Road Trip Tips

A road trip can be an amazing thing. Open road, exploring small bits of the country, and taking each adventure as it comes. There are not set rules, and you don't need an agenda to make a road trip great. Here's a few tips that you might want to keep in mind before you take your next road trip. 

1. The car matters. Take a roomy, comfortable car with AC, heat, and great for listening to music. Don't forget to take into account reliability and gas mileage when deciding what car to take, either. 
2. Pack snacks in an easily accessible area. If you are like me and think hotel coffee sucks, take a stash of ground coffee and some filters to make your own in the hotel room. Bring other food you might be able to make use of in hotels -- most have mini-fridges, coffee pots, and microwaves.  This can cut costs if need be. Espresso/cold coffee, lots of water, granola bars, and snack-y items are a must for me -- we had locally made kettle corn that was AMAZING.
3. Great listening choices.
1. Make good Pandora stations of all your favorite genres -- shuffle all your stations together to get a good mix.
2. Make good playlists on CD or your phone/mp3 player (for when Pandora isn't getting great service)
3. Comedy -- We personally love Comedy channel on Pandora, which plays snippets of great comedians. This never seemed to get old for us, and definitely is a nice change from constant music. 
4. Audiobooks -- C isn't huge into audiobooks, but I LOVE them. They are a great way to pass the time while READING. 
5. Podcasts -- Another way to switch it up when you're tired of music. I personally love the Moth Podcast that my mom turned me onto - it's a podcast of stories told in storytelling jams. They are (mostly) adults telling adult stories - and the themes are all over the map in terms of subjects, and are usually funny -- with a few heart-wrenching ones thrown in for good measure.
6. Learning languages - so maybe this is better to do by yourself, as it might be hard to do with more than one person in the car, but pick up language-learning CDs or podcasts for the car, and get that much closer to knowing another tongue!
4. Download apps!  The apps I downloaded were SO useful on our sporadic car trip. (Please don't be one of those people that operate these while driving. Let the passenger do it, or pull over first.) Some of the most awesome:
• Hotel Tonight by Hotel Tonight, Inc. - Good quality, great deals on hotels - that night only. We found great hotel deals in Jacksonville and Daytona Beach -- but they only have large cities. If they don't have great deals left - they tell you that city is all booked up for the night. Overall, good, but check TripAdvisor if you aren't having any luck.
• TripAdvisor - picks up on some good locations to visit, and also good hotels. This let me see the various prices that I could get for the same hotel room through different sites -- the hotel's site is not necessarily the cheapest! I booked one hotel room through a third site while practically in the parking lot because it saved me $20 from what the hotel itself charged.
• GasBuddy - finds the cheapest gas in your area while you're on the road. Using it, I saved about 25 cents per gallon on several occasions, because it alerted me that the cheaper gas was only about a mile off of the highway. 
• Yelp! - This was great for finding great food places that we wouldn't have found otherwise. Plus, you can write reviews, and remember things that you liked when you come back.
5. Games along the way. Although I'm sure there are a lot more out there - I will point out the two that I downloaded that were a lot of fun for us. And no, I'm not talking Candy Crush, but rather games where multiple people in the car can be involved at one time. 
1. The License Plates Game. See how many of the 50 state license plates you can get while you're on your trip. Have the passenger write them down, or download an app to keep track of them for you. I used The License Plate Game by Joseph Levine, which is easy and worked well. 
2. Road Trip Bingo - This is a lot like Road Trip I Spy. There's so much to look at out there that this is a great way to start noticing it all...and turn it into a competitive game. There are apps for this as well - the one I liked best for us (...and was free, duh), was called RoadTrip Bingo, but it doesn't look like it's on the app store anymore. The best replacement I'm seeing for it is Roadtrip-Bingo by Toughturtle LLC, which lets you choose from different boards that deal with different subjects - car logos, food logos, around town, etc.
3. Would You Rather? - You can pull the questions from the web, from an app, or from your own brain. Regardless of where the questions come from, this can jump-start hilarious discussions and give you a lot more insight into the inner workings of your companion's mind. Look out, sometimes it gets a little dangerous in there. Some websites to get you started:
1. Either's Would You Rather? Questions
2. RRRather's Would You Rather? Questions
6. AAA - AAA is a great safety net. I knew if we broke down or got locked out of the car, etc, I would be covered. They also give out free maps at their offices if you're going somewhere, and their app is GREAT. 
7. Stimulating conversation. This is your chance to really get to know the person next to you. Ask them questions about themselves (not too intrusive!), and see what they are like, where they went to college, what their childhood was like, top 5 favorite movies, what Disney character they would want to be. There are so many ridiculous questions you could pose that could spark stimulating conversation, and that will be memorable in and of itself.
8. Be okay with silence.  Although you want some stimulating conversation, be mindful that if the other person isn't feeling talkative, you'll have to let it go. Silence is only as awkward as you make it. 
9. Lastly -- think about a road trip as being a grand adventure! Get in the mindset to be flexible if things don't go quite as planned, and remember that the fun is in the journey. Relax, have fun, and BON VOYAGE!

