Monday, March 19, 2018

Week 11 prompt

I use both ebooks and audiobooks on a near daily bases. Ebooks are nice for me when I read at night so I don’t have to use a light which bugs, my husband, less but I hate using them on kindle since it only gives you percentage and speed time and not page numbers. This makes it so much hard to judge how much of the book I have left and how long it is going to take me to finish the book. I like audiobooks for when I am driving to work or to see family, when I go for walks or mow the lawn, and for when I am just sitting on the couch and knitting. In the article “Reading With Your Ears” Kaite Mediatore talks about how “commuters with long drives or regular traffic snarls find cars the perfect place to catch up on reading and keep tempers in check” (318). I never thought about how books can help with keeping tempers down in these types of situations but it makes sense if you mind is on some other things it will help keep you calmer. Pacing can be affected in both audiobooks and ebook depending on the way they are recorded. When thinking about ebooks Katie Dunneback states that “pacing is also affected by how much text is visible on the screen, so the larger the text, the less there is to indicate how quickly the story is moving” (328). This is one of the things I like about ebooks is that I can change the font size I never thought about it affect the pacing of the book itself. Pacing can also be affected in audiobooks by the narrator who can read the story to slow or too fast and change what the pacing of the book should be (Mediatore, 319). I had one patron tell me that she loved listening to mystery books but determined she shouldn’t be listening to them in the car after she ran a stop sign because she was too into a book. Knowing what people are looking for in an audiobook is important there have been several books that I stopped listening to because of the narrator and instead went and read the print book and loved it. When listening to audiobooks I enjoy ones that make a full production out of them. They keep me better entertained, one that I still remember to this day is “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien which was the broadcast that was on the National Public Radio and later recorded. I just remember enjoy the fact that when they were at Bilbo Baggins house and started signing that there was singing in the background on the audiobook.  

Works Cited

Dunneback, Katie. "E-books and Readers' Advisory." Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 4, Summer 2011, pp. 325-329.
Mediator, Katie. "Reading With Your Ears: Readers' Advisory and Audio Book." Readers' Advisory, vol. 42, no. 4, Summer 2003, pp. 318-323.


5 comments:

  1. Laura,

    I find that, if I listen to an audiobook while exercising, I'm less likely to try to rush through things. Or that's the case if I like the book I'm listening to. If I'm only halfway through a chapter, but the workout time is up, I might continue working out until the chapter is over, so that I don't have to close it out at a midway point. I do think there should be ways for audiobook listeners to know where they are within a chapter...because sometimes the endings can sneak up on you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I started using the Libby app recently which is part of overdrive and it has marking for when the chapter is ending for the audio books. I started using this app when the regular overdrive app started skipping and breaking up while I was listening to it. I agree that I do find myself exercising longer when I am listening to a book and it helps keep my mind off any pain I may have when I exercise.

      Delete
  2. I liked your thoughts about the Full Cast audiobooks. I've wondered if something like that might make me view audiobooks as something more than utilitarian. I'm a commuter and have more books to read than time for. I actually think though that a Full Cast production might not win me over to audiobooks in general but it might be a great way to "re-read" a favorite ... I love Mr. Tolkien. I guess I feel like there's nothing quite like the act of reading visually but I'm excited about a variety of experiences too. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I laughed when I read that you like to read ebooks at night because the light doesn't bug your husband! I read my books in print in bed with my light on while my husband reads his Kindle. Sometimes I'm the first to call it a night; other times he is, but either way, to each his own, right?

    I mentioned in my Week 11 prompt response that I am not a fan of either ebooks or audiobooks, but I'm always interested to hear about what others like and don't like about them. You said that if a particular narrator turned you off, that you would pick up the print book instead and enjoy it and I thought that was interesting! It's also similar to what my friend Liz mentioned. She likes audiobooks but hates it when the narrator changes in the second book in a series because now the character "doesn't sound like" himself any more! I know that would be off-putting for me as well!

    Thanks for your post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You bring up great points. Once I was pulled over for speeding because I had been listening to a scary Stephen King audiobook (narrated by Tim Curry no less) and I was so tense, I stopped paying attention to my speed. The cop laughed, but I still got a ticket (lesson learned). Full points!

    ReplyDelete