Audiobooks......

Believe it or not, I had never, EVER listened to an audiobook until this week. It's true!

I consider myself a very visual person, and I have trouble processing information if I only HEAR it. That might partially explain my dismal undergraduate GPA.

It was Hubby's idea for us to check out an audiobook for the trip to Florida last weekend. We browsed the shelves in our local library and found a new book by an author we have both enjoyed, Robert Crais. Hubby and I don't agree on a lot when it comes to books, but this is one we could both tolerate. It had a little too much killing and general mayhem for me, and not nearly enough for Hubby.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to follow the plot, even with several days' break in the middle of the book. It was read by the author, so in my mind that gave it a little more credibility. There couldn't be any misinterpretation of what kind of tone a character might have used, or if he really MEANT to say the "f" word that many times. I find the "f" word generally offensive (though I will concede that there are occasions that absolutely scream for its use), and when it's written in a book I can sort of pretend it isn't there. In an audiobook, though, it's sort of IN YOUR FACE. That was the only part of his reading that made me feel uncomfortable.

I don't think Hubby will want to listen to another audiobook, but it's hard to tell if it was just because of this particular author. Crais tends to put a lot of detail into his books (sleeveless gray t-shirt, baby bib stained with green and orange that could be identified as peas and apricots), and it's the kind of stuff that Hubby tends to skim over when he's reading. There's no skimming over in an audiobook. Oh I guess you could fast forward, but then it's hard to tell when something important is coming up.


It's also challenging to know when the book is drawing to a close. Obviously you know if you're on disk number 7 out of 7, but I kept expecting the music to signal the end of the book, and the author would say, "forty-five" (as in the chapter number). Three or four different times I thought he was finished, and when he kept reading, I said, "Come on! What else can there BE?"

I might try another book, particularly if I have to drive a long distance alone. Even for all its unnecessary facts, I can certainly say one thing for the audiobook: It made the long drive go by MUCH faster.