Think of more things that you want to add to the list? Comment below and let me know what tips you have to make a road trip awesome. 

App Love: For Book Nerds

 Here's the start of what I hope to be an occasional feature -- App Love, where I share some of my favorite apps in different subjects. I will try not to overdo it, and of course there will be apps that you'll see that I've left off. These are only ones that I have tried myself. If you have any you'd like to add, please comment below! As a perfect start to my App Love, I'm going to share some great apps for book nerds.

• GoodReads - This app is a lifesaver. When I'm looking at books in the store, or at the library,  I can scan the ISBN and I can instantly access all the information about the book on GoodReads, including reviews. Additionally, I can see all of my own books, mark books that I want to read, see books I've previously read (along with their ratings and reviews), and a lot more. This is my all time favorite book app out there, and the website to boot. What did I do before GoodReads made this so easy? If you're interested in the social media aspect, you can also connect with other readers, see what they are reading, and (my favorite feature), compare your books with a beautiful Venn diagram! Huzzah!

• Overdrive - If you like free books, then head to your local library and see if they have Overdrive. Overdrive lets you can check out free library e-books and audiobooks with a library card with participating libraries. Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (mine!) does it, and it's so easy. I can easily download an audiobook to listen to at the gym while I'm doing my warm-up. And if you don't think it's easy, then just ask your trusty neighborhood librarian to help you, and you shouldn't have any problems. Best part is, these library items can never be late -- because they return themselves when they expire!

• Readar - If you travel a lot and like hitting up libraries, bookstores, and bookish events anywhere you go, then this is the app for you! By LibraryThing.com (where you can catalog your own home library collection), this app will locate bookstores, libraries, and book events so you always know where you can get your next fix.

Some of the standards:

• Kindle App for iPad and iPhone - If you already have a Kindle account, you'll find that the Kindle app makes it easy to read Kindle books on other devices. It's easy to use and is pretty. Which counts a lot in the world of apps.
• iBooks - This was great for me when I had to read lots of PDFs. Of course, I hated printing them out, but I also hate reading on a computer screen. Reading on an iPad is a step up, and I loved it, and got to save some trees while I was at it.

Book Review: Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse Series, Book 1)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After watching True Blood, I wanted to see how the book measured up. Plus, I was in the mood for a book that required a little less thinking. Coming into it from True Blood, I already knew what to expect more or less, and I wasn't let down. It differs from True Blood in terms of characters, but stayed pretty true otherwise. I really liked hearing it on audiobook because the narrator does a good job of characterizing Sookie.

