Anyone else not able to read audiobooks?

I can't get on with Audiobooks really, as others have said if I'm walking the dog, or doing a bit of housework its ok, but I do tend to get distracted and then its difficult to go back to where you need to be.
I can't stand some of the narrators.
Its a shame as I would read so many more books if I did get on with it, as I don't have a lot of time to just sit and read.
There is nothing like a physical book, I don't even really like reading e-books, but they tend to be a lot cheaper!

Thank you. I don't think I need to pause it, I'm not enjoying the audio books enough that I'll want to restart it. Plus they have audiobooks on Spotify now if I do want one.

Yes, you keep your books. Although you can pause your subscription for three months I think you can only do this once a year.

Do you get to keep the books you've bought?

I am very a very auditory person so love audiobooks. I prefer to listen to the radio than watch TV and even listen to sports...football matches..rather than watch.
Recently l had a lot of books building up so l paused my membership for a few months and then joined in again.
For anyone who likes autobiographical ones Nora Ephron has a lovely one called Left on Tenth or something like that. I loved that and highly recommend it.

You can pause Audible for up to 3 months (I think) if you need to catch up on credits and listening

It depends where I start a book whether I can concentrate on it.

I can't start a new book while driving but I can if I'm cooking or doing housework.
Once I'm interested I can carry on listening anywhere

Yes I really struggle with them and don't enjoy them. I find myself missing massive chunks of what's happening. Doesn't matter if it's fiction or something for work or something academic

I wouldn’t do fiction on an audiobook.

Non-fiction is ok, but it takes me ages to get through something. I just don’t turn to it. I thought I’d listen while on walks, but actually like to hear normal life noises, people, the wind, the birds.

Avid reader otherwise.

I only listen when I'm doing housework or have insomnia. It has to be a good narrator. The strike novels are excellent on audiobooks. I also much prefer British narrators. The American typewriter voices you get for some novels are awful.

I'm the same. I can't follow novels on audio, I just zone out too much. The only genre where I think it works is in autobiography.

Be aware that if you cancel your subscription you lose any credits that you still have. I think this is bloody outrageous but it’s what happens. 🤬. You need to spend them first and then cancel.

Audiobooks drive me mad. They read sooooo slowly. Also, I hate not being to flick back and forth or re- read a passage with ease if someone interrupts or the mind wanders. That being said, I do currently have an audiobook on the go that I am somewhat enjoying, so maybe I'm getting used to it!

Like others, I can only listen if I am doing something else like housework, walking or supervising my children at the park for instance. If I'm still, my mind wanders too much, even when driving.

I find it easier to focus if I increase the speed as it occupies my mind and takes more concentrtion. I never listen on less that x1.5.

I was adamant that I wouldn't listen to audiobooks but then Jarvis Cocker wrote Good Pop Bad Pop and how could I resist having him read it? Then Patrick Stewart, reading his autobiography, and by the time I'd finished them, I was hooked. I'm onto my second fiction book by now and am loving it. At this rate, I'll forget how to read books! I especially adore them on my long train journeys and in bed

I can listen to autobiographies in audio books and often do when I go for a walk but can't listen to novels at all.

Very curious about people saying they can cope if the speech is speeded up. Must give this a try, I'd love to be able to listen to audio books.

I'm fairly new to Audible and have generally enjoyed it. The 68 hours of A Suitable Boy is a slog though!

Another one who can only listen if I'm doing something like driving, cooking or tidying.

I can listen if I'm driving or washing up or something but can't just sit and listen because I end up picking up my phone and scrolling and then I don't take the story in

I need them on at least 1.75 speed - usually x2 or over so I don't just zone out (I frequently wish I could speed people up in real life as it's so hard listening to them speak so slowly /to stay focused!)

but they go into an entirely different part of my brain than reading does and I only really like them for fairly silly nonsense.

I can manage them on long car journeys if I’m driving but fall asleep if I’m a passenger and can’t be doing with them otherwise at all.
Like a PP, I have to see a text to make sense of it. DH has a habit of wanting to read stuff out to me, either from emails or the BBC news website. I always say “Let me see it!” and he really doesn’t get it but my mind doesn’t process words at that pace .. I have to read it myself.
Non fiction seems to work better and I’m on the third volume of Simon Dharma’s History of the World. But only on motorway journeys .. and only the chunks when I’m actually the driver. I have a very patchy grasp of what happened in some periods

I think the trick is to be a captive audience, so they are brilliant for motorway journeys, while decorating or doing other jobs that don't occupy the mind.

But just remembered they were the dramatised versions, so more atmospheric and engaging than books just read out loud.

Same here. I have got credits building up on Audible and am thinking about cancelling it as just haven't been able to concentrate on listening. Apart from with the Shardlake series of books, which I devoured, and didn't miss a word.