Like most authors I know, I choose reading as my preferred
way to relax and unwind. Like most humans I know, I have far too little free
time to do this as often as I’d like. In fact, sitting down to read has become
more of the exception than the rule, which means I’ve had to take steps to
ensure I get my daily literary fix.
How do I do it? Audiobooks. And I’m not alone.
Audiobooks are currently the fastest-growing digital format
in the book industry, a trend I’m happy to be a part of. Whether I’m going for
a jog, washing dishes, folding laundry, or acting as family chauffeur, I love
being able to plug in my earphones and travel to my favorite fictional worlds
in a flash. I don’t, however, travel to just any fictional world: I tend to
travel to the ones I’ve been to many, many times before.
See, for me, it’s difficult to listen to a book I’ve never read
before. I think it’s because I feel pressured to pay attention; I love things
like word choice and sentence construction, and these are harder to pick up on
in audio form. I always end up forgetting things and replaying entire chapters
so I don’t miss important parts. (Especially if I’m listening to a mystery,
where one small clue can change everything.)
This means that instead of discovering new authors in audio
form, I turn to my favorites time and time again. In fiction, I can often be
found indulging in Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Peters, and L.M. Montgomery.
(Though don’t get me started on the narrator who mispronounced Avonlea every
time.) For nonfiction, my rules aren’t quite as strict; I love listening to
autobiographies from the author’s own voices, even if the book is new to me.
Mindy Kaling and Amy Poehler are particular favorites.
Like turning on a favorite movie to play in the background, listening
to these old favorites allows me to “read” as many books as I want while still
attending to all those daily needs that come with having a family and a job. It’s
not quite the same as sitting down on a beach lounge to read for eight hours
straight, but it’s pretty close.
I also studiously avoid listening to my own books in audio form. I know a few brave authors who will do this to pick up on writing crutches or to re-familiarize themselves with their own worlds, but five seconds is more than enough to have me throwing the phone across the room and declaring, "Never again."
How about you? Do you audiobook? What kind of listening do
you prefer? Any narrators you particularly love?
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Tamara Morgan is the author of thirteen contemporary comedy romances and the new Penelope Blue series. Her books combine fast-paced antics and humor with heartfelt sentiment, and have been described as both “utterly unconventional and wonderfully smart.” Her debut novel was chosen as the Smart Bitches Trashy Books book club pick in April of 2012, and her books have since gone on to receive two starred reviews from Library Journal and three Romantic Times Magazine Top Picks, one of which was nominated in the 2014 RT Reviewers' Choice Awards in the Contemporary Love & Laughter category.
Visit Tamara online at:
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