Tags: Celebrity, Audio Books, Harold Innis, Tina Fey, Education

Audio books, especially author read audio books have been rising in popularity in recent years.  The audio book dates back to the concept of the oral tradition, when books were read aloud (Kozloff 83) to children and adults.  Audio books are used for different purposes and many people have mixed opinions on these so called ‘books’.

Harold Innis, a noted Media aficionado, would be pleased with the audio book, considering that it is derived from the oral tradition. He assumed the written tradition to be “a decline in the power of expression” (Innis 11),  and therefore the oral, for example audio books and public readings, remain dear to him as they allow the reader or author to provide emotion to their listeners.   People find comfort in the audiobook because it allows them to multitask, they can listen while driving, cleaning a house, or exercising; you do not have to put precious time aside in order to read a book (Irwin 358).  Audiobooks are also used for long distance trips and a way to pass the time (Stewart 111).  Lastly audiobooks are extremely important to people learning to read, such as children or people learning a new language, as they can easily listen to the recorded book and follow along with the text (Byrom 3).

Celebrity read and author read audio books are especially popular because people want to hear what the author had in mind while they were writing their books. Listeners find that “the person doing the reading is as important as the writing” (Kent). Take Tina Fey’s memoir Bossypants as an example.  Tina Fey wrote her book, Bossypants, with great emotion and hilarity. Janet Maslin of the New York Times describes the book as “a spiky blend of humor, introspection, [and] critical thinking” (Maslin C1).  One issue with textual reading is that humour in books can be hard to find and tough to really understand without an oral version or a context.  Hachette Book Group took Fey’s already popular book and created the audio version of it, with Fey as the reader.  The audio book comes in five discs and provides bonus photographs and videos from Fey’s days at Saturday Night Live, thereby creating an even greater experience for the listener.  As of October 2011, six months after the original release of the written book, the audio book had sold one hundred and fifty thousand copies (Bosman).  The book was the obvious choice for avid readers who have the time to sit down and really read this book. However, Tina Fey inserts so much emotion and sarcasm into the reading of her book and by doing that she really catches the ‘readers’ attention. Matthew Thornton, of Audible.com, says that many authors, like Tina Fey, will also “include additional material in an audio version that may have been edited out of the print book” (Irish).Whether this is because the language is crude or because the author may have just thought of an idea that was missed in the original print.

Audiobooks may be the future, for they are the go to reading material in stressful days when people cannot find enough time in their busy lives to read a book. In 2010 $81.9 million worth of audiobooks were sold, up 39 percent from 2009 (Bosman). It has even been reported that an affiliation of Amazon will be releasing new audiobooks of older texts.  Books that take a long time to read can get quite boring after hours of reading and are thus being transferred into audiobooks with authors such as Dustin Hoffman and Kim Basinger (Bosman). Kate Winslet, who is also lending her voice to an upcoming audio book says audio books allow you “to tune out and be taken into another world… that is being created entirely for you by somebody else’s voice” (Alberge).  Audiobooks are an up and coming fad, they can teach people to read, allow for multitasking and be interesting at the same time. Celebrity read audio books allow the readers to hear their favourite celebrity and perhaps feel like they are engaging in an experience with them.

Works Cited

Alberge, Dalya. “Hollywood stars give voice to their favourite novels in audiobook boom.” The Guardian 9 October 2011. Print. 11 March 2012.

Bosman, Julie. “Star’s will read Amazon Unit’s New Audio Book Series.” New York Times 2 October 2011. Print. 5 March 2012.

“Bossypants.”  Hachette Book Group. Hachette Book Group, n.d. Web. 5 March 2012.

Byrom, Gillie. “If you can’t read it then audio read it.” Literacy 32.2 (1998):  3-7. Print. 25 January 2012.

“Harold Adam Innis.” University of Toronto Archives and Record Management. University of Toronto, n.d. Web. 11 March 2012.

Innis, Harold. The Bias of Communication. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. Print.

Irish, Paul. “Barack Obama and Tina Fey audiobooks are a hit.” Toronto Star 18 February 2012. Print. 11 March 2012.

Irwin, William. “Reading Audio Books.” Philosophy and Literature. 33.2 (2009): 358-368. Print.

Kent, Steven. “Rising popularity of audio books leaving its own imprint on the publishing    market”. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 24 August 2003. Print. 11 March 2012.

Kozloff, Sarah. “Audio Books in a Visual Culture.” Journal of American Culture. 18.4 (1995):  83-95. Print. 23 January 2012.

Maslin, Janet. “Tina Fey is Greek and also Teutonic, but she isn’t a Troll.” Rev. of Bossypants, Tina Fey.  New York Times 3 April 2011: C1. Print.

Stewart, Garrett. Audiobooks, literature, and sound studies. Ed. Matthew Rubery. New York:Routledge, 2011. Print.