It’s summer time and that means road trips and long walks. I love both, but I also love redeeming the time. One way I love to do this is walking with a friend or loved one. But I also love walking with an audiobook or Kindle. Yep, I’m the crazy person walking through my neighborhood reading on my Kindle.
I love that with my Kindle, I’m literally walking around with hundreds of books in my hand, but there’s nothing like a good paperback. I love the feel of a book. I love the texture. The smell. The layout. All of it. And I love that it’s not plugge in.
But there are other elements that make audiobooks a nice addition.
- The ability to listen while I’m driving and shouldn’t be using my eyes to read.
- It makes me slow down (even when I’m listening at 1.5 speed) and hear the story in a way that I might miss when I read — the speed reading course an employer sent me to means I can fly through a paperback at high speeds.
- I’m more likely to finish a non-fiction book in audio than in other formats. I’m not sure why, but it’s a quirk of mine.
The thing I don’t love is how cost prohibitive many audiobooks are. Here are a few ways to inhale audiobooks without breaking the bank.
- Utilize your library. Many will give access to apps like Hoopla and Libby. I have found that between these two apps I can get access to a lot of audiobooks that interest me.
- ChristianAudio.com: A couple times a year this site has a $7.49 audiobook sale. I’ve picked up many books through this site. It also gives away a book a month. There are often related books that are priced at $4.99 as well. A great way to pick up fiction and non-fiction.
- Chirp: This service lets you know about deep sales (like $3.99 an audiobook) and it’s a great way to acquire both fiction and nonfiction at a cost of about a cup of coffee.
Which is your preferred way to read? I’d love to know.
And in the spirit of summer, I’m giving away a copy of one of my audiobooks. Just use the form below. You can also enter a giveaway for books from a romantic suspense Book Talk here. Finally, if you’re ready for cool weather, check out the Christmas in July sale for Christmas in Mistletoe Square.
Need to add a little more love to your TBR pile? Enter to win 20 new releases or a $130 Amazon gift card! You can enter this giveaway here. Good luck! Now use the form below to enter the audiobook giveaway.
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I’ve really become a fan of reading in all three formats – it just depends on my mood and what I’m doing (audiobooks are great while doing other things). These days I seem to be making the most progress by using audiobooks. But that’s probably because I can listen while I do my day job. LOL
It’s funny, I’m the opposite–I mostly listen to fiction audiobooks. With nonfiction, my attention wanders, unless it’s a biography. Plus I feel I need to read nonfiction with a pencil in hand to mark important points.
I like both audio and regular books. I first started listening to audiobooks while driving. I felt like I was wasting time with a long commute, plus I was bored. Audiobooks made the time more enjoyable and made it seem to pass more quickly. Now I listen while getting dressed, fixing hair, etc.
One thing I specially like about audiobooks is accents. I don’t always think in the accent of the story or character I am reading about, and hearing the accents adds a lot of flavor to a book. Plus a good narrator will bring out things I missed just by his or her inflections.
One thing I don’t like about audiobooks is that they often don’t include the back matter. I love reading about what led to the author’s writing of this book, or in historical fiction, which parts of the book were based on real people or events.
Librivox has audiobooks in the public domain for free. The quality is not always great–the narrators are volunteers rather than professionals. But some are quite good.
You can also buyva non-resident library card so that you borrow e-audiobooks and ebooksfrom that library. Los Angeles Public Library charges $50/year for it. I’ve also found free audiobooks in the Free Library Libraries in my area.www.freelittlelibrary.org
I hope Robin catches this post.
I am like you in that redeeming time is of utmost importance. Audiobooks allow me to do that. If it weren’t for audiobooks, I’d not be able to read nearly as much because of my schedule. I’m so glad most books come out in audio these days and your suggestions for finding reasonably priced audio are all good ones. I use Libby and Chirp to find great reads!