Selecting the Perfect Audiobook

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Last Saturday, I published a weekend edition of my Friday Feature, sharing some of my favorite Audible books. While some posts are a struggle to complete, others leave me feeling as though I could have said so much more.

Saturday's post was (as you've probably already figured out) one that fit into the latter category.

I really was surprised to discover that I liked audiobooks. When I started the membership, I thought I'd do the free trial, then cancel. I couldn't imagine how I'd fit listening to books into my schedule at home (I mean, why not just pluck something off my towering to-be-read pile?) and my trip to and from work takes less than half an hour, even if I stop at Starbucks on the way home, so it wasn't as though I could settle in for some good storytelling.

Oh, how wrong I was. 

Though I most often listen to books in the car, I listened to a significant chunk of Becoming while I cleaned out a closet one weekend afternoon. I've also gotten into the habit of listening to a book (usually a memoir) while I play silly games on my iPad (makes me feel less like I'm wasting time). Finally (although this qualifies as in-the-car-listening), I've been known to appreciate a long line at the Starbucks drive-through because it lets me get a little more story in. As a result, I've finally made progress on the "read more" goal I set every single month. Though it's not eyes-on-the-page reading, it's still consumption of books. And, in a time when I'm spending most of the day on the computer for classes, planning and, yes, writing, it's nice to give my eyes a break from time to time.

Over time, I've refined my selections to certain types of books. I rarely download novels, for example because, when it comes to fiction, I still prefer old-fashioned books or e-books. The ones I did download in my early days on Audible are languishing in my library. I might listen to them if we ever get back to the beach but, meanwhile, I tend to go for non-fiction. In fact, my non-fiction reading has increased dramatically, in part because I can listen to this genre on Audible. I tend to go for:

• books about people/topics who/that interest me, but that I would be unlikely to buy a whole book on; 
• books where the author reads the story (this is how I got pulled back into biography/memoir, which I hadn't read much of since middle school);
• books I can easily pick up and put down (which is why non-fiction makes the cut more often than fiction) and
• books that I need to read (I've previewed several trade books I assign for class on Audible).

I love that I can sample the books; in fact, without that feature, I probably would have canceled my membership. Honestly, there are several books in my library that never made it past that stage.

I promise that the good people at Audible aren't paying me for these posts -- it's just that a belated-Friday-turned-weekend-post got me on a roll. And, in case you're wondering, Casting the First Stone is available on Audible (the only one of my books that currently is). In a fun sort of irony, my friend Beth McIntosh auditioned for the job and got it before I even knew she'd thrown her hat into the ring (or her voice into the microphone).