Post by Mikkay on Jun 25, 2012 19:00:54 GMT -8
How do you feel about audiobooks? Do you listen to them on a regular basis, or perhaps just on long car rides? Have any favorite audiobooks? Any favorite narrators? Do you ever read novels aloud, to someone or even just for yourself?
A few years ago, if someone had asked, "Do you listen to audiobooks?" I would have said, "Not so much. Not like I used to." Audiobooks seemed silly for a person who can read a whole lot faster than a narrator, especially a person in high school or college with a million other things to do and read and absorb.
But I grew up listening to Jim Dale's voice. I carried around my little Fisher Price tape player and the first four Harry Potter books on tape, until we finally bought the CDs and I loaded them onto my iPod. Once upon a time, only an ice pack and Jim Dale could cure a stomachache. Before that, audiobooks were what I remember about reading: Charlotte's Web narrated by the author, and Stuart Little, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--how heartbroken I was to discover the latter was an abridged version.
Then, on my way back from Flordia in January of 2011, I discovered two audiobooks I'd acquired from Audible with two free credits. I'd taken the credits and then deactivated my account, and promptly forgotten about the two books I'd downloaded: Graceling and Fire, both by Kristin Cashore.
Let's be honest. The Graceling audiobook is terrible. It's got cheesy music and too many voice actors and I spent the first hour of the thing laughing at the stupidity. But I didn't stop listening, and eventually, I was too caught up in the story to notice. It was only the second time I'd "read" the novel, and I loved every second even more than I had the first time.
And then I went onto Fire, and listening to that novel became one of the most profound and wonderful experiences of my life, especially after the fall semester I'd just experienced. I finished it on my birthday, and I laid in bed and cried out of the novel's sheer perfection and the wonder that allowed me to hear it in a completely new and illuminated way.
Now I'm hooked.
Of course, I'm still extremely wary of narrators and exceedingly picky. Nobody will ever be as good as Jim Dale--so imagine my excitement when I discovered he narrated The Night Circus! I've never actually read that novel, only listened to it. I attempted to listen to a few of Tamora Pierce's books, but I keep coming back to the old favorites because they're beautiful and brilliant and feel even more a part of my story, because I've experienced them in more than one form.
These days, I can read a 250+ page book every work shift. It's become such a comfort for me to slow down, to hear a story at someone else's pace, and to never miss a word. Even while listening to Ella Enchanted, which I've read a hundred times, I felt like I was reading it for the first time. It's teaching me patience. It's allowing me time to revel in the intricacies of the author, to enjoy the humor, to pick up on details I might have missed in my haste to devour the book the first or even tenth time around.
I enjoy it so much. Sometimes, it's the only thing that gets me up and out of bed, because I know I'll be able to listen to a book on my way to class or during lunch or on the bus on my way to work. I feel like I'm carrying a secret, a precious world that I can experience even as others move around me, even as I absorb their presence and watch them go about their lives. I smile and I wonder if others wonder why I'm smiling, and it makes me feel beautiful. It's always beautiful, to experience another world and another's set of precious, wonderful words.
