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Listen to this programmeFactsheet of this programmeTranscript of this programme Print this page FactsheetAUDIOBOOKSTwo regular audiobook reviewers choose their favourites from the past year and discuss the way technology is creating new opportunities for blind people to access more and more books. Vidar Hjardeng is a television producer with ITV Central and he reviews audio books both for Disability Now and The Book Magazine. Sue Arnold is a journalist, columnist, and currently audio book reviewer for The Guardian. AUDIOBOOKS RECOMMENDED Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones. Read by Finty Williams John Murray, 2hrs 30mins Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom, Read by Simon Russell Beale Publisher: Macmillan Audio Books Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky : Translated by Sandra Smith, Read by Jim Norton Random House Audiobooks The Making of Music by James Naughtie, Read by James Naughtie ´óÏó´«Ã½ Audiobooks Ltd Alos mentioned CONTACTS – GENERAL RNIB 105 Judd Street London WC1H 9NE Helpline: 0845 766 9999 Tel: 0207 388 1266 (switchboard/overseas callers) Web: The RNIB provides information, support and advice for anyone with a serious sight problem. They not only provide Braille, Talking Books and computer training, but imaginative and practical solutions to everyday challenges. The RNIB campaigns to change society's attitudes, actions and assumptions, so that people with sight problems can enjoy the same rights, freedoms and responsibilities as fully sighted people. They also fund pioneering research into preventing and treating eye disease and promote eye health by running public health awareness campaigns. HENSHAWS SOCIETY FOR BLIND PEOPLE (HSBP) John Derby House 88-92 Talbot Road Old Trafford Manchester M16 0GS Tel: 0161 872 1234 Email: info@hsbp.co.uk Web: Henshaws provides a wide range of services for people who have sight difficulties. They aim to enable visually impaired people of all ages to maximise their independence and enjoy a high quality of life. They have centres in: Harrogate, Knaresborough, Liverpool, Llandudno, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Salford, Southport and Trafford. THE GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND ASSOCIATION (GDBA) Burghfield Common Reading RG7 3YG Tel: 0118 983 5555 Email: guidedogs@guidedogs.org.uk Web: The GDBA’s mission is to provide guide dogs, mobility and other rehabilitation services that meet the needs of blind and partially sighted people. ACTION FOR BLIND PEOPLE 14-16 Verney Road London SE16 3DZ Tel: 0800 915 4666 (info & advice) Web: Registered charity with national cover that provides practical support in the areas of housing, holidays, information, employment and training, cash grants and welfare rights for blind and partially-sighted people. Leaflets and booklets are available. NATIONAL LEAGUE OF THE BLIND AND DISABLED Central Office Swinton House 324 Grays Inn Road London WC1X 8DD Tel: 020 7278 8378 National League of the Blind and Disabled is a registered trade union and is involved in all issues regarding the employment of blind and disabled people in the UK. NATIONAL LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND (NLB) Far Cromwell Road Bredbury Stockport SK6 2SG RNIB Customer Services on 0845 762 6843 Email: cservices@rnib.org.uk Web: The NLB is a registered charity which helps visually impaired people throughout the country continue to enjoy the same access to the world of reading as people who are fully sighted. Trustees from the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and the National Library for the Blind (NLB) have agreed to merge the library services of both charities as of 1 January 2007, creating the new RNIB National Library Service. EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DISABILITY HELPLINE (England) FREEPOST MID02164 Stratford upon Avon CV37 9BR Tel: 08457 622 633 Textphone: 08457 622 644 Fax: 08457 778 878 Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 9:00 am-5:00 pm; Wed 8:00 am-8:00 pm. Enquiry: englandhelpline2@equalityhumanrights.com Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline Wales Freepost RRLR-UEYB-UYZL 1st Floor 3 Callaghan Square Cardiff CF10 5BT 0845 604 8810 - Wales main number 0845 604 8820 - Wales textphone 0845 604 8830 - Wales fax 9:00 am-5:00 pm, Monday to Friday (an out-of-hours service will start running soon) Enquiry: waleshelpline@equalityhumanrights.com Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline Scotland Freepost RRLL-GYLB-UJTA The Optima Building 58 Robertson Street Glasgow G2 8DU 0845 604 5510 - Scotland Main 0845 604 5520 - Scotland Textphone 0845 604 5530 - Scotland – Fax 9:00 am-5:00 pm, Monday to Friday (an out-of-hours service will start running soon) Enquiry: scotlandhelpline@equalityhumanrights.com DISABLED LIVING FOUNDATION 380-384 Harrow Road London W9 2HU Tel: 0845 130 9177 Web: The Disabled Living Foundation provide information and advice on disability equipment. