How I Grew to Love Audiobooks

And how you can too :)

Here is a conversation I have at least once a week.

Friend: How do you read so much?

Me: One thing that has really helped me to read a lot more over the past few years is to listen to audiobooks.

Friend: Oh, I can’t listen to audiobooks. I get too distracted.

Now… I fully understand this belief. I thought the very same thing for years and years. I thought that audiobooks were only for long car trips when I was trapped and could literally do nothing else.

But since learning three things, I am now a HUGE audiobook fan.

ONE: You can increase the speed of an audiobook.

Hear me out. I know this is counterintuitive but it is true. The number one thing that has helped me to love audiobooks is to increase the speed at which I listen to the book.

At first this makes no sense but think about it for a minute. I read silently much, much faster than I read out loud. I think this is true for most people. So, when I listen to an audio book at its original speed, my brain has time to get distracted. When I speed the reader up a little bit, I am forced to pay attention.

I do not listen to every book at the same speed. Here are the steps I take with each book I listen to:

1. I listen at the regular speed until I have gotten used to the narrator’s voice.

2. I start increasing by .1 every few minutes until I realize I am starting to loose track of what is happening at which point, I dial it back a tiny bit.

3. And then I repeat this process as needed throughout the reading process.

With some books, I will only get up to 1.2x but with others I can read at 1.5x or even 1.75x.

TWO: You can download audiobooks for FREE from your library directly onto your phone

Audiobooks are expensive unless you use the Libby app. Libby is an app used by libraries across the country and it is really simple to use. As each library system is a little bit different, I encourage you to go to your library’s website and experiment with Libby. And if you need help, call your library. There will be a librarian on the other end of the line ready and excited to help you.

By downloading your audiobooks through the library, there is more room for error. If you don’t like a book, return it. No harm no foul. And then try again :)

THREE: Distraction is not an excuse to avoid audio

The idea for this post came from this recent episode of The New York Times Book Review podcast. The episode is full of many great thoughts and book recommendations but it was one off-the-cuff remark that jumped out at me. One of the hosts said simply that she gets distracted when reading in print and has to go back and re-read a few pages to reorient herself. And she does the same thing when listening to an audiobook. I think it is fair to say that we all get distracted when reading on the page so why do we not give ourselves grace to do the same when reading on audio?

Of course I get distracted sometimes when I listen on audio but that is not a reason to abandon the medium all together. The benefits of listening far outweigh the occasional need to press rewind.

Because I listen to books, I am reading while driving, walking the dog, cleaning the dishes and I could go on and on. I still love reading in print and do daily but listening has greatly increased the amount of time I spend reading each day and every day. And as a result, I have found so many more books to love.

Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment with your thoughts or questions on audiobooks- I’d love to talk more about this topic!

xo,

Stacey

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