Audiobooks

Now, I don't know about most people, but I love audiobooks.  Many books I can't stomach (like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer), I can actually stomach if I listen to them.  Other books (like Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen), I didn't truly learn to enjoy until I listened to them on audiobook.  More books, I find a deeper meaning to them when I listen to them on audiobook because it's a lot easier for me to visualize the novel when I listen to it rather than read it even though I'm not sure why...

I'll admit it; I'm an audiobook fiend.

If the reader is particularly good or if it's done in a unique way, I can listen to an audiobook for hours... when I'm at home and don't even need to listen to the book at all.  It's an interesting medium and in some ways, certain books just feel like they're meant to be read out loud to me.

For example, I listened to Sabriel by Garth Nix on audiobook.  The library had the book available, but I didn't bother to grab it, instead going straight to the audiobook section to see if they had it and they did.  I debated between hard-copy and audiobook for a good five minutes until my eyes fell on a picture on the back of the book of the reader...  It was TIM "sexy even when I'm old" FRACKING CURRY.  Then, it wasn't even a hard decision.  The Old Kingdom Trilogy is pretty good, but there's a problem with audiobooks read by Tim Curry.  I don't remember much of what happened because I spent most of my time lost in the timbre of his voice...

That's not good when you're trying to get into the story, is it?

Then again, the Demonata series by Darren Shan is much better in audiobook because the audiobooks take the scary parts and turn them up to eleven adding sound effects and everything.  I will never forget Bec for as long as I live because the audiobook chilled me to the bone.  The same goes for Slawter and all the rest.

I even like the Terry Pratchett audiobooks and would like to have a decent collection of them someday.  Wyrd Sisters is funnier in audiobook than it is when sitting down and reading it.  Thud! is just... I laughed so hard listening to it, I was in tears... and this was right after my Grandma Bonnie died.  I nearly wet myself at this one part, actually... had to turn the darn thing off.

If I ever get my books published, I think they would be nice read by someone young who was unknown... or Judy Dench or Maggie Smith... or someone completely out of left field like Alyson Hannigan.  I think they could pull it off.  I might even want the person who read the Twilight books to read it because she actually made the books listenable even if her voice got a little whiny at times, but I attribute that fully to the author and not the poor reader who had to read a book from the point of view of a whiny, self-involved teenager who didn't even understand great works of literature like Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice or Wuthering Heights properly.  I'd probably sound whiny if I had to read that girl's thoughts out loud.

But onto the topic at hand and not my hate for one stupid book...

Audiobooks are great and everyone should give them a chance.  I'm sure plenty of people do give them a chance.  They're brilliant.  They help people understand the story better.  Also, they translate the books into a medium not far from the original medium.  The written word and the spoken word still share the fact that they are words.  The presentation is simply changed and a majority of the time it's a good change that adds more depth and meaning to every word a person listens to.  After all, if things are said a certain way they can take on a whole new meaning than if they are given a different inflection or emphasis.

I love them and I hope you come to love them too.

Sweet Dreams!