The Wonders of Listening

I don't know if there are many people who listen to Audiobooks, or even to spoken word on the radio but I just love having people talk to me. I also subscribe to a number of podcasts. During the summer, where I have a lot more time on my hands, it sometimes gets so bad that I don't know what to do unless someone is talking to me!

My favourite audiobooks and radio series' are as follows:

1. Animals of Farthing Wood.



This was my childhood. It was on the BBC for 3 series, and I had an audiobook. I must have listened to it every night until the cassette tapes broke, and then I think insisted that I got new tapes and wore those out. It was amazing, and from the TV series anyway, it was real. The animals died which is uncommon in children's TV nowadays. I found the intro theme on Youtube, and the nostalgia had me tearing up!

2. Earthsearch



When I grew up a bit mum let me in on the wonders of Earthsearch. It's a sci-fi radio drama from the 1980's, set on a ship that has been searching for an earth type planet, and when it returns home, the earth has vanished. It's amazing, as is the sequel and the spin off series. We also abused this until the cassette's gave out. Thankfully, the BBC brought out CD version's of it so we now have those to see us through.

3. Old Harry's Game



A radio comedy set in Hell of all places. As a Christian, you would think I wouldn't approve as it does have a tendency to be a bit... well... blasphemous. But, I really, really enjoy it. Mum and I have spent countless hours on car journeys, outside on the grass, or just sitting by the CD player listening and guffawing at this hilarious series, written and starring the same guy who writes for BBC's Outnumbered.

4. Pillars of The Earth



I bought this as a book for Mum ages ago. I just liked the front cover, I don't even think I looked at the synopsis. She said she enjoyed it when she finally finished reading but I was put off by the sheer size of it. It's  a MASSIVE 976 pages of tiny print. This is the sort of book that you either love or hate. Then it was turned into a TV mini series made of the book starring Donald Sutherland, Ian McShane, Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Macfayden and Hayley Atwell. I LOVED the series, and so decided to get into the book... however, I cheated. I signed up for an audiobook website, and was given a credit for a book. I wanted to find the biggest book I could, and this was it. A massive 40 hours of audio. And I lapped up every second. I did the same for the sequel World Without End (also now being turned into a mini series!)

5. BBC Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra

Everything from drama's to books to comedies. Whenever I run out of things to listen to, I always go and check out BBC iPlayer to see what's there that I can listen to. Some of my favourites are the dramatised Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Poirot, Agatha Rasin and Cabin Pressure.

Do you listen to programs on the radio? Or Audiobooks? Have you a favourite?

Sarah xx