Yes this! I've also accidentally discovered this and started doing it about half a year ago. I work in publishing and have to get through lots of pages per week, so when it comes to the reading in my free time, I want to have a deeper reading of the books I choose. I love huge, sweeping epics, and I find that immersive reading is great for that. I just finished 'The Heart's Invisible Furies' by John Boyne this way, and the Irish accent of the narrator really made the world come alive. My boyfriend thinks I'm strange for swearing by it, but it's such a lifesaver when you have a short attention span.
It really helps with the attention span or when I find the text to be a bit hard to get through! Its really great to see how other readers do it and what experiences they have ✨
This sounds bonkers but I'm willing to give it a try. It does make me think of school though where we would read a book whilst one unfortunate classmate was tasked with the job of reading aloud.
This is exactly right. At school, we always had one kid reading out aloud a text. Thank you for the reminder, now I won’t feel like a failure of having to read and listen at the same time. Furthermore, as I had Covid twice, I swear to God, my concentration swerves me off the page many times and back. However, my concentration is progressively getting better by trying out all different reading and writing tools.
There’s a fantastic miniseries by a Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondachuk. I highly recommend it! It is a wonderful, sweeping portrayal of War and Peace. I read the book, but I loved that miniseries. It’s on Max right now, but you can rent it on Prime too.
Ooooo, thanks for the tip! I gave eventually up on War and Peace, but maybe a miniseries would get me more into it. I have MAX, so I will check if its available in my country ✨
Just make sure it’s the Russian version. There’s a version with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn, NOT that one, lol. There’s Russian one is way way better
Ooh I love this idea, thank you for sharing! I’ve been wanting to get back into reading more but really struggling with the motivation and concentration aspects, so I definitely am going to try this. And I totally see how fantasy stories are especially great for immersive reading and makes the rich world building come alive.
I had that struggle with dracula bram stoker it was interesting but only time i can read is when am off to sleep. So it felt like am reading out of necessity not cuz i wanted to. UNTIL I THOUGHT WHAT IFFFFFF ASMR VERSION OF AUDIOBOOK. God bless them i found alot on youtube and the story is actually very interesting and exciting.
I do this as well! I love to listen and read. I also love to be able to switch between print and audio depending on what’s happening in my day.
However, I have books I’ve struggled with that I’m realizing I haven’t tried immersive reading with, like Lord of the Rings. Perhaps it’s time to try for those as well.
I love combining audiobooks and print! I found that it helps with books that I am struggling with or when I just cant seem to shut down all my thoughts
I read and listened to Braiding Sweetgrass. It was really good. Robin Wall Kimmerer reads the book herself. Her voice is very soothing. I’m also doing a War and Peace slow read. I like it, but all the characters and the name variations can be confusing at times. I refer to the character list quite often!
I have tried this with a couple of books that I had to read for work and also found it really helped to get through them. I love audio books for when I’m in the bath or doing housework but I might try listening and reading for pleasure now - thanks
I'm glad you are finding W&P easier to get into with audio. Hang on in there!
It's interesting how we find some books or genres easier than others. I've read a lot of classical Russian authors, so Tolstoy is no problem for me. It builds on my reading of Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and others.
(Btw, if you want a gripping Russian classic which is intense but shorter than W&P, I'd recommend Crime and Punishment. It's an easier way to get into the Russian classics than W&P.)
On the other hand, I struggle with the fantasy genre these days, whereas you seem to glide smoothly through it. As a youngster I read the Hobbit and LOTR/Silmarillion, and I still love those. Also the Earthsea trilogy was a great favourite of mine.
These days, though, I struggle to care much about various fantasy worlds and their inhabitants. Sometimes I just find them silly and I don't care what happens to the characters, which is the kiss of death for a book. I then read some sci-fi instead.
I've started reading the Fire & Ice series, and this is more "serious" and sober, but I'm still on the first book (Game of Thrones) and reading into a headwind, as it were. I don't know if I'll finish that book.
Not caring for characters and their archs is really the end for me as well! I am finding it a bit harder to connect to fantasy these days as well, perhaps its the age, or the fact that I am picking books that have less of what I enjoy!
Yes, it could be advancing age which makes us more sceptical and less open to new worlds. That's one possibility.
Another is that a lot of books in the fantasy genre just aren't very good. For decades, publishers have churned out low-quality fantasy by the yard, mostly repetitive stuff written to a formula. My reaction is often "Oh no, yet another substandard fantasy tale set in a cod-medieval world".
That's why if I want to read a non-realist book I often turn to sci-fi. Although there can also be low-quality work in that genre, on the whole it is more innovative and intellectually engaged, offering different perspectives of the future and how human beings will live in it.
