Audiobooks for People Who Don't Like Audiobooks
You're not broken. You just need to do the opposite of what everyone else does.
REMINDER: We’ll be celebrating the release of my new novel The Scott Fenwick Diaries, at Big Hill Books in Minneapolis on July 22! If you like drinks, donuts, Pringles, and The Sound of Music, you should probably come. Click here for more info.
Here are some things that happen to me while I listen to audiobooks:
Fall asleep.
Suddenly realize I’ve been thinking about something else for – how long? Rewind, rewind, rewind…
Cease to care.
Start hating a perfectly good book.
I am not an auditory learner. I have difficulty listening to audiobooks in the same way an auditory learner may have been labeled a poor reader in third grade; they simply learn a different way. This is an important life lesson for me as a librarian/bookseller/parent; I now know what reading feels like for all the kids in school who “don’t like to read.” They fall asleep, their minds wander, they cease to care, they start hating a perfectly good book.
It’s no accident that audiobook sales are the new beanie babies. Imagine being quasi-ambivalent about reading your whole life until you listen to an audiobook and now you’re setting an alarm for midnight on the day that the fifth installment of the Hunger Games series goes on sale. That’s a serious move toward educational equity. Sales of audiobooks consistently jump 10+ percentage points every year with the leading genres being fiction, romance and science fiction/fantasy.
Not coincidentally, these are the same genres I can’t stay awake for in audiobook format.
This doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me – just like there’s likely nothing wrong with the third grader who’s been labeled a reluctant reader – it just means we have different learning styles. Which means my recommendations for people who don’t like audiobooks will be vastly different from any list you find online called something like “Best Audiobooks of 2025!” ( *just hold ON, my list is coming!)
So why bother? If I learn better from print, why do I need to listen to audiobooks at all? Why??? Here it is in a nutshell, I’m sure you’ve seen this on a tee shirt somewhere: SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME!!!!
I’m that disappointing combination of a book industry professional AND a slow reader. Are you kidding me???? What fresh hell is this???? It’s super unfair. What super-readers everywhere will tell you is that adding audiobooks to your repertoire allows you to read twice as many books. And for that, I am down to party.
But before we get to my book recs, here are some tips/tricks/discoveries:
WALKING: Because I am a kinesthetic learner, my ability to stay focused increases when I walk while listening.
ENJOY THE VIEW: But it’s also nice to listen to a book at the beach – why would I look away from that beautiful vista? Now I can read AND enjoy the view? This is so much better for my mental health. I can do this at the park, too; sit on a bench and observe the scenery while I listen. You feel a little like an elderly woman from a Disney movie but, trust me, that just does not matter.
EXPERIMENT WITH SPEED: I increase the speed to 1.2x. This better matches the speed at which my brain processes language. If you’re having trouble focusing, play with the speed.
MULTITASK (OR NOT): Some people enjoy listening more when they’re multitasking; folding laundry, doing yard work, knitting, etc. THIS IS NOT ME. Some absolutely HAVE to do two things at once to process fully; this is especially true for people with ADHD. Fidgets spinners, anyone? I remember being frustrated reading Ramona the Pest to my kindergartner because he didn’t want to sit next to me while I read. He kept getting up and playing with toys. But I’d been told to just keep reading, it doesn’t mean he’s not listening. Even so, because I am Sally-Single-Tasker, I was dubious. And then one day, I read the line about Ramona reaching out to grab Susan’s boing-boing curls – and I looked up to see him pantomiming the freaking scene. He was pulling Susan’s boing-boing curls!!!!!! You had to know what you were looking for but there it was. I was a believer in the need to multitask after that.
Again, SO NOT ME. I can’t even eat dinner and watch So You Think You Can Dance at the same time. I’ve got pizza hanging out of my mouth and I’m like “Why is Nigel crying?” My point is, figure out which one you are; a multitasker or a single tasker. And once you learn, don’t mess with the formula unless you want to feel like a huge loser.
As far as WHAT to listen to, here’s what I’ve found:
FICTION IS A NO: I cannot. Especially if you have a voice actor who sounds like they trained with Laurence Olivier or possibly even Shakespeare.
UNLESS THE AUTHOR IS THE NARRATOR: This is rare – even though they created these voices and know exactly how they want them to sound. There’s only one example of a fiction title on my list where the author narrates. And he is spectacular.
NONFICTION IS BETTER: A nonfiction book is more often narrated by the author – who is generally just a regular dude excited to share his findings/feelings with you. So it sounds more like a podcast than reader’s theater. Do I absorb every statistic? No. Let this go. Lean into the overall message and the helpful soundbites you can share with others.
MEMOIR IS BEST: real people telling their own stories in their own voices. Yes please.
CELEBRITY MEMOIR IS BESTEST: real people telling you their own (salacious) stories in their own voices who also happen to be performers. And by performers, I don’t mean Laurence Olivier or Shakespeare but people who regularly sit down with Jimmy Kimmel (that, too, is a performance).
