A NEW PASSION

I've rediscovered the pleasure of the spoken word. When I was a child, my mother read to me every night. It was something that I looked forward to all day. My favorite books were the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. She described food in such detail that it made my mouth water. Yet, as is so typical of 'growing old', I lost my passion for books. Many years ago my father told me that I needed to read Harry Potter and so began a newly energized love for reading. The problem is that there are just too many damn books on my reading list and not enough time. Several months ago, I was taking a long drive to Arizona to visit a friend and decided to check out audio books at the library. That one book was all it took. I was hooked. That book was Norwegian Wood by Murakami. A good story although I didn't like how it ended. Since then I have listened to too many books to remember. Some of my favs are Me Talk Pretty One Day by Sedaris and anything by Augusten Burroughs. I've also taken the opportunity to "read" those books that have been on my list forever: Son of a Witch, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Life of Pi to name just a few.

I have yet to come across a bad book and have now begun to listen to some classics. Waiting in the wings is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance and I've just started The Silmarillion. I can tell already this will be a huge undertaking, but I'm up for the task.

I guess the whole point of this blog is to encourage you the reader to give it a try. I know that they are expensive to buy, so that's why they have libraries. I have always enjoyed visiting them and now base how good they are by how extensive their audio selection is. And don't use that sad excuse that you don't have any time. Do what I did, turn off the tellie and turn on the cd player. If you've already discovered the joy of audio books, I would welcome any recommendations and will share my own if you're interested. Happy listening!