SUSAN CALMAN

There is nothing more soothing than having a story read to us, as our columnist realised when she discovered the joy of audiobooks

Our columnist on her love of hearing a good story

I’m sometimes late to a party. Not an actual party, of course; if I ever get an invitation to have fun with other people, I’m always early, usually wearing a smashing, newly purchased going-out cardigan. But when it comes to new-fangled technology, I’m mostly a late adopter. For heaven’s sake, I still call my fancy digital radio ‘the wireless’. But, more often than not, when I do jump into the pool of modern life, I love it. And my most recent wave of joy has come from audiobooks. I should say from the start that nothing will ever beat the excitement of walking home from a bookshop with a new paper copy of a novel I’ve coveted from afar, gently opening it and sniffing that lovely new-book smell. But, to me, audiobooks don’t replace the traditional format; rather they help me enjoy the written word even more.

It was during the lockdowns that I really started embracing auditory ‘reading’. Doing nothing for months on end meant that I didn’t really want to do anything. Despite having all the time in the world to read, I found that my attention would wander. I kept forgetting where I was in a story and who was who. It was like those awful evenings on the sofa with the family when we’re watching television, and someone says, ‘Who’s that? It looks like that woman we saw last week. In the show with the people in it and the cars. You know! The woman with the face! The face and the feet!’

So I went into the Audible account I’d set up previously but never used and started to browse… There are so many titles to choose from and I was surprised that I could get almost anything I wanted and play it through my mobile phone. Classic texts, factual books, and almost every genre is available, read by a huge range of actors and authors.

I used a slightly scattergun approach initially, listening to anything that took my fancy, and gradually found that what

I liked and disliked became clearer. For me, the person who reads the book is important. It’s always lovely when listening to a biography, for example, to hear the author narrate. The exception to that rule, I have to say, is Dawn French’s Dear Fatty, which is read by the wonderful Liza Tarbuck. But there’s a certain honesty and joy from hearing someone talk about their life. It’s like an extended radio show that seems directly aimed at the listener and can make the stories somehow more personal.

I found that books I’d read before were brought more to life in audio form. For example, I love Agatha Christie and have read all her books – yet, in audio form, they felt new and refreshing. And the names of some of the actors who narrate her books is a who’s who of acting royalty; Richard E Grant, David Suchet and Emilia Fox are just some I have loved.

I loved listening to them on walks, relaxing in the garden and when driving. And when I returned to work, I found audiobooks even more useful. I travel all around the country, by plane, train and automobile, and never get travel sick in the way that I used to when I was juggling a novel, a cup of coffee and a sandwich. In fact, I’m stacking up some sunshine tomes and looking forward to a long commute. Jenny Colgan’s Sunrise By The Sea is perfect warm-weather listening. If you like crime books, The Quaker by Liam Mcilvanney is one of the most gripping mysteries I’ve listened to in a long time. Calypso by David Sedaris is as wonderful as I expected it to be, and This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay is just excellent.

I’m always going to buy books and lovingly arrange them on my bookcase, and I’m never going to stop wandering around a bookshop, excitedly reading the back covers. But audiobooks helped when my head was struggling to concentrate. I can now hear the written word – and it’s very magical indeed.

Audiobooks helped when my head was struggling to concentrate