Anyway, I wish you all the best for your wrestling with the gorilla that is W&P. Get in touch if you ever want a bit of moral support for continuing it. Best wishes.
I do believe there has been a bit of a copy paste mentality to a lot of the fantasy we are seeing being published today - and yes, there are quite a few books I find myself wondering how they made it past the editing stage.
Since I've been reading through the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, there are quite a few books set in other settings, but they are still not...well I dont want to say good enough, because some of them are - they are just not my kind of book, while others I do think are published too early. They would've benefitted from having more time to develop either the setting, the characters, the dialogue - or everything that makes up the book.
Hey Gabby, love that you have experimented with this approach. I really haven’t got into audio books but JoJo and I have been discussing it as an approach when we’re on our train adventure in the Autumn. But both together. Amazing. I’m currently reading Dune. I would have struggled if I hadn’t seen the film recently. It’s a wildly different genre for me. The insight the film offered got me through the ‘funny names/who’s who’ phase. Happy reading. Barrie
It takes time to adjust! But its fun when it works 🥳 Oh Dune is on my list! I got about halfway through the book by the time the movie came out, I still mean to go back and finish it
‘Dune’ is one of my ‘published in 1965’ reads to celebrate an old man’s milestone birthday!! I’m actually really getting into it. There’s a rhythm/voice to it that takes a bit of adjusting to, but it is imaginative and compelling. I’m reading it in between sessions to plan our big train ride in the Autumn! Scandinavia first!
I try to do this with a lot of the books I read. It's nice to have a voice in my head saying the words that are written on the pages in front of me. It also helps with the pronunciation of names, cities, etc ... in translated literature and/or fantasy/scifi books. Bonus if you get a really good narrator and you get lost in the stories. 😊
Yes this! I've also accidentally discovered this and started doing it about half a year ago. I work in publishing and have to get through lots of pages per week, so when it comes to the reading in my free time, I want to have a deeper reading of the books I choose. I love huge, sweeping epics, and I find that immersive reading is great for that. I just finished 'The Heart's Invisible Furies' by John Boyne this way, and the Irish accent of the narrator really made the world come alive. My boyfriend thinks I'm strange for swearing by it, but it's such a lifesaver when you have a short attention span.
It really helps with the attention span or when I find the text to be a bit hard to get through! Its really great to see how other readers do it and what experiences they have ✨
This sounds bonkers but I'm willing to give it a try. It does make me think of school though where we would read a book whilst one unfortunate classmate was tasked with the job of reading aloud.
This is exactly right. At school, we always had one kid reading out aloud a text. Thank you for the reminder, now I won’t feel like a failure of having to read and listen at the same time. Furthermore, as I had Covid twice, I swear to God, my concentration swerves me off the page many times and back. However, my concentration is progressively getting better by trying out all different reading and writing tools.
Oh haha that brings back memories 😂
There’s a fantastic miniseries by a Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondachuk. I highly recommend it! It is a wonderful, sweeping portrayal of War and Peace. I read the book, but I loved that miniseries. It’s on Max right now, but you can rent it on Prime too.
Ooooo, thanks for the tip! I gave eventually up on War and Peace, but maybe a miniseries would get me more into it. I have MAX, so I will check if its available in my country ✨
Just be sure it’s the Russian version and not the one with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda. The Russian version is the one to see.
Just make sure it’s the Russian version. There’s a version with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn, NOT that one, lol. There’s Russian one is way way better
I accidentally found this as well and use it for those ‘harder’ reads. I love it.
Its such a nice way to get through them!
Ooh I love this idea, thank you for sharing! I’ve been wanting to get back into reading more but really struggling with the motivation and concentration aspects, so I definitely am going to try this. And I totally see how fantasy stories are especially great for immersive reading and makes the rich world building come alive.
I hope it works for you! ✨
I really do think these stories are the ones that really work well with this
I had that struggle with dracula bram stoker it was interesting but only time i can read is when am off to sleep. So it felt like am reading out of necessity not cuz i wanted to. UNTIL I THOUGHT WHAT IFFFFFF ASMR VERSION OF AUDIOBOOK. God bless them i found alot on youtube and the story is actually very interesting and exciting.
Asmr version of audiobooks! Im gonna take note of that
I do this as well! I love to listen and read. I also love to be able to switch between print and audio depending on what’s happening in my day.
However, I have books I’ve struggled with that I’m realizing I haven’t tried immersive reading with, like Lord of the Rings. Perhaps it’s time to try for those as well.
I love combining audiobooks and print! I found that it helps with books that I am struggling with or when I just cant seem to shut down all my thoughts
oooh i have to try this for lord of the rings
I loved doing this with The Lord of the Rings! ✨
Do people have a preference in the platform they use for audiobooks?
