Last New Year’s, I set a goal to read at least one book a month in 2020. At the time it felt like an ambitious task, considering the fact that I had read maybe 10 books for pleasure total in the past 5 years. As a child, it was a rare sight to see me without fingers clutched around a book as if it was an extension of my limbs. Over the years, though, that burning love for reading faded to a distant memory. But after taking to Instagram to beg my peers for recommendations that might reignite that dwindled flame, I stumbled upon a story that would change my life.  

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid not only impacted me emotionally but it also opened me up to a whole new way of reading: audiobooks. Because the book is told in the form of oral history, I was recommended the audiobook, which is narrated by a full cast. Needless to say, I was hooked from the very first page.

Now, as of September, I have read 51 books and counting. Given, this number represents a combination of physical reads and books read on audio, but the point stands: audiobooks effectively got me back into reading like I was 10 and in love with words again. 

And yet, an ongoing debate in the bookish community threatened this newfound love of mine. In fact, maybe you read these words and had the very thought that made me question it. That is, that audiobooks don’t count as “real” reading. 

To even begin to unpack that, we have to establish why exactly it is that we read. What are we as readers getting out of consuming literature? As a fantasy reader, for me, reading is a way to escape the confines of reality and let myself explore the complexities of fictional political and magical systems. Personally, I mainly read for entertainment purposes, reveling in the aspect of reading that allows me to create my own versions of the worlds portrayed in my mind. Others, especially non-fiction readers, might read to expand their knowledge on certain topics that interest them. 

The question then is this: does reading through the audio format in any way affect our ability to derive entertainment and education from novels? A 2016 study conducted by associate professor of education Beth Rogowsky concluded that there were no significant differences in comprehension between reading, listening, or reading and listening simultaneously. People who read and listened to the same story were able to summarize the content with virtually no differences. Regardless of format, the facts say that you will still receive all of the benefits you seek from reading. 

Now that we’ve debunked the notion that listening to audiobooks is cheating, let’s talk about the ableist nature of this debate as a whole. The ability to look down on and exclude people who rely on audiobooks to read comes from a place of extreme privilege. Neurodivergent people, particularly people with learning disabilities that interfere with reading and reading comprehension abilities, do not always have the privilege to read books as easily as neurotypical people can. 

The advantages of audiobooks for these groups can be extremely significant both in an educational setting and for personal enjoyment. The non-profit education association ASCD, for instance, encourages the use of audiobooks to support Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students who struggle with learning disabilities, including ADHD and dyslexia. The idea is that audiobooks allow students to listen and rewind, therefore building their own pace to keep up with the story. 

Hearing words pronounced correctly in audiobooks also aids in building reading fluency. Personally, especially with complex fantasy worlds, I find myself checking audiobooks for the correct pronunciation of character and location names even when I am reading physically. 

The benefits of audiobooks do not stop there. The main reason that I have been able to read over 50 books this year is that, while reading physically demands time allocated specifically to that, I can listen to audiobooks in the little pockets of time I spend going about mindless tasks. Much like you could not catch 10-year-old me without a book in hand, today it would be a wonder to spot me without my AirPods in, deeply invested in a story whenever I am getting ready, cleaning, or commuting. Suffice it to say, audiobooks reignited a lost passion of mine, and the preposterous notion that they do not count as reading has no place in the bookish community today.