Audiobooks - Abridged or Unabridged???
By LeavaoDe
@LeavaoDe (349)
United States
July 2, 2009 11:26am CST
Hi. I am a avid reader that has recently found that I love to listen to audiobooks. Audiobooks are great for times that I can't actually physical read, ie driving, eating meals (when I'm by myself), etc. At first I didn't know what abridged or unabridged where and no one could tell me. Thanks to the internet I was able to get an answer. Abridged is a shortened version of the the book and unabridged is the completed book. Why I would get a shortened version and miss out on possibly important information. I have gotten all unabridged versions of a couple series by a couple of authors. The question to my fellow myLotters is...Do you listen to audiobooks? If so which type abridged or unabridged? And what is your favorite audiobook?
Thank you for reading and responding!! Happy myLotting!!!
2 people like this
5 responses
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Jul 09
I read a lot and when I was younger I often listened to audiobooks. I loved listening to the audiobooks while I was doing something else like driving, drawing, cleaning, knitting etc. I know that it is possible to borrow audiobooks at my local library, I haven't borrowed any, but I might do it one day if I find something that sounds interesting. I usually to borrow books instead because there are many books to choose between and relatively few audiobooks. I have never thought about the difference between abridged and unabridged audiobooks, but I agree with you, I would prefer the unabridged version so that I don't miss out on important information.
1 person likes this
@LeavaoDe (349)
• United States
4 Jul 09
Hi. Thanks so much for commenting. :) My library has a wide range of audiobooks available for us but it is mostly abridged versions. Also not any by authors I read. So a book to read is the choice then. LOL! It's like watching a movie based on a book, the director cuts out we think is important and therefore changes the storyline. Guess it's good if you don't want to read/listen to the whole thing....but why read it at all then. (IMHO)
Happy myLotting!!
@cnetboss (2473)
• Philippines
14 Nov 12
I have to almost all urban fantasy / paranormal audiobooks (unabridge) with the special focus on the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher which is mostly narrated by James Marsters (Spike of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame).
@owstalaga (4707)
• Philippines
22 Jan 10
Well it doesn't really matter if it's abridged or not because if i don't like how the narrator is telling the story or that person's voice is not lively at all then i won't go on listening to that audiobook.
I guess my favorite so far is Jim Dale's version of the Harry Potter series. He's a great storyteller!
@JJ4Ever (4693)
• United States
7 May 10
Hi there! I saw this discussion and was immediately drawn in because I absolutely love audiobooks! I listen to them all day at work. If I'm listening to a shorter audiobook, it only takes a day or two to get through it. I never knew the difference between abridged and unabridged books either, but now that I know, I definitely agree with you that the original (unabridged) version of the book is automatically going to be much better since everything is included! I don't know why they'd want to shorten a book in the first place, but I try to think of it as "deleted scenes" from a movie, only in this case, it applies to a book. Would you agree? Again, I don't know why in the world someone would want to shorten a book, but I guess it would make more sense doing so in an audiobook (to squeeze it into a certain number of discs or tapes) rather than a regular book. Either way, I'm all for listening to audiobooks. I don't know what I did without them! Take care and happy reading, my friend!
@Philippe75 (258)
• Philippines
4 Aug 11
i am not fond of reading coz it strains my eyes thus audiobook is the best solution. Can you reco a website where i can download freely audiobooks?
