By Iola Goulton @iolagoulton
It's Iola here. Welcome to our ACW Tuesday Book Chat where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
This week we're looking at how we read ... or don't read.
Do You Listen to Audiobooks?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation in a comment on this post or in a comment on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Or, if you're feeling wordy (like me), write a blog post and link to it in the comments.
I LOVE audiobooks! Ive been enjoying Georgette Heyer audiobooks for a few years now as they make long drives, short drives, walks, cleaning etc so much more enjoyable. On a recent drive to and from Queensland my family listened to the audiobook of The Elusive Miss Ellison - and they (being the good children and husband they are) were requesting ‘another chapter!’ as we travelled on. And on. Listening to a book helps bring it alive in a fresh way - if the narrator has a great voice. (I’ve also heard an audiobook of a famous US book that I had to give up on as it was read in such a slow and painful-to-listen-to voice) Good narration is key!
ReplyDeleteI agree - a bad or boring narrator can ruin a great story!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that your husband and children listened to The Elusive Miss Ellison! It's a great story, but they are perhaps not your target reader ...
My 12 y.o. daughter would consider herself a target reader (she’s read all of them); my husband has no choice; which makes my 9 y.o. son’s enthusiasm to keep listening all the more impressive! (An extra good birthday present for him this year! 😉)
DeleteI rarely listen to audiobooks, partly because I don't drive long distances. You can read my longer answer here: http://www.iolagoulton.com/bookish-question-56/
ReplyDeleteI haven't ever listened to one either. I don't drive and when walking listen to music and tend to have it on but zone out. I would do that with an audio book too I think. I don't drive anywhere either. Even watching tv I tend to be doing other things so not fully focused on it.
ReplyDeleteI've never listened to one. I'm a slow reader at times, because I like to put the book down in my lap and ponder the implications of the paragraph I've just read, or even read it over again if I've let my mind wander. I have the feeling that with audiobooks it would be that much harder to do. The plot would gallop on too quickly for me.
ReplyDeleteI find it especially good with a book I’ve read already, as I notice details through listening that I miss otherwise, but again it comes down to the narrator :)
DeleteI listen to a lot of audiobooks. It's a way to 'read' when life is otherwise very busy. Driving or working on mundane things around the house offers the opportunity to listen.
ReplyDeleteSome books, I've discovered don't lend themselves a well to audio as others. A think about an audiobook is that it's difficult to skim through, as you might on occasion with another book. Plus, for me, nonfiction is a more difficult listen, especially when full concentration and attention to detail and making complex connections is necessary. With fiction, of that's not so much the case.
I have a few that I really enjoy and some that I wish I hadn't bought because the narrator's voice was terrible. My favourite is Sisterchicks Do The Hula because Robin Jones Gunn read it herself!
ReplyDeleteHi Beth I would like that one two. its the book that made me want to go to Hawaii. I would love to hear her read the Sisterchicks downunder.
DeleteLast year I discovered that I could borrow audio books from the library. I've listened to a few, but I prefer to read.
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