Week 11 Prompt: Audio Books and E-books

Remember when you were little and you just started to realize how much you loved turning the pages of that book about the bunny, the smell of the ink, the gloss of the paper?  Or how about when you were older and wore out your favorite book with so many re-readings that it fell apart in your hands?  For me, reading was always such a visceral experience.  I can still remember reading a book in the first grade and the feeling of pure joy that filled me.  Was it the physical appeal of the books that enchanted me?  It had to be, because I really can't remember what exactly I was reading.  I just remember the experiences vividly.  I wonder what voracious readers who read e-books feel?  Perhaps they remember the glow of the reader, the different fonts and text sizes they chose for each reading, the way touching the screen flipped the pages.  I suppose it's all subjective.  

Myself, I'll read a book off a roll of toilet paper if I have to, I don't care.  As long as the words are readable, I'm in. So, although I don't read e-books, I'm not against them in any way.  I would say that, as Dunneback mentions, not being able to flip around and read other passages easily is a very big factor for me.  I often go back and forth, especially in long, complicated books.  I recently was forced to read an e-book because the print version was out, and I really had a tough time being stuck where I was.  Maybe there's a way to easily navigate, but I'm a novice e-reader and I don't know what that is.  Also, I can see where people who are visually oriented would love the font and setup change abilities.  And I will say that it really does seem like the book goes faster on an e-reader.  Is it because you don't have the physical feeling of the book in your hands?  I don't know, but I think it's strange.

I haven't been a huge audio fan.  Sure, I've taken books on cd on car trips, but I found myself getting distracted and missing half the story.  But, I've never listened to a book and said, "I did not like that narrator."  Until podcasts.  I like to listen to podcasts when I'm going to sleep, and of course, short story podcasts are my favorites.  However...there are some pretty bad narrators out there and I now know that a narrator can ruin your experience.  Frankly, I haven't found a short story podcast that I really love, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!  But I digress.  My point is that as a readers' advisor, I know I'll need to get to know the audio books and their narrators, as it would appear that this is a huge appeal factor, whether it is their pacing of narration, characterization, phrasing, etc.  I mean, it's the same story as the print book, right?  The story doesn't change, but how it's presented is of paramount importance.  An audio book will make a story come to life with the right narrator.