It's good for a light quirky read. It's an easy romance-mystery novel, but she's not your normal amateur detective in that she's not very actively trying to figure out who the murderer is in her hometown, and you get a lot more of overall characterization than you do in Charlaine Harris's Grave Sight series. I'd recommend it if you like quirky paranormal romances with a bit of mystery.

A Review: The Dreamer

A Book Review of: 

Image from KirkusReviews.com

The Dreamer by Pat Muñez Ryan
Ill. by Peter Sís

Winner of the 2011 ALA Pura Belpré Award, an award presented by the ALA to a Latino/a author/illustrator who best portray or show Latino cultural experiences.

Summary:

This is the story of the boy Neftalí Reyes, the real name of the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neftalí grows up in Chile with his overbearing and strict father, his loving stepmother, his brother
Neruda's imaginative mind takes him places that he can only dream about, and helps him escape his mundane reality. He longs to write, but his father frowns on this and his son's other quirks-- like his collections, and his daydreaming, and discourages him in every way possible. Eventually Neftalí learns that he has to be himself, do what he's passionate about and write what he's passionate about, in order to achieve real happiness. As Neftalí goes off to college, adapting the pseudonym Pablo Neruda to write about contentious issues, he comes into his own and is finally free of the fear that what he's doing is somehow wrong, or letting someone down.

Ryan, P.M. (2010). The dreamer. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Impression: 

I thought this book was beautifully written, with a style and language that definitely echoes the way with words that Neruda himself has. It shows the sensitive and caring side of this young poet as he grows up an outcast, feeling alone, and desperately hoping that he can please his father being who he is. The lyrical writing pairs well with the illustrations, but the narrator of the audiobook also brings a lyrical quality to the story. He accentuates the onomatopoeia that one might glance over (but not fully read), so the listener is allowed to dwell more on the sounds of rain plopping on the roof of Neftalí's house, or the sounds of the ocean waves. He goes through a lot and you feel bad for this boy who is rather alone for his childhood, with little to no friends, outside of his own siblings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I think it may be a little on the slow side for some kids, as there is no real moving plot, or grand adventure. It's a simple story about a boy growing up, but it may appeal to kids who are interested in realistic fiction. After reading this book, I got the urge to read some more about Pablo Neruda, so it might be good to pair this with

Professional Reviews:

From Booklist:
"Respinning the childhood of the widely beloved poet Pablo Neruda, Ryan and Sís collaborate to create a stirring, fictionalized portrait of a timid boy's flowering artistry. Young Neftalí Reyes (Neruda's real name) spends most of his time either dreamily pondering the world or cowering from his domineering father, who will brook no such idleness from his son. In early scenes, when the boy wanders rapt in a forest or spends a formative summer by the seashore, Ryan loads the narrative with vivid sensory details. And although it isn't quite poetry, it eloquently evokes the sensation of experiencing the world as someone who savors the rhythms of words and gets lost in the intricate surprises of nature. The neat squares of Sís' meticulously stippled illustrations, richly symbolic in their own right, complement and deepen the lyrical quality of the book. As Neftalí grows into a teen, he becomes increasingly aware of the plight of the indigenous Mapuche in his Chilean homeland, and Ryan does a remarkable job of integrating these themes of social injustice, neither overwhelming nor becoming secondary to Neftalí's story. This book has all the feel of a classic, elegant and measured, but deeply rewarding and eminently readable. Ryan includes a small collection of Neruda's poetry and a thoughtful endnote that delves into how she found the seeds for the story and sketches Neruda's subsequent life and legacy."

