Bookish Diversions: Do Audiobooks Count?

> Agatha Christie mysteries

These definitely invite reader participation. They are designed like puzzles, like the rest of the whodunit genre. I have more trouble with such stories than with hard SF in audiobook format, as the scientific concepts in hard SF are usually well explained and hard to miss.

"Light" technical writing is usually fine in audiobook format, and by light, I usually mean writing that doesn't have exercises. Other things that work really well as audiobooks is if you are learning a spoken foreign language.

I'm gonna go the other way on that book / audiobook part.

Several times, I had tried to read Anathem... and I'd get a 100 or so pages into the book and start "skipping" the boring parts and then I'd lose the feel of the narrative and put it down to try again in a year or two. At which point I'd repeat it.

It wasn't until I got the audiobook that I was required to not skim/skip the "boring" parts that I was able to enjoy it in its totality.

There are other things that the audio book forces upon the listener - and less than ideal writing becomes more apparent. I did a listen of The Saga of Recluce in chronological order (not written order) and you could certainly feel which ones were written earlier (less about that person's "mechanics" with magic) and later ("I can do that" x 100). I also listened to the Foundation series (Prelude to Foundation onward)... the 1950s were jaring in things I'd skip over before (everyone was smoking) and Foundation's Edge was a bit awkward... the first chapter Foundation and Earth was were I stopped listening (I had read it before). With the Foundation, the writing and lecturing and "always right when it mattered" where things that were more difficult to listen to than to read. I wonder if the Second Foundation series by Benford, Brin, and Bear is something I can enjoy listening to.

My current listen is A Wizard of Earthsea which I feel really works well with an audio format - it feels more like a listening of the Odyssey in its epic style - and that was much better listened to than read. I'm curious how Always Coming Home will be (I read it long ago - enjoyed it then... but I know I skimmed over a lot trying to find the best parts).

I throughly enjoyed listening to The Interdependency series by John Scalzi in part because Wil Wheaton had the proper amount of snark and comfort with casual vulgarity that was part of the book that fit the characters better than I could form in my own mind.

For the most part, I've found that I have enjoyed listening to books as they often (to me) feel closer to the author's vision than what I can imagine. I enjoy reading too - and quickly read some books, but I've found myself coming back to the audio versions to enjoy them.

To me, pausing to reflect is less of a problem compared to getting distracted and losing my place or having to read the same paragraph over and over again. Back when I had a 40+ minute train commute (and was working in the office all week, pre-pandemic), I used to listen to audiobooks on 1.5-3x, while also reading the actual book at the same time. That worked wonders for me, and it's easy enough to pause an audio book with headset controls to reflect on something.

Problem with ebooks is that you get product of a lesser value for a similar price. A paper book doesn't need a extra device you have to pay for, will outlast you with proper care, is DRM free and can be lent or resold. There is even a trend of treating physical books as collectors items, so you may even get some return on investment!

Also "book trade" doesn't include piracy, which works as the "solution" to the value problem.

I actually have the opposite experience, at least with the books I read. Nonfiction is typically highly repetitive and redundant so I find it suits audiobooks far better. Meanwhile fiction has a lot of subtle nuance and rewards carefully reading each sentence.

Of course this depends on what books you read in each category, if it’s a physics textbook vs Colleen Hoover then it’s the opposite.