The 2014 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread!

[Luffy]

I think the main reason I don't listen to audiobooks is that when I read, the voice and the way the images shape in my head are much better than anything that I could listen to or watch. E.g I was very disappointed by the style in David Suchet's Poirot. Add to the fact that I have yet to feel the NECESSITY to consume audiobooks...to cut a long story short, reading ranges from a pastime to a way of life. Castigating someone because he/she doesn't use audiobooks, is like berating a cinephile because he doesn't watch subtitled movies as opposed to dubbed ones. Where does it stop?

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Castigating someone because he/she doesn't use audiobooks, is like berating a cinephile because he doesn't watch subtitled movies as opposed to dubbed ones. Where does it stop?

I'd say it's more like chiding a cinephile who claims that subbed movies are crap even though he's never sat through one. It's not about like/dislike, but about judging the medium without experiencing it.

Or, as every parent eventually says to their child, "how do you know you don't like it if you haven't even tried it?"

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I'd say it's more like chiding a cinephile who claims that subbed movies are crap even though he's never sat through one. It's not about like/dislike, but about judging the medium without experiencing it.

Or, as every parent eventually says to their child, "how do you know you don't like it if you haven't even tried it?"

Exactly Rev. Bob. Exactly.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I'd say it's more like chiding a cinephile who claims that subbed movies are crap even though he's never sat through one. It's not about like/dislike, but about judging the medium without experiencing it.

Or, as every parent eventually says to their child, "how do you know you don't like it if you haven't even tried it?"

Well I have tried an audiobook. Only not for the entire length. I know what I like. That will never change. I see the world through my eyes and my brain. I reserve my experimentation for the content of a book, not the medium. That's who I am. I think I'll lose something and gain nothing if I try eating beef/pork/insects/ or enroll for a reiki course or give a chance to The Expendables 3 or use emoticons for all of my posts, or learn a new language via Pimsleur (shudder) or spend my weekends speed dating instead of reading at home, or watch the oscars or lift weights instead of going for a jog etc...
I have only one life, and I want to spend it being me.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I have only one life, and I want to spend it being me.

It's not like audiobooks will turn you in to someone else. You're exaggerating, plain and simple ^^

We all have our fancies and dislikes when it comes to books, and they do make up a part of our habits, our interests and so forth but they are not a vital part of our identity and character.


Anyway, that's enough from me. I went too much.

[Yapyap]

I admit that I'm not even going to try a full audiobook, ever. Sitting through 8-12-whatever hours of a medium I am not enjoying, cannot focus on and that is, basically, sheer torture is not my idea of fun.

I've tried half an hour. Can't do it. I also can't do listening to lectures, I never was able to listen to radio shows, even radio talk shows were hard. I even have a really hard time watching videos without subtitles - at some point I'll just tune out the audio and my mind will wander off to other things.

It's a focusing thing, and I cannot focus on audio. It irritates me and exhausts me. And to have any chance of getting anything out of it at all, I must focus, fully - I can't multitask at all while listening to anything. I've even given up on music since unless I sit and listen to it, without doing anything else, it might just as well be not there - I've got through entire CDs without having a clue as to which band it was, never mind which songs they were.

Audio, to me, is background noise, only there to help me daydream easier or let my thoughts and imagination wander off to completely different matters. If I'm working or doing chores or whatever, then I don't even hear it. I tune out completely.

It's a real pity, as there are audio-only things I'd love to experience (all the Doctor Who Big Finish things!), but I just can't.

Some people can listen, some cannot. It's as simple as that. I envy people who can, but please understand that audiobooks are not for everyone - and one doesn't have to sit through an entire book to know that.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Well I have tried an audiobook. Only not for the entire length. I know what I like. That will never change.

By and large, I'm with you; as I said before, audiobooks generally aren't my thing. That said, I do enjoy the occasional "read by the author" short story (especially Stephen King), and there are some things that you might call audiobooks and I might not. The Doctor Who audios by Big Finish, for example - that's the only way the content is available, and they're full-cast "radio plays" with sound effects, music, and everything else. I enjoy those, but are they audiobooks? Similarly, Leonard Nimoy and John DeLancie have done at least two "Spock vs. Q" recordings that are similar to that in concept, but they're more stripped-down; it's pretty much them and two microphones. (IIRC, they were recorded at conventions as live performances. Not positive about that, though.) Fun stuff, and it wouldn't work the same on paper.

See, I'm a firm believer that while many (even most) stories work well in multiple formats, some stories only really "click" in specific media. Some plot twists work best when the creator can control a camera or shade some descriptions; remember the Twilight Zone episode about the "ugly" woman who spent the whole episode in bandages before being revealed as a conventionally beautiful woman? Then there's "Once More, With Feeling," that delightful episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that's not only a musical, but one where everyone realizes it and reacts to the strange situation. It works on a variety of levels, but it only works as a musical. Take away the music, make it a collection of words on a page, and it would lose a critical component of itself.

On the other hand, Stephen King's It needs to be a printed book; the time-shifts in the climactic part of the story (where the 1958 and 1985 stories are woven together) only work correctly if you're reading written words. I suppose it might work as an audiobook, but only if you use either a single reader or a cast where the same voice actors handle the same parts in both times. I watched the miniseries, and while it faithfully rendered the scenes it depicted, it left out so much stuff...

