Confessions of a Serial Reader – The audio vs visual series

I’ve discovered that I don’t like to mix media when it comes to my series reading. With rare exceptions if I start a series as audiobooks, I stick with audio and if I start reading a series I’ll stick with reading over listening.

Once in a while I’ll have a hard time finding an audio version of a book in a series and I’ll have to read one instead of listening to it and it just feels a little wrong. Even though I can hear the regular narrator’s voice in my head it makes that installment of the series feel a bit out of joint to me. For the same reason I don’t like to switch to audio once I’ve started reading a series. No matter how wonderful the reader, it never quite feels ‘right’ compared to the characters as they sounded in my head as I was reading.

I also have a dividing line of sorts between my audio series and my visual reading series. I won’t listen to the more hard boiled, twisted or gruesome type of mystery series as audiobooks. I’m not sure why but I’ve tried it and it just didn’t work for me. Partly that’s because it’s easier for me to read the tough stuff than to hear it and partly because of the way I tend to listen to audiobooks. I do all my audiobook listening when I’m in the car by myself. That means is it’s my commuting and driving around town time. I do most of my book listening in 10-20 minute increments rather than in longer stretches. Maybe the ligher fare is more interruptible for me? Maybe it’s not good for me to listen to icky murder details and super fast paced action scenes that might induce road rage? Maybe I’m just weird?

These are my current series that I’m reading via audiobook:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams

Since these were originally written as radio comedy broadcasts, they make a wonderful and fun audio series.


The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith

This is a series that I doubt I’d enjoy as much if I read them as I have listening to Lisette Lecat read them to me. I just love listening to her and she’s made this series a delight for me.


The Three Pines Series by Louise Penny

This is an exception to my normal audiobook fare in that it’s not a series that I would classify as having a lot of humor in it. It does however have a gentler pace and a wonderful cast of characters brilliantly read by Ralph Cosham.



The Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters

These are like listening to an old time melodrama with both adventure and humor throughout the books. Victorian era Egyptologist Amelia tells the stories and is read so well by Barbara Rosenblat. The first few in the series were read by Susan O’Malley and although she did a fine job, Barbara Rosenblat just IS Amelia’s voice to me. (speaking of that, maybe reader switching mid-series should be a topic for a future Confessions of a Serial reader post.)


The Miss Julia Series by Ann B. Ross

This is one of my non-mystery series and is more of a comedy of manners style of story. This is one of the few series that I started (the first two) as books I read and then switched to audio because the type of story fits better into my driving around listening enjoyment than it does my sit in my chair and read enjoyment. This is also one that went through a reader change partway through. The earlier ones are read by Claudia Hughes and the later ones by Cynthia Darlow.



So what about you? Do you mix your media with your series? Are there series you prefer to read rather than listen to? Does listening to the gruesome stuff give you road rage or nightmares?