Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Classics Audiobooks?

A few days ago  I was just surfing the net (procrastinating) when I came across a link for a set of audiobooks for the Greek and Roman epics. My curiosity prevailed and I ended up buying the Iliad, Odyssey and the Aeneid. I was skeptical. I mean, these are some of the best works of literature ever written and the idea of audiobooks in general doesn't really excite me. For me, the voices in my head that become the various characters in a book are the best part of reading a book and having a voice read a book out to me seems constraining and counter-intuitive and I generally don't enjoy it. Also, the audiobook for the Iliad alone is over 22 hours and I don't know about you, but I think that's a LONG time spent listening to just one voice, no matter how good that voice is. Still, I sat down and listened to book one of the Iliad and I must say, I was a bit won over. I have, I fear, gone over to the dark side. The reader was very skilled and the overall experience was enhanced by sound effects and music enhancing and understating the right bits. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

What do you think? By the way, these audiobooks are all available on Amazon or at audible.com.

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