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Now if you’ve known me for a while then you know I’m a physical book person. I love buying books, reading them, and collecting them (all of these being 3 different hobbies) and I love them in physical form only.
Though I have a Kindle device, I seldom rely on it for a pleasure-read. I’ve written a blog on my Kindle experience – read here.
Coming back to the topic, despite this fact, let me tell you how I turned towards Audio books.
Story behind my Audible usage
My husband and I were visiting his parent’s place and somehow out of nowhere I forgot to take my books along. What worse can happen than this? But as they say, “Where there’s a will there’s a way”, my husband, accidentally, got a 2-month Free Audible subscription.
I had never read/listened to an audio book and was never willing to try either. But this felt like a sign from the Universe, and I went for it.
Like a child, I was amused to see the Audible app having all the familiar and popular books. I spent some time browsing through the books to stumble upon the books that I always wanted to read but somehow couldn’t.
And I decided to go for a shorter one, for obvious reasons. I didn’t want to repent using Audible with the first book itself.
My first Audio Book Experience
So, I started listening to “The Gopi Dairies” by Sudha Murthy. This book is narrated by a dog perceptive. Initially, I tried listening to it while sitting in a chair. Soon I was found lying on the bed, and without my realisation, I had fallen asleep with the narration still going on.
The audio felt like a lullaby in the middle of the day. That was not what I was looking for, definitely.
The next day, when I was in the kitchen, all alone, instead of listening to the songs or playing some video on YouTube I played the same book on Audible.
And this time, it was different. The audio and the story slowly synched giving me a nice experience. I was engaged and it felt an easy way of reading books. Just like I could imagine characters and scenes in my head while reading a physical book, I could do the same while listening to this one too.
My first audio book reading experience gets a 6.5 on 10!
A Crazy Mental Math
By the time I had finished preparing lunch, I had finished listening to the book as well. It was a 2-hour long audio book. This thought excited me, and I did a little rough mental math.
If I prepare (there’s no if here) 365 lunches a year, I’ll be reading 365 books (short ones) a year. OMG! That was huge. If I prepare (I am going to) 365 breakfasts, lunches, dinners, combined, I’m sure I’ll be able to read (listen) around 300 books. This looks like a crazy math!
The Ultimate Experience
Once I was comfortable listening to audio books, I was on a roll. I listened to a couple of books by Ruskin Bond – The Blue Umbrella (which I’ve already read and have a physical copy of it) and The Whistling Schoolboy and other stories. I enjoyed the stories playing in the background while I cooked.
After that I found a book by Ajay Pandey – Her last wish. I had cried reading his first book – “You are the best wife” which is his real life’s story. I sensed that “Her last wish” is again a sad story, but I still clicked on the play button and in no time, I was into the world of Ashna and Vijay – the protagonists.
I just couldn’t stop myself from listening to what happens in the story, and it had completely pulled me into its sad world. But not all sad stories are sad. They impart a different level of inspiration. I completed the book in two days, listening to the end of the story lying in my bed in solitude, thus wetting my pillow.
It was a surreal experience. The narrator had done a great job.
Later I searched for all the books written by Ajay Pandey, and they are available on Audible. But I doubt if I have the courage to listen to more. They’re quite saddening.
This audio book reading experience gets an 8 on 10!
One Disadvantage
If you’re listening to audio books while you’re at ease, you tend to check your phone and scroll mindlessly and habitually, thus ruining your reading experience.
I felt terrible doing that and stopped listening to the books with phone in my hands.
My Conclusion/Decision
Okay, audio books are nice, they save time, they even make you imagine things in your head, but does that mean I’ll switch completely to Audio books? The answer is a big NO.
I love the smell of physical books. I love reading them, I love buying them and I love collecting them, remember all three being different hobbies?
So, yes, I’d listen to audio books as long as I have the free subscription. But that’s it. I won’t switch completely.
I hope you found this video useful. If you did take away something, then please do comment your thoughts on audio books. Would you like to try them?
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