Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody, and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday!
Today’s all about the bookish discoveries we made in 2019. But instead of multiple bookish discoveries, I want to take this time to rave about THE BEST bookish discovery I made in 2019. It’s the discovery that single-handedly SAVED my reading life this year and I’m not even exaggerating. I’m talking about audiobooks.
Audiobooks and Lindsey: how they met
I didn’t use to be an audiobook girl. I preferred physical books. And honestly, part of me still does. But the truth of the matter is that reading physical books requires time. You need time to sit down, open the actual book and – and this is important – do not fall asleep. Which, as you may have guessed, my exhausted little ass is not very good at.
So when I started a new job at the beginning of 2019 that required me to spend way more time in the car on a daily basis, I figured I needed to make some drastic changes quickly or I wouldn’t get any reading done any more. I asked for some help on Twitter, decided to download Audible and tried my first audiobook (Crazy Rich Asians). And I was hooked.
Audiobooks and Lindsey: The numbers
Take a look at my 2019 reading year:
- I read 62 books in total in 2019.
- Of those 62 books, 10 were physical copies (including 3 re-reads)
- Of those 62 books, 23 were ebooks (including 2 re-reads)
- Of those 62 books, 29 were audiobooks (This is 47%)
So basically, about half of my reading in 2019 was through audiobook. HALF! Imagine if I hadn’t had audiobooks!
So when I say that audiobooks saved my reading life, this is what I meant. Without them, my reading would only be half of what it is.
Audiobooks: pros and cons
Look, I don’t just love audiobooks because they enable me to still read so much when time is short, okay? Though that may be the reason that started it all, there are actually a ton of pros to audiobooks:
1. BECOME MULTITASKING ROYALTY AND MAKE BORING TASKS AND DAILY COMMUTES GO BY FASTER
2. BE ENTERTAINED BY AMAZING VOICE ACTORS
3. ACHIEVE YOUR READING GOALS AT SUPER-SPEED
4. EXPERIENCE OLD FAVORITES FROM A NEW ANGLE
5. LEARN LANGUAGE AND PRACTICE VOCABULARY
6. EASILY TRY SOMETHING NEW OR INTIMIDATING
Might I redirect you to my discussion post on 6 reasons why I love audiobooks?
Also, I just want to give an extra shout-out to audiobooks for making it easier for me to read books I’ve been procrastinating for way too long already:
As for cons, I only have one: the narrator is uber important. If for any reason you don’t vibe with the narrator, the reading experience is pretty much ruined.
Though I loved Get A Life, Chloe Brown, I did not love the narrator and am convinced I would have given it a higher rating if I had read the physical copy instead.
And though I was really eager to try The Priory of the Orange Tree, for some reason I had difficulties understanding the narrator and so I DNF’ed the audiobook. However, if you want to pick up this audiobook, don’t be too discouraged by me saying this because in all honestly I listen in some not-so-very-great conditions: through my phone speakers, in my car (I can’t listen on my car speakers because I am missing the bluetooth thingy and me calling it a bluetooth thingy already tells you enough about my tech skills. Moving on.) All this to say: it may be me and not the narrator here.
My favorite audiobooks of 2019:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of my absolute favorites of 2019 and the audiobook narrators had a lot to do with that. Daisy Jones and the Six and its big cast of narrators was pure brilliance and sounded like an actual interview. Perdita Weeks, the narrator of Circe, has a voice that was just so pleasant to listen to and she really brought the character of Circe to life.
Crier’s War was not only a fun sci-fi that shined because of it originality, but also because of the double narration. Dear Aaron was the pen-pal romance of my heart and both narrators helped that. And though I had some issues with the narration of The Flatshare at first, I quickly got used to it and FELL IN LOVE with this amazing rom-com.
Tell Me:
Are you an audiobook fan? Any favorite audiobooks?
