Audible – The Joy of Cycling – Cycling Around Japan

Some of you may wonder what I do for the endless hours I sit upon the saddle. Well, I proudly tell you I enjoy the scenery and listen to many many hours of audiobooks. Mostly from my favourite source: Audible.

Audible is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on the Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world’s largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. Audible’s content is only accessible through special proprietary closed software, including unauthorized-playback prevention by means of an Amazon user name and password. – Wikipedia.

I find it a lot easier to cycle and listen as opposed to driving as I’m never, ever needed to concentrate on overtaking people and always just tottering along so I never miss any crucial parts of the story. I don’t usually read finding other things distracting, but these audiobooks are potentially life/trip changing.

I started off with a book theme suiting the occasion, that is: The Tales of the Otori. It was a book series set in medieval Japan with samurai, ninjas, powers, etc. The series initially consisted of a trilogy: Across the Nightingale Floor (2002), Grass for His Pillow (2003), and Brilliance of the Moon (2004). It was followed in 2006 by a sequel, The Harsh Cry of the Heron, and in 2007 by a prequel, Heaven’s Net is Wide. It’s strange that the 3rd book is unavailable, yet I have it in my library…. Either way, some great books and I highly recommend them.

Not sure how this works, but if you’re new to audible I think you get a free book and trial. You can use this link.

I moved onto the following 2 books, the left one being reasonable and the right be very boring and of cheap humour. Needless to say, I returned the book on the right and received a full refund of one credit, no questions asked. This is normal, as I’ve returned maybe half the books I did not enjoy.

But I finally stumbled onto a fantasy series to rival even the almighty Harry Potter series: The KingKiller Chronicles. Once again free link.

I got through both of these audiobooks (roughly 70 hours) in 2-3 weeks. Maybe less actually. They’re both amazing, however the problem is now I have to wait for book 3 to come out (which doesn’t even have a release date).

In between fiction I also listen to some Japanese podcasts, which are still not good enough for anything decent to listen to in complete Japanese sadly.