Do audiobooks count as reading? He votes yes
Does an audiobook count as reading? That was a question posed in our newspapers a few weeks ago by a bookish type.
Cati Porter is the executive director of the nonprofit Inlandia Institute, which advocates for Inland Empire writing. She wrote in her Inlandia Literary Journeys column that she had become a convert to audiobooks.
Audiobooks can be listened to while driving or cleaning, Porter wrote, and have helped her clear her to-be-read stack.
My own thinking had evolved along the same lines. I said as much in this space Nov. 1 and invited your reactions, reserving my own comments for a later date. That date is later than expected, but it’s here.
Until the pandemic, I was an audiobook skeptic. But friends liked them, and my resistance eroded, especially after realizing that local libraries have audiobooks on compact disc.
In spring 2020, I borrowed the first novel in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, set during the reign of Henry VIII, and was captivated by having an epic story told to me, as if I were an audience of one. As 2020 bore on, the next two novels in the trilogy followed.
Rather than listening to music in my car, I would play the endless series of audiobook discs while driving.
Or while idling in my car at a drive-through. A favorite weird pandemic memory is waiting in the queue at a Starbucks in Pomona on Sunday mornings while simultaneously immersed in the intrigues of Tudor England.
Next I got library apps, including the Los Angeles Public Library’s, from which I could download a much greater selection of digital audiobooks, still free.
To be clear, mostly I still read print books. But I average one audiobook a month. It’s a change of pace, something to liven up a walk or drive.
I’ll come back to driving in an items column, because I’ve had funny experiences behind the wheel when audiobooks and Google driving directions seemed to be telling the same story.
(If that’s happened to you too, let me know.)
When I asked you if audiobooks counted as reading, your answers ran the gamut. In fact, some individual answers embodied all the arguments.
Some people, though, are simply fans.
“Audiobooks made long drives to be caregiver to my parents palatable and reduced my stress,” Mary Ann Neal of Corona said.
If she hears something insightful, she can only pause the book, not reread a line or linger over it. But the disadvantages are outweighed by the advantages.
Such as: She can read a prose book at night without confusing the two. “I’ve never been good at reading multiple books at the same time,” Neal said, “but audio makes it possible.”
I hear her. Via audiobooks, I’m able to read what feels like an extra book while going about my daily activities. It’s like the bookworm version of multitasking.
Sean M. Sullivan of Rancho Cucamonga, who recently retired as an English teacher, has tried audiobooks without success. The mind wanders more freely than with a physical book.
“There’s nothing quite like sitting down with a book and delving deeply into an author’s craft,” Sullivan said, “something that one can’t quite do simply by listening, even if the speaker is the author.”
Mary Sisney of Claremont had a lot to say on the subject of audiobooks.
“They are books, but people who listen to them aren’t reading,” the retired Cal Poly Pomona literature professor said. “It doesn’t require the kind of skill that reading does.”
Sisney, who was aiming to complete 90 books this year, said reading takes her longer than it used to. And that’s how she likes it.
“A passage in a book can trigger a memory of an experience or another book,” Sisney explained. “When I’m reading, I can return to the book without missing anything.”
Janet Cerswell of Alta Loma embraces all forms.
“I’ve been a reader of physical books — and also newspapers! — almost my whole life, and have always considered audiobooks as more like listening to the radio or watching TV,” Cerswell said.
“But I realize now, my love of reading came from my parents reading to my brother, sister and me when we were little,” she continued. “So whatever works for people to expand their minds and horizons is a good thing, right?”
When expanding your horizons is outlawed, only outlaws will have expanded horizons. Or something like that.
Allan Lagumbay of the Pomona Public Library said he was persuaded when a couple on a YouTube video discussed the question and the wife said: “If audiobooks are not books, then you’re saying blind people” — those who don’t read braille — “have never read a book.”
“Besides,” Lagumbay said, “I binge-listened to Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ audiobook a couple of months ago and damn it, that better count as reading it. Plus,” he added, referring to Lois Robbins, the retired Pomona children’s librarian, “what would it mean if Ms. Lois’ storytime book readings didn’t count?”
I don’t want to live in a world in which Ms. Lois’ storytime readings didn’t count. None of us do.
Coincidentally, my books colleague Erik Pedersen interviewed America’s best-known librarian, Nancy Pearl, a few weeks ago and asked if she listens to audiobooks.
“I was very late to audiobooks,” Pearl told him. “People would always ask me if audiobooks counted. ‘Oh, I just listened to this, does that count as reading it?’ Well, of course it counts as reading it.”
Let’s press the pause button, a la Mary Ann Neal, to absorb that sentiment.
“Well, of course it counts as reading it.” Does that qualify as a Pearl of wisdom?
Pearl also said that she especially loves British narrators and gets new pleasure from the audio versions of books she’s read in prose form.
“In some ways, I think I prefer audio almost to traditional reading,” Pearl confessed. “I walk for miles every day, but it’s so I can listen to audiobooks. And I started doing 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles so I could sit and listen to audiobooks while I’m doing the puzzle. I just love audiobooks.”
Let’s hear it for audiobooks.
David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and reads daily. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.