"Reading" a new way

"Reading" during my travels

Elmore Leonard

You've read my lamenting about reading. You know that I have a Goodwill Bookstore addiction. You know I can't pass a Barnes & Noble anywhere without stopping and browsing. I love books. And I've discovered another way to ready recently. 

On the week–ends, Lori and I seem to spend a great amount of time at the Traverse City Area District Library because she is working on her counseling degree and I find it easier to "work" in an "office environment." I am unable to get things for school ("my job") done at home … So, using the Pomodoro technique, I take breaks after working for a 25 minutes and check out books for five minutes (well, not check them out, but … again, browse). 

I've been really into Elmore Leonard, a deceased Michigan writer, for a little over a year now. As I was looking at a few of the books that I don't already own at the library, I discovered audio versions of his work. I didn't check any of them out, but I was intrigued. So last week–end I was there and looked up the book The Best Team Money Can Buy because I had heard it was a pretty solid read on the plight of the Dodgers. I only have 252 books set aside to read this year (with a few already on order: Klosterman in June, Grisham in October, with the already–arrived latest from Chris Anderson riding around in my truck with me) so I thought why not check this one out. The library didn't have a print copy, but they had an audio version. 

I decided to check it out … AND I LOVED IT! I had been listening to a great many podcasts recently (Tim Ferriss, Rick Roll, Shawn Stevenson, Freakonomics Radio) and enjoying the learning that goes with those podcasts. I thought that maybe hearing a book would be a good experience. The "voice," not Molly Knight, sounded a bit too robotic, but "reading" the book while driving from Buckley to Vanderbilt and Wolverine to Vanderbilt and back every day was a great experience. I couldn't wait to jump back into the truck and pick up where I had left off. Not to mention, that I have become quite a Clayton Kershaw fan after Knight's excellent read. 

Now, I've been thinking of reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 for quite sometime now. It arrived in 2011 and I've looked at it a number of times and considered picking it up. I'm not a big science fiction fan, but time travel has always interested me. I found that on audio as well … and, again, it's tough to stop listening/reading.