Books on Tape — and Other Guilty Pleasures
I have a long road trip next week and that means one thing — time to go to the local library and pick out a book on tape. Yeah, I know; two big issues: Why am I not doing a better job of supporting fellow writers by BUYING the book on tape, and why am I listening when I should be reading?
Well, as to the first concern, they’ve really got to lower the price on audio books. Seriously. Furthermore, the disincentive for buying them is that A) if you want to lend them out to friends, a lot of people turn up their noses at them B) they look like crap on your home library shelf and C) if you want to reference a section or a phrase, it’ll take you a year to find it.
On the other hand, I do not have a snobbery issue with books on tape. For one thing, State Policemen throughout our great nation appreciate that I am listening to Alan Alda or Martha Plympton recite something, rather than seeing me trying to drive while reading a book.
In addition to that, some of these voice artists are quite talented. Not all of them, mind you, but a lot of them. Some of the ones who do all the various character voices themselves can be unbelievably bad, and I scratch my head wondering how they got hired and keep getting hired.
Look, I’m a music lover. For short hops to the supermarket or the mall, nothing beats some tunes to sing along with on the car stereo. But when I’m behind the wheel of a car for more than 2 straight hours, I’ve got to have a book on tape.
Any suggestions?
Kerry
July 9th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Just in case you don’t find anything interesting at the library, they rent books on tape at Cracker Barrel restaurants. You can return them at any other Cracker Barrel too. That way they don’t start to clutter up your car on a LONG trip.
Happy traveling!
Mary
July 10th, 2007 at 9:28 am
I’d like to suggest Charles Frazier’s Thirteen Moons simply for the love of the language. I read it a few months ago and listened to it while driving a weekly 2.5 hour commute to a graduate class last month. I have it on an mp3 file I downloaded from www.audible.com. I feel just like you about long drives alone, they call for a good story, not music. Audible books also make house cleaning and bedroom painting more enjoyable. I like to search the files at my local library for unabridged audio versions of some of my old favorite classics. I think if I liked it in print, I’m sure to love it in out loud. Enjoy the trip.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Cracker Barrel and audible.com. I’m learning something new every day. Thanks!