book talk: wisdom

I am a little more than halfway through this book, which in the audio version I'm borrowing is read by the author. I am listening to it in the car, during my commute, and trying to soak it all in. The back of the book makes clear that Ms. Angelou is writing to her "daughter" in the universal sense of all younger women she intends to "mother" through her writing. She only has one physical child, who happens to be a son. But I am honestly kind of in awe that she is writing to me, her "daughter."

I cannot tell you how much I am getting from this small volume! (especially hearing it read to me by Maya Angelou, complete with her pauses and inflections and humor and warmth). If you haven't already read it, I urge you to pick it up as soon as possible. You can read one of my favorite essays (so far, anyway) excerpted here.

book talk: craving simplicity

Today, I wanna talk about what I want to read when I can't think anymore. Well, aside from magazines and cocktails menus, I mean.

This week has been A-mazingly busy...and it's Tuesday. I have about a million things to do in the next couple of days, though! And, if you know me, you know that just the thought of potential duties, chores, games, activities can make me exhausted.

When I'm mentally drained, all I wanna do is lay on my stomach on the bed and flip through a shiny magazine. But, in my more intellectual moments, I want to read calm, rational thoughts from smart, poetic people. It also helps if the covers of the books can be calming.

...like this compilation of contemplative writings by the likes of Thomas Merton and Annie Dillard. It even feeds my escapist fantasies with the travel metaphor!  Ah, I feel calmer already.

Or, I could just kick back, close my eyes, and listen to an Annie Dillard novel. This one caught my eye, though I still need to read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

What about you? What do you like to read when you're too mentally exhausted to think?

book talk: audiophiles

Today, I'd like to talk about a particular kind of book that I've been falling harder for lately: audiobooks.


Yesterday, we started listening to March, the Geraldine Brooks novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I got the audiobook from our library, and we are about two chapters in.

Already, I can see why the book is so lauded. The prose is dense and luscious, yet unflinching in it's handling of unsettling content like war, physical pain, racism and slavery. Plus, the narrator of our copy has the best, gravely voice! 

I've had conversations with some people who say things like, "bah! Audiobooks are not real books..."and I'm never sure how to respond. I think they're just fine. In fact, I've had some fantastic audiobook experiences! It is how I gleaned tips from Stephen King's On Writing, and when we went to the icy coast of Lake Michigan last Christmas, it is how we finished up the Harry Potter series. In both cases, I had such fun reading, er, listening to those stories. Just because I'm not "looking" at the words doesn't mean I'm not ingesting them, absorbing their meaning and being potentially moved by them. Right? 

Then, I heard a great segment on Talk of the Nation last Thursday about this very thing. What do you think? Are audiobooks a boon to reading enthusiasts or destroying the fabric of reading culture? Somewhere in between? Let's talk.