Audio Book Club

I am meeting with the manager of one of Halifax’s public libraries today.  I pitched an idea a while ago: to form an audio book club.  To date, book clubs in Halifax, have been of the print variety.  I thought that it would be a good idea to bring together both sighted audio book lovers (and there are lots of those) and non-sighted folks. That way, some blind people will be using the Halifax system for the first time (a good thing) and will also have a chance to discuss in a group, their experience with the selected title. Simple. It’s a pilot project, which might expand to include groups at other libraries.  People have asked me, Why not join a regular club and listen to the audio version? The problem with this, is twofold: many ‘current’ book club selections are not available in audio format.  The majority of the titles available, are ABRIDGED! This is a major problem that puts a burr under my saddle. I don’t want to ‘read’ half of a book.  Also, the advantage of sharing the common experience of reading an audio format book, is that the discussion can include other aspects important to us, like narrator’s voice quality and skill. So, we’re off to set this puppy up! Why not do the same in your community?