Audio books in general and a review

I have a love/hate relationship with audio books.

THE LOVE PART:

All the years I spent driving the 6 hours to and from Modesto to visit Daughter and family every 3-4 months, audio books were the best things since sliced bread. The hours would go by so quickly that I would pull into the driveway almost without knowing how I got there.

In the week before each trip I would visit the library and hopefully find something that sounded like it was worth listening to. I have 3 libraries nearby so it was a pretty safe bet that I could come up with something that met my criteria: not more than 12-13 hours so I could complete it during my trip and preferably something shallow but entertaining, like Danielle Steele. And no abridgements! I always worried that they were cutting out something important, that I was missing some good part of the story.

I made that trip many, many times over the years and listened to many, many books. What a great way to pass the time and the perfect opportunity to ingest more books!

THE HATE PART:

Because I am a visual person, I rarely ever retained what I had heard! More than once I started to read a new book and a few pages in, realized I had listened to it on CD, but could hardly remember the details. And at least once I put in a CD at the beginning of a trip and realized I had heard it before, but the written description didn't ring any bells....I need to see things in writing or watch them being done in order for them to really register in my brain. If I write something down on paper, even if I never look at it again, I'll probably remember it, but if I try to remember something that I hear.... forget it!! Any book that is important or that I really want to read, I need to actually read with my eyes.



Well, it's been 3+ years since Daughter & Family moved to town and I haven't given audio books a single thought in all this time.....until recently.......



I've always been a voracious reader. As a child I would often spend an entire Saturday reading a new book from start to finish. As a young Stay-at-Home-Mom I read 2-3 books a week. But the last few years, with Grandkids, Netflix, DVR, Internet, Blogging, etc, I just don't seem to read like I used to. Don't get me wrong! I still have a constant, ongoing list of books I want to read. I still check out stacks of books from the library and usually return them unread 2 weeks later. I still buy used books by the sackful and they sit here unread, silently taunting me on my shelf.



Even when I budget some reading time into my day, I just can't seem to concentrate like I used to (gee, THANKS! peri-menopause).......which brings me to the point of this post in the first place:



I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while:

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

I was on my library's website, putting a hold on it so I could take it home and not read it, when I noticed they had it in the audio version and I suddenly heard the DING! of the lightbulb going off over my head!

"HELLO!! You commute an hour each way to work! That's 8-10 hours of wasted time every week! Why haven't you though of this before?!!"

So I put a hold on it, and after an 8 week wait I finally popped the CD into my car stereo one morning and BOY WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT!! The production of this audio book is the best I've ever heard! Instead of just listening to one person read the story, this production has a different actress reading each part, which was absolutely necessary for this story. It takes place in Mississippi in the early 60's during the Civil Rights Movement and the main characters are the Black maids who are raising the White children of their employers. Hearing each characters different voice made such a difference and 3 months later I've definitely retained what I heard. I looked forward (if that's possible) to my commute instead of dreading it, knowing I'd be in the company of these characters who grew to feel like people I knew personally. I think that for the first time I prefered an audio book to a hard copy, especially since the book is written in the southern vernacular of the era and I have such a hard time reading words written like that. Reading misspelled words is like fingernails-on-a-chalkboard to me, and any time I've tried to read something written in a certain vernacular, exactly the way it's meant to be spoken, my brain just freezes up and I can't do it!! (WRONG SPELLING! WRONG SPELLING! CAN'T COMPUTE!)

This audio book was an absolute pleasure for me and I can't recommend it enough.

AND...I hear that Steven Spielberg is going to make it into a movie, so it must be good right? Movies are rarely as good as the book, of course, but if it's anything like the job he did with "The Color Purple" (another book my brain couldn't process but LOVE the movie!) I eagerly await this one.

Katy No-Pocket apron

Do you know the children's book "Katy No-Pocket"? My mother often checked it out at the library to read to me when I was little.

It was written in 1944 and has the same illustrator as the Curious George books.

It's about a mother kangaroo who for some reason has no pocket and is desperate to find a way to carry her baby. By the end of the book she is wearing an apron covered in so many pockets that she is carrying around all the baby animals in the jungle!

My co-worker has a daughter who is turning 2 this week. This little girl is rather.....quirky? Oh, the stories I hear! She really is unusually one-of-a-kind already at age 2!

Well...among all her little quirks and oddities, she really, really loves pockets. If she isn't wearing pockets herself, she'll put something in your pocket.


For her Birthday, along with a copy of the book, I designed her a Katy No-Pocket Apron, just her size, with 6 pockets across the front.




I can't wait to hear what kinds of things she finds for her funny little self to put in all her very own pockets.....

a book review

I love books (see here)

I love food (uh..yeah...no kidding...we can tell)

I love and admire good writing

SO......I want to tell you about my new favorite non-fiction book. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a very long time.......

A Homemade Life

by Molly Wizenberg

I first became aware of Molly Wizenberg in Bon Appetit magazine, where she writes a column. I came across a wonderful story about her Father's rice pudding that really touched me. The next month there was a story about eating her way around France with her Mother.

Her writing style hooked me and I followed her over to her blog, Orangette.



I started reading her short essays about food, recipes and simple meals intertwined with memories of her childhood and college days. On the sidebar of her blog she modestly mentioned that she had just had a book published and after spending just 15 minutes reading through her archives I knew I had to own her book.



