Reading primarily through audiobooks?

[Chris]

I too read quite a few audio books. I take the bus to and from work and have read many, many books via Audible.com. I recommend audio books but acknowledge they are not for everyone.

[Philip]

I only read an actual book every year or two. I'm a mailman and listen to podcasts and audio books throughout the day at work. A book usually takes 3 days to finish for me. If not for my job, I would hardly get to enjoy my love for books. The experience is more pleasurable for me as well. I enjoy reading with my ears more than my eyes. I'm chronically sleep deprived and get sleepy in a hurry when reading a book!

[Alan]

I am probably 1/3 paper, 2/3 audio. But only the unabridged audio.

[Thescarletfield]

I've always listened to audio books to complement my reading. It usually depends on how busy i am. Whether i can curl up in my couch with some tea or have to be on the go.

But on the whole, audio books are always a good idea.

[[deleted user]]

I've recently changed my habits from the classic dead tree book to either audible (love my two books a month deal) or eBooks.
I try to get the 'pic' heavy style books as ebooks (still waiting on the iPad in Aus so I can take them with me) and most of my fiction comes now in a format compatible with my iphone.

As a writer I have found that the less time looking at a screen or a page is better on my long suffering eyes. It also helps at the cliche day job. I'm in retail and its easier to hit the pause button when a customer comes in than to look for that spot on the physical later... The iphone dock and remote help too.

It has taken me a while to get used to the audio and ebook system but I do not think much would induce me to return to the classic paperback. Although at times I miss the feel of a book in hand, it is not essential to my enjoyment of the writing. If the author is good enough to keep my attention they are good enough in any format.

My only real issue with the change is that so much is still not available in either format. Although, it is getting better thanks to Audible and tech savvy authors.

[Transmitthis]

Experience.

By that I mean the experience is so much better with an audio book.
When reading text, you are distracted by other things typing mistakes, how to sound out those silly names in you head, marks on the book, eye strain, but most of all the ambiguity of the text.

I'm sure all of you have read a post on a forum, and misunderstood the meaning, that's mostly because text is not a good way to convey a story.

Once you spend an hour listing to an audio book, with your eyes closed and just let yourself be swept along, you can feel the difference. It's just a much nicer experience.

[Nathan Blevins]

I really don't have much to add beyond what everyone else has said, but I have found myself becoming an avid audiobook listener. There are 2reasons:

1) Time - I can do so much mundane stuff while listening: driving, programming, picking up the house, etc.
2) The Narrator - I have found that the person reading the books makes ALL the difference. Sometimes it even enhances the books, though the sword cuts both ways. For example, the narrator in the 2nd book of The Song of Fire and Ice was HORRIBLE. Was irritated the entire book whereas the Wheel of Time Audiobooks enhanced the story for me completely!

I find it to be a different experience to the point in which I like to listen and read, as I pick up on different things in the different modes of retelling. Love audiobooks.

[Alan]

I do have to admit that my love affair with podcasts has definitely cut into my audiobook listening!

[jon]

I agree with Alan. All my audio time is taken up by podcasts. I'd love to listen to audiobooks (and I have a few times) but most of the time I'm listening to the news, StarShipSofa, Escape or Pseudopod.

I guess though, all those podcasts have showed me how much potential audio lit still has, no matter where it comes from.

[Kerry]

I've really enjoyed audiobooks in the past, although I'm slow with them. I am really angled towards taking in information through print, so I have to concentrate much harder on the audio format than with print.

I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and have to rest a lot, so audiobooks can be wonderful. However, this last year, every time I settle down to listen, I fall asleep. It is so very, very frustrating. At the moment I'm falling asleep to podcasts instead, where I'm less frustrated about missing information.

I hope my health will shift again and I'll be able to go back to audiobooks.

[Jimmy]

When I was younger, we traveled a lot by car. My dad usually did most of the driving and would like to put on audiobooks. It was great because he and I have similar taste in books.

As I got older, that eventually stopped and I just read on my own. However, as a grad student doing research, I have very little motivation to pick up a book when I get home from the lab.

Most of what I do in lab is similar to cooking, so there's a lot of waiting for things to happen as well as busy work which requires attention but deep focus. Now, I throw an audiobook on my Droid while I'm at work, in the car, or even when running. I'm on my 3rd book in 2 months. I haven't read this much for pleasure years.

[Ted]

I still read the dead tree variety. If it were not for the used bookstores, I would never have heard of many of my favorite authors. That being said, I think that I prefer audio at this point.

With 2 hours driving commute time a day, I am an absolute audible.com junkie. I've had 2 books a month for the last 9 years. Here are some Sword and Lasery titles I recommend:

Any of Neil Gaiman's books/novelettes that he reads (he is the rare exception to the rule that authors make for terrible readers)

Steven King's Dark Tower Series. There is disparity between the two different readers, but if you can get past it they are both excellent.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I discovered these on audio and have fallen in love with them. Grover Gardener's voice is quirky, but he is one of the best IMO.

David Webber's Safehold books are also excellent in Audio.

I'm always looking for good SciFi/Fantasy on audible.com. If you have a single favorite audio title/series, please drop me a direct message.

[Joe]

I read about 1/2 print and 1/2 audio books. Thanks for the great recommendations. The version of Dune on Audible is amazing.

[Kynan]

Slight thread de-rail:
Joe wrote: "The version of Dune on Audible is amazing."

I'm curious what you thought of the voicing. I listened to the Audible version of Dune (never having read the book/seen the visual adaptations) and enjoyed it a great deal. However the swapping between actors, especially for Baron Harkonnen, was really distracting because the uncredited person who did some of the Baron's lines was amazing and it was jarring to have him swap from the delightfully drippingly evil voice. The weirdly random wind effects were, well, weird also.

[Joe]

@Kynan The different voice actors for the Baron Harkonnen were a little distracting, but it didn't ruin the experience for me. The wind effects didn't bother me either. Otherwise, Simon Vance's narration is what makes the Audible version. Dramatic and well-paced without being cheesy.