We're all ears

Reading, it turns out, isn't something you have to do with your eyes. You can read with your ears, too. . . . But unabridged, if you don't mind.

So writes author Lawrence Block in The Village Voice.

My housemate, who is a lot smarter than she looks (and also a writer), is a big fan of audiobooks (unabridged, of course), though some of her more high-minded friends think she's copping out by having, say, V. S. Naipaul's Magic Seeds read to her rather than reading it herself.

We, like Block, think there's huge potential for audio, especially in education, and especially in countries like ours where actual literacy levels leave much to be desired and where undiagnosed learning disabilities probably cause many young people to be relegated to slow-learner streams because they have difficulty taking in written material.

We're also certain that the act of pure, concentrated listening--something we rarely have the opportunity (or obligation) to do once we leave school--must be therapeutic in some way, if only in the sense that it takes those of us who were read to as children back to that (one hopes) blissful time when our parents read to us before bedtime.

Of course, the quality of an audiobook depends heavily on the skill of the reader. Some books we have enjoyed in audio form: the His Dark Materials series, read by its author Philip Pullman and others; Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, read by Lisette Lecat (complete with authentic southern African accents--masterful!); and Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, read by Jeff Woodman. All are available from Audible.com.