Now....I very rarely buy brand new books. I check them out from the library first, and then if I decide I need to own it, I buy a used copy from Amazon or my local used book store. And then I often end up passing them on to someone else anyway, since I love to share books that really speak to me in some way....BUT NOT THIS BOOK! I didn't even hesitate to order it immediately and I have not been disappointed! Even though is not really a cookbook, there are plenty of fantastic sounding recipes included.



Just wait until you read her story entirely about pancakes and how she and her parents would get together in the kitchen at midnight for a pancake feast. All of her memories revolve around eating or preparing food, from growing up as an only child, the death of her beloved Father, and how she met her cute musician husband through her blog.



Molly Wizenberg is one lucky girl! How many people actually end up getting to do what they love and make a living at it? According to the book jacket, she "has degrees in human biology, French, and cultural anthropology, but in 2005, she left the world of academia to write full-time".....and she gets to write about food!! She has my dream job.....and she just kind of fell into it!...Lucky girl!!



I won't be passing this book on. I'm selfishly keeping this one for myself, although I will lend it to Daughter since I know she'll enjoy it as much as I did.



For all you Foodies out there, especially if you enjoy good writing along with your food obsession, do yourself a favor and at the very least, get this book from your Library. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

I Love kid's books!

I recently joined my first non-apron swap.

Since I'm so crazy about children's literature (see here), I was really excited to accidently find a children's book swap over at READING TO KNOW.

I was partnered with Jennifer and her 3 kids in Dalton, GA. We were to e-mail each other and discuss our book preferences. Her kids are 9, 7, and 4 mos. My grandkids are 5 and 4. We have so many favorite books at our house that it was really hard to decide what to send in our package!

I decided on "Bread and Jam for Frances", part of a series about Frances the Badger written in the early 60's. These were my favorite books as a child, then also the favorites of my 3 kids, and now all my grandkids favorites, too. I also sent "Love You Forever", a book I give to all new Moms whenever possible. Every Mom in the world should own this book! Jennifer tells me that she used to own it but lost hers during her last move and was very happy to receive a replacement.

We sent the two books:

and we made weiner dog bookmarks for the 3 kids:

Then.......look what Jennifer sent to us!

We received both the child and adult version of the "Marley & Me" books (the movie is currently at theaters starring Jennifer Aniston). That was so thoughtful of Jennifer to include a book for me! There was also this beautiful bookmark for me, too; a "real" one! No more Post-it note bookmarks for me!

And a bonus.....some yummy jelly beans to share......

This turned out to be such a fun swap! Even though I know there are swaps of every kind out there in internet-land, something for every taste and interest, I was a little surprised to come across this one that was so perfect for me.

Thank you Jennifer for adding to our library of favorite books......you can never have too many books, right?

so many books, so little time!

We are a family who loves books and reading.

When I was a little girl, I would often spend an entire day reading a whole Nancy Drew book, start to finish. Thanks to my Mother, I've loved books and libraries and writing as long as I can remember. Luckily, I managed to pass this on to all three of my kids, too. I read to them from the time they could sit up in my lap. We went to the library regularly, and bedtime included 30 minutes of reading to themselves in bed before lights out every night. They are all adults now and we all enjoy telling each other about the latest great book we just read and passing them around to each other.

I read cookbooks from cover to cover. I like a good biography. I love most things by John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany and Hotel New Hampshire). I always have several books on my bedside table. What will I be in the mood to read tonight?

Daughter reads all kinds of things. She loves anything by Jane Austen. We both love Pat Conroy (Beach Music and Prince of Tides). We both love children's literature. (If you don't already know the series of books by Russell Hoban about Frances the Badger, please go the library and spend 20 minutes in the children's section reading one or two of them! My Mother read them to me as a child and I own them all.....)

Oldest Son (a Sheriff's Detective) reads a lot of criminology related books, fiction and non-fiction, and military themed novels.

Youngest Son ( a Chef) reads a lot of Chefographies and food related books, cookbooks, and anything related to WWI history.

All 5 grandkids are avid readers. 12 yr. old always has a current young adult novel around. 11 yr. old finished all 7 Harry Potter books a year ago and loves science fiction and fantasy. 7 yr. old reads far ahead of her age level, with such beautiful voice expression and even does each characters voice. The little ones love her to read to them and I told her she should be doing a storytime at the library! A favorite gift for these girls on any occasion is a gift card to Barnes and Noble!

I have often thought about the fact that there are people in this world that hate to read or who have never owned a book. My heart aches for them and what they are missing. I am so thankful that in this country, for those who want them, there is an endless supply. In our 3 generation household we have many, many books of many kinds:

One of my greatest pleasures is seeing a member of my family off by themselves, enjoying a quiet moment with a book.

This past weekend it gave me much joy to take 3 and 4 yr. old to the library to get their "own Library card"!! They signed the applications themselves

and proudly handed the 'Library Lady" their own cards this time. They are enjoying these books even more this time because they checked them out themselves!

When we got home, I ran to the fabric store (YES! an excuse for fabric shopping!) and spent the afternoon making them each a library bag,

complete with an inside pocket for holding those special cards.

...AND OUR FAMILY'S LOVE OF BOOKS LIVES ON IN ANOTHER GENERATION!