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for external websites General contacts Back to top TranscriptIN TOUCHTX: 01.01.08 2040-2100 PRESENTER: PETER WHITE PRODUCER: CHERYL GABRIEL White Good evening. The audio-book has come a long way in 70 years or so. Originally they were for blind people only, recorded on gramophone records and played on great big machines, and then on specially-produced cartridges a bit later. Since the '70s though audio books have entered the mainstream in a big way, first on audio-cassette, then CD, now produced digitally and, if you prefer, downloaded onto and played on your computer. But however you do it, one thing hasn't changed: it's still by far the most prolific way for visually-impaired people to get hold of lots of books. So today, on the first day of the year, we've invited two of the most avid watchers of the audio-book scene to share their highlights from last year. Vidar Hjardeng is a television producer with ITV Central and he reviews audio books regularly, both for Disability Now and The Book Magazine and Sue Arnold is a journalist and currently audio book reviewer for the Guardian. So, let's get straight into it with your choices. Vidar, you go first. Hjardeng Thanks Peter. Well over the past 12 months I have discovered the novels of CJ Sanson whose main claim to fame is probably his novels set in Henry VIII's England, of which there are currently I think three in audio form, all read inimitably by Anton Lesser. But the one I'm going to choose is a stand alone novel set in Madrid in 1940 with the seasonal title of 'Winter in Madrid'. It's partly a thriller, partly a love story. Some great characters, beautifully written. If you know Madrid I'm told, I don't, but if you know it you can very much identify with where he's talking about - it's accurately researched. And it's brilliantly read by Simon Russell Beale. White And it's a kind of search novel isn't it really because it all starts I think in the Spanish Civil War doesn't it? Hjardeng It all starts in the Spanish Civil War and then when the action sort of continues you have an interesting mix of characters, all of whom interestingly enough knew each other at school - the three male characters did. You have a reluctant spy who's keeping an eye on and trying to gain the confidence of a rather dodgy now businessman in Madrid. And the businessman's girlfriend, a Red Cross nurse, is in herself - in her own pursuit of finding somebody who's gone off to fight with the communists and has disappeared. So lots of intriguing storylines, lots of great characterisation. Clip - Winter in Madrid The Jarama Valley, Spain, February 1937 Bernie had laid at the foot of the knoll for hours, half conscious. The British battalion had been brought up to the front two days before, rattling across the bare Castilian plain in an ancient locomotive. They had marched by night to the front line. The battalion had a few older men, veterans of the Great War, but most of the soldiers were working class boys without even the officer training corps experience that Bernie and the smattering of other public school men possessed. Even here in their own war the working class stood at a disadvantage. The Republic had held a strong position on top of a hill that slopped down steeply to the Jarama River Valley. In the far distance the grey smudge of Madrid was visible. The city that had withstood the fascists since the General's uprising last summer. Madrid - where Barbara was. White Well enough mysteries in there to get you intrigued. Sue Arnold, I know you're a voice woman when it comes to audio books, so ... Arnold Simon Russell Beale, absolutely amazing but I'm a bit - I don't actually care for this book much, I think if you'd said the other three books - if Vidar had said the CJ Sanson's Henry VIII trilogy - fantastic, brilliant - I would give anything to hear those again but not this one. I find this a bit cold and drear and I don't think the characters are terribly - I think it's a poor man's 'The Third Man' - same kind of Harry Lime thinks for Vienna read Madrid. And I also thought that it wasn't sort of sparky enough, maybe it's not a - you know winter in Madrid it's not very sparky time but compared to the Matthew Shardlake, the detective or the lawyer in the Thomas Cromwell, it's brilliant, if you like the Tudors then you'll like that. And I just found this a little bit down key. White I give you one chance to spring to its defence Vidar. Hjardeng Well all I can say Sue is that I totally concur with you about the Matthew Shardlake character, he's a great character, great lawyer and I love Tudor England and the richness of the history of that time is brought over, through the narration of Anton Lesser and the book. But I really thought the characters were superb and I just loved the mix of the different storylines. And I have to say it was one of