Winkler Library<\/a>, and as such is uniquely qualified to weigh in on the matter. Some would say.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI argue they\u2019re legit reading.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
…Martens, it turns out, is not here to fan the flames.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI also argue that graphic novels are legit reading. I go very much the \u2018If you are consuming a book in whatever format, it counts as reading’.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
An admitted audiobook sympathizer, Martens shared that the Winkler branch has seen an influx of listeners in recent years via preloaded MP3 devices called Playaways, as well as through resources like the Libby app.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are planning this fall to start an audiobook club where, unlike regular book clubs… the plan is that we listen to the book at the meeting, so there will be about two hours of listening to an audiobook.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the idea is that club members would bring an activity to the meeting, such as knitting, crocheting, or drawing, and work on that while the book is being played.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for people who never have time to actually sit down and read a book, because life is busy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Related stories:<\/p>\n
Sarah Lysohirk\u2019s take\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the staff at the Winkler Library, Sarah Lysohirk, says that she\u2019s more inclined to read works of nonfiction. A literary genre tightly associated by many with an educated and informed mind. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps she will know the truth on whether or not listening to audiobooks counts as reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely reading.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The great debate thus far has proven to be… incredibly one-sided. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do behind-the-scenes, helping with the office cataloguing and processing things. It doesn’t require a whole lot of brain power, so I often will listen to my book club book, and it helps the day go really fast. I love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Lysohirk\u2019s opinion, offering a variety of materials\u00a0like magazines, audiobooks, puzzles, and board games\u00a0is one of the ways libraries continue to stay relevant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In fact, it\u2019s due to the accessibility that comes with the audio Playaways that Lysohirk thinks they\u2019re as popular as they are. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can just run it through your car with the right adapter, so you can listen to it on your speaker system in your car when you\u2019re driving to the cabin, or camping, or whatever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another voice firmly in\u00a0camp audio. A conspiracy, perhaps? \u00a0<\/p>\n
We tried again; surely Heidi Friesen will break the streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She does not. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Pointing out that while her personal preference is to read the hard copy of a book, she acknowledged that the audio format has its place. \u00a0<\/p>\n
But is it cheating?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot cheating… An audiobook is nice to get into a book when you need to have your hands free. So, I do some clothing design on the side, and I\u2019ll listen to an audiobook while I\u2019m sewing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps if we had left it there, the verdict would have been clear. Three voices in solid agreement: Audiobooks are not cheating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Summer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Body)
<\/p>\n
Enter the summer programmers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coordinators Casey Peters, John Burnabe and Sweet Dominique weighed in on the conversation with similar takes, being the first to push back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPrint books, I\u2019m leaning more towards them,\u201d says Burnabe, \u201cAudiobooks, I feel like it\u2019s more of an accessibility thing.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Peters agrees, saying, \u201c[Hard copy]\u2019s more immersive for me and I can read at my own pace… If I want to pause, I don\u2019t have to deal with that.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can imagine your own world within the book,\u201d Dominique added. \u00a0<\/p>\n
That settles the matter of personal preference, but is it cheating?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s cheating,\u201d says Peters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really think it\u2019s cheating,\u201d adds Dominique. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Burnabe agreed.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
The consensus amongst these literary professionals all points in one direction: listening to the audiobook is not \u2014technically speaking\u2014 cheating.<\/p>\n
Though when pressed to expand on whether or not a person can say they’ve\u00a0read\u00a0a book after listening to the audiobook, each person said “yes”, with the caveat that they should specify that it was the audiobook.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the real real question remains… \u00a0<\/p>\n
Hard copy, or e-reader?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a question that plagues book clubs and friend groups across the Pembina Valley.\u00a0\u00a0 Uncle John in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-58914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}