And what's great is that you don't have to spend a dime to get one (or several) in your possession. Libraries all over the country have beefed up their audio book sections, allowing you to rent them whenever you like (and they can be renewed online at most libraries up to three times). And they have all genres of audio books - fiction, non-fiction, and everything in between. Whatever keeps your attention, you'll be able to find it in an audio book.
Strangely, my audio book obsession started 10 years ago when I was a young feisty 20 year old who never would've considered audio books, but my boyfriend at the time bought us The DaVinci Code on audio book for our summer road trips. When he first told me he wanted us to listen to the book via CD, I laughed. No proper book should be listened to, I thought. But dang, I soon found out how wrong I was 2 hours into our road trip.
The soothing sounds of the narrator kept me so rapt that by the time we hit our destination, it felt like we had only been on the road for a 1/2 hour, not 2. As a fidgety road tripper, this blew me away. We next got a fun dark mystery audio book for our Seattle road trip, and I was hooked even more. Nothing ever made the time pass this quick (other than sleeping, of course).
Last year I discovered the awesomeness of non-fiction audio books. Have you ever learned something while doing something else? You can do this with audio books when you're behind the wheel. And even for short drives, this is an awesome thing to do. We got one that went over everything you'd ever wanted to know about wine, from growing grapes to pairing wines with the right food. It was 6 CDs, took all summer to get through, but I now know everything about wine. Nothing can beat learning a new skill when most of the time in the same situation, all you'd be doing is flipping through the radio stations or looking out the window.
When it comes to choosing the right audio book for your tastes, think outside the box. From horror and fiction to audio books that can teach you a new language, there are a myriad of genres available on audio. Also, when you're listening versus reading, certain genres may be easier to digest than they usually are when you read, so have fun trying different genres of books. You never know what your next favorite book style might be.
If you're still not sure if audio books will jive with you, think of all the famous novels and tomes you've wanted to read, but never had time to do. Audio books can make this happen. Gone with the Wind, Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series, even the Bible, with audio books you'll be well-read before you know it. Here's a list of some fun audio books that are popular and far from boring:
- Born to be Riled (written and narrated by Top Gear's Jeremy Clark)
- Chattery Teeth and Other Stories (a collection of short horror stories by Stephen King)
- Bossy Pants (written and narrated by Tina Fey)
- The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
From being one of the best forms of entertainment for a vehicle to being awesomely inexpensive, audio books will surely rock your world. Just make sure you get something you love so it keeps you awake, otherwise the dulcet tones of the narrator's voice may inadvertently hit your sleepy button.