My knitting is coming along nicely, but I’m too lazy to take a picture since there’s nothing really interesting to see. Rose/Soleil is up to her armpits, and another hat is halfway done. I’m hankering to cast on some socks, but that will wait a few more days.
What’s really on my mind is reading. The last few days I’ve been “reading” the last of the Harry Potter books. Don’t worry — no spoilers here! I was able to continue with the UK audio version with Stephen Fry. Sheer pleasure.
As I struggled with having little to say this week (it’s my mood, really) I read a post on a yahoo audible group that shared a link to a NY Times article called Your Cheatin’ Listenin’ Ways. (I was able to read the article a couple times, then was asked to register. Hope you can see it with this link.)
I was surprised at how guilty audiobook listeners felt about not physically reading books. It’s no wonder with attitudes like this art teacher’s, who was quoted in the article regarding what she told someone in her book group:
. . . listening to a book was a copout,” Ms. Altman said. “I’m not like a hardcore book group person — a lot of times I don’t even finish the book. But my point was that she is a librarian and I thought it was pretty ridiculous. I’m a painter and it would be like me painting by numbers.
Here’s my reply to the post on the yahoo audible group:
As a semi-retired English teacher, I have felt small pangs of guilt about listening vs. reading, but the guilt of not reading at all because of time constraints overpowered the guilt of audiobooks. My ongoing argument has always been that I already read well and don’t really need to practice anymore. I am reading for pleasure. After many years of reading to teach, this is a delightful change. I also am coming away from my “reading” experiences with new ideas, which is the best part for me.
I do think that the way the narrator reads the text can influence my perceptions of the story. Small shifts in tone and cadence might give me a different sense of the story than I would have taken away from reading. So I guess some of the imagination and creativity is diminished with an audiobook.
My final answer to any of these concerns is always: At least I’m reading again!
I guess you could even say I’ve gone into my second childhood. I love having someone else read me a story. I certainly feel that I’ve earned it after reading aloud to my own children for hours a day (literally hours — we were very fortunate to have the time) and then reading aloud to school children when mine had settled into reading their own books.
Where do you stand on audiobooks? I don’t suppose I can really expect honest answers after already giving my opinion on it. Feel free to say what you feel, though. Should I turn on the application that reads the computer out loud for me to read your answers? Ha! (That’s meant to be a lighthearted joke. Please do feel free to express your feelings on the topic, even if they differ from mine.)
Happy reading (and listening.) Next week there will be knitting — and more reading. I’ll skip my AudioBook Blurb this week, since the subject has rather taken up the whole post. Next week I’ll review The Thirteenth Tale.
Audio books give you a different experience of the book. If the reader is good, the experience can be at least as good, if not better, than reading the paper-and-glue book. I know I would not have read every word, for example, of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. By listening, I heard every word, every sentence – and got a very strong sense of the author himself, even though he did not read the book. I knew that a man had researched and lived this book. It was, in this case, more immediate.
I’m listening to The Age of Innocence now. I’ve read the book several times, and I’ve seen the movie. Listening to the dialogue read by one excellent actress is giving me a new appreciation for Wharton’s dialogue (not always the most graceful!) and for the descriptions of the lavish interiors.
Since I am a librarian, I have very strong feelings about reading. I wonder if an anti-audio person would say that blind people who listen to audio books are not reading?I doubt it. The technology isn’t the issue – it’s the content, not the carrier.
Comment by melanie — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
Funny – I would never have thought that one medium was superior to the other. I tend to avoid audio-books as I generally find it much easier to concentrate on the written word rather than the spoken word (can anyone say “visual learner”?!) I do love listening to the radio, but often tune in and out – hmmm… maybe I need to get me some audio-books and start paying attention!
Comment by Anne — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
WOW! I love audio books and I just happen to be a English teacher AND an art teacher!! That comment is typical of an art teacher. I can’t explain it, but they tend to put on airs about their abilities.
I don’t even mind if my students listen to audio books and will often play them in my classroom. Some students listen to audio books instead of reading the book. These are usually my advanced students that do. I would rather them do that then not read at all.
Also, listening to an audio isn’t really cheating. One still has to imagine the scene. And this is what makes reading so much different from film. Also. listening is a skill that is far underrated!! People need to practice it just as much.
(Thanks for letting me get on my soap box)
Comment by Jenni — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Good topic! I always feel a little guilty when listening to a book instead of reading it, but I think it’s my own little hang-up. The comment above about whether blind people are really “reading” if they’re listening to a book puts in very clear perspective. Yes, listening to a book is really reading.
