When I’m facing down a 10-hour drive, I like to devise strategies of how to make the trip go faster. New Camera Obscura album? Check. Guide to all the Twins radio affiliates so I can pull in the game as long as possible? Check. (I could actually still hear the Yankton, S.D., station in northern Missouri.)
And I’ll also throw in an audiobook. But not just any audiobook. It has to be the “Harry Potter” performances by Jim Dale. To appreciate how good Dale is, listen to any other book-on-CD (or tape, if you wanna go old-school), then listen to Dale’s “Potter” work. It’s the difference between a reading and a performance.
Granted, J.K. Rowling’s “Potter” books have a built-in edge over the competition in this format.
First, they have a bevy of colorful characters, many of which have distinct styles of speech (from the house-elf wail of Dobby to the Irish brogue of Dean Thomas). With most male readers, it’s jarring when they do female voices — they usually employ the method of talking in a quieter voice, but it rarely works. Dale, though, can do Hermione, Professor McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey, and it’s all completely smooth.
Second, the “Potter” novels are not tightly written — I actually mean this as a complement; the books’ sprawling nature (an entire chapter on a Quidditch match, anyone?) allows me to knock off a 17-hour book over the course of several months without getting lost.
Third, I have already read the “Potter” books, so I already know what happens, and I can just enjoy the performance (I watch the movie adaptations in the same state of mind; it’s kind of like watching a play).
If I’m coming into an audiobook cold, there’s always the danger of getting lost. If your mind wanders when you’re reading a book, you can just go back and read the page over again. With an audiobook, you can get left in the dust, especially if it’s a complex mystery (although, yes, there is the rewind function).
What are your favorite audiobooks?
What strategies do you employ for long drives? Satellite radio? iPod? Long cell-phone conversations? Hey, I’m up for suggestions.