Rabid Reads

I discovered the marvels of audiobooks back in 2011 with Richelle Mead’s GEORGINA KINCAID series, and from there started listening to roughly one title a month. I didn’t take an immediate liking to them, struggled with my fair share of crappy narrators, and learned the hard way that anything over 20 hours caused me to lose interest. So, if you’re thinking that they aren’t for you, trust me when I say that I get it. However, after four years of trial & error they now make up close to 50% of my annual consumption of novels, and I’m constantly seeking out new excuses to listen.

The most obvious being household chores; #1 does all of the cooking (lucky me!) which means that I’m the designated dish washer, and I’m totally fine with that, especially when I have a wonderful narrator to keep me company. Laundry and cleaning are two other tasks that suck a whole lot less when I have my earbuds in. We live in the country where hard water is a fact of life, so if I want a white bathtub I have to dedicate several hours to scrubbing that bitch, and listening to an Urban Fantasy heroine kick baddie butt motivates me to do the same to my tub. I’m also seriously contemplating investing in a pair of noise cancelling headphones because I cut A LOT of grass in the summer, and my lawn tractor doesn’t have a cupholder which makes drinking beer tricky. I’m in desperate need of another source of entertainment. #firstworldproblems

Audiobooks are equally awesome for long work commutes, ignoring coworkers during your lunch break, and tackling menial responsibilities such as filing, and data entry. My iPhone is usually at my side whenever I’m drafting tedious blog posts such as my Fresh Meat feature, updating the Kindle Deals page, and doing maintenance stuff like adding review links to the archive or cleaning up the sidebar. I listen when I go for walks with my dogs, play Candy Crush—my current Facebook gaming addiction—and when my eyes are too tired to read after a long day of staring at a monitor. As you can probably tell, I’m doing alright with finding reasons to plug in, but I welcome more suggestions! :)

Have a bookish question you’d like Rabid Reads to weigh-in on? E-mail me, and be sure you include your blog URL (if you have one), so we can give you credit!