“Should I count audiobooks toward my reading goals?”

Want to start an argument? Enter a book-related space and ask this question.

Let’s start with the yea-sayers.

“I have a long commute to and from work. Instead of that time being wasted, now I can use it to read.”

“I’m so busy with my kids and my job. Listening to audiobooks while doing chores is a simple joy of mine.”

Yasss. We are all busy, myself included. Any time that I can fit in a story is a win in my book (pun intended). Listening to audiobooks while doing otherwise mundane activities makes said activities so much more exciting and worthwhile. That’s why I love those Audible ads so much. #StoriesThatSurroundYou

This guy isn’t sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast; he’s a guest in Marie Antoinette’s court. This woman isn’t on her couch, folding laundry; she’s a fair heroine standing in a forest, wrapped in the hero’s strong embrace.

If I know that I can listen to a great story while doing chores, I’m gonna look forward to those chores that much more. (Bonus: since discovering audiobooks, my house is cleaner!) I’ll be honest: sometimes, I get so caught up in the story, I have to stop what I’m doing and just stand there and listen. Alternatively, my mind does sometimes get away from me, and I have to press the rewind button. Still, it’s worth it to be able to get sucked into an amazing story while I’m doing dishes, or during my commute.

Note: The only time that this can be a problem is if a book is so powerful that it makes you cry. This happened several times with Glennon Doyle Melton’s Love Warrior. I was listening to it on my way to and from work everyday (a fifty-minute round-trip). One day, I actually had to pull into a gas station, turn off the book, wipe my eyes, and gather myself together before I could continue driving.

Now. The naysayers.

“I can’t concentrate on audiobooks. My mind wanders.”

This is valid. Just the other day, I was listening to The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir on audiobook while driving to an appointment. Sure enough, I got drawn into the book and ended up missing the turn, thus arriving a few minutes late.

I love listening to audiobooks while driving, but usually only when the drive is familiar and/or monotonous. Like when I’m on my way to and from work, a route that I drive everyday and can pretty much do in my sleep. Or on long road trips, when the highway is stretched out before me and I don’t have to worry about taking an exit for many miles. But I have definitely been known to place my book on pause when I’m driving through heavy traffic or trying to navigate an unfamiliar area. (Except for that one time, as mentioned above.)

“I would rather imagine the voices in my head.”

Also valid. It’s the same reason that movies are rarely better than the books, because what you can imagine in your head is almost always better than whatever Hollywood can create on a screen (or in a recording studio).

But, in audiobooks’ defense, the authors often do different voices for their characters. It was a joy to listen to Trevor Noah imitating his great-grandmother in his memoir Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood, his voice high-pitched and raspy. Alternatively, in The Book of Essie, the story is told by three different characters. As such, the audiobook utilizes three different narrators, which lent another kind of intimacy to the experience.

Of course, it can go the other way, and the narrator can be terrible. Unfortunately, I have found that this often happens when the author reads his or her own book. (Not always. There are lots of authors who are great readers, such as Glennon Doyle Melton and Neil Gaiman!) An example of this is the original audiobook version of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Hours, narrated by the author. (Note: a new version is being released on August 2, 2018 from BBC, with a full cast dramatization, which you can pre-order now for just $7.63!) It wasn’t absolutely horrible, but his voice didn’t draw me in. I would have much preferred a livelier reader, perhaps someone who actually does this for a living.

 

“I don’t consider that reading.”

Um. What?! So what if all that someone can do is listen to a book? What if someone is blind? Or a quadriplegic? Just because they cannot hold a book in front of them and use their eyes to read from it, doesn’t mean that what they are doing is not reading. To not consider audiobooks a form of reading comes from a place of ableism and privilege. You may be privileged enough to have time to sit down and read from a book, but not everyone has that luxury. What about the single mother who loves literature but works two jobs, and the only time she can fit in any reading time is while doing dishes and laundry? What about the elderly man who used to devour paperbacks voraciously, but whose eyesight has deteriorated so much that he can barely see to read anymore, and for whom audiobooks have been a godsend?

I proudly count audiobooks toward my reading goals, and I count myself lucky to live in an age in which audiobooks are available to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to read a book at all.

Do YOU count audiobooks toward your reading goals? Why or why not? Share your opinions in the comments!

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