Before this year I had never tried listening to an audiobook before, and with a 14 hour road trip (each way!) this spring break I decided to download a couple of audiobooks on Spotify to listen to on the drive. I downloaded a couple from 2 different genres-- Imogen, Obviously (YA), and The Great Gatsby (Classics?). I chose to start with Imogen, Obviously, and soon began to regret beginning on my audiobook journey.
To start, the chapter pacing in this one is a bit slow-- it would likely be fine if you were reading it as a book, but as an audiobook it can get hard to keep track of the chapters, which are ordered by days. The person reading the book started off very slow, but I was able to speed them up. However, the balancing of description vs dialogue was off. The dialogue was too slow, and again, would have been fine if you were reading it as a hard copy, but was a little odd to listen to. Dialogue is also hard to follow, and is clunky when listening. If the book jumps from time to time, or has a lot of dialogue between characters it can be hard to remember when you are, or who is speaking. Also, as a mini review, I thought this book would be fine for a unmemorable and quick read, although I was not invested in it at all.
Again, I had to speed this book up to pay attention, but the pacing in this book was much more equal. However, I ran into a lot of similar problems in this book: It can be hard to follow dialog, setting, and trains of thought. Each chapter takes about 30 minutes, which means that listening to the book is probably slower than reading it. Even though I was more interested in this book, I think I would rather read a physical copy than listen to it, as it seemed interesting.
All in all, I understand why people could like audiobooks-- you can listen to them on the go, and you don't have to put all of your attention into it, or have your hands free to read them. However, if you might have trouble with following the time, setting, or characters speaking, I probably wouldn't recommend listening to one. Different genres or whoever reads it might have a different experience, but I am reluctant to try it. Personally, I will stick with music as my background sound of choice.
Hello Karenna! I as well haven't listened to many audiobooks as I find that reading myself is a lot easier to focus on. But sometimes, I just enjoy listening to audiobooks (although the reader has to have a nice voice for me to tolerate them). I personally can't imagine speeding up an audiobook as the sound irritates me, but I understand why someone would do it. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Karenna! I totally agree with you about your opinion on audiobooks. I myself like to listen to music or a podcast rather than a book. I also find it hard to keep up with the book if I'm listening to it. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHello Karenna! I would have to agree with you on most of your points here. Although audiobooks could be more useful beacause of their convienence they are just so much more annoying because the pace always feels off. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHuh, it's interesting that you dislike audiobooks so much. I'm someone who constantly needs to be listening to something, or else I get bored, even if I'm doing something else as well like homework or eating or even reading (I'll read a physical book and listen to another audiobook on the side lol), so I love audiobooks for their length. Typically I agree that sometimes the pace is a bit slow, but that's why I listen on 1.25 speed :) It was nice to hear your thoughts, though! Audiobooks definitely aren't for everyone, especially considering how utterly time-consuming they would be if you weren't doing something else on the side.
ReplyDeleteHi Karenna! I definitely agree with your opinion. Personally, I just prefer to listen to music in the background, especially when doing homework or studying. Audiobooks are hard to focus on given the pacing sometimes, especially when multitasking. Nice blog!
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