As far back as I can remember, my siblings and myself would fall asleep listening to books on tape (and yes, I’m old enough that it was actually audio cassettes). Our favorites were abridged versions of The Chronicles of Narnia, but later on we graduated to G. A. Henty titles on car trips, Focus on the Family radio dramas, and other stories that helped keep us occupied during the times there wasn’t much else to do.

I was introduced to some of my very favorite books, the Legends of Tira-Nor series by Daniel Schwabauer, as audiobooks loaded onto my iPod while I crocheted Christmas gifts for loved ones in my teens. And I spent hours on a wonderful mother-daughter trip in my twenties being intrigued by The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton upon my own mother’s recommendation.

Now, I listen to dozens of audiobooks a year, via Audible, Hoopla, or old-fashioned compact disc. I consume stories, biographies, classics, new releases, fiction and nonfiction, and tales of every genre while cleaning, driving, or coloring one of my many adult coloring books. It’s one of the ways I manage to get so many books completed each year.

It wasn’t until very recently that I heard the controversy and heated debate surrounding whether audiobooks do, indeed, “count” as “real books.” I started hearing people differentiate “reading” and “listening” to a book, even going so far as to leave audiobooks off their book quotas for the year. Others valiantly defended this audio medium, claiming that it is just as “real” as actual pages and ink.

While pondering this apparent dilemma the other day, it occurred to me that the answer depends on one particular question: what is your goal?

When asking whether audiobooks “count” or not, we have to first ask “count as what?” Because we all recognize that, of course, there is a difference between reading words and listening to them. Each method uses different parts of the brain. And it’s true that actually reading words with your eyes develops a particular aspect of your mind that is not expanded in the same way by anything else. So if that sort of mental acuity is your goal, then I suppose that, to you, audiobooks would not “count” towards that goal.

However, if your goal is to consume and retain the information contained within the sentences, then any method that allows you to consume the information is equally valid. I know that, for myself, I just want to collect stories, facts, and truth of all types, patterns, and genre. I can imbibe these by turning pages, eyeing a screen, or through my headphones equally well, and any medium that allows me to explore as many tomes as possible is one I am going to make use of.

Like that little girl of long ago, I am going to turn on the current technology when it’s time to sleep and be entertained and instructed by stories that enchant the mind and feed the soul, appreciating the voices that carry me into dreamland in the company of all manner of authors’ imaginations.

In the opinion of that little girl, the teen that followed, and the woman of today, I can say with complete confidence that listening to a tale that is told by a reader, regardless of the type of electronic device used to convey it, is a very real thing indeed.