{"id":30,"date":"2007-08-06T13:05:54","date_gmt":"2007-08-06T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/feilerfaster\/2007\/08\/are-audio-books-cheating.html"},"modified":"2007-08-06T13:05:54","modified_gmt":"2007-08-06T13:05:54","slug":"are-audio-books-cheating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/08\/are-audio-books-cheating.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Audio Books Cheating?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If my email is any indication, I would say the use of audiobooks seems to be ticking up. Of course, like any author, I am thrilled when people read my wok in any form. But audiobooks have clear tradeoffs. On the upside, they simply allow people who are otherwise busy, or can’t sit still, to listen to books. Three decades after my mother started listening to Books on Tape while commuting four hours each way from Savannah to Atlanta to get her MBA, listening to books while driving seems to be more popular than ever. Also, I would say those who listen to the recordings of WALKING THE BIBLE<\/a>, ABRAHAM<\/a>, and WHERE GOD WAS BORN <\/a>that I made, feel an increased intimacy with the author.
\nThe downside is that the audio recordings sold by the publishers are usually abridged. ABRAHAM is actually unabridged, because it’s shorter, but WALKING THE BIBLE and WHERE GOD WAS BORN were cut down to one third of their original length. Hey, this may be an upside! But readers who are trying to listen to unabridged audio books in lieu of reading <\/a>them for their book clubs at least should know.<\/p>\n

JANICE RASPEN, a librarian at an elementary school in Fredericksburg, Va., came clean with her book club a couple years ago. They were discussing \u201cA Fine Balance,\u201d a novel set in India in the 1970s by Rohinton Mistry and an Oprah\u2019s Book Club pick, when she told the group \u2014 all fellow teachers \u2014 that rather than read the book, she had listened to an audio version.
\n\u201cMy statement was met with stunned silence,\u201d said Ms. Raspen, 38.
\nFinally Catherine Altman, an art teacher, spoke up.
\n\u201cI said that I felt like listening to a book was a copout,\u201d Ms. Altman said. \u201cI\u2019m not like a hardcore book group person \u2014 a lot of times I don\u2019t even finish the book. But my point was that she is a librarian and I thought it was pretty ridiculous. I\u2019m a painter and it would be like me painting by numbers.\u201d
\nThe perennial disagreement in book groups has been over authors, with the single-malt drinkers arguing for F. Scott Fitzgerald and the chardonnay drinkers for Anita Shreve. But the latest schism in the living room lit-fests is not over whom they read, but if they read.
\nIs it acceptable, they debate within and among themselves, to listen to that month\u2019s book rather than read it? Or is that cheating, like watching the movie instead of reading the book?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If my email is any indication, I would say the use of audiobooks seems to be ticking up. Of course, like any author, I am thrilled when people read my wok in any form. But audiobooks have clear tradeoffs. On the upside, they simply allow people who are otherwise busy, or can’t sit still, to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-personal"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Audio Books Cheating? - Feiler Faster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/08\/are-audio-books-cheating.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Audio Books Cheating? - Feiler Faster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If my email is any indication, I would say the use of audiobooks seems to be ticking up. 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He is the best-selling author of nine books, including Walking the Bible, Abraham, and America's Prophet, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction bestsellers in the last decade. He is also the writer\/presenter of the PBS miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE. His latest book, The Council of Dads, tells the uplifting story of how friendship and community can help one survive life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest challenge. 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