I have listened to some audiobooks, but I am not an audiobook fan. There are a few reasons for this.
First, and most important, is that I’m a fast reader. I’ve done some of those online tests and learned I read at somewhere between 500 and 600 words per minute. In contrast, people speak at somewhere around 180 words per minute. That means I can read most novels in around one-third of the time it would take for me to read the book.
My next reason for not listening to audiobooks is related—time. I don’t have time to listen to audiobooks. This is mostly because I work from home, which means I don’t spend much time in the car. Even when I am in the car, it’s usually for no more than fifteen minutes at a time.
I have been through periods in life where I’ve commuted—my London tube journey was about 40 minutes each way, five days a week. That was great in that it gave me plenty of reading time, and I worked my way through most of the classics of British literature during those years.
I’ve also commuted by car—three hours each way, but fortunately only once a week. Reading while driving is illegal, but listing to audiobooks is not. The only audiobook I had at the time was the King James Version of the New Testament, so I listened to that a lot. I also borrowed some audiobooks from my local library. Some were excellent but others were not, and that had more to do with the narrator than the book. The worst were the ones who read in soporiphic monotone. I was driving. I needed to be kept awake, not sent to sleep.
And that’s my final reason for not listening to audiobooks: the varible quality of the narration. Yes, you can sample the narration, but it’s not as though there are multiple narrators on offer for a specific book. If you want to listen to a story, you have to listen to the story with THAT narrator, good or bad.
If I ever got to the point of having long driving commutes again then I might spend the time listening to audiobooks. Until then, I’ll stick to reading my books.
I listen to audiobooks when I am in the kitchen. It is my least favorite room in the house but one I must spend time in. Audible keeps me company. I usually up the playback speed.
If I have a book I love and know well, I will listen to it as I am falling asleep, then I dream the story.
I’ve started listening to podcasts while I do quiet household tasks like cooking or laundry. I also have an audio version of the Bible, so there is plenty to listening to it.
I don’t think I could listen as I fell asleep – I’d be too worried about missing something!
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