Is there anything more enjoyable than opening a new book for the first time? Flicking through the pages as you scan it over in preparation for delving in fully. I love books enough to promote them as a creative coping strategy. They offer an alternative dimension that helps you temporarily forget this real one, they promote reading and writing, both individually and with others, and as a family, we use books as an opportunity to sit together at bedtime.
But there’s a huge drawback – books are becoming an expensive hobby.
I advocate buying books second hand all the time. Most of my book purchases are done this way, using Ebay and Amazon Marketplace to find the treasure I want at a cheaper price.
But even secondhand books can be pricey. The Climate Book, released very recently by the climate-crisis-powerhouse that is Greta Thunburg, was high on my priority-purchase list, but being new there were no second-hand copies available. In the end the cheapest I found it was £18, which (out of desperation to own the bloody thing) is what I paid.
But as books become more desireable the price of them rises in parrallel, as does the price for second-hand. What alternative do we have?
Audiobooks.
For me, this is an option that tears me in half. It’s far cheaper to hear books than it is to read them, but am I truly ‘reading’ a book if it’s being narrated to me?
I genuinely wonder how much of it I absorb compared with the amount I digest when I’m truly reading.
When I read
For me, reading is mostly done at night or in restful moments when I need a distraction. In all cases, the likelihood that I’ll eventually fall asleep is high.
Now, if I’m reading a book my eyes will close and the book will flop onto my chest, hopefully with the bookmark still in the right place. When I wake up I’ll know where I faltered and be able to pick back up from the same spot later on.
But an audiobook won’t stop when my eyes close. It’ll aimlessly drone on and on until the earphones run out of charge or I wake up again and turn it off in a dopy haze.
That means when I pick up my book again, I know where I am. When I pick up the audio book I’ll have ten or fifteen minutes of frustration trying to dissect where my brain checked-out the previous night.
Not ideal.
Because I read at night, real books are better for me.
Why I read
When I read a book I’m entering a world outside of the shitty one I exist in. My problems, and the stresses happening around me, no longer exist. It’s an escape, an alternative universe, a fantasy land, a whistful dream, something funny, sad, painful or uplifting.
The desire to read a book comes from wanting to hear a story, whether it’s fact or fiction. I want to resonate with the words and understand them well, build sympathy with the tale ahead and feel a desperation to keep going.
When I use my eyes, the words can make them heavy. At the ripe old age of 41, my peepers need assistance at any distance, and tire as soon as they are tested. For me, reading isn’t just an opportunity to learn, it’s the doorway to snoozeville.
NOTE – snoozeville is no reflection on the book I’m reading, it’s just that I get tired pretty easily these days.
Now, when I use my ears, I can close my tired eyes and enter that world completely. No effort is needed outside of listening, and as a result I am immersed completely. With audiobooks I can hear a narrator, sometimes the author themselves, and the book is translated in their words, their tone, their joy, their desperation, their humour. It is a world to be truly lost in, and a world you can enter and exit with comforting ease and simplicity.
Because my eyes are tired and I want to be enveloped, audiobooks are better for me.
Read vs. Listen
So, as you can see, I’m conflicted.
The adulation I have for reading a book, holding it in my hands, and smelling the pages, is completely lost when I listen instead.
However, the ability to drown in the world of audio, to have the option to deeply engross myself in the story, fact or fiction, and hear the words told to me in the way they were intended, makes earphones an understandable option too.
It’s a tie. Or is it?
But – here’s the real conumdrum – are we truly reading when we listen to a book, or are we doing something else?
I tuned in to a political podcast recently (yes, I have political interests too!) where one of the presenters corrected the other, telling them not to refer to listeners as ‘listeners’ but as ‘readers’ instead. That’s when this post was born.
Although it’s right to ‘read’ a podcast, I still believe that audio books and real books are two completely different experiences. For me there is even an argument that you COULD use both mediums for the same book and find yourself with two totally different conclusions and opinions on the story.
So how do I make a choice? How do I pick between the two?
In my case it depends on the narrator and the contents. I’ll explain…
A fictional book like a holiday romance or murder mystery seems to make more sense when I hear it. The narrator (often the author) adds a depth of intrigue that I can never replecate with my own eyes. Hearing their tone and humourous quips seems to be more visceral in an audio medium. The same seems to apply to auto-biographies – hearing someone tell their own story is unbeatable to me.
However, when I want to understand facts or read something with historical or artistic interest, my eyes seem to do a better job. The Climate Book is a good example of this. I don’t know if an audio version is even available, but owning the book and being able to refer back to it, mark pages of interest and re-read statistics that are likely to be eye-opening, can only be done if the book is in my grubby hands.
So maybe it is a tie…sort of.
In conclusion
I don’t think reading is something you can consider in one form any more. In fact it has many forms, and audio is now one of the most popular.
Reading an article over someones shoulder on the tube, laying on the beach with the next ‘Mills and Boon’ novel in your hands, listening as a family to a bedtime story through Alexa, and hearing a biography while you drive your commute are all reading experiences, they’re just achieved in different ways. Whether you are listening intently with your ears or drawing words in carefully through your eyes, you’re enjoying it, and that’s what really matters.
The only recommendation I have is to buy second hand where you can and there is good reason outside of cost. Knowing that a book has a long life, that it had a life before you held it, and might have a life when you’re done with it that doesn’t involve landfill, is what Greta would want. And me too.
The picture
This time I chose to use a picture from a book we are enjoying as a family in audio form and although it might feel early, for me this is just the time of year to use it.
The Snowman was a film that I adored as a child. The fact that our daughter gets to love the original and a newer sequel makes me feel a sense of warmth. My mum loved this festive cartoon, as did her mum (at least she pretended to all those years ago!). The fact that it’s survived through generations and you can now hear it through an audiobook, watch it on the TV or read it via a traditional book just proves what I’ve said.
The form is valid and enjoyable, however you choose to gorge.
But I draw the line at listening to ’50 Shades of Grey’ 😜
Thanks for reading 💜💜
Creative Steph 