(and now drumroll please…..)
Kristin’s Audiobook Picks for People Who Don’t Like Audiobooks
It’s fiction, yes, but the format is the winner here; the story is told in the form of an interview. In other words, it’s almost entirely dialogue. And check out that cast of narrators. These are Jimmy Kimmel performers, not Olivier.
I had already read this in print and loved it enough to re-read. The audio worked so well that I re-watched the limited series on Am*z*n and now I’m totally re-obsessed with the soundtrack. If you miss Fleetwood Mac, you’ll feel like the world is reborn with these songs.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
This was 16 hours and it took me months to finish it but now I am that person at a party who tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Cher. And I love Cher more than ever. LOVE. This woman has LIVED. Cher and Dolly Parton could go on a game show called Who’s Childhood Was Harder? And here’s where the audio format is so important: at the beginning of the recording, Cher gives a disclaimer, reminding us that she has dyslexia. She emphasizes how reading is hard for her. But she wanted to give the listener something of her herself. And so Cher narrates the beginning of each chapter — and you can hear her stumble, you can hear the effort — but you can also hear the love, hate, anger, joy and disbelief that comes straight from her own life. It’s priceless. After a period of time, the narration seamlessly switches from Cher to an actor (who I believe played Cher in the Broadway show about her life????). Sometimes I didn’t even know that they had switched. I love you, Cher. ❤️
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
Sociopaths are not all serial killers. Some of them are just regular people trying to grapple with their limitations. And here’s a firsthand account of a woman discovering her disregard for the wellbeing of others, starting in childhood, and following her as she tries to pursue a normal life. It’s fascinating. Narrated by the author.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
Jonathan Haidt shows how all the seismic increases in childhood and adolescent anxiety and depression are timed to coincide with three things: the introduction of the smartphone, the introduction of Instagram, and the introduction of the ‘like’ button. Ouch. This is a must-read no matter what format you read. When I listened to the audio version, I felt no pressure to finish it. It was almost like the podcast I turned on in the car every day, allowing me to process the info little by little. There’s some academic stuff that I fast-forwarded through but you can access this info in pdf form on his website.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
I listen to this one in the same way I did Anxious Generation, little by little. I like to listen to this one in the tub. The book starts with a story about a journalist who spent a year researching an article; but when it was time to write the article, he was spent. Instead of plowing ahead, he spent the next two weeks going to the park and staring at the clouds. After two weeks of cloud-staring, he was able to get back to work. Just like Anxious Generation, the phone is the bad guy in this book. Our brains do not rest. Even if we’re just watching dog videos on tiktok. We are constantly taking in and processing information. And this leads to feeling like we’re in a hyperproductive state while actually being far less productive. And far more anxious. Good times.
The lesson here? Go slower to do more. And give your brain a damn break.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
Fiction again. But look at that narrator; I’m pretty sure they chose Meg Ryan because she looks just like the author, Sally Franson. Not even kidding. When you meet Sally, you’re like “have we met before?” No, you haven’t. You’ve just watched When Harry Met Sally every year since 1989.
And also, although it is fiction, the story is inspired by the author’s real-life experience on a Swedish reality TV show in which American’s of Swedish descent compete to meet their Swedish relatives. And hilarity ensues. You can even watch Sally on the show — called Allt för Sverige — on YouTube. Do it! Seriously. It will add so much to your enjoyment of this book.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
Jennifer Welch, a blue-stater stuck in a red state, and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan, a recovering Evangelical, host the uber-popular I’ve Had It podcast. Here they take turns telling the story of how they became friends in the midst of their husbands’ respective addictions and grew to become superstar podcasters. They are funny. And bawdy. And razor sharp. They are fiery, Southern women who have been through a lot of sh*t. Hence the title.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
Finally! A middle grade title! Honestly, I have failed in finding middle grade audiobooks that hold my attention. Until today! And if you have any suggestions to share with me, I’m all ears. A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation is fiction, read perfectly by the author. In fact, it could be the best performed book I’ve ever listened to. This guy can do voices like Pedro Pascal on SNL. It’s a roadtrip story with 13 year old Gonzalo and his grumpy grandpa who just happens to be the author of the world’s most popular series of fantasy books for kids. Think Harry Potter level popularity. A+ 10/10 no notes.
*buying your audiobooks from LibroFM supports indie bookstores instead of Jeff Bezos.
And here’s a peek at my Audiobook TBR pile:
A music journalist looks back at his old beat…Britney Spears.
What can I say? She keeps me listening. And apparently Michelle Williams’ narration is cheeky and irreverent.
Yikes. Am I up for this? But the Washington Post highly recommends, saying E. Jean Carroll is the best person to tell this story — and she does not hold back. Much like Cher, she is not too precious about the whole reading an audiobook thing and she may have done this with a glass of wine in one hand.
Thanks so much for reading! Coming up next time…my interview with 11 year old Shazi who spilled the tea on all the couples in fifth grade.