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February is AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month in the U.S., which inspired this theme. The 'Low Vision Awareness' Theme challenge is to listen to an audiobook or read a book available in large-print (you do not have to actually read the large print edition but the book must be available in this format to count).

Hopefully participating in this challenge will increase awareness of what options are available to those with macular degeneration or other vision problems. If you inquire about large print editions or audiobooks at your local library, it might help build demand for these items as well.

Thanks!

Ditto! :)

The last figure I heard quoted was that only 4% of all books are available in accessible formats, non-fiction being by far the worst represented.

Really interesting theme; I'm afraid I'm rather uninformed about all; it can be a good occasion to deepen the knowledge...

Might give me a chance to use more of my audible credits. This is a great theme challenge.

I read large print sometimes when I go to the library and actually look for a book in large print. didn't know that's what it was. It's also women in horror month too in February so I am going to devote some of my books to women horror authors like The Shining Girls.

Amber wrote: "I read large print sometimes when I go to the library and actually look for a book in large print. didn't know that's what it was. It's also women in horror month too in February so I am going to d..."

Amber - feel free to count those horror books under the Halloween Theme, even though you are reading them in Feb. :)

Okay cool. I'll read them in large-print too if I can that month.

I'm going to try and listen to an audio book this month. I was thinking about Jane Eyre.

Gemma wrote: "I'm going to try and listen to an audio book this month. I was thinking about Jane Eyre."

Great choice for an audiobook

I think I will give audiobooks another go but not sure which one. Will have a think.

1. The Purity of Vengeance: A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler Olsen (audiobook)

Am I allowed to feel smug for this one as everything I read will count in this section :D

Jean wrote: "Am I allowed to feel smug for this one as everything I read will count in this section :D"

Most definitely, Jean, you will win hands down!

Well... a tie with Gill will be OK by me ;)

Jean wrote: "Well... a tie with Gill will be OK by me ;)"
Yes, lots of bonus points for you and me! I can add this to my list of 'Good things about having AMD'!! (Yes, I do have such a list)

Good for you, Gill! :)

Up tonow these two; but before the end of the year thy'll be much more: I like audiobooks, I listen to them often

Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey Read Audiobook
Albert Camus, La Peste Reading now Audiobook
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven GablesÌý Reading now Audiobook

2. The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes (audiobook)

1. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
2. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
3. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen (audiobook)
4. High Five by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
5. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
6. The Shoemaker's Wife (audio; I liked the narrator of the 1st half; the author narrated the 2nd half and her voice wasn't as sing-song and lyrical)

Gill and Jean, you are queens of this challenge :)

I don't have any vision problems and usually read paperback books, sometimes with ridiculously tiny font that anyone would struggle with. For this challenge I guess I'll count books that I read on my kindle (which are few) and audiobooks (which are completely new to me!)

February books -
The Grass is Singing Kindle
Middlemarch Audiobook
The Awakening Kindle

Petra wrote: "1. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
2. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich (audiobook)"

How's this book by Evanovich Petra?

Do you remember I said everything I read qualifies here? LOL Well I'm finding I DO have my own take on this challenge after all.

There are plenty of books which are never published in accessible formats, even since the advent of e-readers. Ususally we VIPs just shrug and read something else. But having read some of Anna Akhmatova 's poetry I wanted to read more than is available on the Kindle. Very little poetry is ever available as Large Print, so... I got a normal size print book out of the library Selected Poems and am somehow managing with magnifiers.

Do you reckon this counts? It's certainly reminding me of just how small what is called "normal print" is. I had forgotten, as you get to think that what you usually read is "normal"! :D

To me, this seems much more manageable with poetry books, Jean. I guess it's because there's so much less text, and reading poetry is a much slower process anyway.

I'm sure that is true, Gill. I would never have even tried it had it not been for your suggestion, which seemed to make sense. It's the "scanning" that does me in anyway! :)

Hey, I forgot that I could count my big fat classic here too, since I listened to it as an audiobook!

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (audiobook & Kindle)
2. Booktaker by Bill Pronzini (audiobook)
3. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (audiobook but I recommend using a print or ebook edition)

3. Robinson Crusoe � Defoe
4. Dr. Katzenbergers Badereise � Jean Paul
5. The God Delusion � Richard Dawkins
6. A Simple Heart � Gustave Flaubert
7. A Mercy � Toni Morrison
(all audiobook)

Some more audiobooks:
4. Love Among the Chickens
5. Piccadilly Jim
6. Letter from Birmingham Jail

1. My Cousin Rachel- Read in small print, but found in large print

I was going to count The Grass is Singing but it's £97.36 from Amazon in large print. I have to admit, I have just been going through my books and I am amazed at how few are available in large print and also how difficult it can be to find them. I guess with the advent of kindles this is less of a problem but I am shocked.