those books, over the past 12 months, that once I'd started I genuinely couldn't stop listening to, so no I would defend it Peter. Arnold But how could you get excited about the hero, at the age of 37 has got a double chin and a pot belly? I can't bear that, I can do without that. White For us chaps it's not quite so difficult - sympathy I would say. Hjardeng I was going to say exactly that Peter, you took the works out of my mouth there Peter yes. White Okay, well we'll - I think I'm going to come clean and say that I listened to some of this and am actually intrigued and will go on listening, so I think I come down on its ... Arnold Good for you and then read 'Dissolution'. White Well we shall see. Sue, you've chosen 'Mr Pip' - and I think we'll perhaps start with just a flavour of that book before you actually talk us into it. Clip - Mr Pip He pulled a piece of rope attached to a trolley on which Mrs Popeye stood. She looked like an ice cream. Nearly every woman on our island had crinkled hair but Grace had straightened hers. She looked so proud, as if she had no idea of her own bare feet. You saw her huge bum and worried about the toilet seat. You thought of her mother and birth and that stuff. White So Sue who is Mr Pip and what do we find out about him? Arnold Don't you think that is the most amazing first paragraph? Do you know I feel like - Graham Greene was once asked to judge like the Booker Prize and he said no, he didn't have time and there were three books and he said this is the winner and they said - well what do you think of the other two - and he said - I didn't read the other two because this is the winner. And I feel just that I would have said that because this was tipped to win the Booker Prize and out of sheer cussedness they didn't give it. This is the best novel written this year, it's so original and amazing. And best of all - from an audio point of view - that reader is just the tops, she's ace - Finty Williams - I'd never heard of her before but her voice says it all ... White She's Judy Dench's daughter isn't she? Arnold Is she - well she is brilliant, she's supposed to be a 13 year old from the South Pacific islands, who's name - Bougainville it's called - and one shouldn't give anything away, it's about rebels, it's about people fighting, it's about religion, it's about voodoo, it's about everything and it's fabulous. And the whole thing is based on Mr Pip - is the only white man on the island and when the rebels come and take everything away - all the kids have gone to join the rebels - he becomes the teacher and the only teaching aid he has is a battered copy of 'Great Expectations' and he reads it to the kids and it is just mesmerising how they live Mr Pip, they become part of the book themselves. And then when some of the rebels come and sit by the fire and they've killed people in the most ghastly ways they listen to 'Great Expectations'. And the whole thing is - storytelling is just amazing, the value of telling stories cannot be overestimated. White Were you mesmerised Vidar? Hjardeng I have to say at the risk of sounding boringly agreeing it was superb and I have recently read it and as a great fan of 'Great Expectations' - the original Dickens novel - I must admit I thought that was beautifully woven into the story. And clearly the reader has got mother's talents because she gets you right from the opening paragraph. No, it was a, relatively in audio form, short novel but so many powerful themes within it that I was totally absorbed, absolutely hooked, yeah, and I think it should indeed have won the Booker. Arnold Vidar, let me just - do you agree with me - if it's a short novel why was it abridged, why do we have to have it abridged, it's so short anyway, that's what really infuriates me? White I knew abridgement would come up sooner or later on today's programme. Hjardeng I must admit I agree with that. I think there is some justification when - if people are suddenly deciding to do 'Anna Karinina' or 'War and Peace', then okay there is a time consideration but I couldn't agree more. I have to say, having said that, it's well abridged, don't you think Sue? Arnold Yeah. White Can I - I did just have one carvel Sue and you used the term set the scene, there was so much I didn't know. Now I know you're going to tell me well it's from the point of view of a 13 year old, and she probably didn't know, we didn't know which South Sea island, we didn't know quite who the rebels were, we didn't know who the red skins were, we knew it had something to do with oil. Now are you going to tell me that that's because she didn't know, that it was seen as from a child's point of view? Arnold Possibly but also I think because that's kind of assessing, the most important thing is what's happening between the kids and the teacher and 'Great Expectations', so that is I think kept deliberately vague. White Right, okay, well it is a great read, I had a very pleasant Sunday afternoon