But I digress. My point is, now that I've heard King read a couple of his stories, I hear his voice in my head when I read his nonfiction, including his prefaces and afterwords...even his tweets! I feel his inflections in the text, and that adds a dimension that I didn't have before. Yes, I still prefer to read his stuff...but I'm glad I listened to him enough to gain that benefit. I'm also glad I got to hear the "Spock vs. Q" material; reading a transcript just wouldn't have been the same. If I'd closed myself off to audio material, I would've missed out on some things I enjoyed very much.

Originally Posted by Luffy

I think I'll lose something and gain nothing if I try eating beef/pork/insects/ or enroll for a reiki course or give a chance to The Expendables 3 or use emoticons for all of my posts, or learn a new language via Pimsleur (shudder) or spend my weekends speed dating instead of reading at home, or watch the oscars or lift weights instead of going for a jog etc...
I have only one life, and I want to spend it being me.

I'm strongly tempted to refer to sewer rats and pumpkin pie here, but I get the feeling you wouldn't know the reference. Let's just say I had some meats-and-pineapple pizza for dinner, I look forward to eating the leftovers over the next couple of days, and I'll leave it at that.

Oh, and of course I'm sure someone will point out that you could listen to an audiobook while going for that jog...so obviously I don't need to say it, right?

[Catlady]

I understand the hesitation about audiobooks, I really do. I was firmly convinced that I could not listen to them because they would require attention and concentration that I couldn't give them. I started listening to them while walking, as a whim, because I was bored just walking. Now I'm completely hooked.

My suggestion for someone who's not dead-set against audiobooks is to try listening to a familiar favorite book. It doesn't matter so much if your attention wanders, as you know the story anyway. You get a narrator's interpretation that may be different from the way you've always felt about the book. Maybe you get some insights you never had, or a different understanding of a character. Maybe there's more humor or sadness than you've noticed before.

Of course, if you don't ever reread, never mind.

[CharredScribe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I understand the hesitation about audiobooks, I really do. I was firmly convinced that I could not listen to them because they would require attention and concentration that I couldn't give them. I started listening to them while walking, as a whim, because I was bored just walking. Now I'm completely hooked.

My suggestion for someone who's not dead-set against audiobooks is to try listening to a familiar favorite book. It doesn't matter so much if your attention wanders, as you know the story anyway. You get a narrator's interpretation that may be different from the way you've always felt about the book. Maybe you get some insights you never had, or a different understanding of a character. Maybe there's more humor or sadness than you've noticed before.

Of course, if you don't ever reread, never mind.

Quick question for Catlady (and others in this thread): I have considered listening to audiobooks before, but never have, and I like the idea of listening to them while walking to work or wherever. How do you listen to them? Are MP3 players a suitable medium or do you need a special e-reader with audio capabilities to really enjoy an audiobook? (When home, I can just listen via my laptop, I guess, but how about when I am out and about?).

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by CharredScribe

Quick question for Catlady (and others in this thread): I have considered listening to audiobooks before, but never have, and I like the idea of listening to them while walking to work or wherever. How do you listen to them? Are MP3 players a suitable medium or do you need a special e-reader with audio capabilities to really enjoy an audiobook? (When home, I can just listen via my laptop, I guess, but how about when I am out and about?).

I listen using iphone 4 and Audible app.

[Dazrin]

I have 2 problems with audio books. The first is that I have to pay too much attention to them in order to keep track, so I can't work while listening to them and work is the main place I would like to listen to them. The other is that if I do just stop to listen to them I don't have anything to do with my hands which leads back to the first point. I tend to always be doing something with my hands to that point that my MIL even puts trinkets like those interlocking metal puzzles at my spot at the table when we eat over there - I think it amuses her to watch my hands never stop while we are talking. I don't mind them too much in the car, I would rather listen to a baseball game, news or just music, but they don't work for me elsewhere. I don't walk alone often, so that is out too.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by CharredScribe

Quick question for Catlady (and others in this thread): I have considered listening to audiobooks before, but never have, and I like the idea of listening to them while walking to work or wherever. How do you listen to them? Are MP3 players a suitable medium or do you need a special e-reader with audio capabilities to really enjoy an audiobook? (When home, I can just listen via my laptop, I guess, but how about when I am out and about?).

I use a Sansa Clip Zip. It supports mp3, wma, and Audible files. Why don't you head over to MR's "Everything Audiobooks" forum that was set up recently and you can get plenty of advice and information.

[CharredScribe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I use a Sansa Clip Zip. It supports mp3, wma, and Audible files. Why don't you head over to MR's "Everything Audiobooks" forum that was set up recently and you can get plenty of advice and information.

Thanks for the information, and from Geralt too. Never even knew that section existed. I'll check it out now

[HomeInMyShoes]

Finished another one. Only nine more countries to go. My feet are tired.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I have 2 problems with audio books. The first is that I have to pay too much attention to them in order to keep track, so I can't work while listening to them and work is the main place I would like to listen to them. The other is that if I do just stop to listen to them I don't have anything to do with my hands which leads back to the first point. I tend to always be doing something with my hands to that point that my MIL even puts trinkets like those interlocking metal puzzles at my spot at the table when we eat over there - I think it amuses her to watch my hands never stop while we are talking. I don't mind them too much in the car, I would rather listen to a baseball game, news or just music, but they don't work for me elsewhere. I don't walk alone often, so that is out too.

It sounds like they wouldn't work for you. I only listen to them in the car, so if I had a shorter commute, I wouldn't listen to them at all either, even though I enjoy them.

I used to get bored or frustrated with my listening options, but since I started listening to books for half my drives, I don't get bored anymore. I'm listening to books I either wouldn't read anyway or that I've read already and want to listen to them for a different experience. It's a great option for me and I'm only sorry that it doesn't work for everyone.