Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Flickr  Google+  YouTube  Instagram

It’s Thursday: All Ears

Written on: April 9th, 2010 in Blog Posts

I was all prepared to talk about re-reading with audio books when I re-read this post by Laura Allen, our virtual assistant for the Library Associate Training Institute. No need for me to re-do. Enjoy.

Laura here: Not too long ago I came across a question that I found intriguing: “What one book changed your life as a child?” The answer was simple because Mrs. Dee was my favorite teacher ever, and in third grade she allowed us to choose between two books for our reading assignment and book report. I chose Watership Down by Richard Adams and as a result was magically transported to a world of talking rabbits and characters that entered my heart and curled up and stayed. This book is the reason I became an avid reader as a child and a lifelong bibliophile.

During my reading life I’ve discovered how much I enjoy a well made audio book. It’s not the same as reading a book. And I say well made because for me it has to be recorded expertly for clarity and crispness and also employ a reader who uses different voices for the characters, which really makes the story come alive. I’ve listened to non-fiction audio books while I exercised or home-cared but then happily discovered fiction worked in this format as well.

I discovered I could combine my continued enjoyment of audio books with revisiting old favorites when I found Watership Down on audio in my local library. Once again I was swept away by Adam’s universal story of survival, happiness, friendship, and love. I haven’t read this book in twenty years or more but it captured my imagination as strongly now as it did when I was ten and twenty. I think that’s what makes certain works timeless and classic because they resonate with us so deeply at any age.

Over the past two years I have listened to Outlander one of my favorite historical fiction series by Diana Gabaldon. The entire series is delightfully read by Davina Porter and I haven’t slacked over two years because each of the six books is approximately 48 CDs in length. Wow is right! I hadn’t read the first in the series since it was published in 1991 but once again the characters were so familiar, real, and beloved that I was effortlessly drawn in to the story after all these years and so richly rewarded by the experience.

Do you make it a habit to re-read your favorites? If so, how often and which titles? Have you experimented with listening to audio books? Please share your thoughts and  criteria for a good listen. We’re all ears!