Listen-Reading ‘Mythos’ - The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

As I was saying yesterday, I’m currently listening to an audiobook. Listen-Reading, let’s say. And I have two little stories to tell you - one about audiobooks in general and one about this specific listen-read.

1. Before going to Oxford, I decided to try an audiobook for the first time. It was my second time going through ‘Three Men in a Boat’ by Jerome K Jerome. I found it for a few pence on Google Play Books with an excellent narrator. When I wanted to try another book, I discovered that audiobooks are ridiculously expensive, especially with a good narrator. I kept thinking about alternatives until it hit me! I can borrow audiobooks from my local library via the Libby app for free!

I’m not a big fan of borrowing physical books (because I like to make notes in them and all that), but audiobooks… I can see no problem with that! So, with my newfound power, I decided…

2. …to borrow my first audiobook. Why Stephen Fry’s ‘Mythos’? At the first DWD, we were talking about myths and legends and about physical vs audiobooks. Someone mentioned that Stephen Fry has some fantastic retelling of myths, but that he’s a lot easier to follow in audio format because his writing is slightly complicated, speech-like. I’ve been wanting to refresh my memory of Greek myths anyway and the book was available to loan immediately (for some books you have to wait for a bit until it’s your turn), plus a book on Greek Gods was my first binge-reading experience.

Of course, listening to and reading a book are two different experiences. I still prefer reading, but there are certain books that are definitely worth listening to. ‘Three Men in a Boat’ is one of them and so are Stephen Fry’s. Probably, most of my audiobooks will be re[reads] or nonfiction (history, myths, social philosophy and whatnot).