Remember a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I proclaimed that I was going to read (or at least listen to) more nonfiction books? And that I put in a couple of requests online for books on CD at the library, including Freakanomics, which spurred a brief discussion?
Well, the library STILL doesn't have any of them for me. It's been a month and a half. More! Where are my books? I was first in the HOLDS list for Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders. How long does it take to drive a book from Fort Lauderdale to Hollywood, I ask you???
I NEED these books on CD. It's not so bad on the way to work - if I hit it right, I get most of the first hour of the Diane Rehm show on NPR - but on the way home I'm stuck with either Panthers hockey or NPR's News and Notes, which is usually good for the first half hour but then tends to veer toward interviews with R&B acts and other assorted entertainment that I'm not terribly interested in.
I'm going to remember this, Library, when I'm doling out my meager charity donations for the year.
They have libraries in Broward?
Posted by: Andy | January 23, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Hmmmm. Maybe they don't. This would explain why I don't have any of my damned books on CD. Either they get on the stick or I'm going to have to find some new music to listen to. Traffic has been a bitch lately.
Posted by: Connie | January 23, 2008 at 04:11 PM
have we had this conversation already: is listening to a book on cd really reading? im not saying it is not. im just saying it seems different to me when ive tried it and i always lose the story and wind up with my mind trailing off to my to-do lists or something more fanciful. perhaps i am doing it wrong.
Posted by: just saying | January 23, 2008 at 04:24 PM
We did have this discussion before, but that's OK. My vote was that it did count as reading. I may not absorb the book as well as I would if I were actually reading it, but I still get the general gist. And if my mind wanders I just turn it off and put on some music. I can see how that can happen.
Plus it takes my mind off wanting to shoot everyone when I drive to and from work, so there's that.
Posted by: Connie | January 23, 2008 at 04:28 PM
perhaps my problem is that i am too enamored with my fantasies of shooting everyone once i arrive at work for the books on tape thing to work for me...
Posted by: just saying | January 23, 2008 at 04:58 PM
It sounds like you need to maybe listen to some really calming, mellow music, and stay away from things upsetting books or songs like "Break Stuff"
Posted by: Connie | January 23, 2008 at 05:14 PM
Like you, I don't read nearly enough nonfiction... usually, the people who know enough about a topic to write a whole book on it aren't great enough writers to hold my miserably childish attention span. But Freakanomics is compelling and short enough to warrant reading on paper.
Posted by: Matt Pinzur | January 24, 2008 at 10:08 AM
you know there is a book on J.Q Adams out now...and it looks really good...about his years in Congress..railing against slavery before the other members of that illustrious institution gagged him (not literally of course)
Posted by: patrick | January 24, 2008 at 01:08 PM
I would love to read Freakanomics on paper...but it's just not going to happen, due to the big stack of Reading For Work piled up on my desk here. That's why I'm trying to sneak it in via CD.
Posted by: Connie | January 24, 2008 at 01:14 PM
I would just like to point out that another week has passed, and I STILL DON'T HAVE MY CDs.
Posted by: Connie | January 25, 2008 at 05:52 PM