Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Audio Books and Hooking

I'm an avid reader as many of you probably are. I've got stacks of book waiting to be read on book shelves in every room! I belong to a group of readers on yahoo whose latest thread has been about audio books. I've never gotten into audio books, as I felt that I needed to actually read the book to make it "legitimate" in my mind!

While hooking recently, I was listening to my Ipod and thought about audio books and decided to give it a try. I went to our local library (which has a large selection of audio books), found a book on my list that I wanted to read, and signed it out. I loaded it on my Ipod and found that I loved it! I not only listen while hooking, but also while cleaning up, doing dishes, ironing, etc. I was a little concerned I wouldn't be able to concentrate, but I've had no problem at all.

Audio books can be expensive to purchase, so I'm lucky the library has such a great selection.

So, I guess I'm highly recommending this idea of "killing two birds with one stone." I will say that sometimes in the early morning, I find that just sitting in the quiet and hooking has a meditative quality to it, and I wouldn't want to give that up. But the books-on-CD have turned out to be a nice alternative to the TV.

Give it a try!

1 comment:

Wanda said...

Michelle, glad to learn that you "found" audiobooks. I got hooked on audiobooks about 8 years ago when I made a road trip all by myself from New Brunswick, Canada to Florida then to New Orleans and back. On the way home, I was tired of listening to all the same CDs over and over again and I saw an audiobook store advertised on a billboard in Alabama. I stopped for a rest and went inside. I bought "The Horse Whisperer" and have never stopped listening since. I belonged to a rental service for a time, but now I borrow from libraries, buy on eBay and re-sell them once I listen to them, andoccasionally download from audible.com.

I now draw no distinction between "reading" a book and "listening" to a book. Mind you, I find some genres lend themselves better to audiobooks than others and some narrators are much easier to listen to than others. And I am a choosy now about the reader as I am about the author.

For instance, I occasionally enjoy a Nora Roberts novel, but there is one particular narrator that I cannot stand. There is one Irish series that sounds so good, but I won't take it because of the narrator. She reads like a third grader. You can almost tell where the line ends on the page she is reading from.

I hope you continue to enjoy the books. Who are your fav authors? What genre do you like? (I am a mystery/murder fan, myself.)