We love reading a physical book. The feel of it in your hands, the satisfying little progress of a bookmark moving through the pages, the ability to dramatically close it after something shocking happens.
But sometimes life requires hands.
And that’s where audiobooks shine.
They turn errands into reading time. They make a long drive something to look forward to. They can convince us to walk just a little farther because we really need to know what happens next.
And, perhaps most importantly, they remind us that reading doesn’t have to look just one way.
Audiobooks are books. Listening counts. And we are always interested in finding more ways to sneak a good story into an ordinary day.
Here are some of our favorite things to do while someone else reads to us.
Go for a walk
This might be our favorite audiobook pairing of all.
Shoes on, headphones in, nowhere particularly important to be.
A good audiobook can turn a quick walk around the neighborhood into three miles because you’ve reached a very inconvenient chapter ending and obviously cannot go home yet.
Bonus points for a trail, changing leaves, crisp air or absolutely nowhere to rush back to.
Work on a craft
Books and crafts: you may have noticed we’re fans.
Audiobooks are perfect for those crafts that keep your hands busy but leave your brain free to wander somewhere else.
Crochet. Embroidery. Painting. Air-dry clay. Coloring. Diamond art. Collage. Friendship bracelets. Whatever project is currently taking over your kitchen table.
There’s something especially lovely about making something while being completely absorbed in a story.
Drive somewhere
A long drive with a great audiobook?
Suddenly we are not stuck in the car. We are having an experience.
Road trips are the obvious choice, but audiobooks can make everyday driving better, too. School pickup. The commute to work. Soccer practice. The grocery store run.
Even twenty minutes counts.
And if you sit in the driveway for an extra three minutes because you need to finish the chapter, we understand.
Do a puzzle
This is peak cozy multitasking.
Dump a puzzle onto the table, pour yourself something good and press play.
There’s no scrolling. No television in the background. Just your hands sorting through tiny pieces while your brain disappears into another world.
It’s particularly good for rainy days, snowy afternoons and weekends when you have nowhere you need to be.
Tackle the boring house stuff
Laundry is still laundry.
But laundry plus an audiobook?
Slightly less offensive.
Folding clothes, cleaning the kitchen, changing sheets, organizing a closet, sweeping the floors — none of these magically become exciting because there’s a narrator involved.
But they do become excellent opportunities to squeeze in another chapter.
And sometimes that is enough.
Cook or bake something
There’s something very comforting about having a story playing while you chop vegetables, stir a pot of soup or make something that requires an unreasonable amount of butter.
Choose a recipe you don’t have to stare at every thirty seconds, put your audiobook on and settle in.
Just be warned: particularly intense thrillers and precise baking measurements may not be ideal companions.
Work in the garden
Pull weeds. Plant something new. Water the flowers. Deadhead. Dig around in the dirt without actually knowing what you’re doing.
Add an audiobook and suddenly an hour disappears.
There’s something about being outside, working with your hands and listening to a story that feels especially good for a brain that spends a lot of time looking at screens.
Take your audiobook on an adventure
Audiobooks are also perfect companions for those little solo outings that you might otherwise skip.
Walk through a park. Sit beside the water. Wander a botanical garden. Find a bench somewhere pretty. Take the scenic route.
You don’t need a major plan.
Sometimes it’s just nice to take your story somewhere new.
Color or doodle
Not every creative activity needs an end goal.
Grab a coloring book, sketchbook or blank piece of paper and just make marks while you listen.
No finished masterpiece required.
This is one of our favorite combinations when we want our hands occupied but our brains need somewhere softer to land.
Run errands
Grocery shopping becomes slightly less annoying when you’re also solving a murder.
The post office line? Chapter 12.
Target run? Excellent audiobook territory.
Waiting in the car for a kid to finish practice? You know what to do.
Those little pockets of time add up surprisingly quickly.
Do absolutely nothing else
Here’s one we don’t talk about enough.
You are also allowed to just listen.
Lie on the couch. Sit outside. Close your eyes. Curl up under a blanket. Watch the trees move. Stare at the ceiling.
We tend to think audiobooks need to accompany another activity because they allow us to multitask.
But they don’t have to.
Listening to a story can be the activity.
And maybe that’s the bigger thing we love about audiobooks.
They make room for stories in places where books don’t always fit.
They come along on walks and road trips. They keep us company while we create. They make the everyday stuff a little more interesting. They give us something to look forward to during the parts of our days that might otherwise feel like in-between time.
So yes, we’ll always love curling up with a physical book.
But we’re also very happy to count the chapters we listened to while walking three miles, folding a mountain of laundry or making something with our own two hands.
However the story finds you, we say it counts.