Comment by Lorette — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
I saw the link to that article on the Audible group, but didn’t follow it. Now I’m glad I didn’t. I think it’s ridiculous to categorize listening to a book as “cheating.” It strikes me as a bit Luddite to claim that the only real way to read is via the printed page. While I do agree that the narrator does contribute quite a bit to my perception of a book, so does my mood, the storyline, and the time of day. Reading from the printed page is never the same book to book, and listening is no different. Thanks to Audible, I can enjoy my books anywhere, allowing me to read many more books a year than I normally would. I also read books on my Palm (is that “cheating,” as well?( And I still buy lots and lots of “dead tree” versions, too. To me, the more access there is to books, the better.
Comment by Jane — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
I love audiobooks! I think they are a great way to fit reading in to life. Reading is so hard to fit it to my day. My children and I listen to audiobooks all the time in the car. We listen to great books that they would not be able to read themselves. We listen to lots of classics. I know that we are all learning and stretching ourselves by “reading these books”. My children are using their imagination, learning sentence structure, strengthening their vocabulary, and being exposed to complex plot structure. They also are build up their listening comprehension and active listening skills. I cannot see how this is cheating.
Comment by Tamara — Friday, August 3, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
There was a time when the average Joe or Jane didn’t have books, and most stories were shared as “audiobooks.”
It seems to me that the story is what’s critical, not the reading or hearing of it. They both use different skills, and it’s good to exercise both.
Comment by lorinda — Saturday, August 4, 2007 @ 8:40 am
I love to read, but I can’t read when I’m driving. There are people who do this, but I think they’re irresponsible and likely to cause an accident. Same thing when I’m knitting: I could probably try, but accidents are likely to happen. Audio books are great, I love them. They’re not exactly the same as reading a book, but they have their own special function, which they are perfectly suited for. Nothing ‘cheaty’ about it.
Comment by Batty — Saturday, August 4, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
I was going to make Lorinda’s point – back in the day, books were scarce and one would read aloud to a whole group. There was probably a lot of backlash when someone wandered off, alone and selfish, to read on their own.
People are funny. It’s true, I’ve considered it cheating myself, but that’s just silly. A book is a book. What, reading a play is wrong? You have to hear/see it performed?
Comment by Carrie K — Saturday, August 4, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
What about when most of the stories were passed dowm from generation to generation via oral histories? No scribes to write them down? I’m channeling Lorinda and Carrie K. Ok, speeding up to now. If I’m in the car, I can pay attention to the audiobook. At home, forget it. I simply cannot do it. I wish I could, but I cannot knit and listen without messing up my knitting or losing the thread of the story, and it really frosts me (insert an expletive there)! But I see no problem with it, and feel snarky to those who do. So there
!
Comment by pixie girl — Saturday, August 4, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
I love listening to audio books while knitting and consider it a much better use of my attention than TV.
It never occured to me to feel guilty. And, now that I think about it, I consider the whole idea of audio books as cheating to be silly.
Comment by Marguerite — Sunday, August 5, 2007 @ 8:54 am
I love both. I enjoy reading books the good old fashioned way when I am in a just sitting in a quiet area. But Kenny and I also listen to a lot of audio books on the way to school, one the trip back and forth between Washington and California and on our Ipods while boating.
Comment by Kathleen — Sunday, August 5, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
Alas, I cannot use audiobooks at all. : )
Comment by limedragon :-: Harriet — Monday, August 6, 2007 @ 4:52 am
I read much more than I listen, but there are a few things that I love listening to, such as the Harry Potter books as read by Jim Dale. I haven’t “read” any of the Harry Potters! For me, there’s a place for both experiences. I can’t read while I drive – and audiobooks have proven to be the best way for me to stay alert while driving long distances.
Comment by Chris — Tuesday, August 7, 2007 @ 6:32 am
Coming at this a bit differently, if it weren’t for audio books, I doubt I’d be “reading” much at all. I still love the feel of a book in my hands – adore the pleasure that reading (mostly technical stuff, for work, now) gives me. BUT. As a person with a visual impairment, I have serious limitations in the amount of actual reading I can do. As such, audio books allow me to enjoy fiction again while I reserve my limited visual stamina for “reading for necessity” (i.e. my paycheck!).
I had essentially given up all “reading for enjoyment.” And I felt guilty about the decision to use audio books (because it wasn’t “reading”), until a friend with visual disabilities pointed out that I work for an agency that supports and encourages the use of assistive devices for those individuals with disabilities, so what on earth was the difference with making my own choice to use a tape recorder (an assistive device) to be able “read?”
I think it’s terribly elitist of people to say you’re not “reading” if you’re listening to books on tape. Storytelling, oral history, etc., are huge components of our tradition (as mentioned in comments above, so I won’t belabour the point!).
Glad I finally “got it.”
Hope others will, too!
Comment by Knitnana — Tuesday, August 7, 2007 @ 6:39 am
I concur with your editorial! Although I LOVE the feel of a book in my hand, the reality hits that I will get MORE books read by listening instead of sitting and reading! It takes me much longer to sit and read a book. And then….there is the KNITTING you can accomplis if you listen to an audiobook!
Comment by Rebecca — Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 8:34 am