Listen Up
I’m just wondering how many of you enjoy listening to books rather than reading them? Some people don’t think that ‘listening’ to a book really counts as having ‘read’ the book. Critics of audiobooks feel as if listening to a book is somehow akin to cheating or perhaps reading the Cliff Notes. The publishing business surely doesn’t think that way. Along with Amazon, they have promoted audiobooks and paid celebrities to be readers.
In an article in the New York Times on October , 2021, Farhad Manjoo writes about the merits of listening to a book rather than reading it. Aside from being a bonus for people who don’t have time to read or those whose eyesight make reading difficult, Manjoo thinks that certain books are actually better when listened to. He talks about enjoying listening to a narrator with an Australian accent read books by Liane Moriarty. He also mentions that he listened to Matthew McConaughey read his memoir entitled Greenlights.
Other folks I know listened to Michelle Obama read Becoming, and thought her voice made the experience very special. Diane Keaton reads her memoir Then Again, Trevor Noah reads Born a Crime and Tina Fey reads Bossypants– to name a few examples of celebrities reading their own books. Clearly, when a person reads his or her own book, that person can put a special spin on it, almost like telling the story of their life. Manjoo adds that storytelling is the oldest form of human entertainment.
Guilt-free Audiobooks of note:
