Growing up I had a hard time with reading. Until I was ten and a teacher forced me to read I had an abysmal reading level verging on the non-existent. When I found myself in a class that required reading, which I could no longer successfully fake, I supplemented my laborious attempts at reading with books on tape. I discovered a rich and textured world of story. Complex voices that brought compelling tales to life. And with a narrator I found books less solitary, comforting in fact. I fell in love.
While playing video games, riding my bike, mowing the lawn, building Legos, and playing with action figures I'd listen to books on tape. As I got older my love for them didn't diminish, when I got my license I'd listen to them whenever I was in my car. I became a proficient and voracious reader but never lost my fondness for a well narrated story or the escape it offered when doing something mundane.
The past couple years I've fallen out of the habit of listening to books on tape(never "audiobooks"). I tried Audible for a couple months but found it expensive and inconvenient. At work I'm able to listen to podcasts to help pass the time but it seems there's never enough content to get me through my monotonous workload. Last week while searching youtube for author interviews I stumbled upon a book on tape only to discover there are tons of them on there. Since then I've listened to Neverwhere and Ender's Game. It's made the work day so much more tolerable, I forgot how transportive a book on tape could be. Now bogged down by the drudgery of insurance I can escape, float away, on the melodic and varied tones of story. Thrust into hidden and fantastic worlds, free from the chains of deductibles, policies, and limits of liability.
No comments:
Post a Comment