Books on tape… I mean MP3

Jana and I have spoken about books on tape before and I’ve found it’s a great way to utilize my commute time to better effectiveness.

It’s vital that any good writer continue to read, and particular, to continue to read in their genre. I’ve been working on reading a lot more in both Spanish and English for pleasure rather than just with the critical eye of a literature scholar. However, I’ve been hard pressed to find the time to sit down for any extended period and read, at least not when I have a stack of dissertation work to do, on top of work and home duties.

Audible.com and the book-on-tape selection at the library has been a wonderful way to fill up my commute time with well read and performed literature. I happen to love, still, to be told a story and enjoy going to storytelling events. I find that listening to the books I can appreciate the writing craft just as well as actually reading it myself, and there’s something unique to hearing the flow of language spoken. We do, after all, suggest that writers should read their work aloud in order to make sure it flows on the page, it stands to reason we can gain similar benefits to hearing other’s words read aloud.

How does audible work?

You pay a small monthly fee, and gain ‘points’ every month you can use to purchase an MP3 download of a book. You can gain access to many current best sellers as well, I actually listened to Side Jobs rather than read it because I got it as a freebie! You can purchase additional books at a significant discount as well.

The site is run through amazon.com and it’s worth a look. I know several of my fellow PHD students use it for their commutes and for entertainment while traveling.

It’s particularly ideal for me because I can’t read in a car without being miserably ill, and sometimes even reading on a plane is troublesome but this makes it all the easier.

audible.com

Check back here, I’ll review some of the books on tape I’m listening to on our regular Wednesday reviews, and I’ll be sure to review the delivery as well as the regular plot and character reviews.