Audiobooks

I went on a road trip last week with the little baby.  Since I knew it would be a long trip, I downloaded an audiobook from the library for the drive.  I downloaded The Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke and with almost 5 hours of listening potential, I thought it would be perfect.

But I have a big problem with audiobooks.  I get distracted.  I can't really immerse myself into the ancient chapel and grounds of John's boarding school when I'm trying to remember my exit and praying that Ali will stay asleep for the full 3.5 hour ride (she did for the most part, by the way.  She's an ace traveller!).

My problem with audiobooks is that I'm always doing something else when I listen to them.  I don't just sit in a chair and let myself be read to.  No, I'm driving, or cleaning, or something.  I can't concentrate on an audiobook the way that I do a book.

I also had another problem with this particular audiobook.  I knew on my return trip that by the time the book was finished, I would be close to home.  So by sheer force of will, I tried to move the book along.  The ending seemed endless.  I'll try to get into a little more in my proper review, but the main conflict was resolved, then the secondary conflict was resolved, then we still had like 4 more chapters.  Let's wrap it up people!  I need to get home!

So, while I'm not giving up on audiobooks, I'm just not the fan that some people are.  I like the convenience of it, like "look, I'm organizing the basement while listening to Little Brother", but I just can't follow the story that way.

Any advice for a audiobook failure like me?  Am I doing something wrong?  Am I listening to the wrong books?  Let me know

Happy Reading (or Listening)