I read an article tonight to authors about audiobooks which got me thinking about how I read. For the most part I will read a book and then listen to it. I do this because I like getting all I can out of a story and while I can remember 95% of a book I read (it’s the positive of my dyslexia) I still miss a little. While I was in college for my first undergrad I could/would remember all of my notes when the professor read her notes and we copied them from the board. I get this same since when reading books. So I read the book (most of the time – 99%) and then I’ll download the audiobook to see what I missed. Doing this just reinforces everything I read and afterward I can just about recall the books details without looking up the answer. I love this because I can talk to people about books while not on the Internet, and have answers. Sometimes it sucks though because I have to make an effort not to give important details away. I do have some friends that won’t listen to audiobooks because the narrator could sound different that what they think the characters voice sounds like to them. I don’t have this issue, though if one narrator reads one series and then does another one it sometimes doesn’t feel right to me, nor does it sound right when a different narrator reads a book when I’m use to a certain voice. Say the normal narrator has a scheduling issues and can’t read so a new narrator comes in for a book. This happened for the last Dresden book, after twelve books from one narrator the thirteenth has a new one and that didn’t work for me. And I’ve listened to a few audios were a narrator read two series and that’s a little off because I’m use to the voice for a different character. Overall though I like using written and verbal together. As a reader I get more out of the two working together. If I miss something in a book I pick it up when listening.
I can also see things that some people can’t or don’t pick up when they just read the book. In one series I could see and understand where the author was going and excepted it, where others won’t except the changes the author made to the characters. (I’m not sure that made since) There has also been times when I’ve read and listened to the books a few times and missed a clue and then listened one more time an the clue hit me and a new depth sank it. It’s awesome when things like that happen.
So how about you? Do you read, listen or both?
Today I did another one line pitch, we’ll see how it goes. Have a great weekend.
