For the first time in my life, I am listening to rather than reading a book. I took advantage of a free introductory offer from Audible to download All Change, the latest (and perhaps last?) volume of The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. The book is read beautifully, if a trifle monotonously, by Penelope Wilton of Downton Abbey fame.
Audio books have been with us for quite some time, I learn, but I have never felt the urge to "read" one in preference to a book, whether in paper or digital form, despite appreciating on occasion radio broadcasts like A Book at Bedtime. The audio book is an interesting concept for the author has surrendered a measure of control over his or her creation; not as much as in a film adaptation of course but the fact remains that the author's "voice" has been partly replaced by that of the actor.
Do authors have any say in the choice of actor, I wonder? I see that most of John le Carré's novels are read by Michael Jayston, but that Le Carré himself has also voiced over some of his books. I have heard him reading from one of his novels on the radio, and he was quite brilliant. Reading a book out loud must call for a very special skill, not necessarily shared by all actors. I should think it is a fairly lucrative business as well. It certainly was for the heroine of Stephen King's Rose Madder.
Audio books have been with us for quite some time, I learn, but I have never felt the urge to "read" one in preference to a book, whether in paper or digital form, despite appreciating on occasion radio broadcasts like A Book at Bedtime. The audio book is an interesting concept for the author has surrendered a measure of control over his or her creation; not as much as in a film adaptation of course but the fact remains that the author's "voice" has been partly replaced by that of the actor.
Do authors have any say in the choice of actor, I wonder? I see that most of John le Carré's novels are read by Michael Jayston, but that Le Carré himself has also voiced over some of his books. I have heard him reading from one of his novels on the radio, and he was quite brilliant. Reading a book out loud must call for a very special skill, not necessarily shared by all actors. I should think it is a fairly lucrative business as well. It certainly was for the heroine of Stephen King's Rose Madder.
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