Chipman, I. (2010, February 1). [Review of the book The Dreamer, by P. M. Ryan]. Booklist. Retrieved from http://booklistonline.com 

From Kirkus' Reviews:

"Ryan’s fictional evocation of the boy who would become Pablo Neruda is rich, resonant and enchanting. Simple adventures reveal young Neftalí’s painful shyness and spirited determination, his stepmother’s love and his siblings’ affection and his longing for connection with his formidable, disapproving father. The narrative captures as well rain falling in Temuco, the Chilean town where he was raised, and his first encounters with the forest and the ocean. Childhood moments, gracefully re-created, offer a glimpse of a poet-to-be who treasures stories hidden in objects and who recognizes the delicate mutability of the visible world, while the roots of Neruda’s political beliefs are implied in the boy’s encounters with struggles for social justice around him. Lines from a poem by Ryan along with Sís’s art emphasize scenes and introduce chapters, perfectly conveying the young hero’s dreamy questioning. The illustrator’s trademark drawings deliver a feeling of boundless thought and imagination, suggesting, with whimsy and warmth, Neftalí’s continual transformation of the everyday world into something transcendent. A brief selection of Neruda’s poems (in translation), a bibliography and an author’s note enrich an inviting and already splendid, beautifully presented work."

[Review of the book The Dreamer, by P.M. Ryan]. (2010, March 15). Kirkus' Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com

Uses: This is a great way to introduce young patrons to the concept of magical realism, which is really prominent in Latin and South American literature. Use this in a children's book club at the library and discuss the various points in the story in which Neftalí engages his magical thinking-- or his tendency to exaggerate experiences to the point of magical realism. Discuss how the illustrations by Peter Sis compliment this style.

A Review: The Graveyard Book

A Book Review of: 

Image from www.goodreads.com

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Review of the book and audiobook (which is narrated by Neil Gaiman himself)

Summary:

The story begins with a sinister man called Jack creeping into a house and murdering a family, while a baby silently slips out and makes his way up a hill toward a still graveyard. The man Jack follows the baby, intent on finishing the family off, but the inhabitants of the graveyard protect him. The baby, now called Bod (short for "Nobody"), grows up in the graveyard, raised and educated by ghosts and by Silas, a grim reaper-like character who serves as Bod's greatest mentor, and who is the only one who leaves the graveyard. The story is told in short stories and follows him as he grows up, growing more and more restless to have human companions and eventually befriending a girl named Scarlett briefly before she moves away. Throughout the story, Jack, who is part of a secret villainous society of Jacks, is still looking for Bod-- the one who escaped him. The story culminates with Bod facing off in the graveyard with the top members of the society of Jacks. 

Gaiman, N. (2008). The graveyard book. New York NY: HarperCollins.
Gaiman, N. (2008). The graveyard book [Audio recording]. New York, NY: Harper Children's Audio.

Impression: 

From the very first chapter, this book grips you and doesn't let go until you're done. As my first Neil Gaiman book, I'm incredibly impressed at his ability to take a dark and creepy story, but make it accessible and plausible, while still within a world of complete fantasy. It's beautifully written-- and the audiobook, narrated by the author himself, adds a new dimension to the story much as the illustrations do to the printed version.  Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre" plays in between chapters and during one chapter where the ghosts leave their graveyard and dance with the local villagers for one day out of the year.  Incorporating other mythology leaves the reader (or listener) with a sense of familiarity with the story that makes it easy to follow, but his perspective on the story is new and refreshing. It wasn't until after reading professional reviews for the book that I learned that The Graveyard Book is a variation on Kipling's The Jungle Book-- no wonder it feels so familiar. For this spectacularly imaginative book, Neil Gaiman won the 2009 Newbery Award.

Professional Reviews: 


From Kirkus' Reviews: 
"Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. Gaiman’s riff on Kipling’s Mowgli stories never falters, from the truly spine-tingling opening, in which a toddler accidentally escapes his family’s murderer, to the melancholy, life-affirming ending. Bod (short for Nobody) finds solace and safety with the inhabitants of the local graveyard, who grant him some of the privileges and powers of the dead—he can Fade and Dreamwalk, for instance, but still needs to eat and breathe. Episodic chapters tell miniature gems of stories (one has been nominated for a Locus Award) tracing Bod’s growth from a spoiled boy who runs away with the ghouls to a young man for whom the metaphor of setting out into the world becomes achingly real. Childhood fears take solid shape in the nursery-rhyme–inspired villains, while heroism is its own, often bitter, reward. Closer in tone to American Gods than to Coraline, but permeated with Bod’s innocence, this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child."

