We
were in our 30s, my brother and I -- him closer to 30, me closer to 40 back
then -- and planning a drive north through California. We need a book-on-tape to listen to, I told
him. This was before iPods, before CDs, and audio books came only on cassettes.
Like
me, he was a fan of fiction and left it to me to choose the book.
If
you haven't tried to find common literary ground with another person, books
that you're both happy to listen to simultaneously, let me tell you that it
isn't easy. But Larry McMurtry is a crossover author, one who could bridge the
gap between contemporary literature and popular fiction. At the time, his "Lonesome
Dove" and "The Last Picture Show" were still popular, and I
chose one of his less-known novels for my trip with my brother.
All
went well until the narrative hit a sex scene. Ever watch porn with a sibling?
You may not see body parts in a book, but the descriptions of sex are far more
detailed and explicit than what you hear and see on the screen. We made a stop
for gas and never hit the play button again. And thus came the first of
Marjie's rules for choosing an audio book: Check out whether a book has sex
scenes. Never listen to a book with sex scenes with anyone you don't want to
sleep with.
Over
the years, I've listened to hundreds of audio books, both on road trips and the
daily commute to work. I've learned that some of the finest literature is a
poor choice for audio, and some books I wouldn't waste my scarce reading time
on are perfect for listening.
The
key difference between reading and listening: Whether you're confused,
enchanted, or rapt, the reader keeps reading at the same pace, the story keeps
moving forward, and you can't keep rewinding to repeat what you missed or
didn't understand.
Having
made plenty of poor choices, I've developed my own guidelines for choosing
audio books.
*Don't
listen to a book known for its wonderful use of words. While you're savoring a
particularly nice turn of phrase, the story has kept moving and you've missed
it. I made the mistake of listening to "The God of Small Things," by
Arundhati Roy, who makes lovely use of words. I repeated phrases to myself,
pictured the detailed images her words created, and repeatedly missed whatever
immediately followed. Eventually, I stopped listening and bought the book.
*Ditto
for books that are exceptionally thought provoking. While you mentally debate
what you’ve just heard, the reader keeps reading.
*Don't
pick a book with a lot of key characters or by an author known for complicated
plots. You can't flip back through the pages to remind yourself who is the
sister and who is the wife, or which spy recruited a particular informant. Listening
to “A Game of Thrones” on a road trip to North Carolina, I had trouble keeping
the characters and their relationships straight and started to fall asleep. I
finally pulled over and looked up the story on my iPad. John LeCarre's spy
novels have wonderfully complicated plots and relationships; his books are
perfect for readers, too complicated for listeners.
*Remember
that you can’t skip over dull parts of an audio book. A well-written history or
biography is particularly good as an audio book (“The Killer Angels: A Novel of
the Civil War” by Michael Shaara is one of the best ever), but an author like
David McCullough (“John Adams,” “The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the
Panama Canal, 1870-1914”) who apparently feels the need to account for every
scrap of paper he came across in his research, becomes unlistenable because you
can’t skip the ponderous, repetitious passages.
*Choose a book that engages no more than 50 percent
of your brain. You -- or whoever is driving -- need the other half of your
brain for driving. A book that feels lightweight or uncomplicated when you're
reading it is probably just right for listening. A lot of detective novels and
spy thrillers meet these criteria. My go-to list for listening includes authors Michael
Connelly, Daniel Silva, Tony Hillerman, Sara Paretsky and Louise Perry.
The
Millennium Trilogy (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” etc.) and “The Hunger
Games” were terrific to listen to. I was so entranced by the first book in the
Hunger Games trilogy that I missed my freeway turnoff and ended up doubling
back. But the consistently best books I listened to, thanks to Jim Dale, the
best reader ever, were the Harry Potter books.
All
that said, here in no particular order are the best books I listened to in
2012:
FICTION
“The
Art of Fielding” by Chad Harbach
“Beautiful
Ruins” by Jess Walter
“State
of Wonder” by Ann Patchett
“Gone
Girl” by Gillian Flynn
“Where’d
You Go Bernadette” by Maria Semple
“Wishin’
and Hopin’” by Wally Lamb
NON-FICTION
“The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
“Wild”
by Cheryl Strayed
“My
Life in France” by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme