Classic, contemporary works and more

Online literacy a mouse-click away

By Jodi Ross
CNN Correspondent

NEW YORK (CNN) - Want to read Stephen King's latest novel, but you're afraid?

Afraid that you won't have time to read all 523 pages?

You're not the only one who fears they lack the time to shudder through King's latest thriller, or any other involved tale. Increasingly, people who measure their leisure by minutes rather than hours are hearing -- not reading -- works by their favorite authors.

ON AIR Too busy to read the latest best seller? Stars like Robin Williams and Tom Clancy will read them to you. CNN Correspondent Jodi Ross reports, 4:30 p.m. ET, Showbiz Today on CNN U.S.     AUDIO Robin Williams makes a pitch for audio books on audible.com ... 576KWAV sound

A variety of Web sites offer downloadable audio books, with titles ranging from Austin to Yeats, from playwrights to prize-winning reporters. Some are read by the authors themselves, a celebrity, or, on occasion, an Oscar-winning actor.

But it doesn't end there; some Web sites offer more than contemporary or classic novels.

Salon.com, for example, features criticism, reporting and commentary on all media and culture, plus features some of today's luminaries bringing words to life.

On the site, Matt Dillon reads the best of Jack Kerouac. Steve Martin reads from "Shopgirl," his new novel. George Plimpton gives voice to "Pet Peeves," his collection of fictional letters to a veterinarian.

Audio of Steve Martin reading from his book "Shopgirl" is available at Salon.com

Or would you rather catch someone reading entries from this morning's New York Times? Perhaps you wonder what actor and comedian Robin Williams is saying -- uncut, uncensored -- in conversations with friends? Audible.com claims it can provide all that, and more, with a few mouse clicks.

Don Katz, who founded Audible.com, said he thinks the online service augments the printed word. Books, he predicted, are hardly doomed.

"I obviously think the book is a profound object in our culture," he said in a recent interview. "People will always read books."

Plimpton, who's cut a wide swath in the literary world, hopes Katz is correct: Books, he said, should always be treasured and read. But he also appreciates what the Internet can do, allowing authors to reach a potential audience that may never before have read their works.

On Yahoo's broadcast site, Tom Clancy discusses his new novel "The Bear and the Dragon"

"I was told just today that 60,000 or 70,000 people listen to this (Audible.com site), which on personal computers strikes me as an extraordinary number," Plimpton said recently. " Maybe with this 'Pet Peeves' book, it'll be 150,000."

Following are a few sites where you can listen to literature and more: