Remember being read to as a child? There's nothing more comforting and enthralling than a special person reading just to you. Happily those days can be recaptured, somewhat, with audiobooks.
What better way to quiet children during an exhausting car trip? If you're a high school student obliged to slog through Moby Dick, try listening to it; it's a completely different experience. Likewise, book discussion group members: Is next month's selection something you just cannot get involved in? Listen instead! Listening to books helps take the sting out of a long commute, a traffic jam and even a motionless train. Joggers use them to alleviate the boredom of a run. More than a few listeners have told me that they've sat in their cars in the garage or driven a few times around the block just to hear the end of a story.
Audiobook listeners have grown in number dramatically in the last 10 years as the medium has become more sophisticated. Audiobooks now most often are released simultaneously with print editions. The fiction bestseller list is available in audio as are popular nonfiction titles on philosophy, religion, politics, self-help, medicine, biography and history. Whether you want to be entertained or enlightened, audiobooks are at your service.
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Fifteen years ago the small pool of narrators was dominated by the late great Frank Muller, the first superstar of audiobook narrators. Today celebrated actors such as Judy Dench and Patrick Stewart read alongside professional narrators such as George Guidall and Barbara Rosenblatt. A talented reader can make a mediocre book good and a good book great.
Formats come and go like summer lightning. We don't buy books on cassette any longer. MP3 books on CD landed with a thud. Today the Glen Ellyn Library offers a wide range of books on CD, Playaways and digital downloads. Joggers especially are delighted to discover Playaways, preloaded MP3 players smaller than a cigarette pack. They plug in their ear buds or earphones, tuck the player in their pocket, and off they go.
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Digital downloads offer varied options: Burn to CD, download to PC, download to MAC, WMA or iPod mobile devices. Not all titles offer all options. Go to "Reader's Corner" on the library website which takes you to OverDrive . There download and activate the software, the OverDrive Media Console. Each title displays compatible players. If it sounds complicated to you, come to one of our classes on digital downloads which the library will be offering after the first of the year.
In the meantime, give yourself a unique listening experience with one of the these exceptional audiobooks:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson
The Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
Anne Frank Remembered, by Miep Gies, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, narrated by Juliet Stevenson
Extreme Measures, by Vince Flynn, narrated by George Guidall
Or stop in and see us. We love to make suggestions!
