This has been a week which has caused me to be both sentimental and nostalgic. Allow me to share. First, a video by audiobook narrator, Samantha Norbury. She is a booktok friend and a strong advocate for #humanvoicesonly, a plea to Audible to not use AI voices in their narrations. Last month, Samantha put out an all call for anyone and everyone to contact Audible, asking them to use human voices only. I messaged her the email I sent them, and this is her reading it in her wonderful, impassioned voice. If you want to contact Audible, please follow the thread at the bottom of her video. They need to hear from more customers!
Next is a gratitude post by my book friend, Kristy. After reading Soundtrack of Silence, Kristy and I were messaging back and forth earlier this week. She lost her hearing in 2014 and was very interested in reading it. Kristy is one of my favorite people. I wanted to send her a copy of the book, and this is her opening it up:
Kristy is the founder of a silent theater in New Jersey. She has given me some incredible book recommendations with d/Deaf and differently-abled characters. You can visit the website for her theater here: https://handsup-theatre.org/ And these are two books I’ve read based on her recommendations. Both are excellent! And both have been featured on this blog in the past.
Lastly, this is a video I made yesterday. It’s a “Thankful Thursday” video, one of the traditions on Booktok. I decided to expand the gratitude beyond just book friends. One of the things Kristy and I talked about this week is the importance of making social media videos more accessible to all. I had *just* figured out CC (Closed Captioning) on TikTok–it only took me three months–and I’ve made a promise to her to do better. That is why this video is both spoken and readable. Did I mention she was one of my favorite people?The voice you hear is mine:
Have you felt the warm fuzzy feelings of gratitude from these videos? I hope so. Happy reading! And stay warm this weekend!
Readwithkristie.com 