Every time I listen to an audiobook, I am amazed by the new dimensions that previously explored books take on. I downloaded a free copy of P&P from Loyal Books (it used to be Books Should Be Free-it's a company that records books that are now free since they are in the public domain). Luckily, this particular recording was a good one and the narrator's voice didn't annoy me, something that frequently occurs when I listen to audiobooks.
Everybody knows the story of Pride and Prejudice, so there's no way that I need to actually give you a synopsis here, so I'll just write some of the things I loved about listening, in particular, to P&P.
- I can be a very a fast reader at times and so being able to catch every word and s l o w down was good for me. Listening made me realize yet again how brilliant Austen's writing is and that her work is something to be savored and focused on.
- The dialogue was a huge highlight of listening. The reader that narrated my recording was very good at switching voices and I had so much fun listening to the pages upon pages of verbal sparring that is so prolific in Austen's writing. I am always so impressed by how mean those people can be without ever losing their manners.
- I completely forgot about running while I was listening and, as such, improved my time immensely. I've always been a slow-ish runner and it's thanks to Jane Austen that I'm getting up enough speed to run a 5k without driving everybody nuts around me.
- I loved the characters more. For some reason, listening to these characters talk and live, I became more attached to them than I ever have through reading or watching the 4-hour extravaganza of a movie.
- It made me lengthen my runs. I was guilty of saying, "Hey, I did 2 miles, what the heck," when I needed to keep going. Because I was breathlessly (quite literally) eager to hear what was going to happen after Lydia runs away with Wickam (yes, yes, I know what's going to happen, but still…), I did longer runs.
- Runs became more meditative. While I was listening, I would slow down a bit to laugh at the squirrel fight going on over my head or turn around to watch a sunset unfolding. The prettiness around me was perfectly offset by Jane Austen's lovely words.
This is something I really recommend doing, if you run or work out at all. At first, you're going to be distracted and it's going to be hard to focus if you've never done this before. But pick a book that you've read a million times and before you know it, you'll be completely engrossed and you'll never go back to book-less exercise.
