I’ve always proclaimed my adoration for Jim Dale and the Harry Potter audiobooks. I bought every one of them and have listened to them several times over the years. I don’t think I would like to listen to an audiobook if I hadn’t read the book already, it would require too much concentration. But since I had read the Harry Potter books several times each, the audiobooks required no concentration. Yet they still always revealed secrets to me I had missed while reading with my eyes.
I thought I’d test the fondness by purchasing the last two Twilight books and listening to them, since those two books are my favorite. And let me tell you: Jim Dale spoiled me. It set an unreasonably high standard. He gives all characters unique voices without seeming fake in anyway. He miraculously keeps those voices for the characters for all seven books. I never think about the fact that a boy is reading the girl lines. Yet he does. The girl that reads the Twilight books? Not that talented. It took me awhile to get used to her reading the parts of Edward and Jacob and not rolling my eyes to myself. Thinking, Yes. Adding a growl to your girly voice doesn’t not help. Nice try. And she didn’t change her “male” voice for different male characters so that go confusing, especially when males were talking to each other. Somehow that’s easier to keep up with when reading than when listening on audiobooks.
But once I got used to her and stopped comparing her to Jim Dale. I was fine. But listening to those books, I ended up being surprised that I didn’t discover something I missed while reading them. I think I just always assumed all audiobooks would do that for me – ends up spotlighting things I missed when reading myself. I assumed this was a trait of how I read, maybe often skimming over parts. The same parts even when I re-read books. But evidently? That’s not the case with the Twilight books. I enjoyed them, don’t get me wrong (once I got past Jacob sounding like a girl), but I didn’t learn anything new.
This weekend, however, I decided to re-listen to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to prepare for the movie. And I remembered all over again, how much I adore Jim Dale. And as I caught another tidbit in the description of a certain scene that I had missed one of the dozen times I had read or listened to the book, I realized there are still secrets in these books for me to discover. That’s what makes the Harry Potter books amazing, they’re filled with so much detail. Whether it’s a casual reference to an ancillary member of a scene you didn’t realize before, or a main character revealing something you missed amidst the other descriptions. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry references a smell and recognizes it from a scene before. While I have read the book and can of course attest to what the smell is, I never realized any of the several times I read it OR listened to it that he noticed that smell. This is probably the 8th time (at least) I’ve digested these words in some form, yet this time? I noticed that he noticed the smell.
So, while they’re outrageously priced, they’re totally worth it. And today? I’m going to do something special. I’m going to have a giveaway. This prize is only something those who have read the book should try to claim because I would never encourage you to read the books out of order, much less listen before reading. But – if you’re read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, then you should enter this contest. I’m giving away the audiobook Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ll either ship it to you on CD from amazon or I’ll give you an iTunes card so you can get it for your iPod, whichever you choose. All you have to do is answer me this in the comments by the time I wake up tomorrow morning and close the comments:
Which book is your favorite of the Harry Potter series?