Fiction on the Kindle, non-fiction on Audible

I was always sort of against listening to books on tape, simply because I enjoy actually reading a book. And not actual books. No, in fact when I receive an actual book from someone as a gift, if I decide I want to read it, I just buy it on the Kindle. Carrying around an actual book to me feels like carrying around a record. Like, a music record. Like this:

Where was I?

Oh yeah, so I just wasn’t that interested in listening to books on tape until I realized it wasn’t an either/or situation. I could read books AND listen to books. So I started late last year listening to books on Audible while commuting and running.

The trend I’m realizing in my behavior is that I look to find good non-fiction books to listen to, and fiction books to read. I think this is for a few reasons. First, I don’t think my brain can take two simultaneous fiction books. Diving into a new world is hard enough that to do it with two books at the same time is too much.

Second, one thing that does happen when listening to an audio book is that your mind will wonder sometimes. Or sometimes you actually have to pay attention to the road because someone else is also using their phone, but unlike you, they’re using it to text or Snap or whatever. In fiction books, you can’t easily skip a minute or two without getting completely lost, whereas in non-fiction its much easier.

I also feel like with fiction, having it read to me allows the person reading it to affect the way I experience the book. I suppose that can be a good thing, but I enjoy diving deep into a book and allowing my brain to pull the words off the page and bring it to life in my mind.

Additionally, I’m a huge fan of listening to audio books where the author is the narrator. That’s really cool. Right now I’m listening to, Pour Your Heart Into It, the story of how Howard Schultz built Starbucks, and Howard Schultz is reading it. I love that.

If you’re interested, here are the books I’ve read, and listened to, in 2015.