Quote:
Originally Posted by DianNC
They're definitely not for everyone. I almost gave up on them...several times. Now I can't seem to live without them.  |
This. I had several false starts with audiobooks, I felt that I wasn't actually "reading" the book even though I knew that made no sense. I think the tipping point was last summer when I was reading Paul Murray's Skippy Dies - totally engrossed, and I was facing an eight hour car trip. That motivated me to sign up for Audible to be able to continue with this terrific book. It was a wonderful production - a good main narrator plus several voice actors, all with Irish accents - I was hooked. Soon after that, I checked out of my library The Passage by Justin Cronin, read by Scott Brick, an awesome narrator, and the rest is history.
Now for car rides, runs/ gym time, and laying in bed awaiting sleep - audiobooks have nudged aside listening to music to a significant degree. I recently listened to and enjoyed The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, narrated by Tom Hollander, another great narrator. I do find as someone mentioned that I turn up the speed to 1.2x to 1.4x, depending on the narrator. It approaches, though doesn't equal, my normal reading speed. Modern apps that allow variable speed actually made audiobooks far more appealing to me.
Bottom line for me is that audiobooks allow me to "read" in situations where reading is impossible - thus the ability to read more books!