This week’s question comes to us from MIKAELA @ MIKAELA READS who asks:
Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, what makes a good audiobook? Is it the narrators or does it depend on the genre? What are some of your recommendations for amazing audiobooks? If you don’t listen to audiobooks, why not, and do you ever plan on doing so?
I don’t really listen to audiobooks that much. When I was a functioning member of society, I used to listen in my car sometimes, when my commute was particularly boring. I also used to listen in my car ALL THE TIME right after my husband died, because audiobooks kept my mind from wandering too much in the car.
In that way, I’ll always be grateful for them.
But now that I am well, truly and permanently disabled, I am never in a car alone (doctor’s orders) and so the opportunity to listen doesn’t come up anymore.
When I did listen, there was really only one thing that I wanted, and that was a great performance from the narrator. I think of audiobooks as analogous to radio programs, and therefore what they need are ACTORS. I especially like reading actor memoirs read by the author because it gives me a great performance with the added benefit of the narrator having a personal connection to the story.
What about you, dear readers? Do you listen to audiobooks? What makes for a great one?
The Let’s Talk Bookish meme is hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion.
fifty-two 
I tend to struggle with audiobooks if my focus isn’t 100% on it so that means I can’t do a lot of what other people do while listening to them (like work, clean, etc.). It also really depends on the narrator and I’m quite picky when it comes to those… Some of the ones that worked for me were Trevor Noah’s and Tan France’s bios and for full productions Sadie, Daisy Jones and the Six, and a few SFF titles! I do want to listen to more though cos I realise that I can get through them *very* quickly if they work for me!
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I love audiobooks, but don’t get to listen to them as much as I would like. I’m not alone in the car much either, but I have found them fun to listen to when I’m doing chores.
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I also struggle with audiobooks, so I tend to go for shorter form audio (podcasts mostly) to keep me distracted in the car. And if I am listening to a story I prefer a radio dramatization (BBC Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; for example) with multiple voice actors over a single narrator.
That said a great narrator can add to an already good story.
But my problems are mostly of time and attention. First the book just takes too long to listen to, I can read a book in about a third the time it takes to listen to it; but cranking up the playback speed ruins the dramatic presentation of the narrator. That slow speed also makes it easier for me to lose focus and miss some of the story, and unlike with a written book losing focus (or stopping to think about what just happened) doesn’t automatically pause the story 😀
So even though I do sometimes enjoy an audio book the right set of circumstances for me to be settling into one are much harder to come by that the circumstances for diving into the book in written form.
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I love audiobooks and listen to them all the time, specifically because I do multi-task. The narrator can make or break an audiobook for me. If the performance is lackluster, I will shut it off as I won’t be able to pay attention to it.
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