Talking books

This is one of the posts I began writing after I had a few days at home in January. I don't listen to talking books very often. Although I like the concept of putting them on my ipod, the whole thing of having to put them on my computer and then transfer is not something that I'm likely to do. Not when I could just rip open the covers of the print version and begin devouring the words straight away.

However, occasionally the library has a title that I want to read only in audio format. This has been the case with 2 titles by the wonderful Laurie R. King. In fact, I must say here that if you haven't yet discovered her Mary Russell series stop reading this and log onto the website of your local library instead.

Anyway, I decided that I would enjoy a talking book while I was at home for a few days anyway. I had plans to do house work type stuff so a talking book seemed ideal to make the tasks more interesting.

It actually proved to be more of a challenge than I thought and is clearly a skill I need to develop. First of all I had to remember to actually listen to the story and not just filter it out and think about other stuff. This was particularly difficult when I was doing something like washing up. I began to realise how noisy my home is and how noisy many of the activities I undertake in my home are.

Sometimes I'd run out of tasks but want to get to the end of the disc before moving to another area of the house. No problem, I thought. I'll just sit here at the table and listen to the last few minutes. I then realised that I find it very difficult to do nothing. I picked up magazines and papers to flick through. Examined plants. Picked at my nails.

It took my much longer than usual to get into the story. However, once I was into it I wanted to just carry on listening. As discs had a running time of about 14 hours, there came a point when Dear Heart arrived home that this just wasn't going to be possible.

So all in all, I think I need to practice listening to talking books. I think this will generally will help me to become a better listener. I'll be better at paying attention to everything that is said. I won't be so impatient if the story doesn't come to the point straight away. Maybe I can listen to some of my favourite books in audio and appreciate them even more!