I Listen to Books

Sometimes I get funny looks from people. Not necessarily bad looks. They are more like split-second flashes of surprise or confusion. Sometimes I get them when I shop at Lowes and the employers act as if they’d never seen a teenage girl buying dirt before. Sometimes it’s when I say things like, “there’s a ‘possum in the barn” or “I almost hit a turkey on the way to school.”

There have been a few occasions when I have gotten those looks after saying a sentence similar to, “I was listening to this book the other day…” And there it is--the look. The look that says, “Don’t you mean ‘read’?” And I have to explain that I really did mean listen, as in an audio book. And then I may hear things like, “That’s cheating!” or “That’s not the same as reading.”

I started “listening to books” when I was old enough to go on road trips with my family. On a twelve-hour drive to Florida, before DVD fixtures were put into every mini van, audio books were the best way to make the time pass other than my parents’ famous hand-puppet theater.
 

The first book I listened to on my own was Harry Potter read by Jim Dale, and that is still the best series of audio tapes I have ever listened to. Jim Dale’s voices are perfect (particularly Hagrid--he does a good Hagrid). I would make excuses to stay in my room just so I could listen to it longer, even if it meant organizing my closet. Of course, that was until I got an IPod with OverDrive Media, an app that allows you to download books from the library. I can now download books and listen to them while I’m driving or gardening or whatever.

There are pros and cons to audio tapes. The downs are that you don’t get to experience the classic feel and smell and mind-consuming bliss of reading the pages of a book. That, and sometimes the reader’s voice is so obnoxious or dull that you can’t stand them past the first chapter. However, there are several pros as well. First, I would never consider it “cheating” to listen to a book. For a child learning to read, yes. That would be cheating. But I know how to read. I can pay attention to the language, story, metaphors, and other literary devices and themes of a book as much with my ears as with my eyes.

Second, I am a slow reader. I recently listened to Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. As a five-part book with quite a few chapters about politics, history, and philosophy, (not to mention hundreds of confusing French words to struggle through), I would never have been able to read this book in the time I did without listening to it. Plus, I got to hear the French words pronounced and go around thinking in an accent for a month. Lastly, listening to books allows me to be productive with my hands while simultaneously developing my mind through literature. Sometimes, being lazy and reading all day is fantastic. Other times, there is simply too much to do to spend hours on the couch. My favorite time to listen to a book is in the car.

Just think. You can be reading two books at a time this way—one on audio and one for rainy days. Simply download OverDrive Media onto your iPod or iPhone, find your local library, and you can try it for free. Sometimes there is more than one version of each book, so you can choose a reader that doesn’t sound like they have water in their throat or are teaching a math class. I typically choose long books that I wouldn't have time to read, and/or books with lots of difficult words, such as French or Russian names. I am currently listening to Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, and I'm going to have to make a list of the characters before too long or I'm going to start losing track of them! But at least I can hear them pronounced correctly!

So next time you go on a road trip or have long commute to drive every day, I encourage you to use that time to read--that is--listen to books.

 

Happy Reading (and listening)

-Emily