I resisted audiobooks for a long time. Not for reasons of reading purity, i.e. the idea that only physical books count as reading (not true!), but simply because I don’t like to be read to. One of my earliest memories is being happily holed up in a corner reading And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street to myself, delighted to do it on my own. I’ve always been an independent reader.
Along these same lines, I refused for years to figure out how to check out ebooks from libraries. I didn’t want to give up the serendipity of browsing the physical space. Searching online just didn’t feel the same.
The pandemic freed me of both these self-imposed restrictions.
I needed library books in quarantine, so I figured out how to get them on my Kindle. And I had lots of time on my hands, so I made it a project to figure out why people loved audiobooks. On daily walks, I plugged a bunch of different books into my ears. I discovered that having a giant “stack” of ebooks in my Kindle is lovely, and even better is having a long holds queue that guarantees a never-ending supply of reading material. As for audiobooks, I made several discoveries:
Listening at 1.25x speed is best for me, and nonfiction is my preferred genre. I think of it like a really in-depth podcast.
Memoirs and autobiographies read by the author, especially a celebrity author, are great, like chatting with that person. (See: Open Book by Jessica Simpson, Becoming by Michelle Obama)
However, fiction can be delightful if the reader has an accent (see: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary).
I’ve become a platform omnivorous reader, willing to consider reading a book any which way, though, for me, some books are best on a specific medium. My audiobook list is full of hefty nonfiction and things like Brandi Carlile’s memoir, Broken Horses (she reads and performs original music — why read this any other way?); my Kindle is full of romances and lighter fiction; and my basket of physical books usually holds a stack of much-anticipated novels from my favorite authors or finds from the stacks of The Mercantile Library.
What about you? Are you platform agnostic when it comes to reading? What books do you read each way?
Reading Links
Social media complaints about Elin Hilderbrand’s latest novel prompted a post-publication change. I appreciated this piece from Laura Miller, especially this:
“…the truth is that the incentives for interpreting a book’s meaning in the worst possible light are high.” I’d be curious to hear what you think.For your beach read considerations: unusual historical romances.
Having just read Anna Karenina, I thoroughly enjoyed this short story: Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary Discuss Their Suicides.
I am a little obsessed with the ways the places we call home shape us. So no wonder I liked this reading list of books about that.
Along those lines, this piece about the role of real estate in Tana French’s novels is just terrific.
And this interview with Kristen Arnett, a Florida author who writes sets her novels in Florida, is great, too. “Florida doesn’t care much about boundaries.”
Romance writer Courtney Milan wrote a review of Pride & Prejudice for the Michigan Law Review. It’s called Pride & Predators, and it’s DELIGHTFUL. (Credit for this find goes to Niamh, one of the best readers I know.)
Recent Favorites1
Crying in H Mart deserves the hype it’s been getting. The way Michelle Zauner writes about food as comfort and family, nostalgia and culture is beautiful and poignant.
As for The Agitators, I listened to this one and would recommend the audiobook, which is performed by three readers. I felt such a connection to these women. (Sidenote: We all thought Ta-Nehisi Coates was inserting fantasy into history when he gave Tubman magical powers in The Water Dancer, but no, after listening to this, I’m convinced she really was a super hero.)
Up next: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch by Rivka Galchen.
I can’t resist that title.
Tell me what you’re reading this summer …
Housekeeping note: Throughout this newsletter, I use affiliate links from Bookshop.org. If you purchase a book through these links, I will earn a small fee that I’ll likely use to purchase more books, usually for giveaways. I am not paid in any way for my thoughts on these books