On Monday, Queen Camilla visited the National Library of Scotland to launch the National Year of Reading in Scotland. Camilla has been relatively quiet in recent months, other than her hilarious pushback on the Princess of Wales’s “I’m almost queen” birthday keenery. My opinion, and I have no evidence to back me up other than vibes, is that Camilla isn’t in the best of health either but no one says anything because Charles is battling cancer. Anyway, Camilla’s photo-op with the Scottish youths was fine-ish, and it included Camilla awkwardly high-fiving a youth of color. She seemed bewildered by “giving a high five.” At the event, Camilla told the children that audiobooks “count” as reading:
Listening to audiobooks counts as reading, the Queen has said. Her Majesty said audiobooks had a part to play in the “battle” to keep people interested in reading during a visit to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The Queen, who founded her own online book club and is patron of the National Literacy Trust (NLT), helped to launch the National Year of Reading in Scotland with a special edition of The Beano comic. “Just to get everybody reading again, especially now, is so important,” she said. “The battle against these machines. Get them back to books.”
The Queen, who is 78, was presented with a special comic strip from an edition of The Beano in which she features as a cartoon. She is seen coming to the rescue of the mischievous Dennis the Menace after he has been told off by his mother for reading a comic in a library. Outlining the “new rules”, the Queen tells Dennis and his dog Gnasher: “Go all-in for the National Year of Reading, Dennis! Comics and audiobooks count too!”
Mike Stirling, a storyboard creator and “director of mischief” at The Beano, told the children: “A lot of people don’t know that [comics and audiobooks count as reading] so if the Queen says that, how good is that?”
I’m a visual learner or a read/write learner, meaning that I learn and absorb information so much better if I’m reading and writing it down (taking notes or typing it out). If I just hear something, I’m more likely to forget it or not absorb it. But everyone’s different, and sure, audiobooks should count. I guess the idea behind “audiobooks count as reading” is that people are still getting wrapped up in another world and they’re absorbing information, which is the whole point. Broadening your world and your perspective. People who listen to audiobooks in the car amaze me though. I would be so distracted!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Queen Camilla holds the framed Beano comic strip featuring herself which was presented to her during a visit to National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, to mark the launch of the National Year of Reading in Scotland, led by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: Edinburgh, United Kingdom When: 19 Jan 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla during a visit to National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, to mark the launch of the National Year of Reading in Scotland, led by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: Edinburgh, United Kingdom When: 19 Jan 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla during a visit to National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, to mark the launch of the National Year of Reading in Scotland, led by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: Edinburgh, United Kingdom When: 19 Jan 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
The car is the only time I’m able to listen to audiobooks. I’m like you. I’m a visual/writing learner. My husband and son absorb much better through audio. And some of the ways they’re done is similar to the old radio plays, so it can be quite engaging.
I’m the same. I have a slight auditory processing disorder, and can only focus on listening activities when I’m driving or maaaaaybe knitting.
Special education teacher here. Audiobooks are a great way for people with reading disabilities to access books, whether reading for pleasure or as part of curriculum. I listen to them while driving, running errands and doing housework!
They’ve been great for my son, along with graphic novels. We’re both autistic but he thrives more with audio. It’s been a godsend having that option in his IEP.
My nephew is severely dyslexic. Audiobooks are the only way he can really read. If he looks at a page of type, it doesn’t look the same twice.
He remembers nearly everything he hears, as long as he is actually paying attention (he may or may not remember hearing his mother asking him to unload the dishwasher, but he can quote book passages back to you).
For once I actually agree with Camilla. Audiobooks 100% count as reading.
The first audiobook I listened to was Spare by Prince Harry.
Ha yeah I listened to that on audiobook too, I dig a narrator with an english accent
Same! And now I listen to them all the time and I love it!
I don’t know why this is even a debate. Most children are introduced to reading by books being read to them. There’s no difference between being to read to by a person and listening to an audio book. Plus as Kaiser said people take in book differently so yes audiobooks is reading. I can’t believe that I’ve being forced to agree with Camilla.
