The Problem with Audiobooks

Although I've still got Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children under "Listening To," I had to give up listening to it. Maybe I'll come back to it someday. I think this is one case in which it would be better to read the book than listen to it. The novel is widely recognized as a modern masterpiece, yet it difficult to listen to commuting to and from work. It's a complex novel that requires your full concentration and schlepping up and down I-97 just isn't going to cut it.

My current audiobook in the car, The Turn of the Screw, is much shorter and easier to focus on. (Plus I've read it before.) Although narrator Flo Gibson's voice irritates me to no end, I think I can endure it. But I'd rather just re-read the book.

I'm finding that the only audiobooks I can really listen to while commuting or running are non-fiction or fiction for kids or young adults. This morning I started reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens. There's no way I could pick up all the subtleties of the novel in an audiobook. For one thing, I often go back and re-read several sentences to see just what and how Dickens crafts his story, paints his pictures. You just can't do that with an audiobook. (I guess you can, but it's not recommended while driving or running.)

So for now it seems my audiobook experiences will consist of J-Fiction, YA or non-fiction. At least until I become a more proficient listener...