Audiobooks

I was just checking out the Harry Potter audiobooks because Horse Girl really wants to be able to "read" the books but with her learning difference it just won't be possible for a long time. So I was checking out both the American version and the UK version...trying to decide if I want her to experience them in American English or UK English that J. K. Rowling wrote them in. It is a hard choice, but I have awhile to think about it because I want to do one huge download and get all 7 books at once. Anyhow when I was browsing iTunes UK edition I found they have Lord of the Rings which the US iTunes didn't have the last I checked. I listened to a preview and I nearly cried.

To understand why I nearly cried I need to give you some back story. I have owned a copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy since I was 13 years old....that is mumble decades ago. I have never been able to read it. I keep trying, but it is written in away that my learning disabled mind can't wrap my head around. I have tried to read it so many times I can't even count them. The guy I was in an abusive relationship with was (and I guess still is) a Tolkienisan. Fly Guy also has loved the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. So it is something that has been there around me for decades and after the movies came out I really felt I was missing something by having not read the books. Here I am a very smart woman, who loves reading Fantasy genre books and has been reading them y since I was able to read, but every time I have tried to read Lord of the Rings I totally and completely fail.

Hearing the audiobook preview of the books made it clear how easily I could understand the books if I "read" them that way. I really should do it, but there is the stubborn part of me that keeps telling me not to give up trying to read them the conventional way. This is the stubborn part of me that pushed me to graduate from both High School and College when people said that it would be impossible because of my learning disabilities.

So I have two sides waring right now. The side that really wants to finally "read" the Lord of the Rings and understand it in a way the movies don't allow and the stubborn side that refuses to give up. I don't know which side will win out yet.

The interesting point here is that I don't have a problem getting Horse Girl audiobooks because I feel that it helps her keep her comprehension skills up where they should be for a kid her age, but I have trouble getting them for myself. What kind of double standard is that? Also I just realized when talking about our learning issues, I just realized when I am talking about Horse Girls issues I call them Learning Differences and when I talk about mine they are Learning Disabilities....another major double standard. Maybe I should just cut myself a break.

One final note....Horse Girl loves the Lord of the Ring movies....so maybe I can her the audiobook versions for her and "preview" them to make sure they are ok before she listens to them. ;-) What ever work to get around my stubborn side. ;-)