As we grow older, it becomes increasingly difficult to find time for recreational reading. 📚 Since our days are limited to 24 hours, it’s important to find those moments where you can squeeze in just a couple of minutes. My latest solution has been…audiobooks!
Here are my top 5 reasons why I love audiobooks:
1. It’s super efficient.
It’s incredibly easy to just slip on my headphones and listen to a few minutes of my audiobook while I’m walking to class, sitting on the toilet, or eating lunch. During lunch, I normally eat while scrolling through Instagram/FB/Twitter. With an audiobook, I can still do the same thing! Audiobooks keep playing when you’re even on other apps (unlike *cough cough* Youtube)
2. It’s like a movie but better.
The Harry Potter movies are around 2 hours. The audiobook is 8!! You get to spend more time in the magical worlds with all our character friends.
3. It takes minimal effort.
Sometimes we want to read, but we’re too lazy to actually do it! It takes eye effort and lots of time. With an audiobook, you can sit around like a lazy bum but experience a story.
4. You are not limited by the physical book.
UNLIMITED SITTING POSITIONS!! and you can also eat without fear of getting crumbs on the pages. Want to read in the car, but you normally get car sick? Audiobooks!
5. More Accurate Depiction
When we read a book, all of its content is reimagined by our mind’s interpretation. Names can get mispronounced. Important events may be glossed over. When you listen to an audiobook, however, you get the most accurate depiction of the story. You listen to the different character voices which enhances your image of the events.
Some warnings:
- The audiobook is only as good as it’s narrator. 🔊 If you don’t like the narrator, you probably won’t like the audiobook.
- If you’re super tired, you’ll fall asleep. 😴 It won’t matter how good the audiobook is…if you’re sleep deprived, your body will go into hibernation mode. This same rule applies to regular books.
- Borrow vs. Buy. 💵 Audiobooks are expensive, and I completely understand. I don’t buy any of my audiobooks. Instead, I borrow them from my library’s digital catalog. It’s downloaded to my phone, so I can listen to it throughout my day!
Read By Tiffany 
For the longest time, I couldn’t listen to audiobooks. I would find that my interest wouldn’t be there and I would have to relisten to parts that I had zoned out. I think the problem may have been the narrator and also my reading style. I generally skim through descriptions and when you are listening to a very descriptive book, it’s easy for the mind to wander.
However, I’ve recently started giving audiobooks a chance and I’m really liking it! It is so convenient when I’m commuting to just pop in my headphones, or when I’m at the gym! I still love my physical books and ebooks, but audiobooks are definitely starting to grow on me!
Great post 🙂
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I have had the same experience myself. Sometimes the narrator speaks too slow… So I just fast forwarded haha like 1.5x and it is great!
There is a book that I read that I liked but the narration was terrible because of the narrator…
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I am always on the 1.5x setting for audiobooks! Oh no, that sucks! Narration is so important when it comes to audiobooks; that is one of the downsides because bad narration can ruin a really good story experience!
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I do the x1.5 in extreme cases xD if not I get confused xD
It is too important!! For example I loved Perks of Being a Wallflower and the audibook was way better!!!
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I haven’t read that book yet so I might listen to it in audio book form! Thanks for recommending!
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You should! I loved it so much! I have done a post about audiobooks, so maybe you can check it out for a solid reference :3
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Will do!!
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I’m so happy you’re starting to like audiobooks!! I haven’t gotten to the level where I can read at the gym yet though 😂I’m usually too tired and gasping for air to be able to concentrate. I love listening to it all the other times though! What have you been reading/listening?
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An author gave me some free codes for audiobook versions of her books, which is what got me started. I really liked how vividly the story was portrayed, and I thought the narration was great. Then I listened to After Alice, and while I didn’t like it at first, I’m glad I kept listening because it helped me get through the book faster. Now, I’m listening to Zenith.
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I do listen to audiobooks, but I use Audible… I totally agree with you! It doesn’t matter why you are doing you can slip some audiobook time! My work includes a lot of reading and listening, but there are times where I can just listen to the audio book while filling out reports… I cannot read any more on the bus but I can totally do that with Audible.
I have falling asleep a few times myself and that is totally normal.
They do are expensive but they are totally worth it!
