My Plug for AudioBooks

Hey Team,

If you remember my post back in the summer about self-help books, you'll possibly recall how much I recommended audiobooks. You can easily recall many a movie with characters listening to "You Deserve Love", and other cheese worthy titles that probably exist, and that I myself have attempted to listen to. Many of them are eye-roll worthy, but are easy enough to avoid. Some audio books can also be incredibly dry or boring, or crazy long. Luckily my local library gives shorter samples of the book, so you can see what the reader is like before putting the book on hold. What stinks the most is you wait forever to check out your book, and then it turns out either the book or the reader is completely ridiculous. Some readers just try way too hard, and sometimes I even pull the purist card and will ditch the audio book if the author isn't reading it. What power should your words have if your voice can't speak them!? Soapbox, over.

One particularly great group of people that read books fantastically are the Brits.   If you've ever heard the vocal talents of Jim Dale reading Harry Potter, or Neil Gaiman reading his own works, it's literally magic, and I can't get enough. Sure, Americans can write and read just fine, but there's something extra wonderful about the peeps across the pond.

They are sure nice to listen to at work if you are doing something you don't necessarily have to concentrate on, like filing or shredding, if your shredder doesn't sound like a witch flying in on a hovercraft. It's also nice and accessible to have on your smartphone, and you aren't tied to a computer, or having to even hold a book.

The best part of all, fiction or non-fiction are available. If you want some health guru to tell you why processed food is bad, or the dear Madeleine L'Engle teaching you about the courage and wonder that is childhood, the library has it. (Cue Arthur's, having fun isn't hard..when you've got a library card!)

The variety is what I love the most. You can listen to serious books, or the more fantastic, or hilarious, depending on your mood. I love listening to them in the car, or trying to laugh quietly with moderate success while walking Ezma. It's like your little secret, you are learning, being entertained, or stretched, and no one around you even knows it. Now I've got to go see what happens next from Mr. Gaiman's Stardust.

Here's to tickling your eardrums,

Jana