The point of reading is to appreciate the narrative, appreciate the beauty of the language, and the particulars of how you got to that point of appreciation really doesn’t matter so much.

Listening to a book is not only just as good as reading it. Sometimes, perhaps even often, it’s better.

The idea that audiobooks don’t “count” angers me — as a reader, writer and human being. The argument, as far as I can tell, is that listening to a book is cheating because it means passively consuming a book. Not only is this argument insufferable, made — and I’m just guessing — by insufferable people, it’s also the worst kind of ableism because it hides behind virtuousness and some pseudo-intellectual idea that listening isn’t “smart” enough.

Audiobooks are for people who hate reading and for those of us who love reading.

I came to see that audiobooks are, at their core, a callback to the aural tradition, the very origins of storytelling. They weren’t a diminished form of reading; they were its foundation.

I haven’t read a book properly until I’ve had it read to me.

Quality narration is what elevates and distinguishes the audiobook listening experience from the print reading experience, in often extraordinary ways.

When you’ve got the right voice on a particular text, it’s just magic to listen to.

Audiobook narration can rise to an art — or at least high craft — especially with fiction and poetry, where skilled narrators can bring out or amplify a dimension that was only potential in print.

Speaking as a devoted audiobook fan… only part of the appeal is having a book read to you while your hands are free to do something else, such as drive. A bigger part is the way a good reader brings a book to life.

An audiobook, at its best, is an art form of its own.

Being read to is a really intimate thing: a human connection at a time when a lot of people are feeling isolated.

While many turn to audiobooks out of convenience, there is also a sense of comfort to be found in spending hours with a voice and a story. For me, audiobooks come with a generous helping of nostalgia; a harking back to bedtime stories and the warm fuzziness of being read to.

Listening to the dulcet tones of a familiar voice is an appealing way to work our way through those books we’ve always meant to get around to, but haven’t.

Human beings will always seek out new stories and ideas and we should celebrate the fact that there are now so many ways to access them.

There’s a real enthusiasm around the opportunity to do exciting, creative things, and broaden the audience for books

Even most of those who really never have time to read a book usually have more than enough time to listen to one.

My goal is to do audiobooks first when the story is best told in audio, and print books first when the story lends itself to that format. The story should fit the form!