I discovered audiobooks about five years ago and found that the narrator makes all the difference for me, too. I tend to prefer male voices but have also listened to several excellent female voice actors. I use the term voice actor instead of narrator because the really excellent ones deserve the title of actor IMHO. I also often buy audiobooks based on the narrator. 🥰
What really convinced me of the benefit of audiobooks was when I was sick during the Christmas holidays several years ago. I just could not concentrate on reading with my eyes but I found that an audiobook was calming and that's when I really got hooked.
Hoopla and Libby are great sources for audiobooks but my library also gives me access to something called CloudLibrary. I have found even more audiobooks that I wanted on there than on Hoopla and my library only restricts how many you can have checked out at a time instead of how many borrows you get per month like with Hoopla. (Each library has it's own limits on both Hoopla and Cloudlibrary.)
Listening to audiobooks has pretty much doubled the number of books I reach each year. It took me a while but I've finally been able to up my listening speed to 1.4 with just about every narrator and several I can go faster.
I really enjoyed reading your comments about audiobooks! Happy listening!
I love this. I feel like we're living parallel lives. Our granddog, Timber (a German shepherd/lab mix), is now living with us. When we took her to be spayed, they gave her the most ENORMOUS cone. It lasted less than 10 minutes after we got home. We also invested a number of doggie devices before finally giving up and going with Constant Vigilance on the part of the hoomans.
I feel your pain - and luckily, not Leonard's.
I am almost entirely audio these days. I still buy books, but I find I can't concentrate on print these days. Audio has saved me. I listen at work, while cooking, walking, and doing procrasti-cleaning. I am a huge fan of my library (Libby and Overdrive) as well as Chirp and Audible.
I am very picky about narrators, though. I will stop listening to an audiobook if I don't enjoy the narrator. Those are usually the books I still want to read, but are now consigned to the dusty tbr pile.
I listen to audiobooks when I mow the lawn, on my daily walk around the neighborhood, and while I do jigsaw puzzles. Also cleaning, cooking, on long drives, etc., but I mentioned the first three because they're repetitive activities that really lend themselves to audio 'impressions'. There are places in my yard that resonate with the locations or characters of the audiobook I was listening to one week ago, one year ago, even ten years ago. It's like there's an echo there. It's a really unique way to remember books. Similarly, I can look at a jigsaw puzzle and remember the book(s) I was listening to while I completed them.
I've always been an audiobook person, even back when they were on tapes. In the 90s, I'd borrow them from the library and listen to the tapes on my hour long commute to work both morning and afternoon, and would often sit in the garage after I got home to listen to the rest of a chapter. Or take the tape out and listen to it on my Walkman (lol). I upgraded to disks when my daughter was young and used to 'borrow' her discman to listen while I did chores around the house. Then I'd borrow the discs from the library, rip them, and download them to my MP3 player (deleting the files afterward). Then steaming, yay!
These days, I listen at about 1.5-1.7 for most books, but have listened at 1.95 to a couple. I have to have the speed set fast enough that my mind becomes more engaged with the task of keeping up with the story than with whatever I have going on as background thought (which is always a LOT). Similarly, I tend to be even more focused on an audiobook when I'm doing something really repetitive like puzzling or mowing. But I can't just stand around and listen. I have to be doing something else. How the mind works is so fascinating, hm?
I LOVE my Audible subscription. I think I have about 400 audiobooks in my library. I also borrow a lot of audiobooks from Hoopla (through the library) and Libby. Chirp often has great deals as well!
I think the biggest difference audiobooks have made for me is making nonfiction more accessible. I have a really hard time paying attention to nonfiction as a reader, but very much enjoy the experience of listening to it.
Another feature I've found helpful in Libby is the sleep timer. Sometimes I want to listen to a book before bed, but unlike paper or ebooks, audiobooks keep going even when you conk out. I wake up in the morning, having "listened" to the entire book, and no idea where I actually left off. But if you click the little moon at the top of the screen, right next to where you adjust the reading speed, you can set it to stop either after a certain number of minutes or at the end of a chapter. (I find the end of the chapter less disruptive when I'm dropping off, but YMMV.) I back up a couple minutes the next morning, just to be sure I really caught what I was listening to the night before, and then I'm good to go. And if I don't remember anything at all, I have some idea where I left off. This could be a handy feature for working on projects, too. Spend a chapter a day cleaning the closet in the back room, or whatever. When your audiobook cuts off, you're done.
