Audiobooks vs bookbooks

I've written on this subject in the past. Having a long commute by car, I've become an enormous fan of audiobooks, but that's not as simple as it sounds. The first question is, what books make sense as audiobooks, and which would you prefer to read as books? One touchpoint is when a book is read by someone who is really good at it. Audiobooks are a matter of performance as well as content, and a good performer adds a whole dimension to the book experience that is not there in one's own reading the page. Recently I acquired an old reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I wanted to throw it, and the reader, out the window. The performance gave new meaning to the words saccharine and ponderous, simultaneously. Meanwhile, Audible has just put out a performance of the book by Anne Hathaway. That one I'll try. If she can't do it, no one can.

Jenni Landman talks about the whole business of book in the Chicago Tribune, reading versus listening, in a reasoned fashion. And she interviews Audible founder/CEO Don Katz, who has his own worthy two cents to throw in. One problem with audiobooks that is acknowledged is that, presently, when you listen to an audiobook, you're sort of stuck on a conveyor belt. You keep going forward. And sometimes that's now exactly what you want:

If I read a book after listening to it, it's because I haven't gotten my fill of the language. I want to spend more time running the prose across my tongue, reveling in the writer's grace notes. This ability to savor is missing from the recorded books experience. Mp3 players don't accommodate thoughtful pauses. Scroll back to a review a passage, and you are suddenly three chapters off and now unable to find your place.

I hate losing my place, because it can drive you crazy trying to find it again. I hate being driven crazy while I'm driving!

If you like audiobooks, or wonder about them, read Audiobooks: Are they really the same as reading?