Never supporting anything owned by Jeff Bezos such as Audible. Now using Libra.fm where part of the profits go to my local bookstore.
Personally I use audible :)
I read and listened to Braiding Sweetgrass. It was really good. Robin Wall Kimmerer reads the book herself. Her voice is very soothing. I’m also doing a War and Peace slow read. I like it, but all the characters and the name variations can be confusing at times. I refer to the character list quite often!
the character list has seriously been a lifesaver!
I have tried this with a couple of books that I had to read for work and also found it really helped to get through them. I love audio books for when I’m in the bath or doing housework but I might try listening and reading for pleasure now - thanks
Audiobooks can be such a huge help for getting through a book!
That's such a great idea, and I'm glad you found something that works for you!
Im so happy I decided to give it another go! So far it’s been easier to read W&P
I'm glad you are finding W&P easier to get into with audio. Hang on in there!
It's interesting how we find some books or genres easier than others. I've read a lot of classical Russian authors, so Tolstoy is no problem for me. It builds on my reading of Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and others.
(Btw, if you want a gripping Russian classic which is intense but shorter than W&P, I'd recommend Crime and Punishment. It's an easier way to get into the Russian classics than W&P.)
On the other hand, I struggle with the fantasy genre these days, whereas you seem to glide smoothly through it. As a youngster I read the Hobbit and LOTR/Silmarillion, and I still love those. Also the Earthsea trilogy was a great favourite of mine.
These days, though, I struggle to care much about various fantasy worlds and their inhabitants. Sometimes I just find them silly and I don't care what happens to the characters, which is the kiss of death for a book. I then read some sci-fi instead.
I've started reading the Fire & Ice series, and this is more "serious" and sober, but I'm still on the first book (Game of Thrones) and reading into a headwind, as it were. I don't know if I'll finish that book.
Not caring for characters and their archs is really the end for me as well! I am finding it a bit harder to connect to fantasy these days as well, perhaps its the age, or the fact that I am picking books that have less of what I enjoy!
Yes, it could be advancing age which makes us more sceptical and less open to new worlds. That's one possibility.
Another is that a lot of books in the fantasy genre just aren't very good. For decades, publishers have churned out low-quality fantasy by the yard, mostly repetitive stuff written to a formula. My reaction is often "Oh no, yet another substandard fantasy tale set in a cod-medieval world".
That's why if I want to read a non-realist book I often turn to sci-fi. Although there can also be low-quality work in that genre, on the whole it is more innovative and intellectually engaged, offering different perspectives of the future and how human beings will live in it.
Anyway, I wish you all the best for your wrestling with the gorilla that is W&P. Get in touch if you ever want a bit of moral support for continuing it. Best wishes.
I do believe there has been a bit of a copy paste mentality to a lot of the fantasy we are seeing being published today - and yes, there are quite a few books I find myself wondering how they made it past the editing stage.
Since I've been reading through the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, there are quite a few books set in other settings, but they are still not...well I dont want to say good enough, because some of them are - they are just not my kind of book, while others I do think are published too early. They would've benefitted from having more time to develop either the setting, the characters, the dialogue - or everything that makes up the book.
//They would've benefitted from having more time to develop either the setting, the characters, the dialogue - or everything that makes up the book.//
In other words, the book is great apart from its beginning, middle and end! 😁
😂
Hey Gabby, love that you have experimented with this approach. I really haven’t got into audio books but JoJo and I have been discussing it as an approach when we’re on our train adventure in the Autumn. But both together. Amazing. I’m currently reading Dune. I would have struggled if I hadn’t seen the film recently. It’s a wildly different genre for me. The insight the film offered got me through the ‘funny names/who’s who’ phase. Happy reading. Barrie
It takes time to adjust! But its fun when it works 🥳 Oh Dune is on my list! I got about halfway through the book by the time the movie came out, I still mean to go back and finish it
‘Dune’ is one of my ‘published in 1965’ reads to celebrate an old man’s milestone birthday!! I’m actually really getting into it. There’s a rhythm/voice to it that takes a bit of adjusting to, but it is imaginative and compelling. I’m reading it in between sessions to plan our big train ride in the Autumn! Scandinavia first!
That is such a cool reading project ✨
Oh! Have you decided where you will go in Scandinavia?
I try to do this with a lot of the books I read. It's nice to have a voice in my head saying the words that are written on the pages in front of me. It also helps with the pronunciation of names, cities, etc ... in translated literature and/or fantasy/scifi books. Bonus if you get a really good narrator and you get lost in the stories. 😊