I generally agree with you about authors narrating their own books. But Neil Gaiman is a big exception. I picked up one of his books from Audible years ago, Stardust, I think. His voice was so soothing I didn't care if I couldn't remember where I left off the night before. I'd just start back up wherever, and he'd read me to sleep in minutes.
Oh yeah! I’m a big believer in audiobooks - sometimes that’s the only thing that works. I recently retired from an overnight stocking job at Target. We were allowed to listen to whatever we wanted as long as we only used one earbud, for safety reasons. Since the last store remodel, there has been broadcast music in the store. I couldn’t listen to different music on my one earbud, but I could listen to someone speaking. A definite win!
I usually listen at 1.25x speed. Occasionally I will find a book that I have to slow back down. These are usually books with foreign language elements - phrases in the language or complicated names. I appreciate being able to hear what these bits of language sound like (rather than the sounds my visual reading would give them).
And I fit in more listening when I’m alone in the car. Makes running errands, driving kids, and my part time US Census job all more enjoyable.
I wouldn’t be able to do all this listening without my library access (Libby and Hoopla). I have suggested audiobook purchases (the next in a series that they already have all of) only to be told that the library can’t buy it (for some reason that I don’t truly understand). I sure hope that changes.
I am a trucker now after 8 years as a stay at home mom, I went through a huge reading slump for the last few years I was home (thanks to depression/2020), after the first few months out, I had listened to ALL the music and I can't stand hearing the same thing multiple times a day which is what my playlists tried to do even when I added 10+ hours of nonstop different songs on it... so, at the mention from other drivers, I popped onto libby and started with audio.... have not turned back.... I went through 87 audiobooks in 2022 and since January 2023 (currently end of March), I have read 38.... hubby got me an audible subscription for Christmas, lol
Legends and Lattes would have to be the author read exception for me, he did an excellent job on that and I am looking forward to the prequel coming out soon.
I discovered audiobooks about five years ago and found that the narrator makes all the difference for me, too. I tend to prefer male voices but have also listened to several excellent female voice actors. I use the term voice actor instead of narrator because the really excellent ones deserve the title of actor IMHO. I also often buy audiobooks based on the narrator. 🥰
What really convinced me of the benefit of audiobooks was when I was sick during the Christmas holidays several years ago. I just could not concentrate on reading with my eyes but I found that an audiobook was calming and that's when I really got hooked.
Hoopla and Libby are great sources for audiobooks but my library also gives me access to something called CloudLibrary. I have found even more audiobooks that I wanted on there than on Hoopla and my library only restricts how many you can have checked out at a time instead of how many borrows you get per month like with Hoopla. (Each library has it's own limits on both Hoopla and Cloudlibrary.)
Listening to audiobooks has pretty much doubled the number of books I reach each year. It took me a while but I've finally been able to up my listening speed to 1.4 with just about every narrator and several I can go faster.
I really enjoyed reading your comments about audiobooks! Happy listening!
Glad you've been able to enjoy reading again, even while battling your dog's energy.
I really wish I could get into audiobooks. With tinnitus retraining therapy, I learned to tune it all out, so it's really hard to concentrate.
I love this. I feel like we're living parallel lives. Our granddog, Timber (a German shepherd/lab mix), is now living with us. When we took her to be spayed, they gave her the most ENORMOUS cone. It lasted less than 10 minutes after we got home. We also invested a number of doggie devices before finally giving up and going with Constant Vigilance on the part of the hoomans.
I feel your pain - and luckily, not Leonard's.
I am almost entirely audio these days. I still buy books, but I find I can't concentrate on print these days. Audio has saved me. I listen at work, while cooking, walking, and doing procrasti-cleaning. I am a huge fan of my library (Libby and Overdrive) as well as Chirp and Audible.
I am very picky about narrators, though. I will stop listening to an audiobook if I don't enjoy the narrator. Those are usually the books I still want to read, but are now consigned to the dusty tbr pile.
