I’ve never listened to an audiobook before.
However, a friend of mine gave me one, because she said she abandoned it about 20 minutes in and never loaded it again. (Not a good sign.)
Like me, she was an audiobook virgin.
Yes, I know we shouldn’t share this stuff, but it’s not like she actually listened to the whole thing. Sorry, Ms Author. She just figured I might like it more than she did.
I thought maybe I should give it a shot, and load it up to my walkman to listen while I walk to work. How bad could it be? I obviously had my own ideas about what an audiobook would be like, and quite frankly, I didn’t think it would be something for me.
I just have too much imagination.
Hmmm…
First of all, I’m not into first person, and the book is in first person.
It’s read by a woman, which is okay, until you get to any male dialogue.
I’m sorry, but that just yanked me right out of it. I did keep listening (after all, it’s about a half hour walk), but I’m leery about the rest of this thing. Oddly, this was about 15 mins in. About the same distance my friend got. Makes me wonder if she hit male dialogue and it was all over for her.
Maybe it’s the person reading it. Maybe it’s the fact it’s first person. Maybe it’s the story.
I don’t know, but I do know that I’m not really enjoying this experience at all. I find it offputting to have a woman try to convey a male voice by lowering her voice.
As in, so offputting, I don’t want to carry on listening.
When I read, the voices in my head are obviously different. My mind will compensate.
I can’t do that when I’m listening.
I’ve not heard one of those "Acted" ones, they may be better for me. I do know I would much prefer to have 2 readers. A male and a female one. For obvious reasons.
I’m guessing I’d react the same way to a man reading female dialogue, as I am to a woman reading male dialogue.
Maybe this just isn’t for me.
Annoying, because I want to go walking (hey, some of us need to shed a pound or five) and having someone read a book to me would be a nice distraction and pass the time.
So are you into audio books?
Any recommendations?
Do you prefer one voice, or many?
Tags: Audio books, Audio vs Imagination
I’m with you on this. I wish I had a suggestion for the audio books. If I was blind I’d listen to them more (and learn the art of reading braille as quickly as possible.)
My father-in-law loves books on tape. Buys them by the dozen.
I’m big on ‘hearing’ the right voice too. I’ve listened to a couple with just a male reading, and after a half hour I was lost.
One reader didn’t bother to change his voice when he spoke the female lines. Which made it much harder to know who was talking in the book.
The book I heard on tape with male and female was better, for me anyway. But I still prefer to crack open a book. It just feels better.
I think until they make it a rule to have these books read by multiple readers, they will just fail with me.
I think this could be my problem. I have one audio book on my mp3 player and I just can’t seem to get into it. It very well could be that male pov read by a woman that’s holding me up.
Hey you! I used to listen to books all the time. I loved it. I get what you’re saying. I didn’t find that off-putting. I have to have somewhere to listen to it, though. And right now, I don’t get out much, so there’s seem no point in listening. No long car rides, I might reconsider for something to listen to on my NEW bike.
One reader I REALLY liked was Gary Littman. He read Nora Roberts’ Northern Lights [I think] I borrowed a book called Cuba Straits, just because he had read it!!! His voice. I just loved listening to it. 
OMG, I used though like 4 times in that one comment!!! Can you fix it??!?!? LOL kill me now!
I can fix anything!
Better?