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Tuesday

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

As everyone knows I'm a huge fan of audiobooks. If you spend as much time as I do knitting it's just a fact that you cannot spend any time reading, unless you had four hands of course, as a result of this I am obsessive (we're talking two a week) audiobook listener. So when one of our family friends told me she had an audiobook she wanted me to listen to I was obviously drawn in, and when I found out the person reading the audiobook was David Tennant, well, it was a sealed deal.


Before I talk about how amazing the book was, I want to talk about something to do with audiobooks that has been bugging me for a while. In my opinion, the skills needed to read an audiobook are huge! A well read audiobook can be a true work of art, and a badly read audiobook can be hell. I once listened to 30 hours of Jane Eyre read in an American accent and let me tell you it was one of the worst experiences of my life. The artists reading the audiobook put in hours and hours of time and effort and yet when it comes to purchasing an audiobook you basically never even get to see who is reading it! It's never advertised on the cover, barely even mentioned, and yet for the audiobook listener, quality of the recording is as important as the book itself! In my opinion, websites such as audible and the audiobook section of iTunes should put much more effort into telling the customer who it is that they are about to spend 24 hours of their lives listening to instead of putting it in as an afterthought! But this might just be me.. after all I do spend about half my life listening to these things!

Okay, back to the point, the reason I really started to care about this is because David Tennants recording of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is so amazing I couldn't not talk about it! 



The book was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce as a sequel to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming. It is set in modern day England and tells the story of the Tooting Family who find an abandoned engine that they attach onto their camper van, only to find out that the engine used to belong to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The car then leads them on a crazy adventure all over the world. I always loved the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and bringing it into the modern day is such a great idea. I had a worry the book was going to be too 'young' for me but I ended up loving it so so much. It's really funny, exciting and amazingly written. It would obviously appeal to people younger than me but I would recommend it to all ages!
The camper van that takes 'glamping' to a whole new level!
David Tennant brings the book to life with his brilliant recording! I hadn't really clocked how great his voice was until I listened to this but it really is. The audiobook begins with a very interesting interview with him about the book. He does a very clever thing while recording it which is that he uses 'voices' for all the characters except the dad of the family which means the dad ends up being the only one you really think of as 'David Tennant'. This may sound crazy but when I was listening to it I almost felt as if I was watching David Tennant play the part of the Dad. 

If you've already read this brilliant book please leave a comment to tell me if you agree and if you haven't I would DEFINITELY recommend either buying the book or, even better, the audiobook! 

Have a great Tuesday, Love Scarlett xx

7 comments:

  1. I love David Tennant! This audiobook sounds great and I totally agree they are great to listen to while sewing and knitting. I must get it, I also have a campervan so I could have the next chitty chitty bang bang camper!! ;)
    Also is there still time to give away a handmade item for your knit relief as I have a handmade cushion!
    -From a 14 year old blogger, Becky x

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  2. Unfortunately I haven't read this book yet, but I have read two of Frank Cottrell Boyce's other books - "Millions" and "Framed" - and can't recommend them highly enough. I have only read the printed versions though, not listenend to the audiobook recordings.

    What I love about really good audiobooks is that they make me feel like the most privileged person in the world: A brilliant actor (or even author!) is performing a gorgeous piece of literatur for me and only for me while I listen to it. I'm safely encapsulated in my very own private little theatre bubble that my mind is filling with images and scents.

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  3. DT is a big hit in our house, the book sounds great plus I like the idea of listening to a book while being crafty. True female multitasking in action.

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  4. Wow Scarlett, your enthusiasm has got me wanting to listen to this one. David Tennant has a fantastic vocal range as I would never have guessed he really had a Scottish accent when he first appeared as Dr Who.

    Audio books are also really good while walking the dogs or running. One that I could not 'put down' was 'The Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown. I hated all the hype about the book at the time and wouldn't get drawn into it but my stepson put it on my MP3 player and I was lost to this world for the duration, lol.

    Loving your blog. You are talented and inspirational.

    Helena

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  5. I totally agree re the actors' talents on audiobooks - and the lack of credit. It's really interesting how opinions vary, though. I downloaded Before I Sleep and found it agonisingly slow to listen to. Nothing ever happened! Nothing, narrated in a monotone. We were stuck inside one person's head as she thought all the time and DID NOTHING. Maybe she starts doing stuff, but I had to abandon as it was making my ears bleed. I know Frank has a great reputation though (and I've heard him speak a few times) so I've downloaded this, as I have every faith in Tennant to do a great job. Thanks!

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  6. Because you love Audio books so much, I thought you would like this online list - it is a list of someone's dream voices for books! http://flavorwire.com/268020/audiobooks-and-the-celebrities-who-were-born-to-read-them

    I agree with most of them and I can just hear their voices in my head as I was reading it :)

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  7. I listen to audiobooks ALL the time, and I agree about the critical importance of the narrator! And it's not just about talent; it's about personal preference. My favorite narrator might well be your "ewww!"

    One thing I like about Audible.com is that you can play a sample (usually a few minutes long) of any book, before buying it. If I couldn't do this, I wouldn't buy anything.

    I have suggested to Audible that they break the recordings into chapters or sections to download, instead of the whole book as one file. Librivox (free! love it!) has chapters/sections, and so does my local online library, and this means I can fall asleep (on purpose, this is how I fall asleep at night) listening to a book, without having the whole book being read aloud til the wee hours of the morning.

    By the way, hello! I found your blog by way of a link to KnitRelief. I hope to be a bidder :)

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