I say it without embarrassment: I succumbed to audiobooks, and with great joy. I am not the only one: in 2023, nearly 250,000 audiobook loans were made on Prêt numérique. But for me, who learned to read on my own at a very young age and who has always loved the world of paper, this new love was first accompanied by a few questions…
Yet addicted to podcasts, I admit to having questioned the legitimacy of audiobooks, despite the pleasure felt. Was listening to a book really reading it? My children listened to them, but shouldn’t I, the educated adult with a quasi-doctorate in literature, have been immersed in a “real book”? Would I read if I made less effort, if I could fold an armful while transporting myself to a parallel world? Would I read if I educated myself without stopping, without sacrificing productivity, however domestic it may be?
Then, in the fall of 2023, yet another bout of COVID wreaked havoc on my heart and neurological systems. For weeks, I couldn’t read text or look at a screen, even at the lowest possible brightness. TV? A direct ticket to migraines, dizziness, and nausea.
Like people with long COVID, any cognitive activity led to post-exertional malaise that confined me to my bed, in the dark and silence, when I was already spending 23 hours a day lying flat. My brain was that of a soccer player knocked out by a concussion.
Having traveled the world of French-speaking podcasts (that’s all my brain could handle) and missing reading too much, I one day listened to a first audiobook. And a second. Then a third…
Through aggressive rest, vitamin cures, sustained hydration, more or less alternative therapies, I fortunately recovered my faculties over the months. I was able to start reading again by physically turning pages, and I made up for lost (Proustian) time. But despite the resolution of my transient perceptual disorders, I also continued to listen to books.
To listen is to read
I was finishing the extraordinary sad tiger by Neige Sinno, read by the author, when I had to translate the highlights of the most recent Accessible Publishing Summit of the National Network for Equitable Library Services (RNSEB/NNELS).
The document is enough to debunk certain prejudices. “Audiobooks and alternative formats are indeed forms of reading! Reading in a way other than with your eyes is not an experience of lesser value,” it is written bluntly.
Chloé Baril, director of Bibliopresto, puts the phenomenon into perspective. “Until around 2010, there were only a few audiobooks available in French. Mostly “creations”, from Voix des femmes editions, for example, with Catherine Deneuve reading Duras.” It was the first book she listened to herself, on cassette, in 1989.
“Then, between 2010 and 2017 or so, there was a meteoric rise in audiobooks in the United States, particularly because Amazon got into it [avec sa plateforme Audible] and makes it simple.” Books are no longer just adapted in DAISY format for people with perceptual disabilities. They are now intended for the general public, and many are immediately released in paper, digital and audio formats. But French-speaking publishers are slow to get on board.
“On the adapted book side, making DAISYs in natural voice is very, very expensive,” adds Chloé Baril. “But, about six years ago, French-speaking publishers finally caught up.” It was “enough for it to become an interesting collection to offer in libraries,” which is what Prêt numérique has been doing since 2018, helping to democratize access to audiobooks.
“It’s a huge success,” says Baril. “Every year since 2022, the number of audiobook borrowings has jumped by 30 to 40%. Prêt numérique has a user-friendly app that even lets you download books to listen to them offline. More than half of our borrowings are done with this app.” I’m running there, I’m flying there!
While the offering on OhDio is constantly improving, the Narra platform was also launched in 2022. It currently offers 10,000 audiobooks on its paid app. All in French! 1,500 of them are from Quebec and Studio Bulldog, owned by Narra, has produced around a hundred of them.
But despite the craze, financial aid for the production of audio books is rare and the “Dragon” investors have recently remained cold in the face of the mission of the young Quebec company… Let us wish their quality productions a long life.
Books from here
Whether it’s a first or second reading (listening is reading, we remember), here are some suggestions for August 12, starting with my most recent favorite.
A thousand secrets, a thousand dangersby Alain Farah. I found Alain, Virginie, Mym and the others in this marathon of more than 11 hours masterfully interpreted by Mani Soleymanlou. You have to be solid, sensitive and nuanced to deliver so accurately the text of the narrator and all the characters. I laughed, was moved then touched… and I cried again Mym with hot tears.
Also listen to: From synthesisby Karolyne Georges, read by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau; Captiveswritten and read by Annie Laurin and Michèle Ouellette; Penancesby Alex Viens, read by Karelle Tremblay; Magical nightsa collective directed by Laurie Dupont and read by the authors; Take a breathby Geneviève Jannelle, read by Karine Vanasse; Message sticks, Tshissinuatshitakanaby Joséphine Bacon, read by the author and Chloé Sainte-Marie.
Happy August 12th. Read whatever you want in Quebecois. As Chloé Baril says, “any form of access to storytelling is valid. Whether it’s in your AirPods or on yellowed paper, it’s the same. Humans need stories.”