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Reading vs Listening


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  • 2 months later...

I tried listening to 1 in the car once - big mistake, I couldn't concentrate on it as I was too busy watching the road. Conversation with my wife in the car I can handle - can't listen to someone telling a story though.

I only EVER do audio when I'm driving alone or else I'd spend all my time rewinding.

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I've been listening to audiobooks much more often recently, and I do listen to them in the car.  I don't find them in the least distracting, unlike listening to music, which I do think distracts and also tends to block out the ambient noise around the car.  I used to be only able to listen to books I'd already read in this way, as otherwise I didn't take it all in, but as I've listened more, it's become a habit to be able to take in far more of what I'm listening to, and I can listen to books I've not read and still get as much from the experience as I would reading off the page. 

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  • 5 years later...

This is a very interesting topic with some good points having been made with regards to audiobooks but, in all honesty, I really don’t know how I personally feel about whether I would count audiobooks as having been ‘read’ as such.

 

I watch a few booktubers over on YouTube and some of them listen to audiobooks whilst working (both at home and whilst in the office) and to me I just don’t understand how they can really absorb or concentrate on the audiobook whilst doing something like work – one of the Youtubers I watch is an accountant! To me there is no way they can be able to do both equally well so either the audiobook is just background noise and not something they are really taking in or concentrating on, or their work is not being done to the highest level.

 

I personally have never listened to an audiobook although I have been tempted a few times by the Harry Potter books as I think these would be amazing in audiobook format.

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I love listening to audiobooks in the car and if I'm driving back after doing an evening shift it definitely helps keep me alert. I also listen to them when I'm doing complicated knitting (with straightforward knitting I can read  and knit at the same time.)

 

I would agree though that listening and reading are two different experiences, and I can read /listen to a book that I've already listened to/read and find that it almost feels like it's a new story. Just in the way that a film of a book that follows the plot quite closely is similar but very much not the same.

Edited by France
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23 hours ago, France said:

I love listening to audiobooks in the car and if I'm driving back after doing an evening shift it definitely helps keep me alert. I also listen to them when I'm doing complicated knitting (with straightforward knitting I can read  and knit at the same time.)

.

 

I'm in awe that you can read and knit at the same time, France! I don't have to watch what I'm doing all the time with straight forward knitting, but I need to glance at it fairly regularly.  I imagine that would make reading difficult ... I'll have to give it a go. I read once about a girl who could knit socks and turn a heel whilst reading 😯

 

I've found my attention drifts too much while listening to audiobooks in the car. I end up missing big hunks of the story. I'm fine with music because I don't have to concentrate.

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On 9/11/2022 at 9:26 AM, Kudz said:

I personally have never listened to an audiobook although I have been tempted a few times by the Harry Potter books as I think these would be amazing in audiobook format.

I will have to check the one I had because honestly, it's awful. The narrator reads the dialogue in such a strangely drawn-out way, it sounds like the characters are whining all the time!

 

I definitely wouldn't be able to work while listening to an audiobook though. I think I could drive while listening, but I wouldn't really be paying full attention to it. When I read I picture what's happening in my head, and that might be dangerous while driving 😅

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3 hours ago, Hayley said:

I will have to check the one I had because honestly, it's awful. The narrator reads the dialogue in such a strangely drawn-out way, it sounds like the characters are whining all the time!

 

The narrator of a book makes all the difference in the world!

I recently started listening to The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain but don't think I even got as far as five minutes. The narrator, Alex Wyndham, has a strange upwards intonation at the end of every sentence.

Librivox is entirely free and it does have some good narrators but it also has many truly awful ones.

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Hayley and Kudz; whilst I am not a fan of the Harry Potter series in any way shape or  form, my neice has the whole collection narrated by Stephen Fry, which she swears are totally engrossing. She also has one of the U.S versions read by JIm Dale which may be the one you refer to, where he draws it out and uses a whiny approach to the whole thing?

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24 minutes ago, timebug said:

Hayley and Kudz; whilst I am not a fan of the Harry Potter series in any way shape or  form, my neice has the whole collection narrated by Stephen Fry, which she swears are totally engrossing. She also has one of the U.S versions read by JIm Dale which may be the one you refer to, where he draws it out and uses a whiny approach to the whole thing?

 

I'd listen to just about anything Stephen Fry narrated 😊

 

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29 minutes ago, timebug said:

She also has one of the U.S versions read by JIm Dale which may be the one you refer to, where he draws it out and uses a whiny approach to the whole thing?

That's the one! I chose it over the Stephen Fry version because Stephen Fry's was abridged. 

 

9 hours ago, poppy said:

The narrator of a book makes all the difference in the world!

Absolutely! It's impossible to get into a story if you're distracted by the narrator's voice. 

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On 9/20/2022 at 8:52 AM, timebug said:

Hayley and Kudz; whilst I am not a fan of the Harry Potter series in any way shape or form, my neice has the whole collection narrated by Stephen Fry, which she swears are totally engrossing.

 

I listened to a couple of the samples of the Stephen Fry versions a good few years ago, and they sounded amazing being narrated by him. He has the perfect voice for them. I didn’t know his versions are abridged though so can understand why Hayley went for the Jim Dale version.

 

I think the only reason I didn't buy them at the time - and I was tempted - was because they were super expensive at the time, and I really couldn't justify the price of them!

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I have listened to a few audio books over the years, plus some full cast dramatizations of books, and enjoyed both. If I am gardening, then it has to be a light hearted listen, as I have been known to stop what I am doing and listen intently otherwise. 

 

The one I will always recommend is Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children read wonderfully by the late Lyndham Gregory. It is an experience to be savoured. Having read and enjoyed the the book many years ago, I couldn't resist seeing what the unabridged audio would be like. Just fab. 

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On 9/21/2022 at 8:46 PM, Raven said:

There are unabridged versions read by Stephen Fry available, at least according to Amazon, but they are still super expensive!

 

This is good to know, It’s just a pity they’re still so expensive. You would have thought the price would have come down a bit by now. I wonder if they ever have a sale.

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