Audiobooks an apology

As a confirmed literary snob (or professional as we say round here) I have always been highly dismissive of audiobooks. This is a person who reads in excess of 100 books a year – read em and weep Goodreads. The Kindle was a revelation a decade ago. After the first holiday when I didn’t have to take up most of my baggage weight in paperbacks I never looked back. An entire library in your pocket for the train, brilliant.

But audiobooks. Someone else in control of the reading speed. A voice coming between me and the text. The smack of being read aloud to in childhood. The memory of those deathly dull classic serials on Radio 4 on a Sunday afternoon. Strictly for the civilians. Because I can read while listening to music, so why would I? And have you seen how long they are – eighteen hours, twelve hours – I mean won’t I have forgotten what happened at the start by the end.

But what’s this? The green Deathstar that is Spotify offering fifteen hours of audiobooks for free. Six months on I am a pretty complete convert. Family matters have involved a good » Continue Reading.