Anyone else not able to read audiobooks?

59 replies

Lonesomefetter · 21/10/2023 15:42

I just can't do it, even books I have read before. My mind just wanders, really odd.

OP posts:

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 21/10/2023 17:40

I used to have problems with staying focussed because it's so slow compared to reading myself, but now I listen to a lot of audio books while I'm doing other things like walking or sewing. It really helps to have the right narrator and I will often stop in the first 10 minutes or so if I don't like something about the narration.

stayathomer · 21/10/2023 17:38

I couldn’t until I went on a big long drive once and listened to Murder at mistletoe manor by Holly tierney bedord. Was so hooked!!

verdantverdure · 21/10/2023 17:35

I can only listen in bed with my eyes shut.

Moredarkchocolateplease · 21/10/2023 16:48

I love audiobooks for when I'm gardening/housework/dog walking.

But useless for sitting still.

I don't get them unless I like the narrator. And after a chapter if I don't like it I send it back for a refund.

My mind does wander though unless it's brilliant.

Last week I did 34hrs of the Running Grave. In the car, walking dogs, walking in my work break.

But I've spent 7months trying to listen to 'a little life' and in the meantime I've seen the play!

squashyhat · 21/10/2023 16:04

I'm just getting to the end (thank God) of a very long audio book for my book club because it was the only format in which I could get it for free. Never again. You can't skip over the boring bits, flip back to check who a character is, if the narrator's voice irritates you you are stuck with it (who pronounces the strip of water between Portsmouth and the IoW as "The Sollent"?) In the end I sped it up to 1.2x the normal speed just to get it over with. I suspect this particular book would have irritated me anyway but definitely back to print for me.

DaftQuestionForToday · 21/10/2023 15:51

Nope.

i can't stand the way they read, it just annoys me!!

dana K White & Jason Fung I can listen to podcasts, but not many others.

speed (even adjusted I can't get right) funny inflections. Accents, all too annoying

ItsFunToBeAVampire · 21/10/2023 15:48

I can only listen to them if I'm doing something with my hands, like washing up or cooking/cleaning, where you don't need to think too deeply but keeps my hands busy. I can't just sit and listen, apart from when I'm listening in bed just before sleep.

Finestreason · 21/10/2023 15:47

usernother · 21/10/2023 15:44

I can't listen to audiobooks either for the same reasons. But I can listen to podcasts with no problem.

I am the same.

I really would like to listen to novels in audiobooks but I simply cannot retain or remember even the most basic of plots. All I do is constantly rewind or re listen to long portions.

I can listen to “textbook” or educational type of Audiobooks and remember them.

usernother · 21/10/2023 15:44

I can't listen to audiobooks either for the same reasons. But I can listen to podcasts with no problem.

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