I used to (jokingly) roast my husband for his audiobook habit; he is an attorney and claims he had to read so much in law school that he doesn’t find reading enjoyable, but he loves audiobooks. I HATE being read to and love traditional reading. Anyway, one day I was giving him a hard time in front of my mom, who has a doctorate of education with a concentration in special ed, and she lit me up!! She said that auditory learning is a valid and meaningful learning method and everyone learns differently. I had to remind her that I love her son-in-law (she does too) and I was just kidding with him. But anyway, according to science (and Dr. My Mom) audiobooks are a great learning tool and you’re reading when you use them!
Love your mom’s passion for her subject! And yea, research confirms that listening to audiobooks activates the same brain regions responsible for language comprehension and cognitive processing as reading with your eyes.
A quick google search cites a 2019 Journal of Neuroscience study finding that semantic processing—understanding the meaning of the narrative—occurs in the same cortical areas regardless of whether the story is heard or read, making audiobooks a valid way to stimulate the brain.
I am also aghast to be on Camilla’s side of something, but I no longer read physical books since I fell asleep and gave myself a black eye with a hardback. I am completely addicted to audiobooks. I am a lifelong, MASSIVE reader, and I get so irritated with people on the “audiobooks don’t count as reading” side of the fence.
@Christine, 🤝
Yes, this. You’re introduced to this world through being read to, then you learn visual reading so that you can access it on your own, and then you have multiple options as to how you absorb the material.
A friend of mine had a work-study job in college, she read books aloud to a blind student. He was studying chemistry, not her preferred subject! but it was a job. And that student did quite well in school, she said.
I come from a family of librarians who wholeheartedly agree that comic books and audiobooks count as reading! Forcing kids to read books they don’t enjoy or struggle to read for whatever reason is a good way to make them hate reading. Comics and audiobooks are a gateway to loving reading for a lot of people. Good for Camilla for helping to get the word out!
I am convinced that the only reason my son ever learned to read was because of graphic novels. He is a big reader now (16 years old), but it was a REALLY bumpy start. It wasn’t until the elementary librarian at his school told me to get over myself with my ridiculous opinions about graphic novels that he started pouring himself into reading. She’s one of my very best friends now!
True story here. Embarrassing too. I’m not an audiobook listener unless I’m driving long distances. Years ago I was driving up from GA to nyc and got so into an audiobook that I did not pay attention to how much gas I had. I’d taken the 81 route so I wasnt on the superhighway along the east coast but was in that more rural new Jersey area where there’s barely any gas stations and def barely any right off the exit. Anyways, I was in the fast lane when my steering wheel locked up and I had to coast over, park and start walking for gas. Luckily some people in a truck stopped right away, had some gas and siphoned some off for me. I’ve never gotten over how I spaced out that bad. Cuz that was bad. It was the first time I’d ever listened to an audiobook while driving though and yeah it got me distracted.
Great story! I’m dying to know what book you were listening to.
🙂 I mention below how I was so engrossed in my audio book I drove past my freeway exit! I was on the last leg of a four-day drive & was completely, thoroughly engrossed in my book.
Whether you read with your eyes (print, whether paper or digital), read with your ears (audiobooks or listening to someone read aloud), or read with your fingers (Braille), IT’S ALL READING!
This might be the only point on which I’ll ever agree with Camilla, but I agree mightily.
Being on Camilla’s side for any reason is very unnerving!
Ain’t it, though?
Prince Harry’s has been one of my favorite audiobooks I’ve listened to. His voice is both soothing and powerful at the right times of his retelling of his life story. I purchased both the physical copy and the audiobook and even though I could almost hear his voice while reading his book, actually hearing him say it himself gave each retelling the emotion needed to understand what he was feeling and thinking through each experience. He is such an expressive person, even with his voice, that you can almost feel as if you are right there with him through each experience.
He did such a great job of that. One thing I’d love to see is for him to take over David Attenborough documentary-narrating duties when the time comes. He’d do a fantastic job of it, and the tabloid meltdowns would be very entertaining.
Audio books are amazing. I used to find them so slow and my mind would wander but I cracked the code. I increase the playback speed so that it more closely matches the speed I read with my eyes. For me that’s about 1.7x speed. I promise it doesn’t make them sound too chipmunk like and it’s so much easier to concentrate.
And yes they are reading.
