Why I've given up on Audiobooks (for serious reading)

[Anonymous]

I realized that they take more time and the level of comprehension is actually lower. I had fallen out of the habit of reading literature - hadn't read that much great fiction since college. I decided I wanted to read serious literature - books like Bleak House, Middlemarch, Anna Karenina. I was a bit rusty and intimidated, so I decided to use Audiobooks (and read along with the text) as a "crutch" of sorts.

I realized it's ultimately a passive experience. Every line is delivered with equal weight, so a particularly profound passage that you want to think about passes you by. The voice of the narrator and the emotions of the scene are set by how the reader says them. You're not having your own dialogue with the text.

So Audiobooks are fine if you're cleaning or on a long plane ride, for something that's not going to really to have a longlasting impact. And maybe after reading a great work yourself, it would be interesting to hear an Audiobook performance. But you can't say you've "read" AK if you had in the background while you were cleaning the kitchen, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Fair. Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good (there are some things I would have "read" if I hadn't listened to them). Obviously a lot depends on the reader. Bonfire of the Vanities and Brideshead Revisited were outstanding on Audible. But something thicker, like Brothers Karamazov, I think I'm going to have to read by hand. It is just not sticking.

[Anonymous]

*wouldn't have "read"

[Anonymous]

It depends on your learning style. For audio learners they can be much better.

Newsflash, people read and learn differently. I am a very fast reader, so audiobooks actually slow me down.

I was a literature major, and my technique for reading course books was to read it through at my normal speed, like watching a movie, first. Then I did a second read where I go slow, stop and take the notes for my papers, etc.

I retain audiobooks very well if I am doing manual labor like mowing the yard. If I have to pay half a thought to what I am doing, I do podcasts that don’t matter.

[Anonymous]

A long lasting impact… lol okay. 🤔

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on your learning style. For audio learners they can be much better.

Newsflash, people read and learn differently. I am a very fast reader, so audiobooks actually slow me down.

I was a literature major, and my technique for reading course books was to read it through at my normal speed, like watching a movie, first. Then I did a second read where I go slow, stop and take the notes for my papers, etc.

I retain audiobooks very well if I am doing manual labor like mowing the yard. If I have to pay half a thought to what I am doing, I do podcasts that don’t matter.

That's a very good point. I did a PhD in history, where you're assigned these giant tomes for your seminar so I ended having to learn to read a lot of material quickly. After grad school, I started reading almost everything - unless it was a very technically difficult or very theoretical work - very quickly. Audiobooks helped me slow down the pace. You can't just whip through Bleak House in 4 hours on the first try and get anything from it (at least I can't!)

[Anonymous]

I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

Geez, she was just trying to make an observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

Oh yes, the "I already read Great Expectations in high school" response. Why read a great literary work when you're 40 when you "already read it" when you were 15?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

Oh yes, the "I already read Great Expectations in high school" response. Why read a great literary work when you're 40 when you "already read it" when you were 15?

“Great Expectations” is comfort reading, please. Are you really trying to include “Great Expectations” on a list of challenging literature? Plus I couldn’t help but notice you only are including white authors. How very interesting. Let me know when you have some Native American, Nigerian, Lebanese and Indian authors to discuss. I won’t hold my breath…

[Anonymous]

I know, you read In Search of Lost Time when you were 12. Thanks for reminding us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

NP. This is such an incredibly mean response. So? I actually got different things out of books I read in my 30s than what I got out of them as a 16 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

Everyone learns differently. I read Anna Karenina while studying abroad in Russia for my Russian major, does that give you my bona files? And I can't do audiobooks, because I tune them out. My brain always prioritizes visual input over audio, and I wind up missing important things or getting distracted by my own thoughts. Like OP, I prefer my weighty tomes in physically heavy print.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that the “serious literature” you had not yet read as a, what, 30something or 40something are books I read in middle school, high school and college. It is hilarious to me that you are trying to lecture and look down on people. Most of us read “serious literature” in or before college. You’re just now catching up, and this is your attitude?

Not only did I read “Anna Karenina” in high school, but my mom, sister and I recreated dishes from it. My reading list for my graduate exam had 200 works, and I had no idea ahead of time which works would be on the essay exam. But sure, sneer at audiobooks. I enjoy them frequently, along with hardbacks and paperbacks.

NP. This is such an incredibly mean response. So? I actually got different things out of books I read in my 30s than what I got out of them as a 16 year old.

It is not “mean” to point out that OP’s sanctimonious little speech about what does and does not “count” is absurd. Enjoy any book, any way you want to enjoy it. Take in information in any way that is meaningful to you. And save your sanctimony because clearly, someone can come along right after you and prove that you’re not quite so great as you think you are.