Have you ever, or do you now, “read” audiobooks. If so, do you agree or disagree with Mr. Tóibín? Do you think his is an accurate analogy? Why or why not?
Now, most of the books I read are audiobooks. I did have a different opinion years ago about the whole audiobook thing. Back when I was a teacher I had a few students in high school who would not, and partly could not, read a novel. This was true, especially at the pace the teacher needed. Anyhow, sometimes it would work to read the book aloud with the student while they followed along. One thing I learned though is that even if you are “only” listening, you still have to take in and make sense of what is going on. Unlike television where you can watch something and recall the memory, listening does demand a different type of concentration. (For anyone wondering why a “typical” student can’t read a novel it is because with the level of vocabulary young people are lacking this day and age, it takes a lot of effort to read, try and figure out unfamiliar words, try and figure out their meaning, put them back into what was being read and then comprehend the whole section as one unit….truly difficult.) So, yes, you can listen to an audiobook and have it go in one ear and out the other, but if you are truly invested in the story then you are doing more than just listening if you are following along the whole time, understanding what is going on.
You know, as I am thinking of this I would like to add, for the skeptics…If audiobooks are not real reading then you are technically saying that someone who does NOT have the ability of sight cannot read at all. So not true!
Stine Writing 
I love the authors, but they really DO talk very fast 🙂
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I love audiobooks. I agree, if your invested in the book, then it works out well. Listening to a book is much more enjoyable in my opinion. X
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I think being invested is sort of the key. Its not like you can zone out like with music, not if you want to know what is going on.
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I think you and Marilyn are the only two so far who have admitted to reading audiobooks and actually preferring them to reading books the “old fashioned” way (i.e., with your eyes).
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Well, I listen when I’m walking, driving and a lot of times building my miniatures. I can’t do anything but read if I am holding an actual book. Today I met my daughter at the beach and I did wish I had a physical book.
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Considering that the Audiobook market is huge and growing, I’m guessing a lot of people feel there’s a stigma attached to “not reading” something by eye. I know a lot of people with glaucoma and other eye conditions and THEY think it’s reading. Moreover, I seriously doubt Audiobooks.com only serves the eye-challenged or blind. The market is huge and a lot of people I know won’t even buy it if it’s in print only.
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I have probably 500 books on my kindle that I haven’t read because I keep finding such good ones on Audible.
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I have a lot of unread books too. By now, I know I’ll never read them.
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me either
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I think by the time you have dozens of unread books — maybe more because you stopped counting years ago — you know it isn’t going to happen.
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I have plans on building one of those lending libraries for outside my house. I will put them in there.
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Our grocery store take hard cover books. Most of my recent books are on Kindle. We have long passed the point where any bookcase in the house has room for anything more.
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When I moved down south I had given away so many books. Then I found GoodReads Giveaways and I won quite a few….I have too many
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I never enter contests where the prize is books. I ALWAYS win and I have less than no more room. We have homeless books that wander from table to table. Sad, but true.
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You know chatting with you about it is really getting me motivated to build my library. I bought a book with plans on all different styles.
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Just be careful. They have a funny way of getting out of control. Books have a life of their own.
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👍🏻
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Pretty much everything I read is audio these days. My eyes are tired and my close vision isn’t very good — and frankly, I really love audiobooks. A good narrator matters, of course, but I think I get MORE out of listening than I ever did while reading. I was a super fast reader, so I skimmed a lot and often had to reread the book at least once more to get the whole story. I may listen to an audiobook more than once, but that’s for the pleasure of traveling to that world just one more time …
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I totally agree. I listen to a lot of the same authors and some series and it is almost like I know the characters personally. I have listened to a few with horrible narrators and that does make a big difference. There is one narrator and I always forget to see who it is, but I absolutely love his voice.
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I know we are far from alone. Audiobooks are growing at a huge rate. I slow or speed the speech depending on how fast they are talking. Usually I slow it slightly — from 1 to 9.5 or 9. Sometimes British narrators talk REALLY fast.
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Funny because so many of the books I listen to are from British authors so I know that their jumper is our sweater and their runners are US sneakers…to name a few. I love it.
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