I have never been the voracious reader that I present myself as. I began reading very late in life and I remain a slow reader. In the best months I may read four books, but in most months I manage one. I am not in the numbers game. I simply wish to read more than I do. There are so many great books that I have not read and will never be able to read. Those books which I have always wanted to read, which I sincerely promise myself to read some day, and which I postpone knowing well their exalted position in the history of literature and in my own wishlist, I collect and keep them aside as classics. Today I am brimming with new hope. I made one of my best discoveries of the new year — audiobooks.
I have never been very particular about preserving the sanctity of a book in its traditional form. It is reassuring that they continue to exist, whether as hardcovers or paperbacks or e-books or audiobooks or multimedia or future superformats. The forms and formats will come and go based on their ergonomic and economic viability. I hope for not much more than to find them agreeable.
I have largely survived on paperbacks and e-books while ignoring audiobooks until last year citing numerous excuses that I can instantly cook. Exactly a year ago I got my hands on a pre-release of the audio version of the recent Who is Mark Twain? It sat there in one of the folders of my PC ignoring me with greater snobbery than I am capable of. The atmosphere changed this year. I have already listened to Who is Mark Twain?, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Walden. I am now listening to James Joyce’ Dubliners. There are many more in the pipeline.
Listening isn’t the same as reading. Nothing comes close to the pleasure of sitting on a toilet and leafing through a splendid story in the dead of the night. Perhaps due to my inexperience, when listening to audiobooks I can’t very well see the words dancing on a page nor observe the linguistic experiments. Still, I prefer that to not reading at all. And while commuting they are better than reading itself. Reading is strenuous when traveling by train, and is not enough to escape from the inanities waiting in adjacent berths. Listening to audiobooks, on the other hand, presents a pretty picture of voluntary deafness and youthful snobbishness.
I may unintentionally be violating copyrights, as I haven’t yet figured out how to verify copyright status of books, especially audiobooks, inside India. I mostly download the audiobooks from LibriVox. It is a beautiful sister site of the ambitious Internet Archive. If you are its user, consider dropping some change in their jar.
If you’ve never tried an audiobook, do.
Amazon Ads:
Nice. I will lend an ear to these sometime.
I have heard books, and anyday, prefer the hardbound version.:) For the linguistic experiments, and for the dancing words.