I haven’t been reading.
A few other things have been going on that have kept me from delving into the plethora of Kindle books I keep purchasing. First, I’ve been crocheting. I discovered I love crochet, I’m very good at it, and I can watch a million documentaries while crocheting. However, I can’t physically read and crochet at the same time. It’s simply impossible.
Secondly, in my Spotify wrapped, I saw that I’ve listened to a whopping 50,000 minutes of music this year. My daily job is work from home, and I often have music on while I’m working to help the time pass. I believe this, and my 30-60 minutes of working out per day, is a large contributor to my 50,000 minutes.
Do you know what I could have been doing besides watching a million documentaries and listening to 50,000 minutes of music? Listening to audiobooks!
I’m honestly kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier. If I had, I think I would have smashed my reading goal out of the park with all the time in October and November that I spent crocheting. When I say it was a lot of time, I mean it was a LOT of time. Not to mention, I could have easily been listening to audiobooks while I worked.
Before now, I haven’t been the hugest fan of audiobooks. I have listened to a few on road trips, but even then I’m more so a “one podcast right after another” kind of gal. It’s not that I dislike audiobooks, but I really prefer reading on my own so that everything sounds as it should in my head.
Now, after discovering how much time I potentially have for books, my indifference to audiobooks is just going to have to change.
I think my hope with writing this short blurb about audiobooks is to maybe convince someone who doesn’t read often, or who has had to cut back on reading due to extraneous circumstances, that you may actually have quite a bit of time to read if you convert to audiobooks. While they may not be your preferred form of reading, I personally would rather listen to audiobooks than not be able to read at all, and maybe you would too.
Of course, if you’re a library bunny like me, you may not want to switch to a paid platform like Audible. Fortunately, you can checkout audiobooks with a library card on apps like Libby and Hoopla.
I will mention here that my personal experience with Libby wasn’t great. They seemed to say that my county’s libraries only had thirty total audiobooks. There were over 22,000 e-books, but only thirty audiobooks? What’s the point?
I have not yet tried Hoopla, but I have heard good things! I’ve opted to use Audible for the time being because they had a signup deal around the time I was looking to get into audiobooks. Plus, their regular cost ($14.95/month) isn’t outrageous to me. You get a free book credit every month, so you’re essentially paying $14.95 for a new book each month. I’m okay with that, even if it isn’t a hard copy book. They also occasionally have deals, similarly to Kindle, where a book may be on sale for up to 80% off. I bought the Priory of the Orange Tree audiobook this way.
Currently, I’m listening to The Shining by Stephen King. What better way to convert to audiobooks than by listening to an author I know I enjoy? Priory of the Orange Tree is also on the list, and I think I’d like to listen to Jane Eyre again. The first time I read Jane Eyre I really disliked it, but I’ve been wondering if, now that I’m older, I may enjoy it more.
Incorporating audiobooks has reinvigorated my interest in reading, and I hope to listen to five books by the end of this year. Then, next year, I hope to knock my reading goal of 52 books/year out of the park.
I’m not giving up physical reading entirely, of course. Considering the hundreds of books I have waiting for me on my Kindle, it would be silly to do so. But, I’m excited to venture into audiobooks and see how much reading I can get done in a year through this new avenue.
Note: This post isn’t sponsored, although it really should be. I’ve mentioned both Audible and Kindle, which are Amazon products. Since it’s not sponsored, I’ll add here that I highly recommend you try one of the free apps first (Libby or Hoopla) if you have a library card already. Support your local libraries!
The Lit Wiz