Got My Book

As I wrote in the previous post, I discovered books on tape back when they really were on tape (and you had to carry the big flipcase of cassettes and turn them over or change them every 30 minutes), since I couldn’t read while commuting on the bus.

At first though, they didn’t work very well for me. I would easily get distracted and lose my place; and it is such a pain to rewind to find the last thing you remember. I was very motivated however, both by my love of reading and by my boredom, to keep trying. In hindsight, I can say that I learned to love Audiobooks through a 3 step process. Now hardly a day goes by that I don’t listen to part of at least 1 book (I’m a mood listener, and often switch books on a whim.) If you would like to give it a try, here they the steps:

1. Listen to books you already know and love.

I am a big re-reader anyway. So, I sought out books I knew well enough not to mind if I missed a bit here and there. And I knew that, if I got distracted, I would still know what was going on. I did this for quite awhile; the problem was that a lot of my favorite books just weren’t available back then, and I eventually began to get a bit tired of the ones that were.

I want to note that this is still the main way I enjoy Audiobooks - spending time with my favorite characters while completing otherwise boring tasks.

2. Listen to a “simple” book you aren’t familiar with, preferable in a low distraction environment while you're doing something easy.

Try starting with books for children or with short stories. 

Listen while crafting, exercising, or doing housework.  Road trips alone through boring areas are also perfect for this.

3. Gradually increase the complexity of the books and your environment.

I can now follow the convoluted plot of a new book while sitting in a noisy airport (i.e. Rick Riordan’s Sword of Summer, which I got from my library the day of my flight and couldn’t wait to listen to). It’s actually nice to be able to tune out the chaos; just be sure not to miss it when they change your gate again, all the people getting up and moving are a good indicator ;-)