Are you cheating?

People often ask me (I love how I am the arbiter of taste, sort of like a modern day Sir Philip Sidney - my friend Katie used to pose questions beginning, "Do you think it's appropriate...?") whether it's cheating if you listen to the audio book instead of physically reading the book, and today the New York Times addressed the issue. Does this also depend on whether you are reading the book as an assignment or for your book group vs. for yourself? It seems to be the other members of the book groups who are resentful that they are "grinding away" while others are lightheartedly listening. Yet if the reading is a chore (for them or you), why do it at all? While surely it is the exposure to the author's language and story that is essential, not whether you read or listen to it, I do admit I have a faint feeling that listening to an audio version is the easy way out.



What do you think?