Forgetting the nightmare of housework by listening to books
I’ve tried something new this morning.
As I’m quite allergic to housework, I thought I could transform this duty in a less painful moment by listening to audio books. So I downloaded Jane Eyre for free in mp3 files (one per chapter) and started listening the book. The readers are quite good and cleaning was much more pleasant. However, as the readers change from one chapter to another and the first minute or so of a new chapter is a bit strange because you need to get used to the new voice.
It’s going to be a good way for me to know English & American classics. As far as the language is concerned, it is read very clearly and 19th century English is easier to understand for a French than contemporary American like in Tom Wolfe’s I am Charlotte Simmons. The 19th century language has no slang words and the fancy words they used are often of latin origin, very closed to French. I had already read some Jane Austen’s work and Wuthering Heights in English and it was, if not easy, at least manageable.
So this little experiment has been a success.
I reached chapter 6 of Jane Eyre, and I like it. Jane Eyre has just had her first long conversation with Helen Burns and it raises interesting questions about how someone should react to harrassment. But I’ll talk about it later in another post.
Book Around the Corner 