Question about audiobooks vs physical reading in my book club

Last month at our Seattle book club meetup, things got heated when Sarah said listening to the audiobook doesn't count as reading the book. Half the group agreed with her, the other half said it's the same thing. I've been doing both for 3 years now and I honestly don't see the difference. But now I'm wondering if we should have separate discussions for audio listeners vs page readers. Has anyone else run into this split in their group?

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jana_hernandez4mo ago

Oh man, the whole "audiobooks don't count" debate drives me nuts. Sarah's take that listening isn't reading just feels so gatekeepy to me. I've got a long commute and audiobooks are the only way I get through my book club picks on time. Last month I listened to a whole thriller while driving and I swear I caught more details than when I skimmed the same book later. My brain just works differently with audio, but I'm still getting the story and characters. I don't think we need separate discussions either, that just splits the group up for no reason. We're all talking about the same book at the end of the day.

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caseys304mo ago

Have you tried playing the audiobook at 1.25x speed? That helped me focus way better and I actually finish books before the meetings now.

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