Audio books are just not the same?!

[JacktomyDaniel]

I’m desperately trying to get into audiobooks. I’m an avid reader and can lose myself for hours (or could if I didn’t have the kids!) in a good book. Recently I’ve been struggling with lack of motivation to do anything and anxiety and a few people recommended this. Lie back, eye mask on and listen. I want to love it but can’t. I feel like a child being read to with all the different voices and the slow pace. Is it worth persevering? Would I be unreasonable just to give up a couple of chapters in?

I personally don’t mind them but they’re not for everyone. Don’t worry about it, find something else that does help you.

I think it depends on both the book and the narrator. FWIW I love them, I listen in the car to and from work and at night when I am too tired to even read I set up my audiobook on a sleep timer and it helps me to nod off. I used to read all the time but since having kids and DH working away all week for a while I'm just too tired to read so these are a good alternative.

I normally hate the narrators voice so don't listen to many audiobooks. But recently I used the free Audible trial and listened to Set The Boy Free by Johnny Marr, and he narrates it too. It was bloody great, for any Smiths fans out there.

Thank you everyone! I think right now it’s probably not right for me and Grace I think you summed it up!
I adore reading but find with a book just now I end up putting it down and wandering off or can’t focus on it. Was hoping audio would make me lie and relax! Definitely not right at the minute!
Maybe in the future!
So far I’ve hated podcasts. I hate the sound of people chatting so that’s a no go!

I can’t tollerate slow paced rhetoric whether it’s reading aloud, a lecture or a conversation. I struggle to concentrate and get very frustrated and feel like banging my head against something hard.

I love them, can't get enough!

I think a lot really depends on the narrator. My absolute favourite is Ready Player One, read by Wil Wheaton - he does such a brilliant job, and the book is fantastic. I really enjoy his narration so have read a few other books purely as he's reading them. Stephen Fry is great too. He read the Harry Potter books and they're great on audiobook thanks to that. I also really enjoyed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle on audiobook as well.

I trained myself to use audio books about ten years ago when I stared my literature degree and realised I would never get through my reading list whilst also working part-time (and wanting the student night life as well!). I say "train myself" because it did take me a while to get used to taking in the story whilst doing other stuff.

Now, I love them! I listen to them every morning while getting ready, on my commute in the car, and whilst doing housework in the evenings. I read between a hundred and a hundred and twenty books per year, and there's no way I'd get as much reading done as I can with audio books whilst also working sixty hours a week.

I can only my really listen to books I've read. I can't remember people names or details otherwise.

I only listen to it when I'm on the running machine it helps to distract me and gives me something else to focus on that's not running. Or jogging who am I kidding lol.

I prefer a book book. I read in my kindle ap but you can't beat the feel and smell of a book

I often listen to an audiobook when cleaning. I hate the slow speed of the narrators, so I speed them up to at least 2x the speed. The Naxos Classics are usually excellent, Juliet Stevenson narrates most of Jane Austen’s novels.

I'm a devoted reader too but am getting to love audio books.

Some work really well. (Do try 84 Charing Cross Road. The letter format is a bit dull to read but great to listen to.) Some don't.

I find it impossible to relax by lieing still when anxious. My MIL persuaded me that learning to knit would work... and amazingly she is right. (She always said that there would be fewer wars if only more people knitted.) I love to listen and knit - or cross-stich - or crochet.