Reading vs. Listening

I've always known that I take in information better when I read it than when I listen to it, and last night was an interesting confirmation of that fact.

Catherine Asaro is probably my favourite author, with her Skolian series being one of my favourite (if not my favourite) series. However, I've only read most of the books once because I keep putting off rereading them, both for matters of time and in case I don't like them as much. Also, bad stuff happens to the characters and I keep putting off reading that, even though I know things turn out fine in the end.

However, with her newest book coming out on New Year's Day, we've decided to reread the two books that most relate to the new one on her mailing list. So a couple of days ago I started rereading The Last Hawk. I'm happy to say that I'm loving it all over again, possibly even more so this second time around. Usually, I just gobble up the new books, so reading slowly and savouring the story and its details is a delight. I always liked Kelric (the hero of this book) but now, as I understand more deeply what happens to him, I just love him to pieces and want to hold him close and heal all his hurts.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of the post. Last night, I found myself caught between wanting to finish the first corner on Alpine Seasons and reading more of The Last Hawk. Since we're planning to start discussing the book on Monday, it really had higher priority, but getting the corner finished was so tempting.

Then I remembered that I have all the Asaro audiobooks that have been released, but except for Primary Inversion, I've never listened to them. See above for reasons why I didn't reread; the same reasoning applies here.

So I did both. I stitched while listening from where I'd got up to while reading the book.

I enjoyed it. A lot. And I got the corner finished, which was great.

But...

I was right. I take things in better when I read them than when I listen to them. I followed the story fine, but I can't fall into an audiobook the way I can tumble into a paper (or electronic) book and just be absorbed into the story. So my previous intention of listening to books that aren't absolute favourites was probably right.

The next part of The Last Hawk is one of the sections I want to savour and enjoy, so I'm going to go back to reading the actual book. I love audiobooks, but I love "real" books even more.