Audio Books

I really enjoy listening to audio books. I drive to work for just over an hour each way each day and so listening to books while I am driving makes the time go much faster.

There are only a couple of drawbacks to listening to a book. The worst part is if you are really getting into a book, you can't flick to the back to see how it ends up...and sometimes you just really want to know.

Another drawback is if the book is abridged...really don't like abridged books. It's like having a sandwich without any filling!! I listened to A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley earlier this year and there was nothing at all to indicate that it was an abridgement anywhere on the box or the tapes. As I was listening to it, I kept on thinking that the story seemed really choppy but didn't really think much more of it. I finally got to the end of the tapes and then they mentioned that it was an abridged version. Whilst I enjoyed what I heard I suspect that I missed out on the whole experience and I will therefore probably have to read the book eventually anyway!

The narrator also makes a huge difference to the enjoyment experience. The narrator on Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and a couple of other books have been really, really excellent but there are others that really didn't do anything for me!!

The weird thing about listening to books is that I can do it in the car...but I really struggle when I try to listen to them at any other time. At the moment I am trying to listen to The Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes because I REALLY want to know what is going to happen and yet I can't really concentrate on it as I cruise the net, and yet if I was driving there would be no issue whatsoever. Weird!!