On Ebooks and Audiobooks

Physical books will always hold a special place in my heart but there’s a lot to be said about audiobooks and ebooks, especially from an accessibility standpoint. The ability to change text size and access dyslexia fonts on ebooks can be a tremendous help for those who struggle with traditional texts. There’s no longer a need to search out for large-text editions when you can increase text size and font to your readability. Similarly, audiobooks an incredible resource for those who are visually impaired.

All this being said, audiobooks and ebooks do have a lot of different appeals to them than physical books, and there are a lot of different factors one should consider with these in readers’ advisory. An audiobook narrator can really make or break a reading. My wife will sing the praises of the Lord of the Rings audiobook because of the way the narrator, Rob Inglis, performs it, complete with voices for each characters (I cannot understand his orcs to save my life) and really enthusiastic renditions of the songs. Celebrity-read audiobooks are also a huge thing on platforms like Audible, giving some books additional promotional boosts through big names like Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Anne Hathaway. Conversely, however, some narrators can strike readers in just the wrong way: my mother despised Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun because she found the narrator’s cadence and tone impossible to get past. And just like some folks don’t like movie or television adaptations because they way they envision the character doesn’t match up with the casting, some reads of audiobooks may provide a little bit too much additional interpretation than some readers would rather avoid. There are a lot more factors of personal preference that those in readers’ advisory have to account for with audiobooks and ebooks than traditional print books. 

I’m a huge fan of audio and ebooks. I’m chronic multitasker and love the ability to listen to a book while doing other things and ebooks are a lifesaver for me at my small library. From a patron standpoint, I feel that audiobooks and ebooks have really let me branch out. It’s so easy to check-out different books and return them quickly if you don’t like what you read, and I can do everything straight from my phone. I find it easy to get used to a way a person speaks after a while, and I think the passive nature of audiobooks makes it easier for me to power through works I wouldn’t normally touch. That being said, I understand some people just need the physical book in their hands in order to really get the right reading experience. It’s all about preference.