I’m a big
fan of audio books and listen to them in the car to make the commute less of a
chore. It also gives me the opportunity to experience more books than I have
time to actually read, and to experience books that I otherwise probably wouldn’t
read because they’re ‘not my cup of tea’. Listening to them often makes them easier
to digest.
The most recent audio books I have listened to pretty much represent the best and the worst
things about audio books.
The
best:
Deep Waters by Ann Cliff, read by Anne Dover.
Set in the
1890s, a Yorkshire farming valley is slated to be flooded and dammed to provide
water to the city of Leeds. Rachel is determined to fight for the land and the future
of the community she loves.
The book
is beautifully and subtly read by Anne Dover. There are no over-the-top character
voices to pull you out of the story, and her accents hit the mark. A generous
sprinkling of romance infuses the story without getting in the way of the main themes
of progress, class, choices for women and how one person’s actions can make a difference.
The
worst:
Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood, read by a full cast.
Part cat,
part owl, part genetic engineer: I think he’s meant to be some sort of super hero,
but he doesn’t really do much. The rest of the half-animals seem more proactive
in fighting the half-rat boss-man and his army of evil rats.
I have always
wanted to read something by Margaret Atwood. I fear this was the worst possible
introduction I could have had.
The
atrocity starts with the fact that this is adapted from a graphic novel. How
many times have you read a graphic novel and thought, Hmmm, this would make a great audio book?
What’s that?
Never?
Me neither.
Because graphic novels are all about the visual. I’m sure comics like Batman
and Superman were presented as radio plays back in the day, and that’s the
format used here. But the over-the-top voices, the ridiculous dialogue, the
pointless, meandering plot all conspire to make this book unlistenable. I really
tried, but by the third and final CD my brain started tuning it all out and I
lost track of who was who and what was what. So, in one of those
life-is-too-short moments, I gave up and turned on the radio.
Most
audio books fall somewhere between these two extremes – some reading voices you
could listen to forever, some pull you out of the story with character voices
that don’t work, some books have strong storylines that make for riveting
listening and some plots are just too convoluted to follow audibly. But the
fact that I’m less invested in listening to a book than I am in reading one, makes
an audio book easy to switch off if it’s a shocker, and an absolute joy to hear
if it transports me beyond peak-hour traffic.
