Podcast vs Audiobook for book club prep - one is way faster

I was struggling to finish our last book before the meeting so I tried the audiobook version from Libby. It took me like 12 hours still because I kept zoning out during my commute. Then for the next one I found a podcast episode from a literature professor who broke down the whole novel in 45 minutes. I got the themes, character arcs, and even a few debate points way clearer than when I listened to the full book. Has anyone else used podcast deep dives to speed up their club prep or is that cheating?

2 comments

2 Comments

willowroberts21d ago

Honestly I think the whole "is it cheating" thing misses the point. The podcast deep dive is a different tool for a different job. Audiobooks give you the experience of the story, podcasts give you the analysis. If your book club is more about discussing themes and ideas than about bonding over the reading experience itself, then the podcast makes total sense. Plus some books are just written in a style that's hard to follow by ear, especially dense literary fiction or books with a lot of shifting perspectives. I've used both and I don't feel guilty about it. The real question is whether your club values the journey or the destination more.

the_skyler21d ago

Yeah @willowroberts actually changed my mind on this one. I was wrong before.