I’m a bit behind on the audiobooks trend but for good reason. I personally love reading physical books, and I didn’t know if I would enjoy listening to someone read for me. When I was assigned to read The Neverending Story for class, I knew I was going to have to listen to it because of how hectic my schedule was. I will admit that I was dreading having to fit in time for this book. Nonetheless, I was still excited to listen to my first audiobook!
Twelve hours later, I’ve come to the conclusion that The Neverending Story was probably not the best book to start my audiobook journey with. Not to spoil any major plot points, but there is quite a bit of changing perspectives/worlds in this book. I really had to focus to notice when there was a change, and even then, it often took me a sentence or two to realize the point of view had changed.
I can’t deny how efficient I was with reading. I could do my morning routine, wash dishes, and go on a walk all while listening to The Neverending Story. Since the beginning of the semester, it’s been a necessity for me to take advantage of multitasking. If I could have listened to this book while sleeping, I would have! It made me feel very productive because even when I was doing tasks for living, I was also completing tasks for class. Therefore, it didn’t feel like I was procrastinating homework by cooking food, cleaning my room, or doing laundry.
On the other hand, I could only do monotonous tasks because if I tried to do anything more complicated, my mind would start to wander. I often had to rewind certain sections because I realized halfway through that I was completely thinking of something else. I didn’t even attempt to crochet because I knew I would not be able to listen and pay attention to my project at the same time. I can usually watch movies, YouTube videos, or listen to music while crocheting, so it was surprising to me that I felt that I couldn’t multitask audiobooks as well.
I also could not annotate, which is something I like to do with books, especially ones for class. I could have always written down little notes here and there, but I was never listening to this audiobook passively. I was always doing some sort of task that required my attention, which didn’t really let me enjoy the book for what it was. Without annotating and reading the book myself, I don’t think I fully grasped every detail in the way I would have with physically reading.
After finishing The Neverending Story, I still don’t know if I will ever fully love audiobooks. It felt like everything that I love about books was taken away from me when I listened to an audiobook. I appreciate how efficient it made me, but I don’t read books for consumption unless it’s for class. I read for pleasure, and and that often means I’m curled up on the couch with a book in my hands. At the end of the day, I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.