So True

I was just reading an interview in Slate with Simon Vance, who does audiobook recordings, and he said this: "Many people read to themselves so fast—sometimes scanning the page in apparent moments of not-much-going-on to get to the next bit of action—that the audiobook listening experience can actually be richer for the way it forces one to listen to the book at a narrator’s pace."  I typically avoid audiobooks, because I read so much faster on my own; I got a Harry Potter audiobook in high school for a long drive and was annoyed at the slow pace, especially when I could practically recite the next lines myself!   However, when I listened to The Great Gatsby in an audiobook format over the course of a couple of train rides to and from NYC last year, I found that Vance said was absolutely true.  This short book, which I've read a dozen times, and in Italian as well as English (Il Grande Gatsby!), had so much more to reveal when I listened to someone read it to me.  I remember a particularly long passage that, quite frankly, I always skip over while reading, a list of the names of all of the people who come to Gatsby's parties; I would read a couple of names, think "yup, got it, lots o' rich folk" and move on to the next paragraph.  But having no choice (save fast-forwarding) but to sit there as this whole long roll call of names and origins was read out was really interesting.  The party described afterward felt peopled to me in a more distinct way than it ever had before...