Today’s post is dedicated to all you literature lovers out there.

Actually, hang on, let’s try that again. Today’s post is dedicated to all you literature students out there.

We’re well aware, you see, that it can sometimes be difficult for people who are studying English literature–whether it’s at GCSE, A Level or at university–to stay in love with your subject. And we’re fully sympathetic with people who have experienced or are currently going through this falling out of love.

The reasons for it are always the same. You love books and stories, but they make you read so damn many of them–and in such a short space of time to boot–that it all gets a bit stifling and repressive. Reading at a leisurely pace in one of your favourite reading spots is great; galloping your way through the final chapters of a another great tome while on the bus to college is not so much fun.

In our many years of experience of listening sympathetically, our head cocked slightly at an angle, as students pour out confessions of where it all went wrong, the books that most often lead to this literary heartbreak are the older ones.

While contemporary authors–with some notable exceptions–tend to write more in a style and tone that we understand and can therefore read more easily, our Victorian or Elizabethan forebears can often seem, shall we say, a little more trying.

In fact, let’s be honest, at times certain writers (we’re looking at you, Dickens) can be an outright ordeal to read. If we had all the time in the world to persevere with their prose it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the fact is that we also have a million and one other pages of books, lecture notes and websites to pore over as part of our studies.

One of the most popular ways for getting round the reading fatigue generated by the literary greats of eras gone by is to turn to the film or TV adaptations of their works. And given that watching a screen for a couple of hours requires far less time and effort than hours hunched over a book, it’s little wonder.

There has always been a bit of a flaw with this tactic, however. Those pesky directors and producers often cut bits out, or in some cases change things entirely. Unfortunately, if you haven’t read the book version you’re blissfully unaware of these discrepancies until you get lots of nasty feedback from your teacher/lecturer about your coursework or exam.

But we have discovered another answer to this problem that guarantees you won’t fall into this trap while still giving your eyes and brain a rest from reading. Over on the website Librivox lives a community of volunteers who make audiobook versions of literary classics that are out of copyright. The versions are fully unabridged, meaning you won’t miss a single detail of the plot. And, just as importantly, all of the books are completely free!

So if you’re staring at a big stack of paperbacks right now that you need to wade through, why not pop over to their site and get it in audiobook version instead?