To stay awake while driving, Adrian Praetzellis listens to audiobooks: classical literature dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries.
Yes — to stay awake.
But after he had listened to every audiobook available for rent at his local library in Santa Rosa, Praetzellis decided to create his own audio recordings of books in the public domain.
Almost half of the books he has recorded have Jewish connections, including “The King of Shnorrers” by Israel Zangwill, “Reuben Sachs: A Sketch” by Amy Levy and “Jewish Children” by Sholem Aleichem. (Aleichem’s book and “Yiddish Tales,” translated by Helena Frank, were originally written in Yiddish.) Praetzellis also has recorded books originally written in Hebrew, though most were penned in English.
Praetzellis, a practicing archaeologist and director of Sonoma State University’s Anthropological Studies Center, is what is known as a “librivoxateer” — volunteers who record chapters of books in the public domain and publish the audio files at LibriVox.org.
Using free recording software and a headset microphone, Praetzellis records books published in the United States before 1923, thereby avoiding copyright infringement. Since he started three years ago, he has recorded about 15 books.
In addition to the Jewish-themed tomes mentioned above, his recordings include classics such as Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha” and his favorite book, Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows.”
“I started recording books that meant a lot to me,” he said. “There are incredible pieces of literature that are lost on modern readers, and wonderful books with Jewish themes.”
Praetzellis is originally from London, and for each recording he employs a variety of dialects (mixed with his own English accent) and voices to add drama and help listeners distinguish between characters. He’s even been known to sing occasionally.
“I’m a frustrated actor,” Praetzellis said with a laugh.
When it comes to the Yiddish, he said he knows enough to get by, even though he doesn’t read the books ahead of time. “That wouldn’t be fun,” he said. “I’m learning as I listen.”
Part of that learning includes making a few mistakes along the way — misreading, inverting or mispronouncing words — which Praetzellis chalks up to the creative process.
For every hour of recording, Praetzellis spends two to three hours editing. He usually works on two books at once, recording a chapter each week, “so I don’t get bored,” he said.
For example, “Reuben Sachs: A Sketch,” a four-hour audiobook, took Praetzellis about 12 hours to record and edit. “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy, a “marathon” 18-hour audiobook, he noted, took about 60 hours to record over eight months.
A proof listener in Holland checks for mistakes and the finished works are posted on LibriVox.org and Archive.org. Potential listeners can download recordings from those sites to their iPods or listen online using QuickTime.
When he’s not in his “recording studio” (his office at home), Praetzellis is this year’s faculty adviser to Sonoma State’s Jewish Student Union. He’s also on the Lifelong Learning Committee at his synagogue, Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, and has served on the board of trustees for Hillel of Sonoma County since 1999.
Almost every week, Praetzellis receives e-mails from listeners around the world thanking him for his work. Rarely is he criticized for his Yiddish pronunciation, but it does happen from time to time, he said. Still, he doesn’t let it bother him.
“I’ve learned it’s easier to have this stuff read to you than trying to read it yourself,” Praetzellis said. “Most of it is quite arcane and doesn’t sound right to the modern reader. I’m putting it in a format that people can use and appreciate.”
His version of “Treasure Island” was released on iTunes this year and in only a few months had about 150,000 downloads. And on average, his readings are downloaded about 5,000 times every month at Archive.org.
“It makes me feel good to think that I’m taking a piece of writing that is pretty much forgotten and giving it new life,” Praetzellis said. “I’m sure that’s a mitzvah somehow.”