Audiobook: The Fellowship of the Ring

I suppose it's kind of ironic that my first post isn't about one of the books on the List. But here we are. I just finished listening to the Fellowship of the Ring (first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for those who are unfamiliar with the name) on audiobook, and I thought I'd write about about that.

I don't listen nearly enough to audiobooks. They really are a brilliant invention. They're especially nice if you want something to listen to while doing other activities, but aren't really in the mood for music. I use them while writing assignments and while playing computer games. The one thing I do find, is that if you're listening while doing other things, it's best to choose a book with a story you're familiar with, as it's hard to pay attention 100% of the time, so you might miss out on important things if you don't know the story. If you're going to listen to something you haven't heard or read before, I think it would be best to do that while doing something that doesn't require much attention, so that you can follow the book.

The book is narrated by Rob Inglis, and is split into four parts. It is unabridged, which means that it is the book in its entirety. I suppose that explains why it's been split up; the whole thing is around 19 hours long!

I really enjoyed listening to this, in part because the narrator is very good. He has a deep, "old" voice, that sounds a bit like Gandalf sounds in my head, but he's very good at doing different voices for the different characters, and he does them consistently, so that you recognize who is speaking even if their name isn't mentioned.

The story, if you've read the book, is of course the same as ever. Although it does feel, at least to me, like a longer story than it does when reading the book, it never gets boring. And I found that some parts, particularly the chapters with Tom Bombadil, are actually much more interesting when listening than when reading. When I first read the book I thought these chapters lasted forever and weren't very exciting at all, but when listening to them, they go by like a breeze, and I never once find myself wishing they'd get on with the story. I think part of this has to do with the songs. When reading, the songs are much like the rest of the story, they're just text. You can try and come up with a tune, but I for one never have much luck with this. But in the audiobook, the narrator sings the songs, which makes them feature in the story in a completely different way. They become little breathing spaces where you can enjoy the melody without necessarily having to worry about missing vital parts of the plot, and of course Tolkien's verses are brilliant, and it's great to get to hear them set to music.

Of course, the songs that one recognizes from the movie are slightly different. A lot of the songs that are sung by characters in the movie are from the book, but in the audiobook they are song with to different tune, which can be a bit confusing. But if you can get over that, I think the songs are a great addition throughout the story.

Maybe it's because this is my all time favorite book, but I don't really have anything negative to say about this audiobook. It's long, but I don't mind, because the alternative would have been an abridged version, which is unacceptable to me. All in all it's a great story to listen to, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to try an audiobook, whether it's just to try something new or because you're not very fond of reading the "traditional" way.

Picture from http://audiobookscorner.blogspot.no/2009/08/lord-of-rings.html