Monday, March 15, 2010

Books - Reading Reviews


I love to read! More than watching television or movies, I like to sprawl out and read a book. Hardback, paperback, it doesn’t matter. I even have the programs on my computer so I can read ebooks - though this is not as enjoyable (reading a book at the computer can be tiring, I gotta say) - and if you have an old ebook reader you don’t use, why, just send it to me!

I don’t often read reviews of books. Most seem to be written by professional critics and tend to be overly critical and demanding. But every-so-often I’ll find a review that does a good job, giving enough information to make me want to buy and read the book reviewed.

Steven Brandt has a blogging site called “Reviews From the Deep”. On it he reviews the books he has listened to and lets you know what he thinks. I say ‘listens to’ because Steven has been going blind for some time now. So he buys audiobooks - mostly on CDs, and gives a review of the tale, as well as the production - namely the narrator.

The reviews are from the viewpoint of a reader, not a critic. So even if you disagree with his opinions you'll enjoy reading them, anyway. :)

When I could afford it, and had a long commute, I was a member of audible.com. Rather than novels I would purchase biographies and histories to listen to - on an mp3 player - on my way to work. At that time I was spending a good 45 minutes to an hour to get to work. Instead of fiddling with the radio, to try and find music that wouldn’t annoy me, I could listen to a history. And I enjoyed it.

Now audible had abridged and unabridged recordings of the books. Abridged books, of course, are edited down a bit, sort of like a Reader’s Digest version. I never bought these, preferring the full version. So now, when I read one of Steven’s reviews I don’t know if he’s using an abridged or unabridged version of the book he’s reviewing. I suppose I should ask.

Anyway, if you like to read, and want to see a review of some of the books he’s read, I recommend heading over to Reviews From the Deep and checking out what he’s got there.

And leave a comment, too, why don’tcha? He’d appreciate that.

:)

7 comments:

joni said...

I could just hug you, you big lug!
Steven is completely blind now and the books are all he has at this moment.
I don't think he really likes the unabridged books, and he'd say, "this is the abridged version."
A writer in the making!

Thanks Ben! You add color to my life!

Joni :-)

p.s. The word verification down there and screen readers DO NOT work. :-( I hear this from the blind all too often.

benning said...

Nah, I have to have the whole shebang the writer published. No abridgement for me!

Without the verification every blog is subject to bots and idiots. :(

Why not notify blogger about the problem? They might fix it. Might.

camojack said...

I'm what you might call a voracious reader myself...actual books though; I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to some things. So far, anyway...

benning said...

I'd agree, Camo, but imagine carrying 100 'real' books along with you on a trip as opposed to 100 books on an ebook reader.

:)

camojack said...

In view of how long it takes me to read just one book, that would be a very LONG trip...

joni said...

Ben,
We've tried to 'notify' blogger. There is another blind girl who has troubles with verification.
She recommended the 'moderating' of comments, and poof, that works, for me AND them. Oh the bots still try to get something posted but, I REJECT them. lol

And trust me, Steven would LOVE and give ANYTHING to be able to hold a book in his hand and read once again. He's read so many darned books, I think the man is a walking library! :)

Unknown said...

I'm a little late to this party, but I was surfing around and ran into this post. I thought I would pass on another site worth taking a look at. I write reviews as a volunteer for www.luxuryreading.com. The reviews are all written by unbiased volunteers who just love to read.