April 29, 2026

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Miss Manners: Am I lying if I say I ‘read’ an audiobook? | Life

Miss Manners: Am I lying if I say I ‘read’ an audiobook? | Life

Expensive Skip Manners: In the context of a environment filled with major complications, this one particular is really small, but the dilemma has galled me for several decades, and I would love some professional feed-back.

I am a voracious reader, but for a lengthy time now, and for many explanations, nearly all my book “reading” is carried out by listening to audiobooks. These quotation marks introduce my quandary: Do I use the words and phrases “read” or “listened to” when discussing guides?

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Reading through a book can be a great way to mark the conclude of the workday and help you unwind.

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I might be recommending a reserve to a fellow reader, “I just browse the most recent Nancy Drew secret, and I feel you’d appreciate it,” or adding the contents of a ebook to a dialogue, “According to a e book I read through, the aardvark prefers to eat daisies over all flowers.” Or I might introduce an individual to a reserve collection as element of a pleasant discussion: “I go through the complete ‘History of Flags’ sequence, and it was stunning.”

In all of these scenarios, I did not, in point of simple fact, “read” nearly anything. The indicates of conversation was auditory. But “I listened to a terrific e book recently” or “I listened to a new author I feel you ought to look at out” doesn’t slide trippingly off the tongue. Is it deceptive to state that I study a little something when which is not what truly transpired?

Gentle Reader: Why not reduce the verb totally? “Wittgenstein’s ‘Tractatus-logico Philosophicus’ is truly very a pleasure.” Or “The canon of Proust is fantastic. I believe you would appreciate it.”