Reading on the Run

26.2, thing 21

Audiobooks have been a large part of my life-with-kids and have saved the sanity of all involved on many long car trips and grocery expeditions. Another good site for free children's audio books is Storynory - mostly classics, things beyond copyright, but a good variety to choose from.

On Audible I found Lemony Snicket's 13th, and last, book in the Series of Unfortunate Events, appropriately titled "The End". It is also available to download for FREE (gotta love it) from the BPL (Overdrive) - but very limited in format. This is a fantastic and entertaining story to listen to, even if you haven't followed the series. Tim Curry is masterful in his reading and using his voice to distinguish the characters. I fondly remembered The Rocky Horror Picture Show while listening. There is a creepy charismatic lead character called Ishmael...."call me Ish" he says. This kind of humor runs throughout, giving the story both kid and adult appeal.

Audible pluses (if you have the money to spend) - huge selection for just about any kind of playing device; I like that you can listen to a sample of the recording - so much of the success of an audio book is the reader/narrator - sound and intonation of the voice, how characters are distinguished, general delivery; digital downloads mean avoiding scratched CD's, worn out tapes, swapping cassettes or CD's, and not having to find a physical place to store another something. Will Playaway eventually mean "throw-away?".

While I think there will always (well, you know "always"....) be books in print, I think it behooves libraries to go-with-the-flow on mediums that become well-established - meaning, no library wants to have a large collection of laserdiscs, or have formats that outlast the machines that can play/read them (I'm thinking computer diskettes), but they should be in line with what's current. My enviro-eco mind loves the idea of Ebooks and digital readers. I can't fathom sitting in front of a desktop or laptop computer screen for the time it would take to read a book, but a portable device would be a different story. I have yet to hold one in my hands, but would like to experience it before I make any judgement on what they are like to use. The ability to download texts, magazines, news, a-la-Kindle, while en route is very appealing to me. Ebooks can also serve the purpose of making available rare or out-of-print monographs, or manuscripts that otherwise could not be in any kind of general way. Knowledge and learning, less exclusive, which is part of what libraries are all about.