Audiobooks

[jenks]

Just been reading about the recent spike in audiobook usage in the last few years. I'm guessing it's kind of connected to how easy it is to listen to books while on the move, in the gym, in the car etc. I must admit that since lockdown i have become a convert and regularly listen to stuff while on the turbo trainer (however, i always have a physical copy of the book too as i like to go back and loo over certain passages)
I'm just wondering do people perceive them as reading or something else, i see there's serious disagreement online? And if you do listen to audiobooks do you play them at normal speed or x1.3 or something, and does that matter? Finally, any recommendations? I have listened to quite a few and it's really interesting the way that some writers really cannot read their own work and really should just pay an actor to do it properly.

 

[Murphy]

They vary a huge amount. After your Pogue Mahone recommendation was put to audio I had to listen and it reinforced its garrulousness and poignancy, 15 hours in a studio, even after spacing sessions out, is a lot. You’d think boredom would’ve crept in but not at all. Imagining if Goldengrove might get similar treatment

Others fail because the reader’s voice isn’t punching through or goes too far into performance. Keep music for the bike and audiobooks for the car on long hauls north

 

[Corpsey]

I am such an idiot that I own about 200 audiobooks on audible despite repeatedly failing to listen to any audiobooks.

My mind just keeps drifting, either off the book entirely or into thoughts prompted by the book.

For some reason conversational podcasts are easy for me, but I'm also not worrying that I'm missing anything important.

I really wish I could listen to them cos then I could kill two birds with one stone when walking/running.

My biggest successes with audiobooks have been reading along to them--the audiobook propels me along, the book keeps me focused. I probably couldn't have read "Ulysses" without audible and I definitely couldn't have read "Paradise Lost".

The best audiobooks I've heard/own are Stephen Pacey reading Martin Amis. They work really well as audiobooks (talking Money/London Fields/The Information) because they're basically extended comic routines.

 

[Benny Bunter]

My biggest successes with audiobooks have been reading along to them--the audiobook propels me along, the book keeps me focused. I probably couldn't have read "Ulysses" without audible and I definitely couldn't have read "Paradise Lost".

Why didn't you just read them out loud to yourself?

I've never listened to an audio book, unless you count that RTE radio drama of Ulysses which is brilliant, and I listened to each chapter after reading it before going on to the next chapter. That was a good technique.

 

[Corpsey]

 

[version]

I'm just wondering do people perceive them as reading or something else, i see there's serious disagreement online?

It's listening, not reading. I think you'd have to ignore the reality of the process to argue they're the same thing. It'd be like claiming reading sheet music's the same as hearing someone perform it. A markedly different mode of engagement. In this instance, having someone read it takes away a lot of the work you'd have to do in terms of pronunciation, rhythm, voice, pacing, and so on were you to read it yourself. There isn't the same room to stop and think, re-read, etc. either, unless you want to keep skipping the thing back, pausing and whatnot.

Agree with Corpsey re: concentration too. I take in more when reading something myself. It requires more of my attention, which is what I want if I'm trying to understand something.