Books on tape?

[Bjorn Doneerson]

I feel that as a geek there are certain things I need to read before I die. Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a sugar-high squirrel. Now, I've been meaning since forever (or since I started using the WotC message boards a coupla years ago) to read Tolkein's stuff. I got through the Hobbit, and The Fellowship of the rings, and I definitely don't have the attention span for his writing style. Then I saw the books on tape, and I said "hey that's pretty cool." but then I was thinking, would I miss out on some part of the experience if I listened to the tapes as opposed to reading the books. So I was curious, if anyone's purchased these tapes, if they're any good, and if listening to them still fufills my geekly duty? Thanks for your help.

 

[Mark]

If they're unabridged, I really don't see the difference. They'd be an excellent way to kill a long car drive.

 

[Crothian]

If you go this route pay attention to who is doing the reading. There are some that are really good and others that are not so good.

 

[Michael Tree]

The set narrated by Rob Inglis is excellent, with good characterization of the characters, a find sense of tension in the action scenes, and excellent recitation of the poetry (though his singing voice isn't wonderful). It's great if you have a lot of time to spare. LotR is a long book, and the narration is a total of 58 hours long.