I listen at 1.25x but it depends on the book. I think Matthew Perry’s memoir I did at 1.4 maybe.
I really hope Meghan eventually releases a memoir…she has such a perfect voice for narration! It’s so soothing.
She could actually probably get a lot of work as a narrator! I’ve noticed recently that a lot more of the narrators mention that they’re members of SAG/AFTRA when they introduce themselves, so it’s good to see artists getting work elsewhere while everything with movies and streaming is upending the industry.
I also listen to books (and podcasts) sped up to anywhere between 1.2 – 1.4x. My spouse listened to an interview with an audiobook narrator recently who said they narrate at slower than normal speaking pace because it helps with pronunciation and enunciation, but depending on the narrator, 1.3-1.5x is likely closer to normal conversation speed. It’s still slower than I read with my eyes, but I can’t process as quickly with my ears.
I’m with you ladies! I usually start at about 1.25 and then see how it is. I listen to so many of these books as distractions; I need to make sure my brain has to keep up with the pace and doesn’t have time to wander!
haha this is always such a hot topic on social media when it comes to end of year reading counts.
My opinion – yes audiobooks count. are you literally reading words on a page? No. but you are consuming a book and consuming the story or information the same way one does when using their eyes to read a physical book. I think its ableist to say that audiobooks dont count as reading – if you have vision issues, or its hard for you to hold a book, etc, then audiobooks may be your only option. And if someone says “I read Spare” but they listened to the audiobook I’m not going to say “well then you didn’t read it.”
I do listen to audiobooks when driving – but I prefer memoirs or history for that. I just started Virginia Giuffre’s memoir and I may have to do that one in slow doses. About once or twice a year I’ll listen to a fiction book as an audiobook. I also listen to them when I’m for a walk or on the elliptical (if I’m running I do usually need music.)
(Project Hail Mary is excellent as an audiobook FYI. and if you like British history I love Dan Jones’ and his narration of his books.)
@Becks, lol, I had the same exact reaction! “Oh, this again.” I’ve been a reader for my entire life and switched to audiobooks about ten years ago due to some health issues, and it’s been a godsend! There are books I loved that got even better when listened to. IDK why so many people want to dismiss it as “not really reading”? Someone here pronounced that here last year as if it was a fact, lol, so I’m glad to see more tolerance this year 🎧
How is this even still a debate? Are we STILL pretending that dyslexia and other forms of language processing disorders don’t exist?
Some people have a very difficult time, or just don’t enjoy reading silently inside their heads. However you manage to access a book, it still “counts”.
I will die on this hill. Not only do audiobooks (or read alouds) expose people who otherwise could not access the material to the rich and complex language of literature—thereby building comprehension and expression skills—they also expose listeners to the nuance of spoken language (vocal tone, stress and intonation, etc.) that conveys meaning that an emerging reader might not grasp.
Also, I like to listen when I’m driving and walking the dog.
I got addicted to audiobooks during lockdown. My son, dogs, and I would walk for MILES everyday, listening to audiobooks. I am still addicted to them, and I’m not sorry
@Christine I totally think we’d be friends IRL 😂
Very true. Reading Shakespeare in high school befuddled me, but seeing his plays acted out, with the actors’ intonation & etc., that really helped me a lot. Then I understood.
Busybody – So much this!! A teen asked me how one improves their spelling listening to books. I said that was a great question but in this day and age, let’s be real. You can instantaneously get info on a word you’re unsure about.
I don’t do audio books, mostly because I read faster than anyone speaks, myself included. But they most definitely count as far as book consumption is concerned.
Same, and this response is for @Janetdr below, as well — speed up the narration speed. It’s a game changer…I was able to enjoy so many books that I’d thought sounded “unlistenable” once I sped it up. I usually start it at around 1.2 or 1.25, then adjust based on the narrator (or podcaster). It really makes an enormous difference!
I don’t like audio books because I can read so much faster than someone can speak.
I find them too distracting in the car, although I do listen to a variety of podcasts, so I’m not sure what the difference is for me there. Maybe because the podcasts are mostly reality based, so you are not getting lost in another world? But yes, it counts as reading!
