Words in your ear

[_ocelott_]

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

Comments

[muse_books]

My late huusband had severe dyslexia and audio books were his preferred format for leisure reading. As a result we have quite a good collection though cost was always an issue.

In recent years I've been a member of Audible which has allowed me to build up a downloaded collection at a price that doesn't really pinch and I use my local library a lot too.

I usually have one audio book in the car where I favour fairly light-hearted first person narrated works as they are usually quite uncomplicated and lend themselves to be listened to in short bursts.

I do enjoy being read to and with vision problems since 2009 audio books have proved very useful though I often combine reading with listening, which may sound odd but allows me to 'flip back' to remind myself of earlier points or if I've been somewhat distracted while listening to skim read to fill in the gaps.

Also, I find re-reads work well on audio.

[tracykitn]

I can't do audiobooks -- it's too much like having music on in the background to keep me moving during tasks I don't want to do, like dishes and mopping and scrubbing toilets. I find that I miss huge chunks of story. Plus, of course, a good portion of what I read is romance, these days, and with three kids under 12, I just don't need to come to to find all three kids gathered round and the story being in the very middle of a fairly explicit scene... *REDREDRED*

[athenaprime]

audio books are awesome for long car rides with kids. They're much longer than songs, and even movies (plus, I don't think movies belong in cars). They encourage you to imagine instead of passively consume media.

[eldestmuse]

I don't like them personally, but my dyslexic boyfriend listens at work, on his walk to work, sitting around the house, cooking, all the freaking time. Before he met me he had never even known they existed, so I'm a big fan of them on that front.