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According to "science", Audiobooks are NOT cheating
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I don't like audiobooks personally, but I have no idea why they could possibly "not count" as reading a book. Does it really matter which sense takes in the words - - eyes or ears? In what way would it matter? The brain still has to process the input.In fact for me, audio would have to count more if we were evaluating on processing difficulty . . .
Anita wrote: "In fact for me, audio would have to count more if we were evaluating on processing difficulty . . . ..."They certainly take longer to "read"! I think when you are learning to read and developing comprehension skills, there is something to be said for reading in print.
However, when reading for enjoyment, who cares?! Plus, I have learned how to pronounce so many words through audiobooks. And while knowing words is important, saying them properly so you don't sound like an idiot is maybe even more important! lol
Nicole wrote: "And while knowing words is important, saying them properly so you don't sound like an idiot is maybe even more important! lol ..."LOL, indeed. One audiobook I listened to had a considerable amount of Spanish. The narrator mangled it so badly I had to look up the text to figure out what was said!
Well, if science says it counts, it must ;), although personally I think it counts on a language/literary basis, especially for people like my son who get far more from fiction they hear.
I had to work at listening to audio books. When I first started, I could maybe listen to 20 minutes at a time. Now I'm good for hours on a road trip. I still back up with some regularity when I drift off - and I do drift off. I prefer lighter reads for my audio books and/or first person narratives but some literary books seem meant to be read aloud. The Sense of an Ending comes readily to mind. I envision Barnes speaking the words as he wrote because his writing was so lyrical. I have no idea if that is true but it does seem that some authors hear their words more than others.
I love audiobooks but it didn't start out that way. At first I would only listen to the audios of books I had already read because my mind would wander. Now I love to listen to them when I walk or do housework. The narrators make a huge difference in how much you may enjoy your audiobook experience too.
After the encouragement of many members of this group I now adore audio books and listen to them every day. I agree that they take some getting used to, and with each new one that I start I need to concentrate for the first little while to become truly engaged. I can't wait for the kids to get out of the car each morning so that I can start listening, especially when I'm listening to something as fabulous as the one I have on the go at the moment, Life After Life. I listen while I'm driving, at the gym if I'm not doing a class, on walks, while doing housework, and even while shopping!
Susie wrote: "After the encouragement of many members of this group I now adore audio books and listen to them every day. I agree that they take some getting used to, and with each new one that I start I need to..."Life After Life is a wonderful audio (and book)!
I think it might be my favourite audiobook so far.
I appreciate the article, Joi. I don't distinguish much anymore in the experience of a book now that I am used to audiobooks except with challenging writers. You can't easily slow down with difficult passages like with reading but then ot often helps just to skate on like going over thin ice to the end of the sentence to get the meaning. Like with Faulkner and those sentences that go on for a page. But unless you punch stop, you do miss those chances to pause for the reverberations of significance and emotion.The experience of listening as emulating reading does change when the production value is poor (like the fake Churchill accent in bio I recently read or with rote reading without enough inflection). It also changes when the production values are too high. Having different readers to get the voices just right or the addition of sound effects in a BBC production I experienced in one audiobook soon begins to approximate a play. And that is a different medium. I did have a hard time reading Shakespeare, and that makes sense given he meant it to be rendered with actors. For writing meant to be read the active work of conjuring the voices and sounds shouldn't be taken away in the audio version in my opinion.
Thank you very much for this article. I personally don't count audiobooks as towards my yearly goal because I don't absorb much when I listen vs. read. But, after having the discussion on my blog a couple of months ago, I realize that audiobooks should count for those that want to count it. :)
Nicole R wrote: "I have learned how to pronounce so many words through audiobooks. ..."I totally agree! If I'm reading a book written by a non-English speaker and translated - with many foreign words or names - I love audio books. I love the Outlander audios for the Gaelic!
I have been listening to audio books since they were only available on cassette tapes and I was traveling 2 hrs each way once a week while working on my MLIS. I found then, as now (but much worse then) that the narrator makes all the difference. When evaluating books, one considers the writing but when evaluating an audio - the writing has to be considered along with the narration! A poor narrator can ruin an excellently written book. Many times too, an author cannot read their own books.
