Sep 19, 2004 11:33 PM
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(Updated Sep 19, 2004 11:33 PM)
Title: Audio Books Rock!
Review: Audio Books Rock! About 5 years ago my college roommate started to include my'in the loop' of sharing audio books. There is a group of about 20 of us now who pass on the books when we are done. We all buy audio books and are continually passing them on.
I have found a some great and inexpensive places to buy audio books: eBay(of course) and the downtown, larger libraries who have sales(usually$3 each) on their audio books. At any rate, I was immediately hooked after my first audio book. I NEVER drive without one anymore.
I have a box in my trunk with back up audio books so that I'm never without! Audio books are now my #1 birthday and Christmas gift. This all started since I was complaining to my friend that the 11 hours drive to Indianapolis where my son had just started graduate school took forever since there were places along the way that radio reception was not good. Since that time, I have had all kinds of experiences due to my listening of audio books in the car.
I believe it was the summer of 2001 when I was so engrossed in listening to my audio book that I not only ran out of gas 30 miles east of Indy on I-70, but also ran out of gas AGAIN on the way back to New York. Since one never knows these days, however, I vowed that I would always carry spare gas and ALWAYS check the gas gauge when I flip the tapes! I was in fear that I might have to end my listening pleasure and go COLD TURKEY since running out of gas got to be quite a drag after a while.
I met some wonderful people, however, during this period who helped me out. I have been known to spend 11 hours getting to Indy and if my audio book was not quite over, I have driven around Indianapolis until it was! I am also very grateful that I still have enough wits about me to actually get to Indy while listening to my audio books and not have veered off and ended up in Atlanta! Another time, my younger son and his fiance were working in Northern California for the summer where her folks live.
I flew out to San Francisco and drove up to Eureka to visit them. At SFO, I rented a car at 1 AM, got in the car and got out all my audio book cassettes out for the trip north. I couldn't wait since I was mid-book and the flight across the country that night, although beautiful, was impeding my finishing the book.(I have now solved this problem by buying a portable cassette player) RATS! No cassette player in the rental car! So, I hauled all my stuff back to the rental counter and demanded a car with a cassette player! Other than my tour through San Francisco when I turned off the book to observe the police, the hookers and the sights of San Fran, the mini hurricane over the Golden Gate, the giant Osprey that dive bombed my car just over the bridge, and the herd of wild turkeys that attacked me while taking a side trip through The Land of the Giants Redwood trees, my trip was super up the coast and all due to my audio books!
Unabridged is the way to go! You get the whole book, not just bits and pieces and then have to read the book to get a grip on what the author was actually trying to say. My favorites are all Clive Cussler books and all John Grisham books, although I find that almost anything keeps me going while driving. I have listened to Airframe so many times that I've actually worn out the tape. I've also read the book twice as I don't seem to be able to get enough of it. I now do this from time to time just to make sure that my reading skills are still up to snuff. The only time that I have NOT listened to audio books in the past 5 years while driving is on 9/11/2001.
I happened to be having breakfast with a girlfriend in Schenectady, NY early and on the way back home to Syracuse, NY on the NYS Thruway, I had to flip the tape in Utica, NY. My radio comes on when the cassette comes out. The World Trade Towers had just been hit and I thought I was listening to the War of the Worlds. Obviously, this took precedence over the audio book I was listening to. Being a New Yorker my whole life, even an Upstate New Yorker, this day was very near to my heart. I say, AUDIO BOOKS ROCK and I'll never be without them.
