At the start of this month, during my monthly Amazon haul I considered buying Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I've read it two or three times and I think its really awesome, but that's a story for another time. As you can see, you can buy it new for about 10 dollars or used from 3. But before I checked out I decided to listen to the audio sample.
Oh my gosh its so good. As a whole, this is an example of why audio books should count as an art. The reader, Anna Fields, is just so good. I looked at the other books she's read, but they all look so boring. The way she reads the narrator's voice is an interesting choice, but as I listened I really liked it. Its a kind of Daria-like monotone, that adds to the her clinical, disattached personality. And the most important feature of all is that she did voices. This should really be the standard in audio books. In the sample she only did Eve and Brandy, but I really liked the way Fields did them. I don't know if I had mental "images" of what they would sound like, but the voices she made up fit them perfectly. I felt like they made me better imagine the characters. If I had any drawing talent I would have tried to draw them.
I'm really considering buying it, except for the small fact that I don't like audio books (and its 7 dollars more than a new book). I know I just left that glowing review, but I just don't do audio books. I feel like I don't have the time. The great appeal is that you can multitask by "reading" a book while doing mundane tasks, but I really don't have that much passive activity in my life. During school or while doing homework it definitely a no. On the other hand, my open time is too open. When I walk home, for example, my mind tends to drift and I can't concentrate on a book. If I was reading I could just look back to the the sentence I was on. But in an audio I have to try and rewind. Then I get home, and I might as well read a book.
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