One of my reading challenges last year was to listen to 3 audiobooks. I listened to none.
But I think I’ve discovered a way to warm up to them: listening to them with the kids. I am reading a lot of King Arthur material with my six year old these days, and I’ve been a bit frustrated with the fact that I have several pronunciations rattling around in my head for the characters and place names. (Tintagel: where is the accent? hard g or soft g? I’ve heard it so many ways.) When I asked at the library for a pronunciation guide, we could not find one, but the very clever librarian suggested borrowing some books about Arthur on cd. Perfect solution, in so many ways.
My son was rapt. He listened to both cds of the story, read by Sean Bean of Boromir fame, in one sitting. And I sat too. And loved it.
Now, I will admit, I did fall asleep for some of it, but falling asleep to someone else reading is far preferable to falling asleep while I read aloud. Believe me, it is possible to read aloud and sleep at the same time. I’ve done it. I’ll just close my eyes, I’ll think, and read the rest of this sentence with my eyes shut, and the next thing I know I’m speaking gibberish while I sleep. I wake to the kids nudging me and basically saying WTF?
Nap included, then, this was a wonderful audiobook experience, and we now have several more on hold. And the avid boy is now on his second time through the story.
We love audio books too, and must try them more often. Nellie listens to the Roald Dahl collection on her own often, and we always bring it along on car trips. We’ve also got a Michael Morpurgo one called I Believe in Unicorns. Must branch out a bit and see what the local library has to offer.
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I became a fan after listening to the amazing Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter series. And a couple of us listened to The Secret Garden which proved most useful when it came to the Yorkshire accent; could never have imagined it in my head!
Yes! The Secret Garden is the perfect book for listening to. I had a hard time reading the dialect, and I grew up in Yorkshire! Must track down that Fry reading. I bet he’s done P.G. Wodehouse, too.
I think it’s pretty fantastic that Sean Bean narrated the above too. Really interesting post, so thanks for that; has really got me thinking. I’m currently listening to A Prayer for Owen Meaney and Owen’s voice is a big part of it and I think the narrator on my version is doing an amazing job.