Listen Up
It has taken me quite some time to embrace the audio book. The book snob in me (who died whilst reading the Shopaholic trilogy and other chick-lit) did not consider audio books to be "proper" books. I believed that listening to Jane Austen was akin to gaining a knowledge of literature via Hollywood.
Additionally, I was rather challenged in the mental multi-tasking. Remember how well you could listen, absorb information and take notes during university? If it's been some time, trust me, you probably are a blithering fool at this now. At any rate, I found my attention drifting between the act of listening and the act of driving.
Having (mostly) mastered the art of dividing my attention, I have cast aside any remaining thread of snobbishness to embrace the joy of the audio book. My first re-introduction to the joys of a good listen was French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening Mysteries of the French. Bliss!
Quite by accident, I recently discovered Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Sadly, I missed a recent airing of the film, and my request for the DVD was third in the library queue. Thus, I took a chance and rented the audio book version. What a delight!
For me, a good voice is paramount. Frances Mayes reading her one of her own books was rather painful, while the melodic, sexy voice of (the rather unsexy) Simon Winchester made Krakatoa a pure pleasure.
My latest audio companion is My Life on a Plate by India Knight which has me wishing my commute were longer. And that is something, given how I loathe to drive and the skyrocketing cost of gasoline!
Additionally, I was rather challenged in the mental multi-tasking. Remember how well you could listen, absorb information and take notes during university? If it's been some time, trust me, you probably are a blithering fool at this now. At any rate, I found my attention drifting between the act of listening and the act of driving.
Having (mostly) mastered the art of dividing my attention, I have cast aside any remaining thread of snobbishness to embrace the joy of the audio book. My first re-introduction to the joys of a good listen was French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening Mysteries of the French. Bliss!
Quite by accident, I recently discovered Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Sadly, I missed a recent airing of the film, and my request for the DVD was third in the library queue. Thus, I took a chance and rented the audio book version. What a delight!For me, a good voice is paramount. Frances Mayes reading her one of her own books was rather painful, while the melodic, sexy voice of (the rather unsexy) Simon Winchester made Krakatoa a pure pleasure.
My latest audio companion is My Life on a Plate by India Knight which has me wishing my commute were longer. And that is something, given how I loathe to drive and the skyrocketing cost of gasoline!
Labels: books
01 May 2008
Preview Day
Once upon a time, the lie of the Macy's One Day Sale irked me. The Preview Day, the Sale Day, and the Post-sale Day...that is three days, not one. But last night, in anticipation of May 1st as the start of several transformative projects, I had my own productive preview day.
After gathering my financial documents to create a spreadsheet, I reorganized the documents; and then I filed them. This was just enough organizational steam to propel me to jettison the surfeit of cosmetic bags (from GWPs) and samples (most of unknown age). While purging three eyeliner pencils is not a major shedding of material possessions, it is just one step in a multi-pronged, three-month process. Thomas Mann said, "Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject -— the actual enemy is the unknown.", thus I aim to bring order and simplicity to my health, my finances and my possessions/surroundings.
I live with a man who is far less concerned with "pretty surroundings" than I, but it is my goal to own nothing that is not beautiful or meaningful. I feel compelled to put The Divine Law of the Great Chair into action.
After gathering my financial documents to create a spreadsheet, I reorganized the documents; and then I filed them. This was just enough organizational steam to propel me to jettison the surfeit of cosmetic bags (from GWPs) and samples (most of unknown age). While purging three eyeliner pencils is not a major shedding of material possessions, it is just one step in a multi-pronged, three-month process. Thomas Mann said, "Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject -— the actual enemy is the unknown.", thus I aim to bring order and simplicity to my health, my finances and my possessions/surroundings.
I live with a man who is far less concerned with "pretty surroundings" than I, but it is my goal to own nothing that is not beautiful or meaningful. I feel compelled to put The Divine Law of the Great Chair into action.