Sunday, November 11, 2012

Discussion: Do You “Read” Audio Books?



I am a multi-book reader.  I usually read a ‘paper’ book, an eBook, and an audio book at the same time.  Why? Well, I am a very busy person.  I work full-time on a demanding job, I have three beautiful boys and an amazing husband, I’m a military wife (that can be a job by itself!) and I am a book blogger (sorry for stating the obvious).  Believe it or not, this leaves very little time to actually read.  Nevertheless, I still try to read three books weekly; I might not get to actually review them all, but hey, I’ll get to that later.  

I started listening to audio books about a year ago.  I get them from the library and listen to them in the car on my way to and from work (about an hour a day).  More recently, I registered to Audible and have gotten two books from them already (although I don’t enjoy using headphones for long). 
There are many benefits to listening to a book.  You can listen while driving!  It actually makes my commute a lot shorter and I even enjoy if traffic is bad (I get to ‘read’ more!).  Most of the readers of the books are actors and they do a wonderful job, they way they change their voices and accents is nothing short of incredible.  It is a great alternative for a non-reader.  This is very true, one of my boys doesn't like reading (don’t look at me, I don’t know how that happened!), in order for me to get him to ‘read’ anything, I get him books in audio.

There aren't many downsides to audio books, but here are some of them (at least for me). Audio books are a lot more expensive that their print or electronic counterparts.  Also, it is hard to go back to a favorite part or find a quote to include in my reviews.  Lastly, when the book has strange words and names, it is hard to understand it well because I’m not actually looking at the word; this happens a lot if listening to a fantasy or dystopian books. 
These are some of my favorite audio books thus far:


Are you a fan of audio books?  Why do you like them? If you haven’t try them yet, why not? 

9 comments:

  1. I'm a huge audiobook fan, and the sync mechanism now with amazon solves some of those shortcomings (though introduces a new one: you have to buy the book twice to use it). Yes, they are more expensive,but I think that's legitimized a bit by the fact that they are very labor and tech intensive to create. However, if you're open to a wider field of titles and aren't just limited to NYT best seller types of books, you can get lots of free audiobooks from sites like podiobooks.

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    1. Thanks for the advice about podiobooks, I'll check it out!

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  2. I suppose I am a bit prejudiced against audiobooks... I don't think they really count exactly as 'reading', but more as 'being told a story'. But in the end, I guess, the outcome is almost the same. ;)

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    1. It's the same to me. It is also very entreating and I can 'read' books with the kids (more than one person can listen at the same time).

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  3. I would definitely listen to audiobooks if I had a longer trip to work. I really understand the appeal of them, but I haven't got the inclination to listen to them. I wish I did have though, I remember listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks in school and absolutely loving them!

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  4. I love audiobooks! I also read a paperback (in the bath), ebook (in bed) and a audio book while I was dishes, iron or drive to class.

    It really is fantastic!

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  5. I've tried audiobooks but I hate them! I wish i liked them cause I could get more reading done. One audiobook I do wanna "read" is The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare because Ed Westwick narrates it. He could read me his grocery list and I would be hanging on his every word.

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I love comments! Please leave me one and I will try to reply as soon as I can. Liza

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