Is it cheating to mark books you've listened to as read on Goodreads? I feel a little uneasy about it even though with rational thinking I come to the easy conclusion that no, it isn't. I mean, you still go through the story/message and you've still worked your way through from cover to cover. Just that you get to enjoy books in situations that you couldn't be physically holding a books and reading it for yourself.

For example, I live alone and therefore spend a great deal of time on my own. In comparison to living at home, I have a new quiet when I eat, do the dishes or when I'm getting ready. Living with somebody that quiet time would naturally be filled with talking to that somebody or just spending time together. But now, I eat breakfast and dinner alone on most days, do the dishes and get ready with the radio on. Until I realized that I could listen to something else at times too.

I checked out a self-improvement book that I had received a recommendation for. Only I checked it out as an audiobook. My dinner company became the author who kept reading to me while I cleared the table and washed up. This way I no longer had to eat in silence, listen to the same old songs over and over again or rip my hair out listening to the stupid comments reporters on the radio make. Also, the otherwise "wasted time" is used for something useful as I'm learning listening to these books.

This was a fantastic realization for me since I'm otherwise really busy and sometimes even just too lazy to read on school days. Realistically speaking I would have no way of getting through all the books I would like to read if I only had the hour a day I now have on most days. I really recommend audio books for anyone living alone, who have "empty time" while for example cleaning or commuting, or for just the book worm who needs a new twist on things. The only negative I have faced for now is that sometimes I find the narrators voice to be too monotone or that I have trouble creating a picture in my head if I'm not the one reading. Odd I guess since I've always thought of myself as at least somewhat of an auditive learner. But still, audiobooks are a nice change to the way too familiar radio hits.

-Anna