[Review of the book The graveyard book, by N. Gaiman]. (2008, August 15). Kirkus' Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com

From School Library Journal:
" "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." So begins the tale of Nobody Owens, a child raised in a graveyard by ghosts. The man Jack, a member of an elite and despicable organization, is sent to slit the throats of an entire family. As he prepares to finish off the last and most important family member, he is enraged to discover that the baby boy has eluded him by climbing from his crib and going out the door. The youngster toddles to a nearby graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants take him in. Little Nobody (Bod) flourishes in the graveyard, a place alive with adventure and mystery. But he longs to enter the world of the living, a place where danger, and the man Jack, await. What a wicked delight to hear this inventive, sinister story (HarperCollins, 2008) read by multi-talented author Neil Gaiman. His voice ranges from silky to gravelly and gruff to sharp-edged. Those who enjoyed Gaiman's Coraline (HarperCollins, 2002) will be eager to hear his inspired reading of this novel. Winner of the 2009 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Produciton, This captivating production makes the story accessible to younger students as well as reluctant readers."

Hubler, L. (2009, March 1). [Review of the audiobook The graveyard book, by N. Gaiman]. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Uses: I would showcase this book to tween and teens in a booktalk about books that are new takes on fairy tales and other traditional stories. I think this helps breathe life into the original stories, in this case The Jungle Book, and helps kids recognize the importance of past literary traditions and accomplishments, while introducing them to newer books that rely on these other stories.  Other books that might fit into this theme are books like Cameron Dokey's Golden (a take on Rapunzel), Michael Buckley's The Fairy Tale Detectives (Book 1 of the Sisters Grimm, incorporates lots of different fairy tales), and Alex Flinn's Beastly (a take on Beauty and the Beast).

2010: My year in books

This past year I found that I checked out 533 titles (books, magazines, DVDs, audiobooks, CDs, etc) from the library. This number will probably be significantly different for 2011 since I won't be checking out so many kids' books now that I'm no longer babysitting Milo, but it's still pretty hefty.  The books that I'm considering myself to have "read" are books or audiobooks that I've read through.  This doesn't count for how-tos or books that I only use pieces of, and are mostly novels or non-fiction books that can read like novels (let's face it, I don't typically read non-fiction all the way through.) The following list also doesn't include children's picture books.

Stats: 35 books actually read, of that: 16 audiobooks, 12 juvenile fiction, 9 young adult fiction, 2 non-fiction (haha); audiobooks are *ed

1.  Open House - Elizabeth Berg -- She's an awesome writer, but I found this story a little dry.

2. The Food of Love - Anthony Capella -- I fell in love with this book, and led me into the world of food-related stories. :)

3.  The Penny Pincher's Club - Sarah Strohmeyer -- Easy read, but well-written.

4.  Ransom of Red Chief - O. Henry -- A short story really, but absolutely funny.

*5. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (This is actually the first audiobook I checked out to really listen to novels, and I found that listening to Jane Austen is much more enjoyable than reading her from the typed page.)

6. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen -- I love every book she's ever written. They all have magical realism in them, but they are... delicious and irresistible.

*7. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - BBC version of the audiobook was wonderfully narrated and intense to listen to!

*8. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak- I'm glad I got the audiobook because I got to hear how the German words were pronounced. Zusak is awesome, and this story rules.

*9.  Look Me in the Eye - John Elder Robison - Robison is the brother of author Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors), and tells his life as a guy with Asperger's before it was diagnosed. Really funny at times.

10.  The BFG - Roald Dahl - Rereading one of my childhood favorites, and it didn't disappoint.

11. Coyote Blue - Christopher Moore - So funny and sometimes raunchy, so I'll bet even guys who don't think they like to read would enjoy it.

