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Neil Gaiman on audiobooks
from this morning's NPR morning show
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769925&ps=cprs
At a little over seven minutes, there is only so much discussion that can happen in a segment, but Gaiman makes some nice points, such as reading on audio is not a new thing and that some critics's definitions of reading composed explicitly to rule out audiobooks as a legitimate form of reading are not always very robust.
I myself would often prefer the text version of a book because I find listening to someone else's voice reading to me changes the experience, but I will listen to books read by particular readers--Neil Gaiman for one, Doug Bradley for another--and I also love audiobooks that play with the form, either intentionally or accidnetally. The first audiobook I fell in love with was, okay, Tim Curry reading Anne Rice's _Cry to Heaven_, a magnificent audio recording with bits of Italian opera included. But there was also Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_, because I thought having my computer read me a book about a book which read itself aloud to a little girl was the stuff of pure fantasy. Another great audiobook: _Soon I Will Be Invincible_, which alternates chapters between a comics-style supervillain and a new female superhero, and the voice actors were so incredible that I can't even imagine the print book being better.
Do other people have audiobooks with which they have fallen in love?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769925&ps=cprs
At a little over seven minutes, there is only so much discussion that can happen in a segment, but Gaiman makes some nice points, such as reading on audio is not a new thing and that some critics's definitions of reading composed explicitly to rule out audiobooks as a legitimate form of reading are not always very robust.
I myself would often prefer the text version of a book because I find listening to someone else's voice reading to me changes the experience, but I will listen to books read by particular readers--Neil Gaiman for one, Doug Bradley for another--and I also love audiobooks that play with the form, either intentionally or accidnetally. The first audiobook I fell in love with was, okay, Tim Curry reading Anne Rice's _Cry to Heaven_, a magnificent audio recording with bits of Italian opera included. But there was also Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_, because I thought having my computer read me a book about a book which read itself aloud to a little girl was the stuff of pure fantasy. Another great audiobook: _Soon I Will Be Invincible_, which alternates chapters between a comics-style supervillain and a new female superhero, and the voice actors were so incredible that I can't even imagine the print book being better.
Do other people have audiobooks with which they have fallen in love?
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The most fabulous example was John LeCarré's The Mission Song. The central character, abandoned by both his Irish father and Congolese mother, falls under the influence of a Brit spy. He knows several African and several European languages, becomes an interpreter, and of course learns about all sorts of nasty plots.
The narrator, David Oyelowo, beautifully handles six languages and different registers without ever falling into "acting out" the prose.
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I woke up this morning and the average temperature outdoors seems to have dropped 15-20 degrees overnight, so it was actually freezing this morning. This means today is a free fibro day, and watching movies on my laptop seems like the thing to do. I finished most of my holiday shopping online yesterday, and did laundry, and finished a book I am reviewing, so I feel today is a mental health day.