I tried an audiobook again (Middlemarch) but I just can't concentrate on it

YES! I've been banging on about this for years Heather. Folk seemed to think as long as there were a few "Mills and Boons" and some cowboy stories in the library then that was OK. (No offence, but they're not to everyone's taste!)

You are absolutely right. The advent of e-books has made an enormous difference. Put it this way. If it had not been for e-books I would never have had the courage to join Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. It would all have been too depressing and frustrating.

Thanks on behalf of all us VIPs to all of you for being game for this challenge! :)

I was surprised how difficult I found just searching for a large print book.

Using amazon kept finding kindle editions and some large prints were clearly out of print and very expensive.

This challenge has certainly raised my awareness

The ironic thing about the example you gave is that I actually have an ex-library Large Print copy of The Grass is Singing in my "bag to go to the charity shop", as I have now read it and also have it on Kindle.

They will probably put a price of £2.99 or similar on it. It may have cost me about 30p. But yes, if I had searched for it on Amazon I could expect to pay the price you said, as it's a sellers' market for Large Print books. Totally ridiculous situation. I get some real bargains - but can't choose what they will be!

Another thing that drives me spare is when volumes are separated. I saw a Large Print copy of Middlemarch a couple of weeks ago, and was about to snap it up when I spotted that it was only the middle one of three! Aaaargh!

Mind you, I did once manage to get a complete Large Print David Copperfield . Two Large Print volumes - and found at different times in different towns! Not even a matching pair, but still first and second volumes. :)

8. The Discovery of Slowness� Sten Nadolny
9. He Lover of Death - Boris Akunin
10. Das Fräulein von Scuderi � E.T.A. Hoffmann

all audiobook

Several more audiobooks:

7. Spy Killer
8. The Good Earth
9. A Little Princess
10. An American Tragedy
11. Three Singles to Adventure
12. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
13. Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin
14. Oliver Twist
15. The Raven Boys

Audio book - The White Queen, Philippa Gregory

And still more audiobooks:
16. Silas Marner
17. Behind the Scenes at the Museum
18. How to Live on 24 Hours a Day
19. Little Men
20. Persuasion

More audiobooks:

7. Last Man in Tower
8. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
9. Star Island

Every book I have "read" this year has been an audiobook....

Please see this: if you are curious which:
/topic/show/...

I am going to be trying a Kindle Paperwhite. You know the selection of audio and Kindle books available is much higher in the US than in Europe. I HATE all the publication restrictions. But I am terribly happy that more and more books are becoming available in these formats.

PS In my reviews, although I rate by the book's content rather than its narration, I also discuss my view on how well the book was narrated. Well narrated books can be the icing on a cake, but they cannot save a bad book.

3 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven GablesÌý Read Audiobook
4 Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841) Read Audiobook
5 Anthony Trollope, Is He Popenjoy? Read Audiobook
6 Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit Reading now Audiobook

More audiobooks:

10. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
11. Fifth Business (highly recommended)

Lots more audiobooks:
21. Lady Audley's Secret
22. The Red and the Black
23. Nicholas Nickleby
24. Enchanted
25. The Prince and the Pauper
26. Heart of Darkness
27. The Mysterious Howling
28. The Man with Two Left Feet
29. Moll Flanders
30. Little Dorrit
31. The False Prince
32. If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young
33. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
34. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
35. Oedipus the King

Leslie, it looks like you have become as addicted to audiobooks as I have. I cannot eat breakfast without listening to a book.

Chrissie wrote: "Leslie, it looks like you have become as addicted to audiobooks as I have. I cannot eat breakfast without listening to a book."

Hahaha! Yes, it is now part of my morning routine: turn on coffee pot, turn on audiobook...

Oh, here we are doing the same thing!!!!

12. Seven Up (audiobook) (didn't like this one....hardly any storyline)

1 Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey Read Audiobook
2 Albert Camus,Ìý La Peste Read Audiobook
3 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven GablesÌý Read Audiobook
4 Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841) Read Audiobook
5 Anthony Trollope,Ìý Is He Popenjoy? Read Audiobook
6 Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit Read Audiobook
7 Wilkie Collins, The Evil Genius Read Audiobook
8 Nalia Ginzburg, Caro Michele Reading now Audiobook

13. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story
14. Hard Eight

Large Print:
1. A Shilling for Candles - Josephine Tey

Audiobooks:
36. Carter Finally Gets It - Brent Crawford
37. a couple of short stories by Michael J. Sullivan: The Viscount and the Witch & The Jester
38. Kim - Rudyard Kipling
39. Once - Morris Gleitzman
40. The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
41. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
42. The Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie {reread}
43. Whodunnit? Murder in Mystery Manor - Anthony E. Zuiker
44. Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens

8 Nalia Ginzburg, Caro Michele Read
9 Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage Reading now

All Audiobooks