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I love Audible! It’s soo freaking expensive though 😢I love that you’re able to listen to audiobooks during work #careergoals
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It is a struggle XD sometimes I have to go back because I started reading something and I did not pay attention XD they have different plans and promos… you might be able to get some deal somewhere 😛
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I have just started my first audiobook and I am super excited. I like to listen for half an hour before I go to sleep or in the morning during breakfast.
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Yes!!! I love listening to audiobooks during my meals 🍴 What have you been listening to?
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I only just discovered audiobooks this year, and I think what I love about them the most so far is that, when it’s a book dealing with a complex subject like anything Stephen Hawking put out (I just listened to A Brief History of Time and LOVED it), the audio version, dependent upon the narrator of course, is my go-to because I feel like I’ll grasp the concepts more than if I were to read the physical book. Also, some audiobooks are a blast to listen to when it’s smut-related, lol.
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That makes so much sense! I definitely agree that audiobooks make more complex topics easier to understand. I also noticed that books I normally don’t like as much (aka contemporaries) are so much more enjoyable through audiobooks too! LOL I haven’t read the smut-related books though 😂
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I love audiobooks too! I check them out from my library. ❤️
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Yes!! Do you use Overdrive?
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Yes, I do! I love it ❤️
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Oh this is such a lovely post, thank you for sharing! I haven’t ever tried audiobooks… I’m afraid that somehow, I couldn’t completely focus on the story and would be distracted by other things?! But you are making brilliant points here – I will have to try someday 🙂 x
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That’s what I used to think before I started!! I really enjoy it now because it’s so easy to multi task 😊
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I love your warnings, they are so accurate. I have been listening to audiobooks since I was a little kid and they are the reason I got into reading. If not for them I would prob still hate reading. I feel like they have a bad reputation sometimes, but honestly overall they are the amazing.
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Thank you!! I also agree that people have some bad opinions of audiobooks, so I feel like these warnings are super necessary. Like, Of course you’re going to fall asleep if you’re tired!! You’d do the same with a regular book!
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Yes, 100%. The audiobook is not at fault for that.
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I would also add that if you get distracted while listening try using headphones. That way that is all that you hear and you can’t get distracted.
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These are awesome, Tiffany! Especially the unlimited positions one (which is why I totally prefer ebooks to physical books most of the time). But my short attention span won’t let me read audiobooks. T_T I tried to listen to the first HP one and LOVED the narrator, but still managed to fall asleep before I even hit the 10-minute mark. 😦
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AIMEE ❤ Yes! Unlimited positions is honestly so important to me. That's why I love ebooks more too than physical books. I definitely agree that they're so long, so I try to listen to them for 10-15 minutes at a time!
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This is an awesome post! I like audiobooks, although I’m not the greatest at listening to them because I get distracted easily and usually just regular books faster. I can only listen to them when I set aside time (I don’t go anywhere by car) and then it’d just be easier to read the actual book. But I am trying to use more audiobooks!
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Yes definitely! I think it’s easy to even listen to during your commute 🙂
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I wish I can muster the focus needed to listen to them! I barely have time nowadays to focus on reading even though I still love it. My ADHD and audiobooks don’t mix well unfortunately, it makes me sad ☹
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Oh no!! That sucks 😦 It’s okay though, I think however you can fit in reading that works for you is what matters 🙂
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Right? It’s hard balancing full time work and reading plus blogging. I used to be able to finish about 250 ish books (not bragging btw) a year on a slow year and now I can barely finish one in a week ☹ I have so much I want to read. AAAAAH, maybe I should try it again, it could definitely be the narrator.
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WAIT 250 IS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!! I’m so impressed. 1 a week is still good!! I’m lucky if I can even do 1 every two weeks. Yes! I definitely realize it can be the narrator. Try the HP ones, The Hate U Give, or The Sun Is Also A Star.
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I mean, to be fair, it’s not all novels, some are graphic novels/manga volumes so it tends to be read quicker 🤣 I’ll try it out! I just got medicated for my ADHD so hopefully it’ll help some more 😄
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I don’t listen to audiobooks, I have always preferred the feel of a book and the pages and engagement I get from it. However this post might have changed my mind… 😄 I’d be willing to give it a chance, especially since it be nice to listen to a book driving home (I have about a 45 minute drive).
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I love browsing my library’s eAudiobook digital catalog – much better than books on cd, but I do like playaways too. 🙂
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Exactly! I love the digital library!!
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