12. The Giver - Lois Lowry - A children/young adult classic that I hadn't read, and I'm so glad I did. It took me a few hours to read, and the story line is SO original and incredible.

13. The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke - Funke is an incredible author, and this book has a little bit of everything. Loved it.

*14. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan - I wasn't as thrilled with this as I thought I would be (I mean, come on, it's about Greek mythology coming to life... ). It could have been that I didn't like the narrator of the audiobook, but it all seemed a little too... simplistic.

*15. My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor - I could NOT stop talking about this when I was reading it. Taylor was a neuroscientist who had a stroke and then recovered enough to be able to write a book about her experience. Such a good read.

16. Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson - I decided to see what the fuss was about James Patterson, and I've decided that he's immensely overrated.  This had such a good plot line, but it was ruined by cheesy writing, and a sappy ending.

*17.  Animal Farm - George Orwell - Another classic that I never had to read in high school, so I decided to check it out since it's super short. Definitely worth your time.

*18. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis - I can't believe I never read this, and I'm really glad I did. The narrators of the series are really good as well.

19. Midnight for Charlie Bone - Jenny Nimmo - The first of the Children of the Red King series, this is like a less intensive Harry Potter, and although has a lot similarities, remains distinctive and fun to read.

*20. Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis - I had to see where the next story would take me.

21. Going in Circles - Pamela Ribon - When I read her first book, Why Girls Are Weird, I fell in LOVE with her. Ribon is hilarious. So when I picked up this book about girls and roller derby... such a fun book to read.

*22. Charlie Bone and the Time Twister - Jenny Nimmo - These books don't build on each other necessarily, which is kinda nice. I guess it helps to know who each character is though.

*23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling - I needed to reread it before I watched the movie. I'm not one of those people who has to reread every Harry Potter book before I see the movie, but since I had almost NO memory of the story, I figure I had better catch up.

24. The Juliet Club - Suzanne Harper - A young adult book that for me was pretty weak. The characters were lame and the story contrived. Not a fan.

25. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender - The concept of the story sounded good, but it's darker than you'd expect, and gets a little weird at the end. Still pretty good though.

*26. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling - I realized that my memory was also bad on this book even though I remembered loving it. What to do? Audiobook it!

*27. Number the Stars - Lois Lowry - This handled the subject of the Holocaust well for the age group it's meant for. I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, and this didn't stand out terribly in my mind but it won the Newbery Medal.

28. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green and David Levithan - This was a really funny book about boys and relationships and being a gay teen in high school. Can I just have a friend like Tiny? He rocks.

*29. I, Coriander - Sally Gardner - I started out listening to this on audiobooks, but eventually had to get the book because I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't in my car. Absolutely wonderful-- the world she creates is perfect and beautiful. This story has everything.

30. By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead - Julie Anne Peters - Dark but honest look at a suicidal high schooler. I really enjoyed this and think it's something a lot of adults dealing with teenagers should read.

*31. Lady Windemere's Fan - Oscar Wilde - After watching the Importance of Being Earnest and listening to the Picture of Dorian Gray, I decided to get another Oscar Wilde piece. He's funny and is so quotable it's ridiculous.

32. 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson - Great story line, but weak characters. A little disappointing.

*33. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke - Picked this up after reading the Thief Lord, and love it. Such an incredible author!

34.  The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd - Not as good as the Secret Life of Bees, but the characters are well drawn and story well laid out.

35. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein - I loved this book! Told from the dog's point of view, it's original and fresh, and each character is very real and deep. I loved this and recommend it to everyone.

So there it is-- and I'm going to top it next year. I'm not thinking that will be too hard, but then again I wasn't in school most of last year. Time will tell!  Comment if you have anything to say about any of these books, I'd love to hear it.

