Our club split over audiobooks at the Grand Rapids meetup, and I switched sides after 2 books
Three years ago I was the guy at our Grand Rapids club who would quietly roll my eyes when someone showed up talking about an audiobook. I said it did not count as reading, plain and simple. Then my job changed and my drive went from 10 minutes to 45 each way, so I tried one just to keep up with the group. I picked a shorter book first, about 6 hours, and finished it in a week of commutes. The narrator did voices for every character and honestly I caught details I would have skimmed past in print. Now I mix both, print at night and audio in the car, and my notes are better than before. The debate in our club is whether listening and reading hit your brain the same way. Some folks say no, some say who cares. Where do you land on it?
Imagine that, a room full of book lovers getting along perfectly until someone mentions headphones. Give it a few years and the print only crowd will be the ones getting side eye for being too old school. My take is simple, if the story gets in your head it counts, no matter which hole it went in through.