A few days ago, I bought an audiobook.
There was quite a bit of debate involved in the purchase. I agonized over whether or not it was worth the money ($26 for it and I didn't even have a book to show for it). I agonized over the breach of my principles (I think that if you're going to read a book, you should read it). Books were the real way to read a book and audiobooks were subpar. (I suppose I'm really rather a booksnob.)
To be rather blunt about it, I thought they were cheating. When audio books started to be more popular, I would hear people every so often say, "Yeah, I read (book)" but they had really only listened to it and had made no effort whatsoever. I, on the other hand, had taken the time and effort to read the book myself.
Plus, I enjoy actually having the books. Holding them. Feeling their heft. The texture and weight of the pages. The typography. Their smell. The binding. The books are part of the experience of reading. I like seeing the words on the page. Being able to re-read a passage that I found particularly interesting/touching/striking. Even enjoying the cover art - it's all part and parcel for me.
If you have an audiobook, you only get to look at a picture of the cover of the book and then just... listen. To someone else reading. Which, normally, drives me absolutely up the wall.
Background: I'm sure you all remember in school you had a reading or literature class and you had to read books in class, and lots of the time you'd have to read passages aloud in class. The teachers would choose a new person every few pages or so. And I just hated it. I hated having to hear other people stumble along, reading slowly, without using punctuation, mispronouncing words... it was headache inducing. Eventually I would ask to sit out in the hall to read the book on my own so that I wouldn't have to listen to everyone else stumble along.
So, wouldn't an audiobook be the same experience? If you read a book on your own, you can add your own inflection and emphasis to the words, which I also like.
One thing that I will admit would tempt me to try an audiobook with little complaining is the ability to hear names, places and accents said and used as they are in the book. For example, I read many books that are set in India and the Middle East. I do the best that I can with the names, places and odd bits of vernacular that are put in the books, but I am sure that I am most likely pronouncing them wrong and it would be very nice to hear them as they should be said. In addition, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is a series steeped in Scottish culture and language and I would love to hear the accents for everyone, plus to hear a vocalization for the expressive "mmphh" noise that is apparently so indicative of a Scot.
Oddly, my choice for the audiobook was a book that I had chosen not to buy to read. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory didn't seem all that interesting when it had come out. I love many of her other works, but this one didn't seem all too intriguing. However, I thought I should try something that I was semi-familiar with for my first audiobook, so I thought something by her would probably be a good choice. The preview that was in iTunes did a very good job in showing me that a reader can be expressive and not painfully slow - the preview was good enough to make me try it.
Tonight on my walk I listened to it - it took some getting used to, not being able to see words on the page and see the characters and scenes in my head. It's really quite another thing entirely to have someone tell me and see things in my head. I hadn't realized before that I focused so intently on my reading before and I only realized it now because I didn't have the book and the quiet that I usually have when I am reading. While I was reading listening, my mind did have a tendency to wander, since my eyes had nothing to focus on, but I did enjoy hearing the inflection that the reader gave to Margaret's words and thoughts. And even though it was "just" an English accent, it was nice to hear the accent that matched the place of the book.
After my one night with the audiobook, I would still rather have an actual book to hold and read rather than listen to it read to me. However, perhaps after listening to it some more, I'll appreciate it more. We'll see.
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