tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-761784460667108854.post3392480787093707665..comments2023-11-09T03:33:41.728-05:00Comments on Jenny and Kelly Read Books: Kelly's Book 9: The Sea-Wolfkellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07832228313612518377noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-761784460667108854.post-84125384735844251822011-09-30T13:38:56.852-04:002011-09-30T13:38:56.852-04:00Thank you for the vindication! Bill still insists ...Thank you for the vindication! Bill still insists that I'm "cheating," but I am going to press on. In fact, today is the last day of the month and I think I'm going to finish it on a long walk! (I <i>loooove</i> multi-tasking.)<br /> <br />As an experiment, I read a single chapter from the book yesterday and then I listened to the chapter in the audio book, and what I theorized was correct: I got *far* more out of the audio book than I did out of my own reading.<br /><br />In fact, when listening to the audio book (and I had only just read the chapter minutes before), I said, "Wait! Did I just read that?" I looked in the book and found that, yes, I had! This may not be true for every book, but in the case of a book that is so lyrical/poetic, I think the reading is much improved by listening to a trained professional. At least, for me.<br /><br />It reminds me of the time I saw <i>The Tempest</i> performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Versus reading it myself or seeing it performed by a local company, the words made *so* much more sense to me than they ever had before... because they were delivered by people who really *understood* the work and could truly *present* the work. <br /><br />I feel that way about this audio book -- the narrator nails every pause, every sigh, every poem-within-a-paragraph just perfectly. I'm really happy about this find. I agree with you that it would totally depend on who is reading it -- that's why I listened to several samples and read many reviews. In fact, for the other books I mentioned, I also thoroughly read through all of the reviews before committing to them. I've heard wondrous things about Harry Potter -- may have to try those out at some point. In the meantime, I may have to dive into another Jack London!<br /><br />As for YA books... the heavy handed ending is exactly *why* I suddenly had the thought, "Wait. Was this a YA book?" at the very end of <i>Ready Player One</i>! But, again, when I looked it up, I found that it is *not* a YA book. I thought it was funny that I would suddenly, at the end of a book, think "Was this YA?" <br /><br />It actually would be a great YA book (the characters are in their late teens, a video game plays a major role in the book, a lot of moral issues are addressed in a good, not-too-preachy way, and it's an easy read) *except* that it is totally chock full of 80s references. And, unless some teenager is super into the "retro" thing (or wants to learn more about his/her parents' childhood), it would probably be trying. For those of us who lived it, the book is pretty fun. ;)kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07832228313612518377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-761784460667108854.post-44058975506047024772011-09-29T20:51:58.039-04:002011-09-29T20:51:58.039-04:00K,
Audio books are NOT cheating. Here's my t...K, <br /><br />Audio books are NOT cheating. Here's my theory: the whole idea of storytelling started with people sitting around and TELLING each other stories. Then some genius got the idea of writing it all down, and it's been downhill for storyTELLING ever since. Which is too bad. <br /><br />I have mixed feelings about audio books. When they are good, they really are great. For example, the Harry Potter audiobooks are STUNNING, but I've had a couple of weird ones I didn't really like. Another major issue for me is that a certain small person in my life makes it impossible to really listen to them. <br /><br />Also fun to listen to: lectures from iTunesU. Unfortunately, it's sort of hard to sort through and figure out which ones are really good. However, if you're at all interested in the Civil War, the David Blight Civil War course from Yale is OUTSTANDING. Seriously it is mesmerizing. And, like me, you had crappy history instruction in high school, so it has the added benefit of making you smarter, too!<br /><br />As an aside, for my struggling middle school readers, audiobooks have been a godsend. You won't find an English teacher alive out there who thinks audiobooks are cheating. (Although we usually ask kids to listen AND read along at the same time, I seriously doubt they all do.) That being said, *most* YA books are a bit heavy handed in the end. I think a lot of authors/publishers think kids are too dumb to figure out the moral unless it's punched into their faces a few times. <br /><br />I'm working at Love and hope to be done with it by the end of the weekend---back on track!<br /><br />JJennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13205737257301534685noreply@blogger.com