When Ears Read: The Audiobook Experience

So I'm one of those people that can't read, write, look down, play iPod games, do anything that's not looking out the window, in a moving vehicle. At least, without getting nauseous. So when I went with my choir for a tour down to Minneapolis (if you experienced any random acts of singing two weekends ago, that was me with my choir) I thought that a couple of audiobooks would be perfect for the drive down.

I have actually never listened to audiobooks before, except for childrens books on cassettes that my sister and I borrowed from the library when we were younger. It's a lot different than reading a book. These are some things I noticed:

1. I can read in a moving vehicle (in this case, a Beaver Bus) without getting sick!



My cat, Venus, waiting to be read to.

 2. It felt like I was seven again and my Dad was reading aloud to me and my siblings. (The audiobook I was listening to was also Chronicles of Narnia, which is what my Dad read aloud to us almost every night when we were younger.)

The ape and the donkey from
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

3. I like when the narrator does different voices for each character. And the characters in The Last Battle and The Silver Chair have really funny voices.

4. It is extremely relaxing to just listen to someone talk. (It is also easier to fall asleep... especially on a trip where you are singing and doing stuff all the time on top of getting little sleep).

5. (This is a question more than something I discovered about audiobooks). Does listening to audibooks count as reading a book?