Friday, November 03, 2006

What do you say ...

... to this, dear readers? Are you tiresome enough to say that listening to audiobooks is not reading?

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:53 PM

    I don't listen to them when I'm home -- I like the physical feel of a book and the visual experience of reading. But I love them for road trips. Our family has listened to some great books on long trips: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" was a particular favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:02 PM

    Well, they are not the same thing, so why call one the other. I "read" books. I "listen" to audiobooks. Audio books are performed by another. I am a spectator, so to speak, an audience of one. I am certain different things happen in my brain when I listen to someone read to me, as opposed to reading a text myself. And there is something to be said for the text itself. Why are there so many different typefaces if they don't matter?

    I think Stephen King gets a bug up his ass everytime he reads something about Harold Bloom, as if Bloom is the one keeping King's books from serious literary consideration (and not his own defective prose). I tend to agree with Bloom about the "inner ear" here, but that may only be because I concentrate much much better when reading an actual book. My mind tends to drift while listening to audiobooks. I rewind constantly. The physical book helps keep me focused.

    I also read better while smoking, so it might be my own personal neuroses at work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think you're right, Ed, about King regarding Bloom - though I have to say I sympathize a bit with him. I find Bloom rather a pompous ass myself. I confess that I am very low-tech when it comes to reading. I do it myself - but then I don't drive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love audio books. How else can one read while driving???

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:53 AM

    How can listening to an audiobook be reading? Is watching Masterpiece Theatre reading?

    Audiobooks are fine -- sometimes listening to one is preferable to reading the book.

    But it's a different animal.

    As for Stephen King... I think he's quite a fine writer. I enjoyed his latest a lot.

    ReplyDelete