I listen to audiobooks when I mow the lawn, on my daily walk around the neighborhood, and while I do jigsaw puzzles. Also cleaning, cooking, on long drives, etc., but I mentioned the first three because they're repetitive activities that really lend themselves to audio 'impressions'. There are places in my yard that resonate with the locations or characters of the audiobook I was listening to one week ago, one year ago, even ten years ago. It's like there's an echo there. It's a really unique way to remember books. Similarly, I can look at a jigsaw puzzle and remember the book(s) I was listening to while I completed them.
I've always been an audiobook person, even back when they were on tapes. In the 90s, I'd borrow them from the library and listen to the tapes on my hour long commute to work both morning and afternoon, and would often sit in the garage after I got home to listen to the rest of a chapter. Or take the tape out and listen to it on my Walkman (lol). I upgraded to disks when my daughter was young and used to 'borrow' her discman to listen while I did chores around the house. Then I'd borrow the discs from the library, rip them, and download them to my MP3 player (deleting the files afterward). Then steaming, yay!
These days, I listen at about 1.5-1.7 for most books, but have listened at 1.95 to a couple. I have to have the speed set fast enough that my mind becomes more engaged with the task of keeping up with the story than with whatever I have going on as background thought (which is always a LOT). Similarly, I tend to be even more focused on an audiobook when I'm doing something really repetitive like puzzling or mowing. But I can't just stand around and listen. I have to be doing something else. How the mind works is so fascinating, hm?
I LOVE my Audible subscription. I think I have about 400 audiobooks in my library. I also borrow a lot of audiobooks from Hoopla (through the library) and Libby. Chirp often has great deals as well!
I think the biggest difference audiobooks have made for me is making nonfiction more accessible. I have a really hard time paying attention to nonfiction as a reader, but very much enjoy the experience of listening to it.
Another feature I've found helpful in Libby is the sleep timer. Sometimes I want to listen to a book before bed, but unlike paper or ebooks, audiobooks keep going even when you conk out. I wake up in the morning, having "listened" to the entire book, and no idea where I actually left off. But if you click the little moon at the top of the screen, right next to where you adjust the reading speed, you can set it to stop either after a certain number of minutes or at the end of a chapter. (I find the end of the chapter less disruptive when I'm dropping off, but YMMV.) I back up a couple minutes the next morning, just to be sure I really caught what I was listening to the night before, and then I'm good to go. And if I don't remember anything at all, I have some idea where I left off. This could be a handy feature for working on projects, too. Spend a chapter a day cleaning the closet in the back room, or whatever. When your audiobook cuts off, you're done.
I generally agree with you about authors narrating their own books. But Neil Gaiman is a big exception. I picked up one of his books from Audible years ago, Stardust, I think. His voice was so soothing I didn't care if I couldn't remember where I left off the night before. I'd just start back up wherever, and he'd read me to sleep in minutes.
Oh yeah! I’m a big believer in audiobooks - sometimes that’s the only thing that works. I recently retired from an overnight stocking job at Target. We were allowed to listen to whatever we wanted as long as we only used one earbud, for safety reasons. Since the last store remodel, there has been broadcast music in the store. I couldn’t listen to different music on my one earbud, but I could listen to someone speaking. A definite win!
I usually listen at 1.25x speed. Occasionally I will find a book that I have to slow back down. These are usually books with foreign language elements - phrases in the language or complicated names. I appreciate being able to hear what these bits of language sound like (rather than the sounds my visual reading would give them).
And I fit in more listening when I’m alone in the car. Makes running errands, driving kids, and my part time US Census job all more enjoyable.
I wouldn’t be able to do all this listening without my library access (Libby and Hoopla). I have suggested audiobook purchases (the next in a series that they already have all of) only to be told that the library can’t buy it (for some reason that I don’t truly understand). I sure hope that changes.
I am a trucker now after 8 years as a stay at home mom, I went through a huge reading slump for the last few years I was home (thanks to depression/2020), after the first few months out, I had listened to ALL the music and I can't stand hearing the same thing multiple times a day which is what my playlists tried to do even when I added 10+ hours of nonstop different songs on it... so, at the mention from other drivers, I popped onto libby and started with audio.... have not turned back.... I went through 87 audiobooks in 2022 and since January 2023 (currently end of March), I have read 38.... hubby got me an audible subscription for Christmas, lol
Legends and Lattes would have to be the author read exception for me, he did an excellent job on that and I am looking forward to the prequel coming out soon.