes) as opposed to only hearing them.
Cut to Richard and all that audiowork he’s been doing of late. I am skipping the Wanderlust audiobook and The Tattooist of Auschwitz as well. I’m definitely going to read The Tattooist, something I’d like to read anyhow whether Richard was involved or not, but I don’t think I’ll be able to bear the audiobook (for reasons mentioned above, especially with regards to this topic). However, two other audio projects of Richard’s have piqued my interest and I think the reason may be that they are audioplays rather than audiobooks. Richard only has to stick to voicing one character, which I prefer, and there is a bigger cast involved, which makes for greater diversity when listening.
So, I attempted the first audioplay, The Martian Invasion of Earth, which I finished this week. I listened to the first half while folding laundry and the second half during my commute to and from work yesterday. To actually stick to audiowork like this for more than 10 minutes is unique for me!
Verdict: I really enjoyed it! I love the Jeff Wayne rock musical War of the Worlds and thought I’d be comparing this to that all the time. To my surprise, I didn’t! I got caught up in this tale all on its own merit. I loved Richard as Herbert and I also loved Lucy Briggs-Owen as his wife Amy. They played off each other so well! The other characters in this were really good as well and I could see the story come to life in my mind’s eye. In fact, by the end it almost felt like I had seen this as a movie. Actually, come to think of it, I would quite enjoy seeing this as movie, with the same cast in it. 🙂
Despite this positive experience, I don’t think I’ll be listening to many more audioplays, I still prefer the visual form of film or reading. If it has Richard in it, however, I will give audioplays a go! So, next on the list is Wolverine, which I am curious about anyhow because I have previously enjoyed Hugh Jackman in the role of that tortured soul.
The first 2 episodes have been aired and I understand from Servetus’s blog (with spoilers!) and Perry’s blog (without spoilers) here and here, that it takes a while for Richard to appear in the episodes (and he only has 1 line in the first one). In gearing up to signing up to Stitcher and listening for myself, I came across this on my Twitter timeline this morning, where Richard speaks about recording Wolverine.
I find this little video absolutely wonderful! The way he speaks about the project, the gesturing, the concentration, the dedication and professionalism just shine through. And he looks good, too! I think I like this quiet, concentrated image best…
… but then there’s also this…
… and the talking with his hands…
… and these…
… and this little gem that someone on Twitter made a gif of!

If I weren’t already curious about this, I am now! Richard Armitage audioplays – I’m there!
Always enjoy and look forward to your comments BoE. I loved this video. He has always been a physical actor, and the concept of moving in a space while recording an audio book is intriguing. I did enjoy the first two episodes, though RA’s Logan was barely there. Looking forward to this offering. I recalled this tweet: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f9/2d/42/f92d4220a3f316eac3e5dfb631605dd7.jpg He “tasted blood”.
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Aw, thanks for the compliment!
LOL on the tasting blood tweet! Not sure I need to see that, though… 😉
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I agree here with you and audio books, I much prefer to turn pages myself, imagine the individuals in the book, their voices, how they look etc……I too passed on Wunderlust and the Tattooist, but loved the Martian Invasion and so far, The Wolverine….The “audio plays” I much prefer where others do the voices of various characters in the play, Mr. A. does his……So bring on the audio plays and perhaps one day the audio book will win me over, but I’m not going to hold my breath……PS…Read the Tattooist, its a must read…..
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Maybe one day, when I’m old and almost blind, I’ll enjoy an audiobook or two, but until then…
Yes, I already have The Tattooist, just need to get into the mindset to read it. I can totally disappear in Holocaust-reading and then I get obsessed and depressed and start dreaming about it. There was a time when my husband temporarily ‘forbade’ me to dive into Holocaust material as it affected me so much. It’s been a while, though, so I should be good. Just need to be a little less tired (lots going on at work right now – all good, but very busy and some health stuff in the family going on) before I actually read it. It’s number 1 on my list, though. 🙂
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Those pictures!
Seriously, Wolverine is going to be worth it, I think, even though there’s so little of him in the first two episodes. The sound quality is fantastic. When I first heard the thing about “novel sound,” I was like, okay, whatever, but they really did kick it up a notch.
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Those pictures – I know! I keep going back to them! 🙂
Cool about Wolverine! Still haven’t signed up for Stitcher yet. By the time evening rolls around (and I have some more time) I just can’t be bothered. Maybe I’ll be able to do it during the weekend…
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ps Thanks for the link love.
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LOL – it definitely helps when they release BTS footage to advertise a new audio piece. I completely stepped into that trap, even though, like you, I am an audio-sceptic. But in this case, I can only recommend you have a listen. Even without RA saying much in the first two episodes, it is grippingly staged and told, and it has held my attention much more than Wanderlust or Tattooist did.
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An ‘audio sceptic’ – LOL! I like that. 🙂
I definitely will listen, once I get around to signing up for Stitcher. I just hate that I have to make yet another account for something – I already have too many accounts as it is!
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hehehe – or audio agnostic, as in ‘doubtful of the benefits of audio books’?
Yeah, so many different accounts, with usernames, passwords and CC details everywhere. I think I will cancel the subscription as soon as the last episode has come out, though. Because audio sceptic…
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Yeah, it’s why I don’t have an Audible subscription anymore either…
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That has worked out relatively well for me so far. Somehow I have always been able to have a free credit available when a new audio work by RA has dropped. At £7.99/month that has been worth it, considering that the individual price of the audio books is between £30 and £50… But yeah, I might eventually give that up, too – unless RA keeps producing new stuff *uff*
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He seems to like doing this, so I guess you’re stuck. I’m not bothering with the € 7,99. I wish there was some universal platform where you can get access to EVERYTHING at a reasonable price. Until then, I think pirating will stay popular…
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LOL – yeah, stuck with all that audio crap *jk*. And yes, either a universal platform, or payment methods that are safe and easy, such as Paypal, where you can easily set up payments and don’t have to worry about your CC details floating around on countless servers… As for pirating – have never managed to do that with Audible material, so had to bite the bullet eventually.
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🙂 I never really tried with Audible material.
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I think the problem is the subscriptions, which seem like an intentionally deceptive business model, as opposed to the multiplicity of platforms. I would *not* want a universal platform (as annoying as the current situation is), because monopolies are really dangerous. We’re starting to see that in the US now with amazon. It grows and grows and we’re starting to get to the point where there are things that it’s very hard to buy except via amazon — a risky situation if anyone really needs that product as amazon can refuse service essentially arbitrarily.
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Yes, very good point that…
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