listening to it. Let me come to mine. I don't think I listen to anything like the number of audio books that you two do because I'm a Braillist but when I do it I wonder why I don't do it more often, mainly because of the quality of the readers. And I was just blown away this year by a book by a writer who seems to have been rediscovered. Living in France but with a Russian name, the author is Irene Nemirovsky; the book discovered and published a couple of years ago was a different one, it was set under the German occupation of France during the Second World War. I think it was incomplete, but it's a hugely moving book and it caused something of a publishing sensation, perhaps heightened by the realisation that Nemirovsky had died in a German concentration camp during the war. But the book I've chosen is an earlier one; it's a kind of murder mystery, but that's not really its point because it's not really a mystery. The book's strength is in evoking the claustrophobic atmosphere of rural France, during the '30s, where as Nemirovsky keeps making clear, nothing happens, and yet everything happens; in very closed-in families, where each family has a secret, or they think that they've got secrets, but actually it turns out that everybody knows and nobody says. I can't do better than play you this picture early in the book, which is called 'Fire in the Blood', which sets the scene. Clip - Fire in the Blood This region in the middle of France is both wild and rich. Everyone lives in his own house, on his own land, distrusts his neighbours, harvests his wheat, counts his money and doesn't give a thought to the rest of the world. No chateau, no visitors. A bourgeoisie reigns here that has only recently emerged from the working classes and is still very close to them. Part of a rich blood line that loves everything that has its roots in the land. My family is spread over the entire province. An extensive network of [French names]. They are important farmers, lawyers, government officials, landowners. Their houses are imposing and isolated, built far from the villages and protected by great forbidding doors with triple locks, like the doors you find in prisons. Their flat gardens contain almost no flowers, nothing but vegetables and fruit trees, trained to produce the best yield. Their sitting rooms are stuffed full of furniture and always shut up. They live in the kitchen to save money on firewood. I don't think I can quite match Sue's bubbly enthusiasm but I think that's just spectacular. I'm going to go to Vidar first. It's read by Jim Norton by the way and what a voice. Hjardeng Absolutely, great reader. We've been talking about great voices and he certainly has one of them. I remember in the last year or so listening to him reading 'The Sea' by John Banville and he has such a superb narration voice. Arnold He needed it to make that book work at all, what a dreary book. Hjardeng It is but thanks to him - you see this is where audio brings it to life very often, which the printed word doesn't always have. But no he's got a great voice. I'm as great Francophile, I thought the portrait of some of the characters, some of the village people, in rural France in the 1930s was absolutely gripping. I listened to this on a train travelling down from Edinburgh and I was captivated by it. Having thoroughly enjoyed the first novel that came out earlier this year, which I think Eleanor Bron, from memory, read and that was superb. This is too and it's not a laugh a minute, it has to be said but so powerful and really, really gripping. White Sue. Arnold I thought it was terrific too. I've got a - slightly suspicious because how many books are they going to discover by Irene Nemirovsky... White It's like old Beatles recordings isn't it. Arnold Suddenly turning them up, yes. I'll tell you what is - so good - if you drive around the Dordogne you see these isolated farmhouses and you think my goodness people there must be so lonely, do they ever see anyone and this is exactly what this book is about - they seem to be totally isolated and yet there's this close knit community, which is - as that clip said - absolutely glued to the land - land is the most important thing, having land, acquiring land, not giving up land, passing on land. And that's the kind of basis of it. But there's this - the other thing about it is it's literary conceit - like 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', the narrator keeps - withholds information from you, so you're in fact being tricked a bit because he knows things he's not telling you and then they come out at the end but that's just an interesting little sideline. It's terrific suspense. White I've never heard nothing happening being made more exciting, I must say, and I listened to it on a train. Can I just - before we come on to your very last book, this business of - we've all talked about where we heard things and so forth, listening on trains, because audio - audio books