I had started to post this list of books for my friend Jeffy a few months back but got distracted and didn't get it done.
I have been audiobooking (mostly via Audible and Ipod) for a couple of years now. I always thought that since I'm such a reader I wouldn't get much out of listening to a book being read.
Instead I find that it's a different experience, and valuable in that I find myself
willing to audiobook books that I never get around to reading. Also I find that I
respond more emotionally to audiobooks than to reading the same book. I thus speculated that if I responded to an audiobook it would be likely that my Lovely Wife Kate would enjoy reading the book. And it has worked out that way.
I came across Catherine Asaro in going through Nebula winners. I started with her Primary Inversion and progressed through other "Skolian Empire" works The Radiant Seas, The Last Hawk, Ascendant Sun, and The Quantum Rose (which won the 2001 Nebula), all in audiobook form, and I enjoyed all of them.
I bought Kate these for Christmas (2007) and she's been devouring them. Success!
I also enjoyed audiobooking another Nebula winner, Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, and reading its sequel Darwin's Children. The two books are on Kate's stack to try next. I'm not sure she'll like them as much as she's liked Asaro, but I'm hopeful.
You've no doubt noticed that I use 'audiobook' as a verb. I just don't see another way to do it ... I "listened to" that book? That doesn't capture it!
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2 comments:
I enjoy audiobooks quite a bit. However, when I discuss having consumed books this way I just tell people that I 'read' them. While this is not literally true, it is much simpler than explaining that I actually listened to it, but I heard the whole thing so I had the same experience that they did.
I have also gotten some use out of audiobooks that I can get on CD from the library, which I rip to my PC with Audiobook Builder.
Do you ever use the iPod feature which speeds up the rate at which books are read to you? I like this for well recorded books that don't demand too much attention.
I haven't tried speeding up the rate ... maybe I'll do that for some future ones, though. I didn't know about this feature, so thanks.
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