July 25, 2014

Books Of Audio

Many many many decades ago, before I became super anal about doing certain things with certain things (i.e. listening to music only when I'm doing something mundane or reading a book w/o distractions), I used to listen to audio books. Now when I say many decades ago, I mean back in the date when vinyl ruled, cassettes ruled and VHS was God.

Yeah, just that far back. Like when classic rock was still fresh and new.

Anyways, I used to listen to audio books as a primary way to get my reading fix w/o going through the bother of opening a book (yeah, I had a lot of those phases back in the day). And I always made sure to listen to the unabridged versions of whatever book I was interested in. I really didn't like the Reader's Digest condensed books back in the day and I certainly didn't want to listen to books the same way.

Gradually, as my very mild form of OCD bubbled to the surface with a degree of frequency that to this day keeps me on my toes, audio books fell by the wayside, until by the early 90's the only time I would listen to a audio book was on my day off from working the overnight (I kept those same hours on my off days so that I wouldn't screw up my health). This was directly due to the fact that in the early 90's, there was diddly/squat on the t.v. and on the radio, so I had to find ways to entertain myself.

For the next couple of decades, no audio books were listened to, as my various OCD tainted routines took a firm grip on my brain and wouldn't let go. Every once in a blue moon, I would make an attempt at listening to one ("The National Road: A Ride Through Time" from the Ohio Historical Society springs to mind). But more often than not, they weren't for me.

Fast forward to 2014.

I do a lot of my grocery/non-grocery shopping at Ocean State Job Lot, and one of the many products that they carry is books, both audio and on-audio. Friends, if you ever wondered where most of the rejects/overstocks wind up, they wind up in stores like these, where you can save 60 to 75% off the cover price. They have a lot of unabridged audio books, originally priced between $19 and $35, selling for $3.99 a pop.

So I decide a couple of weeks ago to another crack of listening to audiobooks. After wading through titles by Glenn Beck (yeech!) and Tori Spelling (?!), I found a few titles worth investigating. More importantly, the titles I found were either stand alones or the first book in a short series.

Also, to make things really interesting, I decided to take another shot at reading YA (click here for my heartfelt opinion on YA) by purchasing a YA title.

So, here are the titles that I decided to buy. If anyone has an opinion on these authors, by all means, please let me know.

1} The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo: Book 1 of The Magician Trilogy (YA). Originally priced at $24.95/
2} Sons of Texas by Elmer Kelton (Western). Originally priced at $14.99.
3} Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher: Book 2 of The Codex Alera (Fantasy). Originally priced at $49.95, and if I had known it was #2 I wouldn't had purchased it. Oh and, it has 17 discs.

So, that's how I'm gonna expand my horizons this year. How 'bout you?

(c) 2014 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.

9 comments:

  1. It's been since the 90's that I listened to an audiobook.
    Seventeen discs? How many hours is that?

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  2. Alex: Almost as long as me.

    The box says approximately 21 hours.

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  3. I get the audio books for MP3 player and that is one CD. Sometimes it will take two for the entire unabridged book but most often one will do.

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  4. G.A.: Must be very short books. :D

    Seriously though, that is impressive, in that an MP3 playing can squeeze it down to one or two discs.

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  5. I have a friend who keeps telling me about these new smartphone apps that will let you play audiobooks digitally. It saves your spot, you can speed it up/slow it down, and you can save a ton on your phone without need of discs. Very cool stuff. But CDs... I just can't do those. I don't even own a CD player anymore.

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  6. Glenn Beck and Tori Spelling?! Just shoot me now...

    My little bro likes audio books, as with his vision issues, print can be difficult sometimes.

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  7. ABFtS: CD's I can do, since I have a player in my car, a player at work and three at home. 21 hours though, I think not.

    M: Yup. As you know, I'm somewhat moderate in my Republican leanings, but Glenn Beck really turns my stomach (Rush does too, but that's another story). Tori Spelling is another actress I can't stand either.

    Audio books are good for what ails you. :D

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  8. Every time I listen to an ad for Audible.com, I am sorely tempted to join. I can see myself easily spending a bundle on audiobooks. I have never listened to one, but I LOVE my podcast subscriptions. They're free. I think if I tried an audiobook once, I might be hooked for life, and that could get expensive.

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  9. S.R.: That is definitely the scary part of trying something new, getting hooked and having to spend gobs of money to feed the need.

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