TALKING BOOKS: AUDIOBOOK MONTH ON VULPES LIBRIS – WEEK TWO
We cover a lot of ground in the second week of Talking Books.
We travel from Victorian London to Middle Earth via the Afterlife in our reviews, consider whether listening to audiobooks really qualifies as ‘reading’ at all and to close the week, take a – quite literally – eye-opening look at the RNIB’s pioneering Talking Book Service. To open the week, we field our third Publisher interview – and step into the dual minefields of abridgement and Charles Darwin:
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On Monday morning we talk to Bea Long and CSA Word’s MD Victoria Williams about the recent hotly-discussed takeover of the well-established audiobook company by Canongate.
In the afternoon, we follow it up with a look at questions of authenticity and abridgement in relation to Richard Dawkins’ editing of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species for his recorded version for CSA Word – in a fascinating discussion with its producer, Nic Jones.
On Tuesday there’s something nasty in the attic when Moira reviews Oscar Wilde’s classic The Picture of Dorian Gray, read by popular Vulpes Libris contributor Edward Petherbridge.
Wednesday finds author Trevor Byrne talking all things Middle Earth in a discussion of the BBC’s Lord of the Rings radio play.
On Thursday Lisa encounters her first proper audio book in David Eagleman’s Sum and is not quite sure what to make of it …
Sam joins us on Friday and asks whether listening to an audiobook should count as ‘reading’.
And on Saturday, to end this second week of Talking Books month, we have an interview with The Royal National Institute for the Blind – who have been publishing audiobooks for an incredible 75 years.
(Photo credit – dalydose on Flickr – Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence.)
I find the question of whether listening to an audiobook should count as reading very interesting, particularly where the audiobook is abridged. So looking forward to Friday’s piece by Sam.
On occasion, I contribute feeble ‘stories’ to a site called Shortbread Stories and they turn some of them into audios (not mine.) I am interested in how story telling can be an amateur activity and how we relatively seldom listen to people telling stories in this way anymore. The audiobook, to me, seems a commodified and individualised version of the past way of doing things, but on the other hand it can be useful for people with disabilities. I think stories are sometimes written differently if they are designed to be read out loud. My own ‘efforts’ for example, often have little dialogue, and may be unsuitable for audio for other reasons such as quality.
As regards abridged versions, it would seem they may be ok for children but may otherwise be seen as an act of vandalism in many cases.
I look forward to the week ahead. Many, many thanks for Trotsky week!
Jon.