An Announcement, a Celebration, and 10 Things I Love about Audiobooks

I love to read.

That statement feels so inadequate. It would be difficult to overstate my affection for books. In fact, I’ll admit that in my more resentful moments I view the world and its concerns simply as a loud and repetitive interruption of my reading time.

So of course I find it important to maximize opportunities for reading. That’s why I love audiobooks. Thanks to them, I can always have two books in process–one to enjoy when my eyes are available and one I can listen to when they’re not.

That’s why I’m so excited to announce the release of Troubled Minds in audiobook form, through Audible.com. In celebration, I’m giving away 5 copies! (See below.)

I’ve also created this list of 10 things I love about audiobooks:

1. I love hearing the way a narrator interprets a piece of fiction and brings its characters to life.

2. Thanks to the work of those excellent narrators, I don’t have to look up the pronunciations for foreign words, unusual character names, or names of places in France.

3. My family and I can enjoy a book together with no one’s voice getting tired or stumbling over challenging phrases.

4. If audiobooks did not enable me to read while driving, I simply would have to do a lot less driving. And my kids would have to do a lot more walking.

5. I can scrub toilets and get smarter at the same time!

6. Audiobooks have the power to make grocery shopping a bearable task.

7. They’re good for my health. Sometimes I extend my workouts just so I can finish a chapter.

8. When people ask what I’m listening to, “War and Peace” is a more impressive answer than “Taylor Swift.”

9. Audiobooks make riding public transportation more like being at the library–and that’s always a good thing.

10. Listening to an audiobook is a great way to get through a middle school band concert–as long as I can hide the earbuds in my hair. I can still hear the music, but now it’s a soundtrack!

As I mentioned, I’m giving away 5 free copies of this new audiobook. Email me if you want a copy–but you must be a subscriber to my blog to win. So if you haven’t already subscribed, sign up for my blog updates (see the left-hand margin) and send me an email to enter.

Happy listening!