When Your Memory Isn’t What It Used to Be

This post is sponsored by Audible

When I was probably nine or ten, my grandparents came to visit us in Las Vegas.

My grandfather asked what books I’d read recently, and when I told him about a book I’d finished a few weeks earlier and really loved (in way more detail than I’m sure he cared to hear), he commented, “Wow, you really have a great memory for all the ins and outs of the plot.”

I thought this was the WEIRDEST comment.

I mean, I’d just finished the book a few weeks earlier. How could I not remember every single minute bit of the story?

Then I became a grown-up and now I’m lucky if I can remember the main characters names a week after finishing a book. Now my grandfather’s comment doesn’t seem the slightest bit weird and I long for those days where I could hold on to every detail of a book for years afterward.

I cannot believe how quickly my brain lets go of those tiny (and not-so-tiny) details these days.

The one exception to this is audiobooks.

When I listen to a book instead of read it, the whole experience is so much more immersive that the whole story stays with me for years and years.

Almost fifteen years ago, I was headed up to BYU for a senior weekend campus visit and my mom picked up the audiobook of The Pelican Brief for us to listen to as we made the six hour drive.

My memory of the campus weekend is somewhat fuzzy – I can’t remember what classes we sat in on, I don’t remember a single meal we ate except for the PopTart I bought from the vending machine, and I only remember the names of two of the other students there – but I remember clearly that drive and how we drove around a little more on so we could listen longer.

I remember the part where Darby goes to the bank pretending to be someone else and gives the social security number of her fake husband, wondering if it’s suspicious that she doesn’t have it memorized (in fact, I still think of that passage every time I’m asked for Bart’s social security number and remember Darby thinking to herself, “How many wives memorized their husband’s social security number?”).

And I definitely remember that edge-of-my-seat mix of excitement and nerves during the really intense parts, wondering if Darby was going to get herself killed (I may have been about to go off to college, but I was glad to have my mommy in the driver seat as we listened because I was and still am a giant wimp).

When I have the choice, I’ll almost always choose to listen to an audiobook version of a book rather than read it because I know I’ll have such a richer and long-lasting experience with the book.

And, of course, nobody has a better collection of audiobooks than Audible. The app makes it so easy to listen to audiobooks on the go (or on the stay – I’ve been known to lay on the couch and play endless games of Fruit Ninja so I can keep listening).

If you’ve never tried Audible, you can get a free 30-day trial with a free download of any title from their massive collection. It’s the perfect way to make a long summer road-trip more fun or listen while you do boring things like laundry or dishes.

Or while you lay by the pool. Which sounds a lot better to me than dishes OR laundry.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all mine.