Yesterday, we started listening to March, the Geraldine Brooks novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I got the audiobook from our library, and we are about two chapters in.
Already, I can see why the book is so lauded. The prose is dense and luscious, yet unflinching in it's handling of unsettling content like war, physical pain, racism and slavery. Plus, the narrator of our copy has the best, gravely voice!
I've had conversations with some people who say things like, "bah! Audiobooks are not real books..."and I'm never sure how to respond. I think they're just fine. In fact, I've had some fantastic audiobook experiences! It is how I gleaned tips from Stephen King's On Writing, and when we went to the icy coast of Lake Michigan last Christmas, it is how we finished up the Harry Potter series. In both cases, I had such fun reading, er, listening to those stories. Just because I'm not "looking" at the words doesn't mean I'm not ingesting them, absorbing their meaning and being potentially moved by them. Right?
Then, I heard a great segment on Talk of the Nation last Thursday about this very thing. What do you think? Are audiobooks a boon to reading enthusiasts or destroying the fabric of reading culture? Somewhere in between? Let's talk.
3 comments:
I love audiobooks - especially for fiction. For me, it allows me to really absorb myself in the story, and I don't find that there is much difference between the listening or the reading. Often, I go back and forth between the two - for Pillars of the Earth, I read/listened over the course of about 2 weeks, and loved the book!
I will say that I don't listen to non-fiction as well. Sometimes the pace is slow, and probably in most non-fiction I skim and move ahead in chapters when the authors point is already made :)
The real question is, what about reading e-books? reading on a Kindle, on your phone, iPad, etc.? Do any of that?
Thanks for posting that Talk of the Nation link - I'll try to check that out!
wah? Audiobooks not real books? THAT is crazy talk. it's just a book being read aloud - that's what parents and children do every day - is that not "real" reading? I love audiobooks. It's like slipping into a warm bath - the wonder and comfort of having a book read aloud, and as Jess said above, being able to really sink into it.
I love anything of David Sedaris' on audio, and I love memoirs on audio, such as "A Piece of Cake" and "The Glass Castle".
I totally agree with both you!
Jesse--that is awesome that you read "Pillars of the Earth"; my dad read it, but I think I'm too intimidated by how long it is...
Jess--it is hilarious that you mentioned David Sedaris--Jake and I just finished listening to "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" this weekend. So, so funny!
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