You Should be Listening to Your Next Read

There's a type of book that you ought to meet, if you're not already acquainted with it. It's been around for a long time but is just beginning to hit its' stride in popularity, largely thanks to the constant rise in digital media's popularity.

A Map of Days

by Ransom Riggs

in Audible

It's the audiobook. Now, maybe you've already experienced what this format has to offer and are enjoying the company of narrators on your morning walk or during mundane daily tasks… But if not, allow me to persuade you to at least give them a try (and fall in love).

The biggest draw for me towards audiobooks is the ability to multitask. I'm the type of person who's forever doing more than one thing at a time (I may be listening to a book as I write this). So, it comes to pass that audiobooks became a very convenient way for me to fill in those blank spaces where multitasking can be difficult. In coffee shops, on daily walks, while dabbling in art and out doing the groceries, I'm able to read, to further push my obsession to consume as much literature as possible. It's absolutely a convenient way to bend our society's drive to do more faster and re-center the somewhat disordered approach into something that will expand the mind and relax it.

On the emotional side of things, another incredible way to make use of audiobooks is to create with them an experience of bonding. I've had the pleasure of listening with a friend, elevating the solitude that typically characterizes reading and transforming it into a memory-making, growing-closer, understanding-you-deeper event. Books make us think and recall things, oftentimes which are kept to the confines of the mind, but when you share an audiobook these intimate thoughts have a way of blossoming into conversation and delight. You learn and grow together, and even if you're far apart you can still partake in a book together making handy use of text messages.

Along those lines too, who doesn't like to be read to? We might not exactly be listening to Goodnight Moon, but as an adult I'm a big fan of having Jim Dale read me to sleep with a favorite chapter from Harry Potter.

And on the topic of narrators, there is a whole world of talent that you open yourself up to when you begin to listen to books. Whether it's Kate Winslet's animated retelling of Roald Dahl's Matilda or Ralph Cosham's disturbingly childlike rendition of the song "Beasts of England" from George Orwell's Animal Farm, you gain a new depth in the skilled retellings of these stories. You're pulled into a new layer of the story by these women and men who draw out another level of emotion all based in the written word.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

By J.K. Rowling

on Google Play Books

As a side note, one of my favorite audiobooks is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by J.K. Rowling and narrated by Eddie Redmayne. It's a short listen that features entries which are easy to pick up and listen to in any order. Also, since Eddie Redmayne happens to act the fictional author of the book itself in films, you're doubly immersed into how it expands on Rowling's Wizarding World. You can feel even better about the purchase, knowing that a portion of the sales is made available to both Comic Relief and Lumos Foundation, which means you're doing good at the same time! All these things makes it a perfect introduction into the world of audiobooks, or that could just be my personal opinion since it happened to by my first listen.

Whatever the reason, whether it's one I was able to mention here or some other undoubtedly valuable facet of audiobooks, why not enjoy listening to your next read?