Lemming a book, harder to do when it's an audio book?

[Raymond J.]

After listening to the newest podcast and the discussion of "Hyperion" and people "Lemming" the book, it got me thinking about if people tend to "Lem" a book more if they are actually physically reading the book compared to listening to the audio.

I read "Hyperion" many years ago and I did "Lem" it. I really don't remember much about the book at all and am not sure if it was the poet story that made me "Lem" it or not.

I do know that there are books that I have listened to on Audio that I would of never read physically.

I got stuck on Robert Jordan's "Crossroad of Twilight" and the series use to be my all time favorite so I switched to Audio to get through that book and "Knife of Dreams" so I could be ready for the last books by Brandon Sanderson. And I have been able to physically read these with no problem and am excited about the last book, but with out Audible I don't know if I would of ever got to it.

Also there are books that I wanted to read but due to them not being in the genre that I like and being books that I felt the writing style of the author would be hard to read and quite honestly the size(this does not mean I do not read big books - believe me I do) I don't think I would of been able to physically read but I wanted to hear the story so I listened to them on Audible. These two books are Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and Hermann Hesse "Glass Bead Game". I love both of these books but if it was not for Audible I don't think I would of ever read these books and if I was reading them physically would of most likely "Lemmed" them

So I wonder if Veronica would of been more likely to "Lem" Hyperion during the poet story if she was actually physically reading the book instead of listening to it.

Like "Tom" said during the podcast he listens to these stories while he is driving and doing the groceries or laundry, vacuuming etc., while physically reading you can do nothing else but read and concentrate on what you are reading so if you hit an area that you find boring or hard to get through you are more apt to not want to spend your time muddling through but if you are listening you can passively get through it. What do you guys think?

Also on one side note I really like Tom & Veronica, but I was a little annoyed with Tom's statement about their listeners not liking more high level stories(don't remember his exact words, maybe intellectual or not straight forward). For the record I read "The Magicians" a while ago and really enjoyed it and did not have a problem with Quentin but did not like "Hyperion". I don't think it has anything to do with the intelligence of the reader but more to do with the preference of the reader. I know he probably didn't mean it that way but his comment did come across as a little condescending and did bother me.

[toria (vikz writes)]

I find it easier to lem audio books than print. I don't know why. Maybe it because I've invested more effort in reading the print.

[toria (vikz writes)]

Think tom might have meant 'literary' science fiction. I may be wrong though.

[Nimrod]

I fully agree with most of what you said... However I can't do audio books so not sure how much weight my comments can add to this discussion...

I read books and watch TV/Movies that are "High Concept" or at least smart enough to make me feel that I have to watch every episode to be up to date and that I have to think about what is being said in order to keep up... This is why I will seldom be working on anything else when a favorite show or movie I really want to watch is playing.

As a computer programer, I often use music to keep me focused on whatever task I am currently working on. So when I have environmental noise or people interrupting me, music is the haven that allows me to focus. Not because it drowns out the outside noise, but because it helps me listen to constant noise I don't have to focus on. Because of this, lyrics are often a problem for me, as repeated exposure to a song will let me catch a few words here and there, but unless I actually know the lyrics beforehand, I will make up my own lyrics for said song. This is a problem for me as another passion of mine is music, but that is another story...

When it comes to audio books, I can't follow along because of the same problem I have with music, tv shows or movies... Unless I am 100% focused on the audio book I will definitely miss most of it... This is why I will never use an audiobook.

That being said, while reading Hyperion I was constantly needing to force myself to keep reading. I was not at all interested in the world or characters... I had other things I rather had been doing with my time and In the end that is why I finally lemmed it... Had I been listening to the audiobook I am sure I would have lost interest and would have done those things I had rather been doing and it would have faded to the background of my mind and not actually pay attention... Getting the same effect as if I had it playing while i was asleep...

So if I didn't pay attention to the audiobook, but I did manage to reach the end... Does that count as not having lemmed it?

