Thursday, January 10, 2008
Books on Tape
Books on Tape
I have listened to several books on tape during the last few months. Here are some thoughts and reviews in the order I listened to the books:
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – I could not finish the book when it came out years ago. (Please, have mercy, don’t stone me.) I simply can’t/don’t/won’t read fantasy. However, I fell head-over-heels, madly-in-love with Hogwarts and the whole lot of characters on tape. The professional reader is magical himself.
2. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and read by the author. Part of this book is on our local IB highschoolers reading list. A book about what I know as our sixth sense. Malcolm refers to this as a book about how we think about thinking. An overall positive experience to listen to this book on tape. I have a hard time staying awake to read non-fiction. On the downside I had to order a hard copy of the book anyway to look up some of the information he referred to.
3. Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney. A perfect book on tape for me to listen to. A book I felt I “should” read to keep up w/ the patrons, but one I would normally have no interest in.
4. Power of Three by Laura Lippmann. Another book I felt I “should” read. Laura often places her setting in the Baltimore area. A good mystery, a bit gruesome for me, and a bit too close to home since I have three teenagers. But I will listen to another of her books eventually.
5. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Her writing is balm for my soul. A character is looking out a window she has looked out of for a life time. Barbara writes, “she saw first with her memory and then with her eyes.” And later, “her mouth hung open, as if the words were caught between her mind and the world around her.” I was driving to work early yesterday morning when I “heard” this. The sky was magnificent. I had to quickly turn off the tape so I could absorb the words. If I had been actually reading this book, there were many times I could have paused, just to let the words soak in, and re-read paragraphs just for the pleasure of it. Barbara herself read this book on tape. At first I didn’t think I would enjoy so much of her voice. She is not a professional reader, I guess. But the beauty of this book won me over and I couldn’t stop listening to it.
Conclusions:
The reader makes all the difference.
A good use of commuting time.
A good opportunity to broaden my horizons.
Save the jewels, like Kingsolver, for print versions.
E-Books
E-books
I tried an ebook at home about four months ago. I wanted to know what the patrons experienced on their end. I, personally, did not enjoy the experience. I can’t remember what I downloaded through the AACPL website. But I do remember this: It was an easy process. I felt tethered to my computer. My computer does not have a “bookmark” so I had to fast forward to where I thought I was supposed to be. Overall I did not enjoy this and will not do it again unless some circumstance requires it.
I tried an ebook at home about four months ago. I wanted to know what the patrons experienced on their end. I, personally, did not enjoy the experience. I can’t remember what I downloaded through the AACPL website. But I do remember this: It was an easy process. I felt tethered to my computer. My computer does not have a “bookmark” so I had to fast forward to where I thought I was supposed to be. Overall I did not enjoy this and will not do it again unless some circumstance requires it.
Amazon's Kindle
So what do you think of Amazon’s Kindle? The cover article of the 11/26/07 Newsweek did a lengthy article on it. I was impressed – not all positively, not all negatively.
The Kindle is not just a book reader. It can subscribe to newspapers, blogs, search w/in a book, highlight and capture passages and has many more tricks. But will it be like my cell phone – w/ many bells and whistles I neither need nor want? The Kindle is wireless but not dependent on Wifi.
[The article used a new term for me – ludic reading, a trance-like state that heavy readers enter when consuming books for pleasure.]
Bill Hill, Microsoft’s point person on e-reading, claims we already use the internet as a reader and that 20% of the time we are browsing on it and 80% of the time we are reading on it.
I wonder how always being connected would affect my reading personally. Will I be able to get down the “rabbit hole of absorption” if the cyber diversions are just a finger twitch away?
For the next generation who does everything on a screen this Kindle may fit them perfectly.
Advertising is not yet a part of Kindle but may become so to make this industry profitable.
Kindle has the potential to allow the community to become a part of the writing process much like Flickr, YouTube, ebay or wikipedia.
I like being able to share books – remember parts – with friends and family. A drawback for Kindle is that you cannot share it in that way. I like browsing my own bookshelves to remember my book friends. Sometimes I remember the person who gave me or recommended a particular book. Or I remember where I read it. Or I remember why I read a particular book – what chapter of my life I was in. Somehow I don’t think staring at an electronic box will ever evoke those emotions or memories for me.
The Kindle is not just a book reader. It can subscribe to newspapers, blogs, search w/in a book, highlight and capture passages and has many more tricks. But will it be like my cell phone – w/ many bells and whistles I neither need nor want? The Kindle is wireless but not dependent on Wifi.
[The article used a new term for me – ludic reading, a trance-like state that heavy readers enter when consuming books for pleasure.]
Bill Hill, Microsoft’s point person on e-reading, claims we already use the internet as a reader and that 20% of the time we are browsing on it and 80% of the time we are reading on it.
I wonder how always being connected would affect my reading personally. Will I be able to get down the “rabbit hole of absorption” if the cyber diversions are just a finger twitch away?
For the next generation who does everything on a screen this Kindle may fit them perfectly.
Advertising is not yet a part of Kindle but may become so to make this industry profitable.
Kindle has the potential to allow the community to become a part of the writing process much like Flickr, YouTube, ebay or wikipedia.
I like being able to share books – remember parts – with friends and family. A drawback for Kindle is that you cannot share it in that way. I like browsing my own bookshelves to remember my book friends. Sometimes I remember the person who gave me or recommended a particular book. Or I remember where I read it. Or I remember why I read a particular book – what chapter of my life I was in. Somehow I don’t think staring at an electronic box will ever evoke those emotions or memories for me.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy New Year
Ann Lamott is one of my favorite authors. As we move in to the New Year I thought you might like to read her uplifting words about how we spend the greater part of our days. Enjoy, Mindy
Here’s what she says about libraries in her book Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith:
I am going to walk to the library, because my church is too far away to go to on foot…In a library, you can find, small miracles and truth, and you might find something that will make you laugh so hard that you will get shushed, in the friendliest way. I have found sanctuary in libraries my whole life, and there is sanctuary there now, from the war, from the storms of our families and our own minds. Libraries are like mountains or meadows or creeks: sacred space. So this afternoon, I’ll walk to the library.
And here is what she says about librarians in Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith:
We were there [Ann and fellow authors were at a library] to celebrate some of the rare intelligence capabilities that our country can actually be proud of – those of librarians. I see them as healers and magicians. Librarians can tease out of inarticulate individuals enough information about what they are after to lead them on the path of connection. They are trail guides through the forest of shelves and aisles—you turn a person loose who has limited skills, and he’ll be walloped by the branches. But librarians match up readers with the right books: “Hey, is this one too complicated? Then why don’t you give this one a try?”
Here’s what she says about libraries in her book Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith:
I am going to walk to the library, because my church is too far away to go to on foot…In a library, you can find, small miracles and truth, and you might find something that will make you laugh so hard that you will get shushed, in the friendliest way. I have found sanctuary in libraries my whole life, and there is sanctuary there now, from the war, from the storms of our families and our own minds. Libraries are like mountains or meadows or creeks: sacred space. So this afternoon, I’ll walk to the library.
And here is what she says about librarians in Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith:
We were there [Ann and fellow authors were at a library] to celebrate some of the rare intelligence capabilities that our country can actually be proud of – those of librarians. I see them as healers and magicians. Librarians can tease out of inarticulate individuals enough information about what they are after to lead them on the path of connection. They are trail guides through the forest of shelves and aisles—you turn a person loose who has limited skills, and he’ll be walloped by the branches. But librarians match up readers with the right books: “Hey, is this one too complicated? Then why don’t you give this one a try?”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)