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I listened to CIRCE on audiobooks, also. It was a good choice since the names of the characters would have been hard to pronounce otherwise. I’m off the board this week with my favorites of the decade
Yes, pronunciation is definitely a major plus for audiobooks! Downside though is that I don’t know how to write certain names when I’m trying to type up a review haha 🙂
One thing I think I really miss about audiobooks are the narrators/ voice actors. I always hear about how good some of them are, but since I don’t do audio very much I miss out on that. I’d like to try more audio in 2020 for sure.
Circe and The seven Husbands seem like they’d be amazing on audio!
The narrators are definitely such a plus for audiobooks! If you’re trying more audio, I think Circe or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo are perfect choices for a first listen 🙂
I’m not a huge audiobook fan, but I picked up Daisy Jones on audiobook since I keep hearing such great things. I’m excited to try it soon! Great post!
Hope you enjoy the Daisy Jones audiobook!
I loved Daisy Jones, and it seems like it would be great as an audiobook. But… I don’t really have that much time to listen to audiobooks. If I had a long commute to work, maybe…
Daisy Jones is a great audiobook for sure. Long commutes are no fun, but they are quite handy for audiobooks 🙂
Love this post! I’ve heard amazing things about the audiobook of Daisy Jones & The Six, it’s how I’d like to try the book this year, and I’ve seen lots of praise for the Circe narrator, too. I agree that the narrator is so important – I had a Scribd subscription for a while when I was still driving to work and I was hoping to listen to The Kingdom of Copper because the ebook was still a tad expensive, but I didn’t gel with the narrator.
I love the narrator of the Book of the Ancestor trilogy, Helen Duff; I didn’t like Lawrence’s writing style very much, but I was able to read this entire series in 2019 thanks to her narration. Kate Reading, who narrates The Memoirs of Lady Trent series, is also fantastic and I looooove Steve West’s narration for the Strange the Dreamer duology. His voice is amazing.
Thanks! I’d definitely recommend trying the Daisy Jones and Circe audiobooks! Ahh, I’ve been procrastinating on both the Book of the Ancestor trilogy and Strange the Dreamer, so maybe I should try the audiobooks.
We are like audiobook soulmates right now!!! I just got in to audiobooks a few months ago and it has CHANGED MY LIFE. I have no idea why I was resistant to it before??? But I totally was!! I thought I wouldn’t be able to pay attention to it and would miss important things. I was SO WRONG.
Also– the 2nd reason we’re audiobook soulmates– MY FAVE AUDIOBOOK I’ve read so far is EVELYN HUGO!!! Wasn’t the narration just perfection??? I am kicking myself for not reading DAISY JONES on audio now. I think a reread is in order.
I’ve been rereading so many of my favorites on audio and it’s been so fun. Books like FANGIRL and TO ALL THE BOYS, I totally wanted to reread those books but never felt I had time. Now I have time while driving my kid to soccer an hour away!!
The only con I would give it is I do think if it’s not a reread, that there are some elements that I am probably missing when my attention gets steered somewhere else. Like, I’m listening, but am I FULLY engulfed during the whole book?? Probably not. In regular books, I’m fully engulfed bc I have to be.
Ah that’s so cool that we’re audiobook soulmates! Haha but I’m seriously happy that you also discovered audiobooks AND love Evelyn Hugo (Ahh so amazing, and I’d definitely recommend rereading Daisy Jones through audio 🙂 )
It was a major worry of mine as well that I would miss things and wouldn’t be able to enjoy the experience, but so far I haven’t had any problems with that yet. Or if I had a slight lapse of focus, I just rewind a bit. But honestly mostly it’s the other way around and I spend too much time focusing on my book and not enough on my driving and I have to chide myself that I should pay more attention to the road *oops* So maybe that’s my con for audiobooks?
HAHA!! That is definitely something I had to overcome!! The first time I ever listened to an audiobook (it was a book on CD because it was like 10 years ago), I was almost steering my car into curbs and stuff because I couldn’t concentrate on the road and the book. Or I’d be rewinding for like 20 mins bc I realized I was concentrating on not wrecking and missed SO MUCH. This time around my brain seems like it knows what to do, so I’m grateful that I can drive and listen safely so far!
