I love books. When I was a kid, I escaped into the pages of books, especially the works of Emily and Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre was one of my favorites. So was Wuthering Heights. Oh, the romance of and conflicts of Victorian England! The one quote that stuck with me as a tween was “I am Heathcliff!”, which is how Kathy Earnshaw, the protagonist, speaks of the object of her love.
I have read and reread both books many many times.These days my reading habits are a little different. I´m a busy mom of three, I run my own digital business and I also write articles and books. This makes it really difficult to find the time to curl up with a good read. By bedtime, when the kids are asleep and I´m done with my social media posts, I just can´t see straight. The last thing I want to do is read.
Enter Audible, which I discovered during my long drives to meet my ex husband so my girls could spend time with their dad. I have listened to countless audio books on the road.
It was a friend who introduced me to Audible, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. This is a monthly subscription service that offers 250,000 audio programs from audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine publishers and more.
With Audible I can get pretty much anything I want in audio format. This means I can download a novel, how-to-books, magazines and more to my smartphone or tablet and listen to whatever content I wish on the go.
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When I first signed up for a membership, I thought I’d listen to a couple of books a month, but it´s such an easy way to absorb information, that I listen to perhaps five or more every four weeks.
Now I listen to all types of books on entrepreneurship, leadership and creativity.I listen when I go to bed, but also when I’m driving, as I still have a four-hour commute every couple of weeks to take my girls to meet their father. I also listen to audiobooks when I’m doing work on the computer that doesn’t require my full attention, while running or cleaning the house!
What I didn’t know about audiobooks on Audible before I partnered with them for this blog post, is that some of these books are narrated by famous actors. As a matter of fact, Thandie Newton narrates Jane Eyre. There are many great books narrated by actors like Emma Thompson, James Franco, Kate Winslet and Tim Robbins, to name a few.
And here’s another fact I knew nothing about: They award Grammys for audio books.
In 2013, Audible Studios won its first Grammy Award, for its production of Janis Ian’s memoir Society’s Child. Audible also won an Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, for Colin Firth’s performance of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, one of my husband’s favorite books.
One of the books I listen to over and over again lately is Danielle Laporte´s The Fire Starter Sessions. I enjoy Danielle´s voice and by listening to her tips to build a business with soul, I get inspired to keep on going when I´m having a rough day. If you are a creative entrepreneur, I recommend you listen to this title.
I encourage you to check out all the books available at Audible.com and download your favorite book for free as part of a free 1-month trial.
What is your favorite book to listen to?