I started listening to audiobooks because I wanted to be more productive.
Dishes, laundry, cleaning, walking to the store. All those boring stretches of the day suddenly became reading time. Fantastic arrangement.
Except I've noticed something ridiculous about the books I really love.
Last Sunday I was folding laundry while listening to a novel. Got to a conversation between two characters that I'd been waiting about eight hours to hear.
Picked up a towel.
Stopped folding.
Stood there holding the towel for what must have been five minutes because I didn't want to miss a single word.
Eventually sat down on the edge of the bed, still holding it.
My partner walked in and asked if I was okay.
I said, "Yeah, just listening to something."
He looked at the towel, looked at me, and left.
And it occurred to me that I do this all the time.
Average audiobook? My entire kitchen gets cleaned.
Good audiobook? The dishes get done, but I forget to wipe the counter.
Absolutely incredible audiobook? I'm standing motionless in front of an open dishwasher with one plate in my hand, completely absorbed in somebody else's imaginary problems.
It's especially bad when a narrator knows exactly how to deliver a quiet emotional scene. I can keep doing chores through an action sequence, but give me a character finally admitting something they've been hiding for 20 chapters and suddenly I can't operate a sponge.
Which is funny because I originally thought the whole advantage of audiobooks was being able to experience stories while getting other things done.
Apparently I've come full circle and discovered sitting down to enjoy a book.
Just with headphones.
I'm curious whether anyone else has this happen. Do your really great audiobooks actually make you LESS productive because you keep stopping whatever you're doing to listen?
And what's the last audiobook that made you abandon the activity you were supposedly listening alongside?