I will always love the feel of a real book — physically turning the pages and using my favorite bookmark to keep my place.

The stack of books beside my bed never seems to shrink.

But sometimes it’s not practical to read a book — when, for instance, you are driving a car down the freeway.

Years ago, when I went on a road trip with my parents, my dad and I visited the Baker County Public Library to browse the collection of books on tape.

Yes — actual cassettes nestled inside a special case that took up some room in the car. I remember a few times when we had the sides wrong, which meant the story jumped ahead and we were baffled until we realized the mistake.

Oh, the hardships my children will never know.

Cassettes gave way to CDs, which lessened the chance of confusion as long as you kept the order correct.

The miles flew by as the story unfolded. We always brought more books than needed because sometimes we encountered a narrator we just couldn’t handle.

These days, we use our phones, hooked up to Bluetooth, to play audiobooks.

Our choice of books has evolved over the years. When the kids were little, we chose books that would capture the interest of the youngest ones in the car. We listened to the Harry Potter series, and I remember finishing one of those — “The Order of the Phoenix,” I believe, which is 26½ hours long — right as we pulled into our driveway after a weeklong trip. Another favorite is Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” — each book is fairly short, so we could plow through a couple on each trip.

The best audiobooks are the ones that capture your attention so thoroughly that you can’t wait to get back in the car. These days, we alternate between fiction and nonfiction, although we all have to agree on the choice.

I get audiobooks from several sources, but my favorites are Libro.fm, which supports your local bookstore, or Hoopla, a free service through the library.

— Lisa Britton, editor, Go! Eastern Oregon