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?
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.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice about podiobooks, I'll check it out!
DeleteI 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. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt'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).
DeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteI understand that it's not for everyone :)
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteIt really is fantastic!
That's the way to get all the reading done!
DeleteI'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.
ReplyDelete