Change It Up Challenge

Change It Up: Audiobooks

Some of you may be wondering how a book-a-holic like me hasn’t managed to try out audiobooks yet. Well, I’ll give you three reasons: (1) expensive, (2) I’m a faster reader than they are, and (3) I didn’t want to get so distracted by a thrilling story that I end up back-ending the car in front of me at a stoplight. Also, the few times in the past when I’d attempted the venture, the library was all out of the “real” audiobooks (you know–the ones that you’d actually WANT to hear someone read aloud to you, aka. Harry Potter). Additionally, I like to count up the books I read each year (as if you couldn’t already tell), and I think that counting an audiobook would be akin to cheating. Thus are my reasons laid out for all to judge.

However, Matt and I chanced to wander into a library the other day (when we finally realized we were now no longer rich enough to wander into bookstores), and I randomly started perusing the audiobooks section. Now, I didn’t expect to find anything, mind you, but there my hand was reaching out for one before I had a chance to think about it—The Thirteenth Tale. The funny thing about my hand reaching for this particular item is that I’ve already read The Thirteenth Tale. I loved The Thirteenth Tale. So much, in fact, that I’d been planning on re-reading it again…within the next 50 years when I’d *hopefully* finished all the other books lounging around the house. But there, right on the shelf at eye-level at our very own Logan Library, was the solution for all those books I want to re-read but can’t find the time to—audiobooks. Thus, I don’t need to ponder over whether I should count the book towards my yearly “books read” total, and I can re-visit those old favorites without guilt.

I am brilliant sometimes.

Upon popping the c.d. in my car’s player and coaxing it to actually crank out some distinguishable sounds, I discovered with delight that I did not appear to be too much more distracted while driving (except for the few times during intense parts where I missed my turn) and that I actually didn’t MIND going out to run errands because it meant more time with the British lady in my c.d. player who told spellbinding stories that took my mind off of the menial tasks ahead of me. Basically what I asked myself after about two seconds was this:

HOW HAVE I NOT DONE THIS BEFORE??!! AM I INSANE?!

Apparently. Or just very, very stubborn and a bit set in my own bookworm ways.

However, even though it has been a positive joy to have someone read to me every time I get into my flashy ’94 Ford Escort, there is a problem—sometimes the library discs skip and the British woman in the c.d. player starts to sound like she’s got permanent smoker’s cough. It’s times like these where I start missing turns and narrowly missing garbage cans as I frantically try to figure out what my temperamental c.d. player could possibly want now (besides to eat the story right up, it’s so good).

And the one other problem is that the library still doesn’t have my Harry Potter audiobooks, so whatever am I to do now? Buy them?

As if.

Change It Up Successful: Heck yes! Sometimes I wish my brilliant ideas for experiments would come much sooner than they do, because it makes me wonder sometimes what else I’m missing out on…