A few months ago, my book club had decided to read Dracula. I don't know if you've read or seen a copy of Bram stoker's Dracula, but it's incredibly long. I started freaking out because I was worried I wasn't going to be able to finish it. But, then I remembered I had downloaded a free iPod app for free audio books. The website has volunteers (yes, even you can read for them) read books, poems, short stories, essays, etc. that are in the public domain. It's all free (hence the volunteer readers part).
And that's right, Dracula is in fact in the public domain! I quickly found the audio book and started listening. I was saved! I listened to it at work and at home. The only downside? Because it's free and all volunteer readers, you don't always get the best narration.
What do you mean, Mattie? As long as you're "reading" it, why does it matter who reads it? Oh... let me tell you, friend, it makes a huge difference. Here, I'll show you:
There were a few really great, enjoyable people (I could only get a link to the full chapter the person reads, so listen for a bit (perhaps starting half way through) and then come back here):
Click here to listen to Reader 1
Click here to listen to Reader 2
Click here to listen to Reader 3
(As you can tell, I fancy the male, British readers...)
Then there were a few okay, tolerable readers that were only slightly irritating, but I got through it:
Click here to listen to Reader 1
Click here to listen to Reader 2
Click here to listen to Reader 3
But then, there were truly terrible people (well in this case, just one), that thought Dracula was a really melodramatic Harlequin romance novel and called for really breathy narration:
Click here to listen (go to middle to get full effect)
This same person read the last two chapters! I could barely get through hers when she read a chapter in the middle of the novel, but luckily she was a tiny bit better at the end. Only, she decided to read Van Helsing's parts with a weird accent that didn't add to the visualization but instead just made it hard to understand.
Click here and here to listen (same person, but the ending chapters... so a little better, minus the ridiculous accent for Van Helsing, which can be found towards the beginning of the second link).
But, I did get through it, and for the most part it was an enjoyable experience. It converted me to audio books, and I listened to other ones. It helped me finally finish Pride and Prejudice! (Yay! I'm no longer a failure as an English major!) I also bought some other audio books (definitely worth the money) from audible.com for the following month's book club after Dracula.
I now LOVE audio books. Granted, it's not the same as reading the actual book (which I will still try to keep doing), but it helps so much (especially if you get really good readers) because you can listen to it in the car, and while you're working or exercising. It's amazing! Well, except of course when you get a dramatic, romance-novel-type reader, in which case you might be better off just reading the book yourself. In fact... I think I will. When I get a chapter/book up on that website read by me, I'll let you know!
No comments:
Post a Comment