Do you love audiobooks yet?
“I can’t hold a book while I mop or commute. Print may be best for lingering over words or ideas, but audiobooks add literacy to moments where there would otherwise be none.”
-Daniel T. Willingham
Until last year, I avoided quiet, character driven, lyrical novels. I found them dull and if I tried to read such a book, I would inevitably put it down, feeling defeated and not quite smart enough for the book. Last winter, I was running behind for my Fiction Matters bookclub because well… the book for the month was a quiet, character driven and lyrical novel and see above- quiet, character driven lyrical books were slow for me. To be totally honest, I can’t remember exactly when in the year this happened nor which book forced this switch but I was running so far behind I downloaded the audiobook version so I could listen while I was doing other things- hopefully giving myself enough time to finish the book before bookclub. I was never a big audiobook listener before this moment but I was desperate. As I listened, I remember hearing something counterintuitive on one of my favorite podcasts, Currently Reading. Speeding up the speed of an audio book can help your mind to wander less. This made no sense to me but I tried it and sure enough, faster narration helped me to follow along and I finished in time for bookclub. And not only did I finish in time but I enjoyed this quiet, character driven, lyrical novel. And not only that but I now listen to these types of books all the time. Through audio (and faster audio at that), I have added an entirely new type of book to my reading life. With this discovery, I enjoyed books like Piranesi by Susanna Clark, The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.
I would love to hear your experience with audiobooks. Do you love them? If you don’t do you have any questions for me about them? I would love to share my new found appreciation for audiobooks with you all!
What is libro.fm? If you are paying for Scrib'd definitely use it. It's an amazing service.
First of all, you are killing it with the content since the start of this year! I am so impressed with you cranking out these brief but interesting blog posts. They make me feel like we should be friends. Second of all, YES, I love audiobooks and listen to them at a speed that my wife and daughter think is crazy, so I was happy to know there is research supporting my doing that. I only got into them a couple of years ago, but now I am always listening to one or two at a time. I recommend the app Scrib'd, which has a huge library of audiobooks (and ebooks and podcasts, and sheet music and a whole assortment of goodies) and you don't have to buy each book to hear it (as you do with Audible). Also Libby, the library app, is great if you have patience to wait for a book to become available. Anyway, congratulations on posting more and on sharing your love of reading with us. I live to read, and it's nice to know there are others of us out there. (On the other hand, I listened to a book for my own book club tonight, Red at the Bone, and it was great, but now I am reading the hard copy of this novel and it is so much richer that way...but I'm willing to trade for the convenience of being able to cook, clean and drive while I "read" with my ears.)