On Audiobooks

Audiobooks count as 'reading' as far as I'm concerned. Although you may not be following the words on a page/screen, you are still engaging with written text using a method that best suits you.

I realised how important audiobooks can be in promoting reading whilst listening to Kit de Waal talking on the Women's Prize podcast, Bookshelfie (season 8, episode 10). De Waal tells how her son is dyslexic and struggled with reading at school, and so she would play audiobooks during the school run so that he could still engage with important texts. Her son, now a grown adult, is convinced he read the Harry Potter series as a child and was part of the millennial literary phenomenon.

Conditions (if that is the right words to use) such as dyslexia and ADHD impact ones ability to read. Either the words on the page become a jumbled mess, or one's attention is just not programmed to cooperate with the written word exclusively.

By offering audiobooks as an alternative means of engagement, we expand our audience and community. The world of reading is brought into modern world to become more inclusive, more accessible in a digital world, and thus richer due to the many perspectives and lives it will weave into.

For busy grown-ups, audiobooks are a great opportunity to rekindle reading for pleasure whilst going about your day-to-day.

I decided to give audiobooks a go this year. I have always avoided them as I find it more difficult to concentrate when I'm not staring at a page, and prefer to create my own internal orchestra of character voices. However, with work travels and an increasing to-do list I felt I needed to compromise if I wanted to maintain my love for reading. I have opted to listen to non-fiction, as it does not require such a theatrical stage set-up in my mind. It also means I have the opportunity to diversify the written materials I engage with. Audiobooks have kept me company when commuting, when doing the housework, and even when I'm taking some time to myself to soak in the bath.

The National Literacy Trust has reported that audiobooks offer wellbeing benefits, with 2 in 5 children/young people saying it helped with managing stress and anxiety. Just like when listening to a podcast, it tackles isolation and loneliness as it fills a void and offers conversation - a voice like a beacon in the cold of silence.

If you are someone who is looking to begin reading again, but feels as though life is too chaotic to allow for moments to just sit still and read, then give audiobooks a try.