So, this week (June 17-21) is Audiobook Week, an annual event hosted by Jen at Devourer of Books.  This is the fourth year running, but I’ve never participated before, because I never really listened regularly to audiobooks before.  I own three audiobooks: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Knit Happens.  (Which one is not like the others?, she sings.)  Up until this spring, the only time I listened to audiobooks was on long car rides (hence the Potters).

But this spring, hubby’s work schedule changed and with it, our commuting arrangements.  We used to drive to work together; by that, I mean hubby drove and I read in the car, which I’m lucky enough to be able to do without getting carsick.  But when his work schedule changed to a less convenient time, I didn’t want to change my schedule too, because it meant less time with the baby.  And since I don’t live close enough to take advantage of public transportation (the nearest metro stop is 20 minutes from my house, and the train ride is longer than I’d spend in the car just driving to the office) I’ve joined the ranks of rush-hour drivers.  Since I was losing all that reading time and actually having to contend with traffic instead of ignoring it, I decided there was only one thing to do: become an audiobook convert.

Since I started driving myself, I’ve listened to People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks; Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (shiver – so good); Knit Happens, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee; Fire in the Blood, by Irene Nemirovsky; and The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan.  Now I’m four discs into Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis, and if I can’t say I’m enjoying my commutes, at least I’m surviving them.

So.  For audiobook week, Jen has created prompts for each day and I’m going to follow them while sticking to my normal posting schedule (M, W, F) by answering Monday and Tuesday’s prompts today, Wednesday’s on Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday’s on Friday.  (Confused yet?)  Here goes.

Monday

Jen asks: Are you new to audiobooks in the last year? Have you been listening to them forever but discovered something new this year? Favorite titles? New times/places to listen? This is your chance to introduce yourself and your general listening experience.

Well, I answered a lot of these above, so I won’t go too nuts with this.  I’m not exactly new to audiobooks in the past year, but I’m new to listening to them regularly; before the commuting arrangements changed I was a road-trip-only listener.  I’m still listening only in the car, but now I’m listening almost every day and only pausing when I need some silence after a particularly verbal day.  Audiobooks are certainly helping me keep up my reading even though I’ve lost about 90 minutes of time each day, so I’m grateful for that.  As for favorite titles, I was completely hooked on Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro – between a chillingly compelling story and a fantastic narrator, it was a big win for me.  And things have been a bit stressful lately, but they could have been a lot worse – Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has stepped in and given me plenty to laugh and cheer about, even during the worst rush hour snarls.  (I have the third book on hold at the library, on audio again, and I can’t wait to start it just as soon as I finish Main Street.)  I also loved Fire in the Blood, with its beautiful writing and incredible narrator, but the library discs I borrowed were badly scratched and skipped constantly, which really put a damper on the listening experience.

Tuesday

Jen asks: How do you decide what you’ll listen to? Do you mostly listen, or split time between listening and reading? Particularly if you split time, how do you decide what you’ll consume in audio and what in print?

I do split my time between print and audio; as described above, I listen to audiobooks in the car, generally only when I’m the one driving, or on road trips.  I’m still devoting the bulk of my reading time to print – the audiobooks are really to make my commute faster and friendlier.  I don’t have much rhyme or reason as to how I decide what to listen to.  Mostly, I just wander the audiobook shelves at the library until something I feel like reading or hearing jumps out at me.  I did make a conscious decision to listen to the Percy Jackson books, because I wanted to read them and didn’t know when I’d get to them otherwise.

If I don’t have a specific plan, I just try to find something from my to-read list and or look for anything else that seems appealing, whether I was meaning to read it or not.  I have been borrowing all of my audiobooks from the library and there isn’t much selection at my small branch, so soon I think I’ll have to become more intentional about what I choose to listen to, since I’m going to have to start reserving more audiobooks and having them brought from other branches.  When that day comes, I’ll be looking through the TBR more carefully and reserving my selections online, then picking them up at my branch.  I think that system will work for me.  At some point I may look into Audible or other means of acquiring e-audiobooks, but right now the library shelves are my mainstay.

Wednesday’s post is a meme that Jen plans to put up on the day of, so my post won’t go up until Wednesday evening.  So check here Wednesday night or Thursday morning for the next Audiobook Week post.  And, this goes without saying, but – Jen, thanks for hosting!  This is fun.