Last year I discovered audio books and fell in love with them. I had tried to listen to audio books a few years ago, but back then all that was available were badly produced classics and the latest bestsellers. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. So, after a few unsuccessful attempts to get into listening something I'd probably never read, I gave up, and promptly forgot about audio books as an option.
In February last year I saw a post in one of the Facebook groups I follow about one of my favourite series Cut&Run. The post claimed the audio books of the series were amazing and they'd listened to them countless times. I was intrigued, and after listening to the samples I loved the narration and bought all the books in the series.
And that moment changed my reading habits. Or rather, added to them.
I can only read when I have free time, and during the day that's not a lot. So I usually read only at night, and by bedtime my eyes are so tired from staring at the computer screen all day that I can only manage half an hour of reading at best.
But with audio books, I can listen while driving, cleaning, cooking, working out or browsing Facebook. I was actually looking forward to cleaning the house when I had an audio book on stand-by.
Looking at my Goodreads log for last year, I can see that I've listened to 77 audio books in 10 months. Wow. I can't believe the number is so huge. Didn't feel that way at all.
Audio books are becoming more and more popular, and, in my opinion, better quality. Now anyone can find something to pique their interest at Audible. There's a huge variety of genres and books on offer, and people can actually listen to the books they would read if they had the time.
That's wonderful news, not just for busy people, but for visually impaired people as well. Soon, everyone will be able to have their favourite book come to life as an audio book.
My love for audio books prompted me to produce my very own audio book for Dance. Listening to the words I've written read out loud by someone else was an excruciating experience. I never even read my books once I'm done with them. But I managed to get through the whole book somehow, and I loved the narrator's performance. I feel so lucky to have met the perfect narrator for my book on the very first try.
I truly believe that the right narrator can breathe new life into the words written on age and make the book so much better. Listening to an audio book is a completely different experience than reading, and I can understand it's not for everyone, but at least now there's a huge choice of audio books available and I'm pretty sure anyone can find something they like.
So, come on, give it a try!
Here's a list with some of the books I loved and can highly recommend:
