I started listening to audio-books (audio recordings of someone reading a book out-loud) in 2018. And there has been no looking back. It all started when I realized I had about 30 minutes of travel time one-way to work in Mumbai in the local train. I wanted to use that time in a good way. That’s when I explored the free audio-book forum called ‘Librovox’, ‘libre’ in Spanish means ‘book’ (thanks to some Spanish learning on the language app Duolingo). This forum is free coz’ volunteers across the world read and record books that are made available on the platform. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the whole ‘Anne’ series of books by Lucy Maud Montgomery on Librivox. In 2019, I came across the paid audio-book app by amazon called ‘audible’ and this is the best gift I’ve ever given myself and continue to give myself.
Every month, on the 5th, the app deducts 200 INR and gives me a ‘shiny new coin/credit’ with which I can buy one book. Just one. This book gets added to my virtual library on the app. And every month for the last one year now, I’ve been looking forward to this small ritual. The act of choosing one book from 1000s of books available on the platform always manages to excite me. The past year has been difficult for most of us in different ways. The lock down, the pandemic and the new virus have managed to play on our minds in ways unbeknownst to us. In the middle of all this, the audio-books I’ve chosen and listened to have been like dear friends, taking me to different worlds and teaching me new perspectives. Books have always been dear to me, for as long as I can remember. My parents are avid readers and the memories of visiting various libraries and book stores over the years are precious (that reminds me it’s been over a year since I visited a bookstore!). I continue to read paperback, physical books, but the extra effects of excellent audio-recordings on the app have amazed me enough to continue my subscription! What I truly love about the audio-book experience is the variety. For someone who believes that variety is the spice of life; audible is a true delight. The newest and oldest books in every possible genre are available. I’ve tried different genres like non-fiction, politics, science, history, public health, thriller, philosophy, romance and there’s so much more. (Ha, this blog almost sounds like a paid promotion of the app; but trust me, it’s not. Coz’ I’m definitely not an influencer and a maximum of 10 people may read this blog!).
For people who think that listening to a book may not be as immersive an experience as actually reading a solid paperback book, you should give it a try anyway. Why? One good reason is to rest your eyes. In today’s digital age, where most of us spend many hours staring at screens; listening to something may be a welcome change. If you are worried about short attention spans, then maybe this is a good way to boost those spans. Just close your eyes, plug in and try an audio-book, you may enjoy it. There’s an option of going back and forth in the book (in case that monkey mind of ours drifts off from the content). True, the experience cannot be likened to the touch, smell and feel of a new book; you can’t make notes or write the meanings of difficult words in the margins and/or do other things you do with an actual book. Yet, I’ve grown to like this listening experience. I can virtually bookmark pages of the book I’ve liked, to revisit it later on audible.
Reading a bit about audio-book history on ‘Google madam’ (trust me to attach a female suffix to the search engine!); I found that the first audio-book was recorded in the 1950’s. The Audible app that I’ve been going on about has been around since 2003. I got my first smart phone in 2014, yet it took me an additional four years to stumble upon this audio-book adventure! (Better late than never I guess!) Just imagine what a great boon the audio-book experience would be for visually challenged people or old people who have failing eyesight!
Well, now that 2020 is coming to an end (ever so quickly!); I’d like to hold this year close to my heart, as the year of ‘audio-books’, not attempting to mask or overlook the many sad things that happened this year, but to try and take the best of what life has to offer!