I used to have music going in the house, years ago, as I did housework or sewed or cooked. Or, I could have music from a radio station on. Or, (do I have to explain this?) records or cassette tapes playing. At some point, I switched to audiobooks. If I was going to be travelling, and driving in my own car, by myself, I’d go to the library and get sets of cassette tapes of recorded books. I’d always take some music tapes, too, because I might get drowsy and need to put that music in so I could sing, loudly, in the car, to keep myself from falling asleep. (And I just can’t depend on stations providing music that I know the words to.) Maybe that’s how the seeds were sown that makes my ears and mind think that I need something filtering into my ears, much, some, or more of the time.

One of my primary activities these days is working in the yard. I listen to podcasts on my phone quite a bit. The problem with podcasts is that they range from 30 minutes to an hour, which means I have to stop, take off my dirty gardening gloves, dig my phone from my overalls pockets, and decide which podcast I’d like to hear next. And I’m usually searching for those that are lengthy, so I don’t have to stop so often.

This is a podcast I’ve been listening to for a while. Some episodes are longer. This one was pretty short. It’s really interesting, as people learn untold, hidden, deeply hidden facts and stories about their families, such as “I always wondered why everyone in my family was dark-haired, and I was blonde.” Some episodes are longer. This one was was pretty short.

I like to listen to audiobooks in the car, even if I’m not going to be driving for days and days. Sometimes it does take a few minutes of listening (or going back a bit) to recall what’s been happening in the story, especially if I haven’t been in the car for a couple of days. I’m just on disc 1 of this book. And, since I’m not listening continuously, I have to think hard to remember who is who. Who’s the old boyfriend? Who’s the new boyfriend? And who killed that other guy? And why did he kill the other guy? Or was it the girl? It can be a problem. And, on one or two occasions, I’ve actually checked out the print version of the book, to try to figure out what actually happened in the middle of the story.

There are some drawbacks.

One of my favorite ways to listen to a book is a Playaway. Books come in this orange container, and the Playaway contains an entire book. The library checks the Playaways to patrons, and we provide an AAA battery and earbuds. And, no matter how lengthy the book is, it’s entirely contained in that cassette-sized Playaway.

That means I can go outside for a whole day, and never have to stop listening.

The first Playaway I ever listened to was Twelve Years a Slave, (a true story). I’ve also listened to Like Water for Elephants and The Zookeepers Wife, (also a true story, and the whole time I was listening to that book, I’d never realized that it was a true story, until an epilogue contained the facts). Unfortunately, a limited number of Playaways have been produced. Or, maybe it’s just that our library has a limited number of them. I think they’re more expensive than the books themselves, and maybe the budget for them is limited. Too bad, they’re perfect for folks who don’t want to stop every hour or so to locate a new podcast.

And, of course, I still read actual paper pages of real books.Here are the books (I think all of them) that I’m reading right now. I’m behind on reading the fiction Pulitzers. For a few years, I was diligent about it. I even read The Road.  Some were more interesting than others. Some were much less interesting. Re: The Road. I have a couple more to read to be caught up. This present stack of books is larger than it should be because I got a Bas Bleu catalog. They have gift items and lots of books. I read through the whole catalog and made a list of books that I thought might be interesting. Then, I checked the library to see if any of those books were there. Three of them were available, and I put them on hold and now they’re at my house. And, none of them were audiobooks, so, I’m going to have to sit down and actually hold them in my hands and read them.

Not that that’s so horrible.

This is a new book in my library. A church friend mentioned it on Facebook, and I thought it sounded interesting, so I went to my first go-to place for locating interesting books: the library. And, of course, they had it. I checked it out and read several pages, and it very much seemed like a book I wanted to own. I bought copies for me and my sister, and now I’ve thought of a few other folks that might like it, too.

The blurb on the front of the book says: “If you, like me, long for a devotional that is sharpening, witty, and downright real, well then, you must simply read this book.”