Reading Books, Reading Books Via Audio Books, and My Desire for More Transparency for Online Reviews

For a few years, I struggled with comparing my reading habits to people I see online. Comparing my reading habits goes back to when I was in elementary school when others read less than I did, but I did have problems reading and writing caused me to test poorly in reading speed tests. Today, I enjoy reading and I can speed read pretty well, but I’m still pretty sensitive about it and I can’t speed read as fast as someone that doesn’t have my problems. Because of this, I don’t like to call myself a bookworm and I like to read a book at least once before I review it online.

This sensitivity began to rear it’s head when I started to watch videos reviewing books I was interested in. Although I didn’t have an issue with people who read faster than me, (Obviously they don’t struggle with reading like I do) I began have problems with people with reading disabilities reading more than I do. One person in particular began to review multiple books, some of them over 400 pages long, every month. I couldn’t fathom how this was possible. I can read a 400 page long book in a small amount of time, but I can’t read many of them over the course of the month.

Many theories began to form in my head, including they may have way more time on their hands than I do. (They are full time social media influencers after all.) Late last year, while watching one of this person’s videos, I found out my answer: They listen to audio books.

I can understand why many people listen to audio books. For people who struggle with reading, it is the perfect way to read a book without the problems involved in actually reading. For people who don’t struggle with reading, it is easier (And cheeper) way to read a book than actually picking up a book and reading it. Even though I don’t mind it if someone “reads” a book via audio book, I can say that I’m not really a fan of reading them myself.

Like I already mentioned, I have problems reading. I’m not fast and it is something I need to constantly work on. I’m not the only one I know who has this problem. Because of their encouragement, I decided not to give up on reading and instead look at reading not only as an enjoyable activity, but also as a necessity. By constantly reading, I can constantly hone my skills as a reader and can become more precise in reading words quickly. I have seen an improvement over the course of my life in my ability to read faster and more accurately if I make an effort to read more. This is why, even though I know not everyone enjoys reading, they should still do it anyway.

The thing is I see things differently for social media influencers. I want them to be forthcoming about if they did or did not pick up a book and read it. In 2025, this has a major impact on the book and if it is worth reading. Audio books sometimes sound better than the actual written text. Depending on the narrator and how the audio book is created, it can sound much better than the written book. I’ve even heard audio books that sound similar to how I would describe an audio drama would sound like.

Since the audio book can make a poorly written book tell the story better, it is hard to trust social media and opinions about books anymore. It can cause a false sense of trust about a book and how well it is actually written. For someone like me, who buys the physical copy of a book and reads it, it is hard to gauge the quality of the writing if I unknowingly depended on someone to read the book, but listened to the audio book instead. Thankfully, there are people on social media that will mention if they read the physical book or listened to the audio book.

Overall, I have no problem with someone listening to an audio book and considering it reading… unless they talk about it online. Then I with they would say they listened to the audio book and not read a physical copy of it.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

Featured Image from Pexels.com.