Apparently Neil Gaiman recently did an "Open Mike" piece on NPR. I missed it, but he talks about it in his blog and includes the audio bits. Which make me very flaily.
NEIL GAIMAN AND DAVID SEDARIS. TOGETHER. FOR ME TO LISTEN TO.
There were hearts in my eyes last night. ♥____♥
It's a subject, audiobooks, I find interesting, too. Especially whether or not listening to an audiobook "counts" as reading it.
I don't actually listen to audiobooks very often. I used to more when I was younger and Mom and I go to Seattle more. We had these Native American tales on audio cassette that I loved and I remember listening to. Now it's generally just David Sedaris or whatever short story might come on NPR. Or Neil Gaiman.
Because my problem with audiobooks is this: I have ADD when it comes to music. And, yes, audiobooks are not music, but they do involve listening. Anyone who has ever had to put up with me without my headphones in the car knows I have a really hard time not jumping around on any given CD/playlist. One song reminds me of another which reminds me of another and before long I'm changing out all six discs in the player.
So sometimes I have a problem paying attention, especially if I don't have anything to do with my hands. It just means I have to be in the right mood.
But I do love them, and I love the idea of them. What you can get out of them that you can't get out of a text for yourself. For example, when we were studying "The Waste Land" in Intertextuality, it was hard to find your footing on how to read the poem. Until the professor played a recording of TS Eliot reading it and all of the sudden it made so much more sense.
Though, haha, looking at the comments on this recording on YouTube makes me wonder about what I'm getting out of it and what other people are.
AH! I found David doing his Billie Holiday impression! Here! (Though ignore the video, as it's a completely different reading. Weird.) He wouldn't do the impression for us in Yakima, but oh, it's scary good. And the Oscar Meyer jingle! OMG. ♥ x a billion
NEIL GAIMAN AND DAVID SEDARIS. TOGETHER. FOR ME TO LISTEN TO.
There were hearts in my eyes last night. ♥____♥
It's a subject, audiobooks, I find interesting, too. Especially whether or not listening to an audiobook "counts" as reading it.
I don't actually listen to audiobooks very often. I used to more when I was younger and Mom and I go to Seattle more. We had these Native American tales on audio cassette that I loved and I remember listening to. Now it's generally just David Sedaris or whatever short story might come on NPR. Or Neil Gaiman.
Because my problem with audiobooks is this: I have ADD when it comes to music. And, yes, audiobooks are not music, but they do involve listening. Anyone who has ever had to put up with me without my headphones in the car knows I have a really hard time not jumping around on any given CD/playlist. One song reminds me of another which reminds me of another and before long I'm changing out all six discs in the player.
So sometimes I have a problem paying attention, especially if I don't have anything to do with my hands. It just means I have to be in the right mood.
But I do love them, and I love the idea of them. What you can get out of them that you can't get out of a text for yourself. For example, when we were studying "The Waste Land" in Intertextuality, it was hard to find your footing on how to read the poem. Until the professor played a recording of TS Eliot reading it and all of the sudden it made so much more sense.
Though, haha, looking at the comments on this recording on YouTube makes me wonder about what I'm getting out of it and what other people are.
AH! I found David doing his Billie Holiday impression! Here! (Though ignore the video, as it's a completely different reading. Weird.) He wouldn't do the impression for us in Yakima, but oh, it's scary good. And the Oscar Meyer jingle! OMG. ♥ x a billion
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-01 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-02 01:41 am (UTC)Audiobooks are wonderful, but I really like having an actual book in my hands.
That's why I usually listen to auidiobooks while I draw or paint.
I used to listen to, well, podfic when I was shelving/shelf-reading at the university library were I used to work. Made the time go ooooh so much faster and kept my mind engaged.
43 hours, holy crap! Although, huh, if I listened to the classics I want to read maybe I'd actually get through them...