Audio books: Yes or No.

Audiobooks: Yes or No

Driving on my way home from work. The radio in the background blasting out the same songs I'd heard for the past week, or had it been two weeks? How can the radio be so draining? Surely people must get bored listening to the same 'top' songs every day.

I love music but either I am getting old at 23 or I need to switch to a new radio station. Problem is, they all seem the same! And I kept thinking about the books I could have been reading if I could do the following: secure the steering wheel, change the gears, drink my chai latte and hold my ereader with both hands. I would also need to programme my eyes so one reads the book whilst the other looks out for obstacles I may crash into whilst driving. A lovely thought but I guess it wouldn't be very practical, or safe *sigh*. And so, my kindle had to be sacrificed :(

A mind-boggling thought occurred (quote: Roald Dahl) ...why don't I play an audiobook instead of listening to the radio where 9/10 of songs are not to my taste, and the news just depresses me? That way I get the best of both worlds!

Thanks to my local library, which provide a variety of free audio and ebooks available to download I added a few I would like to hear so when I am driving alone I would be kept entertained and not miss my kindle toooo much. 

Alas, my excitement was shortlived because....I am British. Which means that although I read many US/Canadian/Australian books, I always imagine the characters to have British accents! So you can picture my surprise when I hear a high pitched girly voice with an American accent! Please don't get me wrong I have nothing against other accents, in fact my favourite series are all american, such as Vampire Diaries (Damien *sigh*), 90210, Hart of Dixie etc etc.
But it is completely different to listen to the voices without having faces to match. 

It amazes me how one person can portray so many characters just by adapting their voice.
I have finished listening to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and am now listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, read by Stephen Fry. Seriously, that guy has some talent if he can change his voice to speak for Hagrid, Hermione and Ron in the one scene! What a Legend.

So overall, my experience is that audio books are great fun to listen to.... however...if I could have my way, I'd read my books on my Kindle all the way!

Zed (: