eBooks and Audiobooks

In one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Juliet cogitates on the question, "What's in a name?" before producing, "That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet" (Shakespeare, n.d., 2.2.46-47). Some 400 years later, most are in agreement with the young star-crossed lover, accepting that a rose's scent is independent of its name. However, things become more complicated when we turn our attention to literature format: does that which we call a book in any other format still read as sweet?

Even the simplest view into electronic and audiovisual resources in a library setting dredges up myriad concerns: licensing, copyright, whether devices are available to patrons or if they provide their own, the decision whether to have multiple versions of the same title in varying formats, and the ever-advancing march of technology. (Just think of cassette tapes and VHS.) However, I will focus on how format affects the experience of the reader, not the back-of-the-house library structure.

Most avid readers know the smell of an old book: a slightly musty, grassy smell that might have notes of vanilla in it. Scientists have isolated several compounds responsible for this smell (like byproducts of the degradation of woody molecule lignin), as reported by Mental Floss (Soniak, 2012). You can even buy a candle that smells like books -- go ahead, I'll wait here while you search Etsy for "book smell candle". Memory is linked to the sense of smell; Strlič explains, "Our sense of smell is very close to the memory center in the human brain, and therefore we very often associate memories with certain smells very powerfully and very strongly," continuing "smell plays such an important role in how we experience heritage" (as cited in Laliberte, 2020). In addition to smell, the binding of the book can contribute to the reading experience; for instance, the popularity of the mass market paperback format has led to ridicule and derision of the Romance genre over decades.

Besides the physical senses, other aspects of the reading experience are affected by the format of a book. An eBook, for example, doesn't give you that sense of thrill when you only have 50 pages left and the mystery is far from solved, so you stay up reading late into the night. (For those wondering, that was my experience with And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie in 5th or 6th grade.) As illustrated in this example, the pacing of a work is partially driven by the physical medium, as well as how much text is present on a page. Both of these factors transfer poorly to electronic media, and the pace is left to narrative drive alone. The physical layout of a page can also give hints to the work's tone: consider seeing a large block of text versus several short lines of dialogue. Without these visual cues, the reader may "tire of the story more quickly" (Dunneback & Trott, 2011, p. 4). Also, an electronic format makes it more difficult to skim back and re-read a passage, particularly if you aren't sure exactly where it was, which may result frustrating for readers of richly detailed works.

Selecting an audiobook also means sacrificing certain aspects of the work. Illustrations, maps, charts, and other images simply cannot be conveyed in an audio recording, and the very idea of an audio graphic novel is absurd. Some works also have structural issues that make an audio version difficult: consider how you would format an audiobook of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. (An ingenious solution, Neil Patrick Harris simply reads all the options in his similarly formatted book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, but he even mentions in the recording how the experience is diminished by the lack of photographs of his younger self.)

Despite these drawbacks, there are certain benefits that come from these expanded formats. Consider a patron with arthritis or another physical impairment who cannot hold a book for the amount of time required to read it. For them, electronic and audio formats become an issue of accessibility. Similarly, visually impaired patrons can often adjust the size of print in an eBook (or sidestep the issue by choosing an audio format). Further, certain formats can simply be more convenient for the reader, whether that's eBooks on a trip out of town or audiobooks during a morning commute. Truth be told, most of my reading comes while I'm driving back and forth from work. (Obviously, I choose an audio format to drive safely.)

Audiobooks in particular add a new dimension to a work, with voice quality, tone, and artistic delivery all impacting and (hopefully) enriching the literary experience. The mood of the book can be enhanced by the performer(s), whether that mood is comedic, engrossing, intense, or somber. The use of special effects, background music, or even a live audience can transform a work into a full show. Take a look at pages 30-34 of this brochure by NoveList about story elements for more examples of elements that may draw a reader to a particular audio recording.

Differing formats of books allow for different experiences, and these experiences appeal to different audiences. For some, print books present accessibility issues. For others, the trade-offs are worth the benefits. At the end of the day, reading is reading, whatever format you choose. A book in any other format has its own pluses and minuses, and readers should we aware of this fact. 

But the jury's still out on if it reads any sweeter; I guess that's a matter of taste.

References

Dunneback, K., & Trott, B. (2011). E-books and readers' advisory. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), 325-9. 

Laliberte, M. (2020, January 26). Science has figured out why you love the smell of old books. Reader's Digest. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.rd.com/article/old-book-smell/

Shakespeare, W. (n.d.). Romeo and Juliet. J. Hylton (Ed.). MIT. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.2.2.html (Original work published 1597)

Soniak, M. (2012, July 19). What causes "old book smell"? Mental Floss. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31235/what-causes-old-book-smell