Hosted by Should Be Reading
I wrote about this a little while back on my blog, and nothing has really changed, so I hope my regular readers don't mind if I repost it (for those who missed my discussion). I'd also love to hear more opinions, so feel free to comment.
A is for Audio
I've always had a few audio book in my house, ever since my auntie bought me a few tapes of books I loved. Her intention, and mine, was to listen to them on holiday, when my eyes were simply too tired to read a book, or when I was sharing a room with someone who might not appreciate the light on. My only problem? For some readon they never got opened.
Its not that I didn't love the idea of audio, its just that it never really happened to be the right thing for me. Maybe it was the fact that I had to cart around a series of tapes when one book would do. Maybe it was that the person reading it might not do as good a job as the voice I had in my head. Or maybe it was that I couldn't check back a few pages easily.
A few months ago I decided to try again. I bought an audio CD- no problems of size or lack of indexing here- and popped it in my car player. I listened to it for several weeks whilst driving. I really enjoyed the voices, the tones and the sound effects. I felt connected with the characters. But I missed a lot of the plot. You see, its hard to concentrate on an audio book when you should be concentrating on driving. (I could have listened to it at home, but my main CD player is in a cluttered room at the moment, and its just not a nice place to be). I vowed to finish listening to it and then listen again to pick up what I'd missed.
And then it sat there. I decided I wanted to listen to some music for a change. I got it out and tried again, before returning to the music. The result? A half-listened to audio book and a person who only vaguely has an idea of what happened (me).
Is it worth trying again?
I'm not sure.
