In the last two years I’ve read more than I ever have before. That’s partially due to quarantine, but I also noticed a huge change in my reading statistics towards the middle-end of 2019 when I started to really get into audiobooks. As my love for audiobooks has grown exponentially since then, I thought I’d take some time to talk about how audiobooks have changed some of my reading habits and why I love them so much!
It’s not uncommon for me to work 9-10 hours a day – sometimes more. That can make it really difficult to find time to read, especially if I want to, you know, eat or sleep (though we know I’m not great at the sleeping thing). Reading is how I relax and unwind, so I always try my hardest to set aside some time each day to curl up with whatever book I’m reading and just tune out the rest of the world for a little bit, but sometimes it’s just not doable.
Sometimes after a long or stressful work day, I just cannot get my brain to focus on whatever it is that I’m reading, and instead I find myself worried about all of the things that I need to do the next day, or feel like I should be doing instead – can you tell that I find it difficult to take time for myself?
I won’t lie, there was a time when I was like, “do audiobooks really count as reading?” and I am extremely glad that I’ve gotten out of that ridiculous and very ableist mindset, and realized the multitude of positives that come with reading via audiobooks. Because of that, I wanted to take some time to talk about my favorite things about audiobooks and reasons why I think people should give them a try if they’re not avid audiobook readers.
They make reading super convenient:
I’m a really big multi-tasker, truthfully, 9 times out of 10 I’m doing multiple things at once. My brain just seems to have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time, and audiobooks have been so great for that! Whenever I’m doing something that doesn’t require my full attention (okay and sometimes while doing things that require my full attention) I’ll turn on an audiobook. I love to listen to them while I’m walking or cleaning or cooking. They help keep my mind engaged while doing another activity.
Being able to listen to an audiobook while I’m doing other things also helps to alleviate my (completely irrational) guilt over not reading because I need to be doing other things. I also really enjoy listening to them when I can’t sleep because then I can at least keep my eyes closed and try to sleep while reading – I even multi-task when I try to sleep apparently.
Reading speed:
In general, I read pretty quickly. Unless I’ve got a whole lot going on or struggling to get lost in a book, I finish most books in 1-3 days. My quick reading habits seem to have doubled when it comes to audiobooks – literally. Because of how my brain works, I listen to all audiobooks at x2-x2.5 speed. The story is easier for me to process when I’m listening to it at a high speed. This totally could be because of my obsession with Gilmore Girls and watching it in my formative years, to quote my fave fictional family, “life’s short, talk fast”.
My mind tends to wander if I’m listening to a book on regular speed, but if it’s on x2 speed? My mind is totally focused on it and processing everything. Listening to them at double speed helps me get through them much faster and has totally impacted how I hit my reading goals so quickly. And, I won’t lie, it is super satisfying to finish a 10 hour audiobook in 5 hours.
They’re great for complex storylines:
Have you ever read a book with a really complex storyline or writing style and just been like…what is happening? Yeah, been there. Sometimes it’s just hard to process all of the information when you’re staring at the words, they can all start to blend together. With books like that, I’ve found that listening to the audiobook can be super helpful in understanding the plot!
For instance, last month’s TeaTimeReads pick was The Ones We’re Meant to Find, which is an incredibly interesting and complex story, but I was having such a hard time physically reading it. I decided to switch over to audiobook, and being able to listen to it helped me immerse myself in the story and I finished it really quickly! Sometimes, just switching formats helps keep me more engaged in the story.
They spice up a reread:
We all have those books that we love to read over and over again (one guess as to what mine is) and honestly, rereading via audiobook is one of my go-to’s for a reread. A lot of times when I reread a book it’s because I want to be able to read something where I know what’s going to happen and I don’t have to use a lot of brain power on it. While I love rereading physical copies of my favorite books (especially if I’ve annotated them, I love going back and reading my little silly notes), I also really love reading them via audiobook because I often find that audiobooks help me notice things that I didn’t notice while reading the physical copy.
They’re super helpful for getting out of a reading slump:
Whenever I hit a particularly bad reading slump, I automatically say, “listen to an audiobook!” I’ve found audiobooks to be majorly helpful in getting out of reading slumps. This also goes hand in hand with how great they are for rereads, since usually when I’m in a bad reading slump I reread a favorite to get me back into the swing of things. I would say that 9 out of 10 times once I’ve finished an audiobook I immediately pick up another one. I think I’ve gotten into fewer reading slumps powered by no motivation since beginning to really utilize audiobooks – unfortunately the exhaustion induced reading slumps tend to continue, but the audiobooks help with that too!
They appeal to the actor in me:
As we’ve established on the blog, theatre and performing is my life. As a performer, I love voice acting and audiobooks are completely grounded in that. In my opinion, an audiobook is only as good as its narrator. For me to enjoy an audiobook the narrator has to draw me in from the beginning. When the audiobook has a good narrator it changes everything. The narrator can also completely change how I view a character or how a certain part of a book affects me.
One of my favorite audiobooks is (shocker) If We Were Villains, and it’s not just because it’s my favorite book. Robert Petkoff, the narrator, is in my opinion, the best audiobook narrator I have ever heard. By the time I had read IWWV via audiobook, I’d read the book I wanna say at least 4 times, maybe more, and I ended up seeing the book in a whole new light! The way that Petkoff delivered some lines gave them a whole new meaning for me, and depending on the scene, his characterization and emotion made the stakes even higher. There’s one scene in particular where you find out [redacted] and there’s a specific line that made me lose it when I read it the first time, but hearing it made me go ABSOLUTELY FERAL. Hearing it just completely changed that moment for me, and whenever someone says they’re thinking about listening to the audiobook I tell them that they have to, even if it’s just for that scene alone.
I just absolutely love listening to voice actors on audiobooks and I really think that they can add so much to the story and the characters.
So, there you have it! A bunch of reasons why I love audiobooks and how they’ve positively impacted my reading journey. Truthfully, I could go on and on about how much I love audiobooks, but if I did this post would get extremely long!
Are you an audiobook fan? Why or why not? Have a favorite audiobook? Drop it in the comments so I can check it out! Happy reading, everyone!
Have never read audiobooks- have that idea that they don’t count as reading. Plus, what if a word is said, you don’t know what it means?
I actually read a combo of kindle and physical books- there actually was a time where I said the same for kindle “is kindle really reading?”. After all, it isn’t like it is the real thing, but I slowly learned to like my kindle- after all, don’t have room for all my books.
I enjoyed audiobooks, but I do not listen to them often since it’s reallly easy for me to lose my place 😅 I mostly listen for anthologies or short stories because they’re easier to focus on!