Audio Book Group: The Machine Stops

Thanks again for these links. I have listened to the BBC Radio adaptation but would like to read the book before I comment further. I'm not keen on the voices in either of those recordings so shall pass on those.

Amazon are winging the book (£2.70) to me as we speak so I'll read it over the weekend and be back with some thoughts next week.

I read this book as a teenager and never forgotten it. So relevant for this age of the Internet.

joannapiano

I read this book as a teenager and never forgotten it. So relevant for this age of the Internet.

How did it seem when you read it as a teenager please?

Since then your experience of life has increased and depending how long ago you were a teenager (and I am not asking!) the technology around us has changed enormously or even more!

Did it seem relevant back then to how things were back then?

I may get the book, I like E.M Forster. Thanks EP

Am enjoying the reading of the R.C. Sherriff book on radio 4 this week .....wish his books were still available.

They are lemongrove My county library has a good selection including A Fortnight in September. You can buy it via Amazon too.

Thanks Silverbridge ?

My copy of The Machine Stops has arrived. It's a mini Penguin paperback and contains not just the title story but a second one called The Celestial Omnibus so two for the price of £2.70.

The Machine Stops is only 56 pages long so a short read. Back next week with some thoughts and really just bumping this thread so others might see it and join in.

Thank you Silverbridge, I am going to read it too, as I haven’t done so before.

So it's not purely an audio Book Group, as the title suggests?
Perhaps this might put people off exploring further?

Well, I do have the audio book already (the Audible one).
I was introduced to the story via a radio 4 play in 2001, which Silverbridge kindly linked to on the first thread about this.
Personally, I don’t think that it matters.

I read it when I was about 15. It really engaged me with possibilities that I hadn’t really thought about before.
Quite a few ScFi dramas seem to have taken the concept and elaborated on it.
A good read, as it’s stuck with me all these years.

ixion

So it's not purely an audio Book Group, as the title suggests?
Perhaps this might put people off exploring further?

ixion

This is really just a try out. The book title came up in another thread which was initially about something else and - as threads do - the conversation digressed.

Someone, FannyCornforth, I think, mentioned having heard a drama adaptation some twenty years ago and I found it was currently available to listen to on Radio4Extra.

EP found some audio readings. That's how it came about as an audio book group.

But listening to the play or short story isn't the only way especially for those with impaired hearing or those who simply prefer words on a page.

In the spirit of inclusivity, it doesn't matter whether one listens or reads so long as it produces an interesting discussion.

I hope you decide to join in.

ixion

So it's not purely an audio Book Group, as the title suggests?
Perhaps this might put people off exploring further?

Well that was the intention as distinct from another book group for a different book that was to be started by someone else.

So I suppose that it is better perhaps to think of it as a book group where a necessary feature is that a free to listen recording is available on YouTube or otherwise, but that that does not in any way impede anyone obtaining and reading a hardcopy version, yet that the discussion is such that people using only the audiobook version are not out of the loop in some way.

Did anyone else do this in their GCE as part of a book of short stories that also contained ‘The Destructors’ ,’The Secret Sharer’, ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ and ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’?

ElderlyPerson
I think that you would agree that it would be great if we discuss the book in all it’s forms.
This thread seems to be gaining traction; it would be a shame to stop the momentum.
I know that you like the more ‘organic’ threads

Brilliant thread. I love audio books as I don’t sleep well and they are good company in the hours of darkness (as long as they are good). I’m lucky to have my library service supplying them foc, but as they’re becoming more popular they are less available. Some have a waiting list well into 2022.
I do listen to Sounds (BBC) but sometimes struggle to find things there. Therefore will look forward to recommendations!

I remember we had a book of short stories for O-level, of which one was The Machine Stops - made a lasting impression on me.

FannyCornforth wrote

> I know that you like the more ‘organic’ threads

What does that mean? I have no idea what you mean by that!

Are you meaning what I would call "free-flowing and not bothered if it goes off-topic"?

Yes! That’s exactly what I meant.
I meant ‘organic’ as in growing. Sorry, EP, I should have been more clear.

Book Group is a great idea. But are some Grans going to be discussing the book and characters before others have competed the story?

Completed the story!

Hi Marilla, I hope that you enjoyed it!
Shall we wait a few days until we discuss it?
Silverbridge suggested next week, so shall we say discussion starts Monday 20th September?

(also, neither ElderlyPerson or I are Grans! )

Just in case anyone might think that Silverbridge or I are high jacking ElderlyPerson’s thread; we did discuss it amongst ourselves on the thread mentioned previously, and it was decided that we’d ‘share’ the thread.

PS Marilla, did you listen to it or read it?