So, this is my final count! I have one more book that I’m working on finishing up but I’ll go ahead and count it as I should be done before the end of the year.
If this challenge is new to you: The audiobook challenge is hosted by Hot Listens and Caffeinated Reviewer–this is their 8th year hosting it! It’s a fun challenge to see how many audiobooks you can listen to in a year. The rules are pretty simple, you can find out more details on the sign up page over at Hot Listens. But, the basics are: any genre of book counts, if you’re already using a book for another challenge you can still count it for this one, etc. It’s pretty simple and straight forward.
LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT:
- Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
- Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
- Stenographer (can listen while multi-tasking) 10-15
- Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
- Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
- My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
- Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+
- The 100 Club (Audiobook Elite) 100+
THE BOOKS I’VE LISTENED TO IN 2020:
- Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger
- Sorcerer’s Legacy by Janny Wurts
- The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Blindsight by Peter Watts
- The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker
- The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune
- The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Geisbrecht
- Blood Lines by Tanya Huff
- Jade City by Fonda Lee
- Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa
- Blood Pact by Tanya Huff
- The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
- Blood Debt by Tanya Huff
- Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron
- Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
- The Betrothed by Kiera Cass
- Crosstalk by Connie Willis
- In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
- Valor’s Choice by Tanya Huff
- The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty
- Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
- Leviathan Wakes by James S. A Corey
- The Queen’s Road by R. S. Belcher
- Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko
- The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron
- Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
- The Better Part of Valor by Tanya Huff
- Redshirts by John Scalzi
- A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan
- The Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco
- Shine by Jessica Jung
- Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutksie
- Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Books I’m in the middle of or planning to read before the end of 2020:
- Blue Angel by Phil Williams
- The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff
TO SUM UP:
My overall numbers are down A LOT from what I normally read in a year in audio. A few factors have gone into my decline this year.
- There’s been a gradual decline since I hit an all time high back in 2017 with 74 audiobooks (2018 – 69, 2019 – 63). This is mainly due to me reading more ebooks on my phone. So there were times when I’d listen to audio at work before but was now sneaking in print reading instead.
- I worked from home for 2.5 months which affected my normal audiobook reading time as I no longer had to commute.
- I was really stressed due to 2020 stuff and then also going through a home renovation and work stress which affected my mood which affected my reading overall.
- I started a new job! Which is awesome. But I also now have a 10 minute drive to work and back so it’s not super conducive to listening to books on my drive anymore and also I haven’t quite figured out if I can listen to them while I work.
Anyway, I still managed to get to a lot of audiobooks and I’m happy to have leveled off at My Precious. 🙂
Here are a few of my favorite audiobooks from 2020.
- Dune by Frank Herbert. I know a lot of people that have said they hate the audio production of this book but I actually loved it. It thought some of the sound and music effects were cool and I loved the cast recording. It was a fun way to revisit a fave.
- The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty. Not only was the story fantastic and engaging as the previous two books, but the audio continued to be amazing. I love the narrator for this series, she brought so much life to the characters!
- Peace Talks by Jim Butcher. While this wasn’t my favorite Dresden Files book it was still great to be back in this world and I continue to love the way the story is narrated by James Marsters.
And that about does it for this year’s challenge! I’m very much looking forward to 2021 and seeing how my audiobook listening goes in the future with all of the changes 2020 has wrought. 🙂
Way Too Fantasy 
Well done! that’s a great achievement!!
I never read/listen an audiobook because I know I would space out and I will not follow the story… 🙈
Thank you! I do space out sometimes and have to rewind. 🙂
That’s still a great achievement!!
I love audiobooks too…will def try to participate in this tag next year ✨
Thank you! I’ll probably be participating in this again next year as well as it’s the most low-key challenge I do. 🙂
Wow, you did an awesome job😁 I listened to…one audio book, lol. It just never took off for me, but I would like to try again in 2021!
