The Oral Tradition + Giveaway

Last week, I attended my first book reading! A few of us from Dorchester trooped down to Lady Jane’s Salon, the only reading series devoted to romance fiction in the city. The group meets on the first Monday of every month at Madame X in Manhattan. For only $5 or a gently-used romance novel, you can hear your favorite authors read from their latest works in a cozy venue with a bar, velvet-lined chairs, and very red decor. One of our beloved authors, Leanna Renee Hieber, is a founder of Lady Jane’s, along with Hope Tarr, Ron Hogan, and Maya Rodale.

Having books read to me reminded me of audiobooks. If you think about it, the tradition of sharing stories aloud is much older than the concept of writing them down. Audiobooks are our modern take on the oral tradition, and boy, are they great for long trips and boring commutes. Nowadays, they’re made even more convenient by the prevalence of iPods and smartphones.

I place listening to a book somewhere between reading a book and watching a film. You still get to use your imagination, but the voices and narration are filled in for you. It’s definitely a different experience than reading words on a page, and whether it is a good or bad experience often depends on the reader. For example, Leanna did a great job at Lady Jane’s. She read an excerpt from The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, and it was fantastic. With her theater background, she was able to bring life to her characters with different voices and inflections. Click here to listen to Leanna read an excerpt from her book, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.

     

It got me thinking—what makes for an enjoyable listening experience? For one, the reader has to be very familiar with the book and its characters in order to give an accurate reading and establish the correct tone for the story. This makes the authors themselves the best candidates, but not everyone is a public speaker (I’m certainly not!) and not everyone can read line after line without stumbling over their words. Volume, clarity and reading speed can also make or break a listening experience. Flexibility of voice is a big deal when it comes to readings and audiobooks, too; after all, nobody wants to listen to monotonous readings that make steamy romances or terrifying horror novels sound like textbooks. A reader’s voice needs to be able to illustrate different genders, ages, and even accents. In a similar vein, a reader who uses obnoxious voices to differentiate the characters can ruin a book. The reader shouldn’t distract the listener from the story itself. It’s a delicate balance!

I also started wondering if the gender of the reader might also contribute to setting a certain mood for a reading or an audiobook. The way male readers pitch female voices can be jarring, and vice versa. Genre may even play a part in determining the success of an audiobook or book reading. Female readers may be more suited to reading romance, while male readers may be more suited for horror and westerns. Click here to listen to a male voice reading The 13^th  and click here to listen to a female voice reading Erin Kellison’s Shadow Bound . This reading of Cellar is an example of a female voice reading a horror novel. Of course, these are far from rules and restrictions—every listener is looking for something different and a good reader is simply someone who can utilize some or all of the above approaches to provide an enjoyable listening experience .

  Although the written word will always be my favorite way to consume books, audiobooks are a really fun way to experience them, too. They—along with podcasts—keep me company on the commute to and from work (when holding a book could be really hazardous!). After my visit to Lady Jane’s Salon, though, I’ve decided to seek out more live readings to attend in the future. I would definitely recommend them to anyone who loves to lost themselves in a good book. Hearing talented authors read their own words was a very unique and memorable experience.

‘Til next time,

Elaine, intern extraordinaire

Giveaway: We want to know what you think! Love audiobooks? Hate audiobooks? Prefer to listen to a live reading performed by the author? Leave a comment and be entered to win a copy of The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker on Audio CD.