Audiobooks: Because Lady Gaga in the car just wasn't enough

I never was a fan of listening to audiobooks. It wasn't because they didn't appeal to me, it was rather that they had never really occurred to me. Lately, however, I have definitely come to love them. I decided to write this little blog after realizing by a coworker that it had been too long since I'd written, and also because I keep getting asked by patrons, "What do you recommend in the way of audiobooks?"

One day, I contemplated reading Jane Austen, and writing a blog on what can only be described as the hysteria of writing that revolves around Jane Austen and all of her characters. I collect "classic books," and had a Jane or two on my shelf. **[As a disclaimer, I love collecting books deemed as "classics." I don't know who deems them, but they are the types of books that are always on reading lists somewhere-- in high school, college, or even in books telling you what million books you should read before you die (which ultimately makes you feel like you are wasting your time reading that book when you could be reading one that will "absolutely change your life"). So I collect these books, thinking proudly to myself, I will be well-read and get every question on literature on Jeopardy. They then proceed to collect dust on the shelf.]

The Janes I happened to have collected were Emma and Sense and Sensibility. I didn't have Pride and Prejudice, the most famous of the Janes. I know it sounds incredibly ironic, but I was actually prejudiced against Pride and Prejudice for the longest time. I had decided at 10 years old that the story must be boring because I fell asleep watching the six-video set of the movie. Yes, even when I was 22 I decided my 10-year-old self must have been right on that account. Well, she wasn't.

Most often, I collect these classics and they sit on the shelf just waiting for their turn to be useful. But, I decided to give Emma a go. I failed. I tried reading it-- mostly when I was too tired to really pay attention. But it was slow. My 10-year-old self whispered in my head, See, I told you Jane Austen was boring. She's still wrong though.

So one day at the library, I was about to simultaneously reshelve a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (by Amanda Grange) and The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy (by Maya Slater). As I set it back on the shelf, I noticed Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (by Ben Winters), and I. just. snapped.

WHAT IS IT WITH JANE AUSTEN? I thought back to all of the movies that have come out revolving around Jane Austen and her work-- Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway, Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightly, and even a Bollywood take Bride and Prejudice with Aishwarya Rai. There has got to be a good reason!!! [This will be addressed in a future blog, for there isn't the room for this rant today]

I became determined. Hell-bent on reading something by this beloved author. Why not start with her most famous? I was already reading a book though... and if I was easily bored, I would just ignore it. What to do?

My problem was solved on my way home as I realized that I was bored with all of my music, and had a 35 minute drive to and from work every day, resulting in an hour and ten minutes of driving time spent while my brain was lollygagging.

I immediately put the audiobook CD version of Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice on hold.

It was AWESOME. Here's why:

1. It's so much better to hear the book in an English accent.
2. The dry English humor came across so much better when it was spoken aloud. Mrs. Bennett would have bugged the crap out of me otherwise, but she became much more comical in that love-to-hate sort of way through the voice of this old British lady.
3. I could still be completely involved in reading my other book at home without thinking of having to juggle this one in.
   

Sometimes, I would sit in my car just listening to it for 10 to 15 minutes longer in my driveway at home just so I could find out what would happen next.

Next, I listened to the BBC radio edition of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, which had it's own eerie music written just for the presentation, and with more fantastic English accents. Brilliant!

My most current is the audiobook of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I began reading a paperback copy of the book, and found that I hated having to put it down when I got in the car. The solution to my problem? Audiobook it! Now I can pick up the audio where I left off in the text, and vice versa. The narrator of this one has a deep rich voice, perfect for this story, and it's especially nice to hear how to correctly pronounce all the German words in it.

So, my advice for audiobooks? If you haven't tried one before, get to it! Especially if you have a long commute to work. You'll feel so much more accomplished. Get something that you might really like the idea of reading, but you always seemed to put off. Who knows, maybe one day you might even get to hear my audioblog via podcast. Wouldn't that be the day?