Calling an Audible

I work in a library. My job mostly consists of walking around, shelving books, making sure books are where they should be, putting away documents. Not entirely mindless work, but almost. If you didn't love books, you'd certainly shoot yourself, because this is not exciting or particularly meaningful work.

Recently, I discovered what may be a saving grace to get me through the hours. Amazon.com has launched a new counterpart, Audible.com, which specializes in downloadable audiobooks. You sign up for a membership at $7.50 per month, and each month you receive 1 credit, which allows you to download one audiobook for free (or for the $7.50, depending on how you look at it). Beyond that, you can download whatever you want, and your membership qualifies you for a 30% discount on every download.

I've never listened to audiobooks before. Never really had the time. Some people spend a lot of time in their cars, and it makes sense for them. I never have, and when I'm in the car I always want to rock n roll anyway.

But now I've got the time. I've got precisely 19 hours a week of time. And the boss doesn't have a problem with employees walking around with an iPod.

When you open an account, you automatically get two free downloads. I decided to go with some 19th century literature, big books that I have a hard time slogging through on paper: Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" and Mark Twain's newly released "Autobiography."

I've been listening to "Bleak House," and I find this format is amazing. I can wander and listen and take in the story, and the 19th century style, instead of becoming a drag as it can on the page, becomes a great strength when read aloud. Especially in the case of Dickens, whose rhythm and mastery of the language are fully grasped when heard by the outer-ear and not merely in one's own inner monologue.

There are drawbacks, for sure. It is harder to mark off passages you might want to come back to. And if you are a writer, you cannot (obviously) see the structure of the writing on the page itself, and thus it is harder to learn from.

However, there is also great advantages. First, as I said, is hearing the story spoken. Great literature ought to sound great when read aloud. If it doesn't, there's something wrong. One of the finest tests of a writer's mastery of language is the Read Aloud Test. This is where you can really sort the wheat from the chaff. The best examples of this test are the particularly charismatic sentence stylists such as Faulkner or Fitzgerald. Read aloud their syntactically light-footed sentences, and what becomes apparent is that their writing is perfectly pitched for the ear. The work of lesser writers, when read aloud, clangs and bangs, causing one to wince and moan.

The other great advantage is simply time. It would likely take me a month to finish "Bleak House." I would start out fast, but the book would slowly wear me down. I would enjoy it, but midway through I would be finishing ten to twenty pages a day, a pathetic and drudgey number.

Listening to the audiobook, I can finish the whole work in 33 hours. Or, a little under two weeks at work. At that pace, I could finish 24 "Bleak House's" per year!

Anyway, if you're a booklover, Audible.com is worth a look. The selection is huge. The prices are higher than what you'd pay for a new hardback (audiobooks always are), but the $7.50 per month gets you one book and the 30% discount makes the prices more reasonable. If you've got an iPod it's fantastic, but you can also download and burn them onto CDs. Or listen on your computer.

Check it out.