#PretendPanel Sept 11

I used to have trouble focusing on audiobooks, but I had to read so much in grad school while also working that I started listening to them in the car, and now I love them!

Tbh they're easier for me now than physical books (😭) because I can multitask while listening.

#PretendPanel As a reader: They're sometimes the only way that I can actually read.

As a writer: I love it, because storytelling has a rich vocal history. It gives me the opportunity to narrate my own books, or to support people I love.

(Books is books, right #BookBazaar26? lol)

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I enjoy reading physical books, but it's hard to focus and I end up reading the same paragraph 3 times to absorb it with the ADHD.

I read to Puck, but for pleasure it's all audiobooks.

I always wanted to voice act, so I plan to do some for Zeke's books.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

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I can’t sit there and listen to someone talk at me for hours on end so I tend to avoid them.

I hate that there's so much debate abt audiobooks among the bookish community. I fully support audiobooks (both as a reader and a writer) and yes absolutely listening to an audiobook counts as reading. No question..

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Huge fan of audiobooks. I love listening to them, I love knowing they exist, I love them as an accessibility option, I love how much artistry can go into them, and I love how they keep oral storytelling going.

I hope to have them for my books someday.

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Love them!
(Conceptually. I love that they exist as an art form and as accessibility.)

I like them🤏
(In limited amounts for my own consumption, as I prefer to visually read, but can occasionally appreciate a little variety for my long commute.)

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I’m genuinely not a fan. Idk I feel I find them a little overstimulating.
However I have watched live readings. Actor Doug Bradley posts YouTube videos of him reading short stories, and I like them
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#pretendpanel Long ago, I used to support them if only for accessibility reasons. In the last few years, I've been devouring audiobooks since I have a relatively easy job where I can listen to them for hours at a time while at work. It's because of audiobooks that I've been able to engage with

...of emphasis, rising and falling intonation, stuff like that.

Molly, our antagonist, deliberately speaks with a high pitch for "kawaii" effect and also EMPHASIZES key WORDS for effect, like the bold text in a comic-book speech bubble. Like David, a deliberate construction.

(2/3)
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...described by a minor character as "soft and melodious." She has a kind of interesting accent since she spent a few formative years in the South and a few more years pretending to be Canadian.

Nicky has a pretty high speaking (and singing) voice for a guy. He uses a *lot*

(2/3)

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Absolutely!

The voice David adopts for speaking is not especially low-pitched (his natural speaking voice is *quite* high-pitched). He speaks softly, evenly, and with a distinct upper-middle-class Southeastern UK accent verging on posh.

Jeanette has a low-pitched voice,

(1/3)
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...when on long car rides with my spouse, who does increasingly employ them for their book clubs, and it's generally been a very nice experience.

It's kind of like anime dubs, IMO. They used to be a genuinely inferior product and now audiobooks are their own thing!

(2/2)

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I used to really hate them. I thought the narrators were often terrible and besides that, they were generally abridged. But that was decades ago. Modern audiobooks have been a nice surprise; I prefer to read since I am a very fast reader but I've listened to some audiobooks

(1/2)

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#PretendPanel 🧵(2/2)
… and I like to flick pages to check details as I read.
Also, much depends on a good narrator. Narration can put a barrier between me and the text, stopping me from hearing characters’ voices in my head. For that reason, I prefer audio nonfiction to fiction, but I consume both.

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I like audiobooks, particularly when I’m travelling. Avoids travel sickness on the bus! They also allow me to multitask (eg knit/read at the same time) so help me to read more.
But they’re not a direct substitute to reading with my eyes. I take things in better ‘eye-reading’…🧵(1/2)

#PretendPanel I love audiobooks! I wouldn't have read as many books as I did last year without them. It's both accessible and flexible, because you're processing the exact same information, just a different medium.
I commuted a lot so I didn't have time to physically read. Audiobooks really help me.