**DO NOT let people tell you audiobooks do not count, they are cheating (on what?!?!), or any of that other crap! Plenty of research done by people way smarter than the two of us (you readings this hack job of a blog, and me writing this hack job of a blog), and wearing white coats says reading a book and listening to books activate the same areas of the brain. So, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.**
That out of the way, I love audiobooks. For lots of reasons, but here are a few
Even if your commute is a short one, audiobooks can make it better. While some folks might be distracted or too in their head about driving to listen to a book, I am not one of theses people. Just like I can remember wake up calls in the car (a car pulling out, bald eagles on the side of the road, calculating gas mileage on an empty tank) I can remember specific parts of books I listened to on the way to and from work. And, they are work damn well on long trips too. Nothing like breaking up a long stretch of the same interstate you've drive 900 like a cliffhanger or interesting history. It beats digging on the radio or trying to find the right play list to jam to.
Tony Hillerman is one of my favorite authors, but I cannot tell you I have read more than one or two of his books on paper. That's because the narrator his books has etched himself into my mind as Tony Hillerman, and I rarely pick up a print book at the library to read. I like the audiobooks better! This goes the same as Will Patton reading James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux books. Narrators voices can help set the tone of the book. Pacing and timing are important when you read a book and that boost from a professional reader helps. Even if/when I read a book by an author whom I have listened to on audiobook, I read it in the voice of the audiobook reader. That extra umph of setting the style of the book helps me engage it better and paint the picture in my mind better
I especially love author read audiobooks. This is the essence of the book, or as close as you can get without getting in the mind of the author, and I don't think you really want to do that. They provide the inflection and subtly they wanted, when they wrote the book to begin with. Biographies and sci-fi are my favorites. Neil Gaimon shows up on my Goodread READ list, but I know I have never held one of his books because he reads them on audiobooks so well! If a good narrator gives you that umph, the audio narration is the extra umph with special sauce of top!
I audiobook in the shower (now there is a mental image), cooking, cleaning, eating and of course driving. That is that much more time I have engaged in a book while I do things I have to. In some interview I consumed, the interviewee talked about John F. Kennedy reading while getting dressed, drinking coffee, eating, etc. Think of how much more he could have been doing if he had an audiobook. Or Harry S. Truman. That man read every book in the Independence, Missouri library. He could have read so many more while he was out plowing the fields if he had audiobooks to tap into. All I am saying here is that it adds your reading time and allows you to engage in books while you do relatively menial tasks.
Audiobooks have their detractors. I get it, but I am not one of them. Since getting turned onto them making a 30 minute commute (literally uphill both ways) to my job in West Virginia, I have listened to scores of books that I otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to read. Not only do you double on the amount of book time you have, but you get a real sense of the book from the narration.
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