Let Us Now Praise Famous Audiobooks

Earlier this week, I updated 10 entries to my page of book reviews.

I can't say I've "read" all these books. The truth is, I listened to 9 of them.

Because I freaking love audiobooks.

Also earlier this week, my wife shared a link to a fascinating Washington Post story about the symbiotic relationship between authors and audiobook narrators.

Features writer Karen Heller hit the nail on its head (insert cliche sound effect here) with some of her observations:

"Audiobooks were once clunky and overwhelming, a failed tech experiment, encumbered by multiple discs or cassettes... Smartphones changed everything. Once audiobooks slipped into a listener's pocket, they became ubiquitous, allowing fans to 'read' while cooking, hiking, gardening, cleaning."

My reading room

Or commuting along Route 287.

Heller's story notes that audiobook sales growth has been "seismic," with the Association of American Publishers reporting a 37% increase in audio sales during the first 11 months of 2018.

That's because there's something primal and comforting in having someone read you a story. Audiobooks let your imagination roam while adding a second, immersive sense to the reading experience.

It's sometimes better than movies -- which I also love with a passion -- because sometimes your inner vision is more meaningful than an actor's or a director's. Also, the sweep of a book's detail and narrative isn't edited by a third party.

Having recently watched the 1974 movie version of my favorite book, "The Great Gatsby," it astounded me how extraordinarily thoughtful and detailed the production was. Yet this noble cinematic effort has received more than its share of mediocre reviews over the years. Because "Gatsby" isn't a character you can present to someone fully whole; Gatsby is personal.

The added dimension of audiobooks, plus technology, has added to my "reading" experience in many odd ways:

• There's "Lincoln in the Bardo," a novel with about 50 voices. All the voices come to life in the audiobook.
• There's the "Bill Clinton" and "James Patterson" book I'm currently listening to: "The President Is Missing." (Air-quoting the authors because I bet it was written by a team of ghostwriters; a talented team, but...) It's storytelling fluff; just mind-candy. Still, there's a scene where a character thinks of a Bach concerto, and the actual concerto plays in the background to parallel her thoughts.
• There's music in Patti Smith's book too, and the intimacy of her actual voice. When I listened to Diane Keaton's measured, precise reading of "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," I sped it up so that Joan Didion's words came at me in a crazy, intellectual jumble of images that reminded me of my best friend in Minnesota.
• And then there's the one recent book I had to read the old-fashioned way. It isn't available in audio format because it was self-published by my friend and former co-worker. Although I found it interesting to re-discover the simple joy of words on a page, I couldn't help but hear the voice of my friend echoing in my mind while I read... which added a dimension of soulfulness.

So feed your soul with some epic listening. And don't even get me started on the great new serial podcasts available from audible.com or independently (here's a scary one my daughter and I attended a great live performance of: thenosleeppodcast.com).

Lastly, here's the Washington Post again, touting the "Best 5 Audiobooks of 2018." The accompanying photo...

...features the "book jacket" to "The Poems of T. S. Eliot read by freaking Jeremy Irons."

OK, I added the "freaking." The Post's review really says, "Irons' narration for this collection of poems, beginning with 'The Waste Land,' is forlorn, desperate, crabby and weary -- mirroring Eliot's understanding of a desiccated, exhausted culture bereft of meaning."

For God's sake, does the intersection of art and life get any better than that?

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For extra credit, check out Irons reading "Lolita." -- and, for fans of the Garden State who prefer their books in print: "The 18 Books Every New Jersey Resident Should Read Before They Die."