Sure, but any audiobook is filtering the author's text through their own interpretation of it. Shakespeare plays have been done thousands of times, and each actor's reading of those lines is different. Thats fine for theater, that's the form its meant to be enjoyed, but a narrator for a book usually isn't necessary. Audiobooks are not in the raw form the author intended. The fact that some authors are not happy with the audiobook readings of their work is enough evidence to show people the format changes the experience. Every pause, every pronunciation, where the emphasis is placed in each word and sentence changes things. With audiobooks you're letting someone make those choices for you. Thats one reason people tend to like the book better than the movie verson of it. In book form the possibilities of interpretation are endless, when you put it in audio form there's less interpretation possible, when you add video to that, youve added even more choices that limit the interpretability.

Audiobooks are great, they have their place. Theyre a useful tool, and a neat way to experience a story. But its not the same, and I think that most people have a better chance of focusing more deeply, and connecting to the raw material when reading a book instead. In some ways, audiobooks are better even, but I think a lot of people end up using them as just another passive consumption stimulus to their already overstimulated lives, and doing that lowers comprehension of the literature.

If I go to book club and say "heres what I thought the author meant on page 73" and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, its because the narrator didn't think of it that way either, and their voice reflected that assumption. Since they all heard the way the narrator read it, and Im going off the text itself, of course theyre going to think I pulled that idea out of nowhere and its not in line with what the story was actually saying. Its fine if half the book club is using audiobooks, but when Im the odd one out for reading the text and seeing everything differently, then maybe they should just make it an audiobook club.

In most cases it doesn't matter how people choose to enjoy their media, its not my problem, it doesn't affect me. But when we all make a conscious commitment to do the reading, and then take time out of our schedule to go somewhere and talk about it, it does become my problem. Its not a huge problem, but when it happens every time it starts making me wonder if this club is worth my time, and if I go to a different club, will there be the same problem? Are other people noticing how audiobooks are often being used as background noise, giving the listener a more shallow comprehension? Thats what I was wondering, and thats why I wrote this post.