Saturday, March 10, 2007


I have discovered a new pleasure. Audio books. Ok, I know many of you out there have been enjoying them for years, but for me this is a new thing. I have always been a bit of a book snob. I like turning pages. I like seeing the paragraphs in front of me, the arrangement of the lines, knowing how much I have read, how much there is to go. I even flick to the last page, not to actually read it, but to see if the character I am worried about makes it onto the last page.

This week I downloaded my first book, and put it on my little iPod, to listen to while I knit outside choir. Last week, as I knitted in the silence of the car, I nearly drove myself crazy with thinking. I counted the rows and stitches, calculated how long it was taking me to knit a row, worked out how many rows I'd do in the hour, and raced the clock to finish them all before I had to get out and greet Christopher. It was all too much. I did not feel relaxed at all.

This week I listened to the opening chapters of Perfume, by Patrick Suskind. Wow! The book itself is very good, but I thinkthat the audio aspect really made the descriptive passages come alive for me. You know how sometimes, during a lengthy description or soliloquy, your eyes glaze over, and your mind wanders, and the next thing you know you have to turn back three pages and start again? Well, I don't do that when I am listening to a well written, well read passage! It's great.

Then, I am enjoying books in general this week. The night before last I finished The Great Gatsby, so that's the first book I can cross off my list! It was good, so brimming with mood, and an intersting portrayal of the flapper culture. Well worth reading.

5 comments:

Melissa said...

Oh - we love them around here. I am always so busy that it is nice to fit the reading in with something else - I still wish I would find more time to just sit and read!!

Margaret said...

My son just adores audio books. I'll sometimes catch him listening to one while he reads another. And he's actually following both! I can't do that. I can listen in the car, but other places I just lose track of characters unless I've heard it many times before (or read it....we have all of Narnia on CD).

meggie said...

I have never tried a talking book..perhaps I should.
I just loved the Great Gatsby, but I have always felt I was alive during that period, in a previous life. I still love all the clothes!

Kelli said...

I'm a fan of audio books. Great for long road trips. You certainly are a book worm!

Sara Laughs said...

My mom got me hooked on audio books. She had a two hour commute every day to the other side of Philly and it helped the tedium of the drive in traffic. She started loaning them to me when she was done. I like it because I can finally do something other than drive when I'm in the car.

Look for a reader named "Anna Fields" when you're looking for audio books. We've found her to be the best reader we've come across so far.