I think that’s why I prefer nonfiction as audiobooks, there’s less of that “getting lost in another world” effect. Also, when I read a fiction book, I almost always read the first few pages/chapters(depending on the book) a few times to help “set the stage” in my mind and its harder to do that with an audiobook.
also this is completely random, but when i read a book I “see” the action in my head – I picture the characters, the setting, the houses, etc. (every house is laid out like my childhood home from the 80s which is weird to me but I can’t undo it lmao. It was a rancher so every house has a living room to the left when you walk in, a hallway to the right (this is often the staircase in my mind), family room to the back, etc. it’s super weird but its how I picture 99% of houses in books that I read unless the description is really vivid.) Anyway, apparently some people read books without that imagery in their head? There’s a term for it and when I found out about it I was fascinated – just so fascinating how each brain works and processes things differently.
If you have dyslexia or vision issues audiobooks are absolutely and incredibly amazing and yes 100% count as much as reading. It doesn’t matter how that knowledge and wonder gets into your brain just so long as it does.
I work in a bookstore and every day I meet people who prefer audiobooks to print and vice versa. Many also love reading *and* listening to the same book, just to get a different experience of it. There are also many graphic novel versions of classics like Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Hamlet, and of political topics like civil rights, the Holocaust and Palestine. Manga is super popular with young folks, as are “light novels” which are written-out versions of manga comics. I myself prefer “regular” books to audio because I have auditory processing issues, but all ways of reading are edifying and I am glad Camilla is amplifying this message—especially since a lot of older folks look down on newer forms of reading media and make a lot of assumptions about younger folks’ reading habits.
Some voice artists just really enhance the reading experience. Blackstone Audio has wonderful voice artists; many are actors from Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Any book read by someone from Blackstone Audio is going to be a good listen.
I listened to Treasure Island on audiobook & absolutely loved it! Not just because of the story but because of the narration; and bonus points, the narrator is one of my favorite archaeologists! Weird how that works out (he’s British but works out of the Bay Area).
Reading is fundamental!! I know it’s an old saying but still true!! Doesn’t matter if you read the paper book or hear an audiobook or someone reading to you!
POC in frame….check
This family is nothing if not predictable
Reading’s something I’ve always had to be forcibly restrained from doing, and the best time I ever had in school was when I broke my thumb and they dumped me in the school library to amuse myself for a few weeks. It was bliss. Now that audiobooks are a thing, I read those too, and have no patience with any ridiculous gatekeeping over whether it’s ‘real’ reading or not. You’re still taking in the words and imagining the scenes. Humans had language and story-telling long before we had writing, and hearing a story is just so satisfying.
Occasionally I have a flare-up of uveitis, which comes with light sensitivity and stabbing pains in the eyeballs, and audiobooks are the absolute best when that’s happening.
I bought my mom a kindle and an audible subscription for Christmas a couple years ago, and it’s the best gift I’ve ever given her, she loves it so much. She used to read a lot when she was younger, but her eyes have been bad for years and she can’t read steadily without feeling badly strained and risking more damage. Audiobooks absolutely count as reading.
Conversely, listening to audiobooks or podcasts or whatever is really hard for me unless I’m driving or out walking or something. Engaged in an activity where I’m mostly on autopilot. If I just sat down to listen to something without needing to simultaneously maintain concentration on a mindless activity, I’d fall asleep or get distracted. so reading books myself is pretty much the only way I read.
Listening to audiobooks definitely counts for reading. My son grew up on audiobooks and preferred them to music while driving in the car (which we did a lot).
I grew up in a home where reading aloud was a common family activity, usually my father reading and the rest of us listening. Audio books weren’t a big thing back then, although I think books on tape existed. I certainly considered myself to have read the books that were read aloud during family time. And I absolutely love taking long walks listening to audio books now. I always write a review on goodreads, so surely I’ve read the book if I’m capable of reviewing it.
Y’all, I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to learn of this new invention called the audiobook. I was able to triple my reading! I always have a book-book going, then I was able to add books on CDs while driving, and then books on my iPod while walking. Heaven!
And yes listening to audiobooks counts! Absolutely! I have to say I once drove past my freeway exit because I was so engrossed in my audiobook, but then I’ve been known to miss my bus stops due to daydreaming….
FINALLY! Something she and I agree with!