A note on Tom's comment... As the creator of the Hyperion "lemmed" thread, I felt his comments were directed at me, I actually wrote them an email expressing that, as you said, the "High Concept" had nothing to do with why I lemmed the book... We shall see how they respond to that, but in either case, I don't hold it against them.

[Nate]

I would think the audiobook version of lemming would be falling asleep while it plays.

[Rik]

I've only ever lemmed one audio book and that was Moby Dick. I've got a job where I listen while I work most of the time so an audio book has got to be excrutiatingly boring for me to lem it in favor of silence.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Like Nimrod, I don't really listen to audio books as I find it hard to keep track of listening and am likely to get distracted and miss things, plus I'm a slow reader and always hear the words in my head when I'm reading anyway, so with audio books I kind of feel I'm getting half a book.

That said, because audio books are passive, if I were struggling to read a book I do think an audio book would help; I've noticed that things that seem dull when you are reading can sound more interesting in audio form when you are passively listening, and if you are able to do something else, such a knitting, while listening, that will make it feel less like you are wasting time.

I'd never really thought about it before, but I might try it next time there is a book I really want to read but cannot get passed the writing style, even when the story is good. Oooh, it would work great for Lord of the Rings, which is a story my brain lemmed even while I continued to force my eyes across each page. It took my third reading to know what happening in that book without having black holes in the story from when my eyes were the only part of me reading; an audio book would have been so much better!

[Charles]

Raymond J. wrote: "Also on one side note I really like Tom & Veronica, but I was a little annoyed with Tom's statement about their listeners not liking more high level stories(don't remember his exact words, maybe intellectual or not straight forward). For the record I read "The Magicians" a while ago and really enjoyed it and did not have a problem with Quentin but did not like "Hyperion". I don't think it has anything to do with the intelligence of the reader but more to do with the preference of the reader. I know he probably didn't mean it that way but his comment did come across as a little condescending and did bother me."

I don't remember the words that Tom used but the impression I remember getting was that he was suggesting that "High Concept" books seemed to be lemmed more often. Not necessarily that they were lemmed because they were "High Concept". Could be that in trying to be high concept, the stories are generally less interesting to read?

[Leesa]

I don't think it's insulting to say that a group of readers might not like "high concept" "high minded" "literary" books. It's not the same as saying that same group is mentally deficient or shallow.

Speaking only for myself, when I find myself getting defensive at comments like that, I remember when a supervisor told me that sometimes when we get defensive it's because we recognize a level of truth to the statement. Maybe we see the element of truth but feel it is perhaps misrepresented or a bad inference.

I try (not always successfully) to challenge the truth of the statement within myself. In this instance, it's true that sometimes I don't like literary/high minded books. Just reading the descriptions of those literary darlings makes me want to gouge my eyes out. But then, sometimes one or two speak to me.

As far as audiobooks in particular goes, there's a few audiobooks I quit listening too. One wasn't engaging me (Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), one the sexism got in the way (Ringworld), and one, I couldn't stand the one-dimensional characters and fat prejudice (Whiskey Sour). Another, String Theory For Dummies (For Dummies, I need to come back to when I'm in the mood for non-fiction.

Wicked and Ringworld I think I might be able to read rather than listen to. I can just skim over the sexism that bothers me in Ringworld, for instance, and get to the parts of the story I'm interested in.

On the other hand, I was reading Perdido Street Station and it was making me way too morose and I was having difficulty wanting to continue. A friend suggested the audiobook might help since she had the same problem.

In the case of Hyperion, I'm going to get through the audiobook, and if I feel I need to when I get to Fall of Hyperion, I will get an ebook version to go over the parts I tuned out aka lemmed (all of the prologue, first part of the Priest's tale, and nearly all of the Soldier's tale).

All this to say, find the mix that works to get through a story that's giving you some difficulty staying with it, recognize that maybe *this* high concept story isn't engaging you and it isn't a slight against your intellect in acknowledging that. And also that, hey, we might be part of a group that has a contingent that isn't into high concept stories, so Tom's not wrong--he's going off feedback from the boards just like all of us, but also not saying OP is a dunce.