Musing Monday: Audio books, Yae or Nae?

Musing Monday is a weekly meme by Should Be Reading. This week’s musing asks…

Do you listen to audiobooks? Why, or why not?

I do listen to audio books, though not religiously. I still prefer reading print where I can flip back to certain passages, reread a section with ease, and read at my own pace. Plus, I sometimes have a hard time concentrating on the audio; I get distracted easily, and suddenly I have no idea what's going on with the story nor how long I wasn't paying attention.

That being said, I do enjoy a well-read audio book. I'm currently listening to The Throne of Fire, the second book in the Kane Chronicles, by Rick Riordan. It is awesome! I listened to the first book in the series several months ago, and knew that I would have to listen to the second book, too. I also loved listening to the Harry Potter books read by Jim Dale (though I really want to hear the Stephen Fry versions!) and The Eyre Affair was also excellently read. These are great for while I'm working or for long car rides; I prefer print for every other occasion.

But for every winning reading, there's a reading that can turn you off the medium. I listened to some of the Sookie Stackhouse audio books, and while the reader was fantastic as Sookie, her rendition of Eric cracked me up (and not in a good way). It brought me out of the story to marvel at the horrendousness of the strange generic-European deep voice she took on to portray the character.

When it comes to audio books, the reader can make or break the story.