Words in your ear
I have, over the last little while, been exploring the world of audiobooks. It's a different experience from sitting down and reading someone, although if the narrator is any good, you can get lost in the story in a very similar way. There are pros and cons to audiobooks: on the one hand, you can't exactly flip pages to find that one passage, or make notes in the margin for yourself. On the up side, though, I can delve a little further in the story every time I walk my kids to school or home again, which is normally time I wouldn't be able to spend with a book. I mean, I wouldn't be the first to read while walking, but it becomes a bit hazardous when you're trying to wrangle three kids across four lanes of traffic. Less so when the book is in my ears instead of on my nose.
I don't think audiobooks will ever be my preferred format, but I do think they have a great value outside of being used by those whose eyes won't let them read directly from the page. Long drive to work? Take your favourite author with you! Going out for a jog? You can enjoy a book along the way just as easily as music. Or listen while you're in the kitchen, cooking dinner. Books at all hours! I don't think I'll ever be able to keep track of a more thought-provoking story via audiobook, but for a lighter or less complex story, I can see chipping away at a book when I don't have time to sit and read, but can stick in a pair of earphones.
So how about you? Have you ever given audiobooks a shot? Do you love the experience of having someone read to you, or do you find it too distracting without the visual words on the page?
I don't think audiobooks will ever be my preferred format, but I do think they have a great value outside of being used by those whose eyes won't let them read directly from the page. Long drive to work? Take your favourite author with you! Going out for a jog? You can enjoy a book along the way just as easily as music. Or listen while you're in the kitchen, cooking dinner. Books at all hours! I don't think I'll ever be able to keep track of a more thought-provoking story via audiobook, but for a lighter or less complex story, I can see chipping away at a book when I don't have time to sit and read, but can stick in a pair of earphones.
So how about you? Have you ever given audiobooks a shot? Do you love the experience of having someone read to you, or do you find it too distracting without the visual words on the page?