Thanks, Tammy! It does take a lot getting used to. I’m thinking next year my numbers are going to be way down since I no longer have much of a commute…we’ll see though. 🙂
If I ever reread the City of Brass series, I really want to try it on audio, I’ve heard so many good things!
(www.evelynreads.com)
The audio for those books was amazing, some of the best I’ve heard. 🙂
I’ve listened to 47 audiobooks this year. I’ve only been listening to audiobooks for 2-3 years now maybe and just kept up with it this year but I’m pretty sure that’s the most audiobooks I’ve listened to in a year.
You did amazing especially with everything you’ve had to do throughout the year.
47 is great! I’ll be lucky to make 30 next year the way things are going but we’ll see. I am pretty happy with this year all things considered. 🙂 Thanks!
I applaud your ears. Aren’t audiobooks expensive though? How do you afford to read that many?
Thanks! Yeah, luckily I can afford an audible membership, with my membership they end up being about $12 per book. I also get them out from the library sometimes and audible has a new part of their membership where you can essentially borrow certain books that are part of their ‘included with membership’ plan.
This is an awesome achievement!! That’s a great amount of audiobooks! I’m even more excited to read/listen to Dune now💜
Thanks, Kaya! I really enjoyed the audio for that one, I hope you do too. 🙂
I think you did really well, considering all the factors you mentioned! I am still trying to reach my soft goal of 75, so I will be posting my final update later this month, but well done to both of us! 😀
Thank you! I had hoped for more but things just got in the way. Still, I’m pretty happy with my results. Yes, congrats to us both! 🙂
Oh my! Even if your numbers went down you listened through a lot of them!!! 🎉
Thanks, Susy! That’s how I’m thinking of it, I still did pretty good. 🙂
Well, i’m onto my 12th book this year so that’s an increase for me. I just need to remember to put the earplugs in when I’m doing chores and cooking.
Lynn 😀
Great job, Lynn! I have to start doing that as well. Now that my commute is so short it’s hard to squeeze in audiobook time.
Hallo, Hallo,…
Ooh dear. I have no idea what my stats are this year for the audiobook challenge! :O lol For starters, I’ve ignored my reading challenge page for most of 2020. I struggled off/on every month with my readings — print or audio, and although I listened to more audiobooks this year than I felt I had in the past, I also realised after looking at my blog’s calendar archive page I spotlighted or featured through an author guest post/interview. I love doing the guest features but I was a bit gobsmacked how low my reading queues were in regards to books attempted to read and books actually read this year. I still haven’t pulled the final tally yet but I think I’m going to find it was a low yield of a year.
I was a bit upset with myself when I realised that but then I tried to respin it into perspective – taking into the fact my parents medical emergencies & ER visits; my migraines (8x in Sept!) and just overall stressors of getting through the year (same as everyone else!) – to where I thought – wait. I hung in there. I might have fallen considerably short of my goals but I still read and I still blogged. Let’s call that a ‘win’.
I’ll have to loop back to let you know how I did for this challenge as I’m still working on some audiobooks i want to finish and review by year’s end. Esp two after canons for Jane Austen: “Yuletide” and “Elizabeth: Obstinate Headstrong Girl” and if I’m lucky make some headway into “Persuasion” which is a NG selection. I’m having to listen to most of my NG audiobooks via Scribd now as I lost all the hours to hear them sadly. I’m just thankful Scribd has them as I want to improve my %.
Here’s to doing our best all year through and finding some unexpected lovelies to hear!!
I think it’s been an odd reading year for a lot of us, considering everything going on I’d be surprised if any of us readers had a ‘normal’ reading year.
Some of us have had a lot more going on than others and it certainly seems to be that way for you! Don’t feel bad at all–reading is supposed to be fun, don’t let worrying about it stress you out at all.
Looking forward to see where you end up with your audiobooks. I know mine are less than last year and 2021 it will probably be even worse but that’s okay! 🙂