About 4 months ago, I read The Dark Sun Rises by Denise Williamson and
narrated by Peter J Fernandez. The book was gut-wrenching and
spell-binding at the same time. What made it almost perfect was
Fernandez's excellent narration. If I had speeded up this book, I believe
something would have been lost. Synthesized speech could not have done
justice to it. If that is all I would have had to read it, of course, I
would have still read it. After all, as blind people, we do what we have
to do.
At 08:59 AM 7/13/2005, you wrote:
There is something to be said for an excellently narrated fiction book especially if the narrator can bring things to life. For a work of fiction, if done well, it makes the audio book a great experience. On the other hand, non-fiction is usually boring as a narrator can only do so much unless the book is of a lighter genre.
I suspect that something psychological may also be at play here. A book from Web Braille, BookShare, or scanned on a scanner is immediately available. Something borrowed from RFB&D or a NLS library, on the other hand, must be ordered first and then received at a later time. Downloaded books provide immediate reading which massages one's psyche.