How This Bookworm Became an Audiobookworm
Once upon a time, I had a job that required reading and reviewing books (learn more About me). But one day, that job no longer existed and there was a period of about four years when I did not read a single book.
(hold your gasps as I explain)
As a reader and a writer, it felt like I was committing a sin. However, I had a very good reason. The most important one:
I had a baby.
I tried reading books as I pumped milk during baby naps. I’d even read aloud to my baby girl as she laid beside me, sucking her fist while I read to her about fallen angels and a zombifying disease.
That stopped when my little love bug started crawling and I went back to work. There was no time to read and I had no energy to review books.
I felt so out of the literary loop. I needed a solution. I needed to read.
Audiobookworm Transformation
Like any book lover knows, books are an escape from the real world. I wasn’t looking to escape from my new responsibilities as a mother, but I desperately needed a little break of alone time that books allowed – that vacation-like respite that allowed my mind to wander to far-off places where I wasn’t being screamed at, puked on, or both physically and mentally drained from interrupted nights of sleep and mind-numbing nothingness.
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My heart was bursting with love and pride over my daughter, but my brain wasn’t feeling stimulated after several hours of her rolling back and forth on the floor.
I missed reading like I missed a friend who’d moved far away, leaving me to wonder when or If my eyes would have the privilege of scrolling across pages again, dragging along my imagination to far away lands, making friends with fictional characters and falling in-love with imaginary heroes…
My world of reading was about to be discovered again. RE-discovered, actually, since I’d never experienced audiobooks before. And then, I became the audiobookworm.
How Audiobooks Saved Me
I first started with audio disks – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I loved this reinvention of my favorite series. I’d read the entire series twice over already, but being read to was a different experience. I greedily listened as if I’d never read the books before.
Swapping disks dangerously in the car, I impatiently anticipated continuing my chapters. I pulled disks from their sleeves, looking down for the next sequential disk, then whipping up my head with a swerve of the wheel to avoid veering into the next lane.
I realized switching audio disks mid traffic was a bit dangerous (ahem, we won’t discuss my near misses with a couple of semis that I may or may not have cut off…).
My husband, who happens to love me, wants me happy, and prefers I stay alive, signed me up for an Amazon Audible account. He accepted me as the audiobookworm I had become.
Read Anywhere
Now I download a whole book to my phone, listening… well anwhere.
In the car or in the shower, I use my Bluetooth radios. While I get dressed or do my hair, I put audible on speaker on my phone. While I fold laundry, vacuum, or sweep, I use headphones.
Anytime my hands are busy, but my ears are free to listen, I read/listen to a book.
Once, I was an avid reader. Then, I became a mom – a full-time, working mom. I didn’t recognize myself, honestly. But now, I am a reader again.
I feel more like myself.
FREE Monthly Audibles
I LOVE my Amazon Audible account!
Each month, with my $15 subscription, I am allowed 2 free, short reads (2-13 hours in length) which can expose me to a different genre or new author that I’d never heard of. I also get 1 credit per month, which amounts to another free book of my choosing since the average book equals 1 credit.
Yay! Free books!
A book, like Harry Potter, could cost $45, but with my monthly credit, it really only costs the price of my monthly subscription.
The added bonus I’ve come to enjoy are the Audible Only books. These books are free to me and they are also Audible ONLY. Which makes me feel extra special. Like I’m part of some elite club that only audible book worms, like myself, can enjoy. Mwahahaha!
There are also Audible performances. The snobby bookworm in me wants to resist, but I am constantly evolving my taste to appreciate various forms of storytelling.
Performances don’t have word descriptions for sounds or voices, there’s just an actual sound recorded. There are often different actors for the voices and music playing in the background to help set the mood.
They’re more like a movie for my ears. Or, a good old fashioned radio show, like Little Orphan Annie.
Subscribe to Audible for FREE and discounted books!
It may seem strange at first, but once you start, you’re hooked. You’ll become an audiobookworm, just like me.
With these free, short Audibles, I share my selected reads with a brief synopsis, every month.
(This post contains affiliate links, which means I will make a commission at no extra cost to you should you click through and make a purchase.)
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I absolutely know what you mean! I had a similar experience- Audiobooks brought me back to reading after a long hiatus when my second daughter was born. It’s my favorite thing to put on when I get to run errands without my girls or when I’m on my way to the yoga studio- the Audiobook goes on as soon as I get in the car 🙂
My audiobook immediately goes on when I hop in the car. Apparently, I’m as addicted to audiobooks as I am to regular books. LOL! Nice to meet a fellow audiobookworm. Thank you for reading and commenting!
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I totally understand about the lack of time for oneself. I went through the same thing when my children were small. I loved to read and crochet and knit. But it did become easier as my children got older and were able to entertain themselves or play together. 🙂 Thank you for your post!
Thank you for the comment! Yes, it’s gotten easier as my daughter gets older, but things like audiobooks make it easier to multi-task, which seems the only way I get anything I want done 😃
Awesome post! I recently got into audiobooks and I’m really enjoying them! Love how you describe them as like movies for your ears!
Thank you so much for the comment! I suppose all books are like movies for me, so it makes sense I’d even view audiobooks that way. I’m totally hooked on them.
Quick question…….do you lose the imagination part when listening to audible books? I know when I read, I love hearing it in my own head, along with imagining what is being said and how it’s being received. I’m only asking because I want to listen to an audio book, but too afraid to get addicted and not go back to reading books.
I enjoy both forms of reading – audio and print. I’d like to read more printed books, but I just don’t have the time. I don’t think you’d stop enjoying print books, you’d just find a way to read when other times wouldn’t make it possible to do so. But, even if you did become addicted to audio, is that really such a bad thing? 🙂
Thank you for reading and commenting!