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.
It's been since the 90's that I listened to an audiobook.
ReplyDeleteSeventeen discs? How many hours is that?
Alex: Almost as long as me.
ReplyDeleteThe box says approximately 21 hours.
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.
ReplyDeleteG.A.: Must be very short books. :D
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, that is impressive, in that an MP3 playing can squeeze it down to one or two discs.
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.
ReplyDeleteGlenn Beck and Tori Spelling?! Just shoot me now...
ReplyDeleteMy little bro likes audio books, as with his vision issues, print can be difficult sometimes.
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.
ReplyDeleteM: 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
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.
ReplyDeleteS.R.: That is definitely the scary part of trying something new, getting hooked and having to spend gobs of money to feed the need.
ReplyDelete