One Clear Dot

I just gave my mother the audio book for The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. We watched the movie together way back when it was on television and I finally came across the CDs I had listened to in the car when they first came out.

I read the book first, then I was given the audio book and I put it in the CD player in the car and listened to it little by little when I was out doing errands. I was surprised at how differently I responded to the story when I was reading the story read to me instead of reading it myself. I did not have a more positive experience one way or the other, but they were decidedly different.

The TV movie doesn’t count, because a good bit was removed from the story and some very important storylines were taken out altogether. I do think that knowing the story beforehand allowed me to have a richer viewing experience than people who were watching the movie without the benefit of the full story.

I found the audio book for Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld at the library and decided to listen to that as well, even though I had already read the book. It was the same thing! I absorbed the story in a different way. Mostly, I think I allowed myself to feel more for the character with the audio book, because I was taking in the story over a longer period of time.

When I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield I was going though a lot and read the book with a lot of skimming and in short spurts. I am afraid I did not absorb a lot of the details, as much as I just made sure to make note of the major events. Listening to the audio book version made all the difference in the world. I cried a lot as I listened to it. I also realized how infuriatingly often the author used the world “pale”. It was complete overkill.

If I had time, I would follow every book I read up with the matching audio book, but that would take forever (I read about five books a week).

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Education & Learning