Earlier this week, I took a trip to my local library. I was so much of a book nerd in my youth, I used to actually skip school to spend time in the library in town. My obsession in my teens was the United States, so spent time reading up on civil war history and American fiction such as Catcher in the Rye and The Crucible.
I haven’t been in the library building itself for many years, since well before the Pandemic, and I’m grateful it still exists. It’s the same library my mum used to walk me to as a child every Saturday to find new books.
When my primary school teacher decided to read us a chapter a day of Alan Garner’s Weirdstone of Brisingamen, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next, so checked the book out of the library and read it over the weekend. I was 9 or 10 at the time, and it was nothing like I’d ever heard before. I then checked out every other book Alan garner had written.
So the library has many fond memories for me, a special place. I’d once checked out the maximum number of books on my own card, and so then stole my mum’s library card so I could take more out.
Wandering round the aisles, having no real idea what I wanted to read, I checked out a number of books, and I hope to actually get round to reading them.
The reality is that I have more than enough books to read at home.
My book shelves are full of hard backs – bought because they’re beautiful objects. Few have been read, none have ever been lent to friends. Some may not even have been opened.
Because these days, I’m primarily an audiobook listener.
I track everything I read on The Storygraph and last year, 92% of my reading was audio. The remaining 8% was e-books on my Kindle. I did not read a hard copy of a book AT ALL last year.
In my visits to the library in my youth, before the days of smartphones and streaming services, audiobooks were available on cassette and CD in the library, and were stored next to the large print books. In my head, this automatically associated them with the elderly, and so I didn’t go near them. I immediately discounted them, even though my favourite cassette as a 5 year old was a story read by Isla St Clair.
When iPods first came out, I remember seeing an offer from Audible that, if you signed up for membership, you’d get a free iPod shuffle. Being a sucker for a freebie, I signed up, and so started my own love of books in audio. I found I could lie in bed at night and be read to, and I got hooked.
I found that I could multi-task – I could listen to books and do other things, and these days, I listen to books at 1.9x speed and keep my hands busy with knitting or crochet or doing chores around the house. I realise now the benefits of audio, the accessibility, making stories available to everyone. I saw a post once where someone was surprised to find their HGV driver father talking about Wuthering Heights – he used his long drives to listen to audiobooks.
Being a voracious reader, I’d spend a fortune on Audible and Kobo credits – when you listen to a book every day or every 2 days, 2 credits doesn’t get you very far.
Thankfully, I found my library uses the BorrowBox service, allowing library members access to a large collection of ebooks and – yay – audiobooks! For free! And like with library books, authors are paid a small amount every time a book is borrowed, so it’s a win-win.
I’ve been struggling this past couple of years with autistic burnout (and that’s a whole other post), and I once read that to help with the burnout, lean into the things you’re actually enjoying, and for me that’s reading. I’ve been finding it hard to focus on actual books, so audiobooks have been my lifeline. I’m also managing to read more on my Kindle – I love the ability to look up words and definitions, the backlight allows reading way beyond bed time, and gives me access to books where audio versions aren’t available.
While I will always love the feel and smell of books, and there’s something so special about holding a book in your hands, I do see my hard copies as keepsakes rather than content. But having borrowed books from the library, knowing I have to hand them back, I’m going to make the effort to read them.
How do you consume books? Do you have a favourite? Share your stories!
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