I've only had one poor narrator experience, and it totally killed the experience. Conversely, I doubt I would have loved The Goldfinch as much if I had read the print copy rather than listening to the fabulous David Pittu. I think I might change my rating to five after having a few months to digest. I'm going to listen to Anna Karenina read by Maggie Gyllenhaal next. I'm very excited!
Ohh read by Maggie Gyllenhall sounds delightful! I am getting ready to start Anna K myself but I decided on borrowing an ebook.
Nearly 36 hours worth of Maggie Gyllenhaal too! Let's compare notes when we're done.
Poor narrators definitely ruin the experience. If I get past the first "section" (on overdrive one part or one CD) and still can't stand the narration, I'll abandon. I feel like authors reading their own books are either REALLY GOOD or REALLY BAD. I listened to Eat, Pray, Love and it was narrated by Elizabeth Gilbert, and it made her sound SO SMUG and braggy about her trip and experiences. I would think maybe if I read it I would have given her some more lee-way, but the audio just proved she was just as entitled about it as her words led her to be.
On the flip side, I just listened to A Tale for the Time Being, narrated by the author, which I feel enhanced the experience. The questions of readership versus authorship and characters melding with authors really drove the whole theme home and made it "real".
Joi wrote: "Poor narrators definitely ruin the experience. If I get past the first "section" (on overdrive one part or one CD) and still can't stand the narration, I'll abandon. I feel like authors reading t..."
Fascinating about Elizabeth Gilbert as a narrator. I read Eat, Pray, Love and enjoyed it overall (though I do know what you mean about the tone). But then, I saw Gilbert speak at a lecture series I subscribe to, and she was AMAZING in person. I loved her. Funny. Self deprecating. Fabulous. So it is so surprising that her reading would be so . . .smug . . .
This all makes a lot of sense. Children who are read to when little do much better in reading, etc, usually, plus develop better vocabularies due to those used in books. I even read an account by a fellow homeschooling mother (back when I homeschooled) about reading aloud to her two boys. I don't recall what classic they were reading, but they missed a few days and lost their page. One boy would sit beside her and listen, the other would play and seemingly not listen. But it was the boy who played who remembered exactly where they were; he just needed to move while listening.Kids that listen to audiobooks also get benefits, but I don't recall if it's equal or not.
A great book on reading aloud and its benefits is The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. He encourages parents to be reading something aloud to their kids even as teens (as in articles), but my kids nixed that! Nevertheless, I spent countless hours reading books out loud, some series several times (once for each child).
I'm sure there are plenty of readers here with kids who did the same!!!!
Joi wrote: "I feel like authors reading their own books are either REALLY GOOD or REALLY BAD...."Ugh, I am currently listening to Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things and it is narrated by the author Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess) and it is KILLING ME.
The book has a strong focus on her mental illnesses but she puts them in the context of funny stories. I actually like the book itself much better than I thought it would but her narration stresses me out.
She sounds extremely manic. Which is probably how she feels in most of these situations. And, would probably be entertaining if I just listened to one story like that.
But the WHOLE book is told this way and it literally causes me anxiety.
On the flip side, I don't think the stories would be as entertaining if told by someone else and the manic telling does add a bit to the entertainment factor.
Maybe if her voice just weren't so high pitched?
Interesting Nicole! I read that, and loved it- so much that I read her second book also (which was not as good as the first). I have no idea what her voice sounds like, but you're making me glad I never tried the audio version. It sounds very stressful!!
Susie wrote: "Nearly 36 hours worth of Maggie Gyllenhaal too! Let's compare notes when we're done."Absolutely! I have always been terrified of these big epic Russian novels so I am definitely experiencing some anxiety about it.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (other topics)The Read-Aloud Handbook (other topics)
Eat, Pray, Love (other topics)
A Tale for the Time Being (other topics)
The Sense of an Ending (other topics)
According to science, or at least University of Virginia psychologist Daniel Willingham, the mental processes of the brain are just about equal in reading or listening to audiobooks for developed readers. He brings up some great points side points on the subject as well. Great fodder for both sides to debate.
Here is the New York Magazine post
Here is the psychologists original post