Back in January, I transitioned to a new job with my school system and basically doubled my commute. Instead of driving between 15 and 20 minutes across town, now I’m driving between 30 and 45 minutes on the highway.
But I’m not complaining!
See, in the process, I’ve also more than doubled my reading time. I started out listening to podcasts during the drive, but I quickly ran out of back episodes of my favorites…and just as quickly ran out of new podcasts I wanted to try out.
So then I thought: “Hey, there’s that book I’ve been trying to finish reading since November. I wonder if it’s available in audiobook…” And, sure enough, it was. I checked it out from my local library, popped it into my car’s CD player, and got on the road.
Since then, I’ve read two non-fiction books and three urban fantasy novels during my daily commute. It’s fantastic. No pun intended!
At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like listening to fiction on audiobook. What if I couldn’t envision what was going on? What if the narration removed me from the story? What if I couldn’t connect to the characters?
All that worry was for nothing. These audiobook producers clearly know what they’re doing. Every event is narrated with just the right level of tension or languidness or passion to set the scene.
And every character’s voice is unique and suits who they are in the story. Alpha males speak in rough, growling tones. Strong women have voices edged in steel. Frightened characters’ voices shake, and I shake with them; amused characters laugh, and I laugh with them.
Best of all, I’m enjoying my commute more than ever!
Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you like them?
Until next time,
--Dianne Fox
2 comments:
A friend recommended listening to audio books recently. I had it in my mind that it was this robotic voice spewing words. Your experience with it has made me want to try it out.
I'm really enjoying it. Each of the books has had a different narrator, and they've all sounded just right for the book they were reading.
I've also checked out one of the series I started listening to, and the subsequent books are all the same narrator, so it'll sound consistent, which I think will be important to the way the book "feels" in my head.
I definitely recommend trying it out!
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