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A Conversation with Anna Knapp

Sounding Off on Audio: Interviews with Listeners About Their Love of Audiobooks

A Conversation with Anna Knapp

Anna Knapp was one of our amazing chat room moderators in the early days of The Book Report Network. Back then, we had a chat room call Bookaccino, where readers would gather to chat (actually type their comments) about books. Anna would help host these chats, and facilitate readers talking about books throughout the day, greeting them and keeping the dialogue going. No stranger to the union of books and technology, Anna has now been listening to audiobooks for decades! Here, she talks about how she distinguishes reading books from listening to them, and which audiobooks have drawn the strongest emotional responses from her.

Question: How long have you been listening to audiobooks?

Anna Knapp: Decades! We started in earnest when all three of my children were old enough to listen to interesting books like TIMOTHY OF THE CAY and HATCHET, and I scoured our public library for the latest releases of classics and contemporary novels. 

Q: What made you start listening?

AK: Who doesn't love a storyteller? 

Q: When and where do you listen?

AK: Everywhere. Driving, of course. While doing any sort of mindless housework, especially because I'll clean for a longer time! I listened to a Stephen King last fall while running intervals to train for a family half-marathon, and I definitely ran a little further, distracted from my feet. I have listened while weeding, knitting and cooking. I painted a dining room to ANNA KARENINA and a few bedrooms to UNBROKEN. Love them.​ 

Q: What kinds of books do you like to listen to best?

AK: I have found I'd rather read engrossing nonfiction and literary fiction in print. Conversely I don't read beach reads in print, but I'll listen to them. Otherwise I enjoy the same genres in print or audio. 

Q: What do you use to listen to audiobooks?

AK: I used to keep an iPod separate from my phone, but realized just a few weeks ago that it's all on my phone anyway. I'll run my Jabra Soulmate portable speaker from my phone, iPad or laptop, whichever is most convenient. I use bluetooth from my phone while I'm in the car.​ 

Q: Are the books that you listen to different from the kinds of print and eBooks you read?

AK: I don't read nonfiction on my Kindle or listen to its audio. I also would rather read something that has fantastic prose than listen to it. ​ 

Q: Where do you buy/borrow audiobooks from?

AK: Audible and the library.​

Q: Do you share your audiobooks with anyone?

AK: Yep!​

Q: Do you listen with anyone else, or is it a solo experience?

AK: Just me.​

Q: What percentage of your reading is done via audiobooks?

AK: Perhaps a third to a half of all my reading.​

Q: What are some of the most memorable books that you’ve  listened to and why?

AK: I was sobbing as I finished making Christmas Eve dinner for 12 one year, listening to the final chapters of Alexandre Dumas's classic, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. ​Recently, as I was painting and listening to UNBROKEN, I found myself speaking aloud, "No. Don't say that is going to happen. No way."  

Q: What is the last audiobook you listened to? Tell us about it.

AK: I just listened to Jeffrey Archer's KANE AND ABEL (read by Jeff Harding) because a friend thought it was very good, and it was. The story captured me through a week of decorating and cleaning for the holidays, and it is an example of something I probably wouldn't read but thoroughly enjoy listening to. Before that, even though you didn't ask, I listened to Andrew Davidson's THE GARGOYLE and Sinclair Lewis' famous satire BABBITT.​ 

Q: Is there anything about the format of audiobooks that you don’t like or would like to see changed or improved?

AK: No, not really. The Audible app is handy, ​and I love when things work across devices.