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Reading in the car

I live 50 miles from where I work. Because of this, I spend a LOT of time in my car every week. The minimum is probably 8 hours if I work at home one day, and the maximum can be much higher if there is construction, bad weather, an accident, etc. Although I've gotten used to the drive, I get tired of listening to the radio all of the time. I have found that listening to books while I drive shakes things up a bit.

I am normally a very fast reader. I can read two or three books on a Saturday if that's all I'm doing. (And no, I'm not skimming - I actually read and retain). Because of this I don't buy very many books. I would go broke in a hurry! I go to the library frequently, but have a tendency while there, to only look at mysteries. So my regular reading material definitely has a theme - which I'm fine with. I have my favorite authors, and read everything they write voraciously. Sometimes I wish they would write faster!

The 'books on CD' section at the library is much smaller and has far fewer mysteries to choose from.

I also have a colleague at work who goes to library sales and buys books on tape and CD and then gives us a list.  We choose from that list and and then she lends the books to us. She told me the other day that she has over 700 titles now! About half of them are on tape, so that doesn't work for me. But when she gives me a new list, I go through it, crossing off the tapes, the books I've read, the authors that I know I don't want to read, etc. I then go to a website and read summaries of the books that look like they might have possibilities, and highlight them. I get them from her one at a time and listen to them while driving back and forth. Interestingly, I find that the 'average' book is about 8 - 10 hours of reading which is about perfect. I like being able to listen Monday through Friday for long periods of time, and don't like to wait over the weekend for the finish, or listen to it for 5 or 1- minutes when I'm driving to the grocery store.

So now I'm going to get to the point. (Finally, you say!)

Because my colleague who buys these books is not particularly a mystery reader, I have found myself listening to very good books that I would otherwise never read. Listening to someone speak allows you to pay very close attention to nuances. You also need to pay attention because you can't (easily) flip back a few pages to reinforce something that you read. The narrator also makes or breaks an audio book. It's interesting to hear how different people handle the reading. Some simply read, others, have different voices for different people. (I like those more) Men tend to make the women all sound the same, and women do the same for the men's voices often. It's also interesting when I listen to a book that I've already read to hear how the narrator interprets a scene differently than I hear in my own head when I'm reading.

Sometimes I get a book and find out pretty quickly that I don't care for it, but more often than not, I listen to the book during my commute. (It has to be VERY bad for me to not listen to it.) And yet - it doesn't really make me want to start reading other genres generally. Weird, huh?

This week I'm listening to a book called 'Wives Behaving Badly'by Elizabeth Buchan. It's pretty interesting. I can't tell you a whole lot about it because it would spoil the story, but basically it's about a woman who is a second wife. Her husband had an affair with her and left his first wife. His kids from his first marriage hate her, and his first wife is still around. They (second wife and husband) have young twin boys.

Now this TOTALLY does not sound like something that I would read, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. And of course there's much more to it that the brief sentences above but if I told you more it would spoil the story.

Some other day I'll tell you about the only other place I go to look for non-mystery books. But that will have to wait.

Lemon Thyme

I got a good looking recipe last weekend from my sister, who is an awesome gardener. It is for lemon thyme bars - and - of course - she was sweet enough to bring me a mess of lemon thyme. So as a break from my knitting (which I can't go into detail about since I'm working on Christmas presents) I am making a batch of these bars. My sweetie is out riding his bike - as usual. I just finished a pair of lobster claw mittens for him. I made them big, so that I can felt them and make them nice and warm for him when he is on his bike. I hope it works. Without a pattern it's sometimes difficult to gauge how much something will shrink. I know I can control it somewhat, but the widthwise/lengthwise part is a bit of a puzzle. We shall see.

A Trial Run

My sister has been telling me that I should start a blog. Since I love reading hers, I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't yet know what I might find to say, but since I like to read, and knit, and do needlework; have kids and a husband; like to cook..... I might find something to blather on about. We'll see what happens.