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FRI., SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
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Learning to Listen
by Maris Kreizman
Hi, everyone. I'm Maris, eMusic's new audiobooks store manager. Just a few months ago, I was a book editor who obsessively surfed eMusic in my spare time (I’ve been a subscriber for two years). I was the kind of editor who had a different playlist for each book I was working on — Brooklyn indie rock for the hip and saucy story collection, alt-country for the true crime story set in Kentucky, Dizzee Rascal and Wiley for the book written by the former pirate radio DJ from London. Among my publishing friends, I was the one who always had the hot tip on the newest bands (right now I’m digging the Veils, Stars, Margot & the Nuclear So & So's and Bishop Allen). So imagine how deflated I felt when I arrived at eMusic and realized that in the company of my new colleagues, my musical knowledge is roughly equivalent to that of your casual American Idol fan.
I clearly have a lot to learn, but one thing I do know is that people who are passionate about music also tend to love great literature. And that excites me. Not only do I get to geek out on music at my new job, but I also get to read for pleasure again — a luxury that I was probably a bit too preoccupied to appreciate back in my book publishing days. I must admit that I don’t think working with audiobooks will ever replace the visceral thrill of cracking the spine of a brand new hardcover. I may be a reader first and foremost, but I’m becoming a listener. And so should you. Trust me, the downloaded version of Anna Karenina (my summer project) was much easier to carry on a crowded subway than the real book. And more than a few long car trips have been saved by Carl Hiaasen and Chuck Palahniuk.
The cool thing about listening to books is that a narrator’s performance can totally change your perspective on the original text. Literary fiction is my first love, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that the audio format brings a new theatrical dimension to some of my favorites. Check out Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, a novel that contains another noir-like novel within it. The audio recording gives the text an atmospheric quality that’s reminiscent of an old 1930s radio melodrama, but it’s written by one of today’s cleverest writers. Or try Never Let Me Go and let the narrator’s creepy inflection enhance the sense of dread that grows through every chapter of Kazuo Ishiguro’s unsettling masterpiece. I’ll be curious to hear how your own reading experiences change once you start listening to some of this stuff.
Don't discount how an author reading her own work can make a book feel fresher and more immediate. I wasn’t as moved by Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend nearly as much as I was by her debut novel, The Secret History, but when she reads The Little Friend out loud, Tartt’s personal touches — namely a lush Mississippi accent and an affectionate familiarity with her characters — make her precocious heroine really come to life. Also feast your ears on Ian McEwan showing some typical British restraint in his reading of On Chesil Beach, and Jonathan Lethem relishing the hipster dialogue on his indie-rock novel, You Don’t Love Me Yet. There’s just something truly intimate about hearing someone read their own work.
Brevity is also a helpful quality if you’re looking for an introduction to audiobooks. To keep pimping Lethem, his essay collections are borderline gateway drugs: Men & Cartoons and The Disappointment Artist are hilarious and not-too-intimidating ways to begin. The beauty of essays is that they’re short and easy to digest — no need for a transatlantic flight to take it all in. Let's file David Rakoff’s wittily brilliant Fraud and Don’t Get Too Comfortable in this category, too. Listen to a sample and I'll bet you'll be craving some more. Me, I’ll be listening to Rob Sheffield’s Love Is a Mix Tape, a music-focused memoir that is emotionally profound, and feels like the perfect transition for me into this more music-heavy world. Wish me luck.
Maris Kreizman is eMusic's Audiobooks Store Manager.
I clearly have a lot to learn, but one thing I do know is that people who are passionate about music also tend to love great literature. And that excites me. Not only do I get to geek out on music at my new job, but I also get to read for pleasure again — a luxury that I was probably a bit too preoccupied to appreciate back in my book publishing days. I must admit that I don’t think working with audiobooks will ever replace the visceral thrill of cracking the spine of a brand new hardcover. I may be a reader first and foremost, but I’m becoming a listener. And so should you. Trust me, the downloaded version of Anna Karenina (my summer project) was much easier to carry on a crowded subway than the real book. And more than a few long car trips have been saved by Carl Hiaasen and Chuck Palahniuk.
The cool thing about listening to books is that a narrator’s performance can totally change your perspective on the original text. Literary fiction is my first love, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that the audio format brings a new theatrical dimension to some of my favorites. Check out Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, a novel that contains another noir-like novel within it. The audio recording gives the text an atmospheric quality that’s reminiscent of an old 1930s radio melodrama, but it’s written by one of today’s cleverest writers. Or try Never Let Me Go and let the narrator’s creepy inflection enhance the sense of dread that grows through every chapter of Kazuo Ishiguro’s unsettling masterpiece. I’ll be curious to hear how your own reading experiences change once you start listening to some of this stuff.
Don't discount how an author reading her own work can make a book feel fresher and more immediate. I wasn’t as moved by Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend nearly as much as I was by her debut novel, The Secret History, but when she reads The Little Friend out loud, Tartt’s personal touches — namely a lush Mississippi accent and an affectionate familiarity with her characters — make her precocious heroine really come to life. Also feast your ears on Ian McEwan showing some typical British restraint in his reading of On Chesil Beach, and Jonathan Lethem relishing the hipster dialogue on his indie-rock novel, You Don’t Love Me Yet. There’s just something truly intimate about hearing someone read their own work.
Brevity is also a helpful quality if you’re looking for an introduction to audiobooks. To keep pimping Lethem, his essay collections are borderline gateway drugs: Men & Cartoons and The Disappointment Artist are hilarious and not-too-intimidating ways to begin. The beauty of essays is that they’re short and easy to digest — no need for a transatlantic flight to take it all in. Let's file David Rakoff’s wittily brilliant Fraud and Don’t Get Too Comfortable in this category, too. Listen to a sample and I'll bet you'll be craving some more. Me, I’ll be listening to Rob Sheffield’s Love Is a Mix Tape, a music-focused memoir that is emotionally profound, and feels like the perfect transition for me into this more music-heavy world. Wish me luck.
Maris Kreizman is eMusic's Audiobooks Store Manager.
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