have become very flexible, can I just ask you both how you read most of the time, given the range there is now - Vidar? Hjardeng I tend to listen to most of mine on either CDs, you know the commercial CDs, or for that matter Daisy CDs - people will be I'm sure familiar with the RNIB Daisy book players - and... White Those are the digital recordings which you now can use on an adapted CD player that you can get from the RNIB. Hjardeng Exactly right Peter yeah. And I seem to spend a lot of my time travelling on trains, professionally or whatever, and it's a great way of whiling away the time. So plugging in and listening into the combination of either CDs or the Daisy player is the way I listen to books. White And Sue, what about you? Arnold I listen on my Walkman and my Discman mainly. At home I listen to the Daisy but I never have not got ear plugs in and I was standing at the bus stop asking a woman - I can't see the bus, can you tell me? - And she said - Have you got trouble with your hearing as well? - because I had my ear plugs in. And every item of clothing I have has a pocket, so my apron I have my machine in the pocket, my dressing gown, I'm never without a book, which is why I can read 25 books a week. White Is anyone downloading books from their computers - things like Audible and those kind of ...? Arnold Peter, I have to tell you I cheated, I went to an audio conference and they said you can download and I said to the chap that runs it - I can't download - and they sent someone round and he downloaded five books on - five complete books because I know I couldn't do it. But can I quickly tell you about something called Audio Books Online, which is a library and you subscribe and they'll send you however many books, they do the downloading for you. White Right, you can and we'll put all this information on our action line, I'll mention that in a moment. Just finally we asked you to pick one favourite book and you've rather inconveniently both picked the same one. So Sue tell us what it is and we'll ... Arnold Well it's 'The Making of Music', it's the Jim Naughtie one, it was on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 ... White Our very own. Arnold ... at quarter to, our very own, which I deliberately steered clear of because I thought oh we've heard enough of Jim Naughtie and I wasn't going to do it and then I suddenly found it and read it and it's wonderful, it's enchanting. He follows the golden thread, as he calls it, of music from plainsong right down to the 20th Century when mass music making. I think you've read the second volume, I've only read the first one but it's wonderful because he does so cleverly, it's not just a boring chronological history, which is chronological I suppose, but it's packed with anecdotes. For instance he'll tell you about how Paganini, the violinist, played the violin behind his back, just to show audiences how clever he was, he was a virtuoso but he was a showman as well, and he was the first of the celebrity music superstars. Things like that, it's wonderfully done and if you don't know the ins and outs of Baroque and Romantic and all the rest of it this is the one to listen to. White Has she left you anything to say Vidar? Hjardeng Not a great deal other than being conceited and saying obviously great minds think alike because like Sue I just found this terrific. And Jim is a great storyteller and he tells the story of music and if you love music - and this is where audio again I think really comes into its own because the printed page you wouldn't get this, you get large chunks of all these different types of music and different sort of periods of classical music and you can actually listen to them as he describes them and talks about how they were composed and who met whom and how they were influenced by the other. And it's a wonderful tapestry of history, the arts and music and no I thought it was terrific - both volumes. White I think we'll leave it there really. That's it for today but we have details of all the books, as I've said, that we've chosen, either by ringing the action line on 0800 044 044 or by e-mailing our website. So that's it. From me Peter White, my guests Vidar Hjardeng and Sue Arnold and of course our producer Cheryl Gabriel and the team. INSERT: IT_ 'Fire in the Blood' by Irene Nemirovsky (Sue's reaction and Vidar's then get them to talk about the way they read; methods; abridgment (if it comes up), future highlights). INSERT: IT_Clip_ Jim Naughtie's 'The Making of Music' Peter: And that's it for today; but we have details of all the books we've chosen, plus more information about audio books, which you can get either by ringing the Action Line on 0800 044044 or by emailing our website, and you'll be able to download a podcast of today's programme from tomorrow. From me Peter White, my guests Vidar and Sue, producer Cheryl Gabriel, and the team, goodbye. Back to top |
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