Listen up! Audiobooks have their own charms for book lovers – Press Enterprise

We were talking about audiobooks, not long ago, and whether they count as reading. More people commented pro or con after the column appeared than had commented when I’d originally asked.

Well, we’ll get to you in a minute. (So pushy!) First, let me come back to the part I said I’d come back to, which is about me, me, me. Intent on including your views, I’d squeezed myself out of my own column.

As a supplement to my reading, I usually listen to one audiobook a month, borrowed via the Libby app from a public library. Most libraries use Libby, or in some cases Hoopla, for their digital audiobooks.

These are downloaded to my phone for the borrowing period. I listen when I’m out walking or driving. And often when I’m driving, my phone is also providing Google driving directions. The driving directions will interrupt and pause the audiobook narrator.

This is usually fine, but occasionally intrusive. Approaching a freeway on-ramp, entering the on-ramp and then merging onto the freeway might involve five interruptions within one minute.

Sometimes, the two voices seem to be in conversation, Google completing the narrator’s thought. I’ve jotted notes on the silliest ones.

From Helen Hunt Jackson’s “Ramona”: “He urged the horses” — “Take Exit 58B.”

Again from “Ramona”: “’She forbade me to speak to you? Felipe, what are we going to do?’” — “Continue on US 101 North for seven miles.”

From Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club”: “At which point, an old lady with fine white wispy hair nodded toward our family and said with a whistling whisper” — “In half a mile, use the right lane to take I-605 North.”

From Chen Qiufan’s “Waste Tide”: “‘What do you see?’ Mimi asked, smiling. She tentatively held his hand. “‘I see…’” — “In half a mile, take exit 77C for Tennessee Street.”

(Trivia note: I was headed to Carolyn’s Cafe in Redlands. Try the coffee cake.)

From Isaac Asimov’s “The Caves of Steel”: “Elijah stared bleakly at the useless blaster in his hand and said in a low voice” — “Turn right on Central Avenue.”

From S.C. Gwynne’s “Empire of the Summer Moon”: “…the Great Father would also provide $25,000 worth of clothing and other necessary items every year for 30 years. In exchange, the Indians had to” — “Stay right at the fork and then continue for eight miles.”

If only the actual deal from our president had offered so much and required so little.

Sometimes the audiobook itself has unintended humor based on the difference between reading text and hearing it spoken.

Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal” was a bestseller about end-of-life matters. The audiobook version ends with the standard farewell, sort of.

Says the grim narrator, as ethereal, afterlife-evoking piano music is heard behind him: “We hope you’ve enjoyed being mortal.”

We have, thanks, and were grateful to continue doing so past the end of the recording.

Some narrators have their own followers, just as authors do.

Last year I listened to “Chasing History,” Carl Bernstein’s memoir of his early days in newspapers. Months later, listening to another first-person book by a journalist, Paul Pringle’s “Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels,” I quickly realized that it had the same narrator.

That was stage actor Robert Petkoff in both cases. I like how he sounds. He’s like the voice of newspapers, literally.

Linda Trawnik of Rancho Cucamonga says “it’s especially fabulous to listen to a memoir in the author’s voice.” Elizabeth Adame of Riverside says the same: “Listening to a person tell their own life story fascinates me.” She likes listening to autobiographies and podcasts while working away on her art.

Wendy Leung of Canoga Park says audiobooks are getting more sophisticated: “I’m listening to the Barbra Streisand book, which is 48-plus hours, and it includes music, like old clips of her singing. Seth Rogen’s memoir has a whole cast of people acting out scenes.”

In the same vein, Ann Patchett’s new, acclaimed novel “Tom Lake” is narrated by Meryl Streep. Does any more need to be said? If anyone can put across a piece of writing, it’s got to be Meryl Streep.

Is listening to an audiobook “reading”? It’s a divisive question.

“Considering the fact that you don’t have to know how to read in order to listen to an audiobook, I’d say no. Reading is a different experience,” reasons Joe McGaha of Montclair.

“Listening is not reading. Audiobooks might be great to listen to in the car, while you’re busy doing a chore and even great for those who are visually impaired,” says Bob Charles of Upland, “but it is listening. Just listening and nothing more. Full stop.”

What were you saying, Bob? I wasn’t listening. (Just kidding.)

Via Twitter from Fontana, Cristobal, who is legally blind, counters: “When we read a book in Braille, we’re not ‘feeling’ the book. Audiobook listening is reading.”

Audiobooks aren’t for everyone. Some simply don’t find them compelling.

Angie Gillingham has had bad luck with them when the choice of her book club wasn’t readily available in print. The narrators have put her to sleep. But then, she probably hasn’t yet tried listening to Meryl Streep read “Tom Lake.”