It was no surprise that I had to change my reading habits after my son was born. What was something of a surprise – to me, anyway – was how quickly I opened up to audiobooks. I never really enjoyed them before. I’m horrible at multitasking, and audiobooks never worked for me unless I was giving them all my attention… which would defeat the purpose. But I preferred reading, and I never had much time where listening was more convenient than reading anyway, so it didn’t really matter.
I still prefer reading, but the time thing… well, that’s no longer the case.
During the last Bout of Books, I decide to include an audiobook – Seriously… I’m Kidding, by Ellen DeGeneres. What I found was that humorous nonfiction is great audiobook material, especially when narrated by a celebrity I already know and enjoy.
I followed it up with two books I thought might be similar – Amy Poehler’s Yes Please and Tina Fey’s Bossypants. All three had moments that made me laugh out loud. But my favorite was Ellen’s book, and it took me a while to realize why. It wasn’t a memoir; it was a collection of essays. You could say the other two were as well, but those women included a lot more autobiographical content than Ellen did (maybe because this is her third book).
It’s sort of unfortunate that I listened to them in this order. Starting strong gave me an enthusiasm for this new world of audiobooks that’s only diminished with each one. Maybe it’s the novelty wearing off, or maybe I’m trying to do too much and getting distracted.
Or maybe it’s just that I’ve legitimately liked each book a little bit less than the last.
I’ll still plan to use audiobooks going forward. I think they’ll be a great way to get some re-reads in, and I still think I’d like to listen to more nonfiction. I just have to be ready for some books to be not as enjoyable as others, just like any other kind of reading… or anything else, for that matter.
Are you an audiobook reader?
Cheap Thrills 