Haha yes so relatable! Here’s hoping I’ll be able to safely combine the two sooner rather than later 🙂
Audiobooks haven’t really worked for me in the past, but I can imagine that when you end up having less time but a long commute it would be a great option for me too. But at home I am just too easily distracted and all and I miss bits.
I’m so glad it offered you the chance to read so much more though <3
I totally understand! I almost never listen to audiobooks while at home either. The only times are sometimes while I’m ironing haha 🙂 If I hadn’t had the commute every day, I probably wouldn’t be listening to audiobooks yet either. But given that I do have the commute, it’s the best possible solution for me right now – and as a plus I actually LIKE going to work and standing in traffic 😉
Wow, you listened to a lot of audiobooks. How neat.
Haha, thanks, I owe it all to a long daily commute 🙂
I’ve really started to enjoy audiobooks, but I only use them for rereads or non fiction right now.
I think audiobooks are perfect for rereads!
I am totally in shock right now because I did this EXACT topic for my TTT list today. Like exactly. How funny that someone else did it, too.
I’ve actually only started listening to audiobooks in 2020. I’m on audiobook 1 1/2 right now. I’m realizing that you’re totally right about narrators. The narrator on my first audiobook was not great and made the 11-hour book seem twice that long! The narrator on the one I’m listening to now is MUCH better. She does different voices and accents, which makes the book feel much more dynamic.
Thanks for your advice and recommendations on audiobooks. I’m definitely going to look for some of the books you recommended.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
OMG, it is pretty cool that we have the same twist on the topic this week! So happy you also fell in love with audiobooks. Hope you’ll find some more great listens from my post 🙂
I love this post! Way to spotlight the best things about audiobooks. I love them!
Thanks! Yeah, audiobooks are great 🙂
OMG, this could have been my audiobook story! I got a new job last year that cut into my reading time A LOT. I started listening to audiobooks so I could read while doing other things. 20% of my reading last year was audiobooks.
Haha that’s so cool – audiobooks are really saving us readers with new and busier jobs 🙂
The Secret Life of Bees was the one that hooked me on audiobooks in 2013. There are a lot of books I would have never consumed if it weren’t for audio format.
That’s a long time listening to audiobooks! I now wish I started with them sooner as well 🙂
I’m right there with you on the audiobooks. I had always struggled with them in the past but something just finally clicked in 2019 and now I love them so much.
Yes, I feel like so many fellow readers fell in love with audiobooks in 2019! Glad they’re getting some love 🙂
I love audiobooks, too! Multitasking is so great! And I love that you can speed up the narration. I agree that the narrator’s voices are super-important; I actually DNFed The Flatshare because I couldn’t get past the narrators’ voices!
Oh I totally understand about The Flatshare – I almost DNF’ed it as well for that reason – especially the narrator for Leon was bothering me… But I do hope you’ll give the physical copy a try instead as it did turn out one of my favorites of 2019 🙂
Audiobooks are fantastic! but you’re so right, the narrator is very very important.
I’d recommend the Good Omens and Discworld ones, because they’re hilarious; the Kate Daniels and October Daye series, because the narrators are so great; and Swordspoint because it’s ‘illuminated’ (there’s narration, but also actors and some sound effects, it’s great)
Thanks so much for the recommendations! I need to check these out, but especially Good Omens and the Kate Daniels series were already a must on my list 🙂
I WANT to like audiobooks, since some of them sound amazing – with cool sound effects, or awesome narrators, or even more than ONE awesome narrator. However, I’ve tried a few, and I just cannot focus enough…and then I start repeating what was just said in my head and it drives me nuts. hah Maybe one day!
-Lauren
Haha I totally understand – I tried one or two audiobooks before and had the same problem! It’s only this year that they started working for me – so who knows, maybe one day indeed 😉