How to read when you don’t have time to sit down with a book
I can’t believe how quickly I converted to loving audible! I adore reading and quite often I’m reading more than 1 book at a time nowadays
* one for research purposes for my writing
* one for my book club
* one for lunchtime at work & bedtime
- now one for when I’m walking the dog / doing chores around the house!
The ability to “read” while my hands are doing other things like gardening or chopping vegetables, or when I am walking one of our dogs is a marvellous thing and has quite boosted my motivation to do boring things like clearing the attic and painting.
Podcasts are free with my monthly audible subscription and these can be informative, funny, thought provoking. They keep me company and they expand my mind – I enjoy having new facts to throw into the conversation and (hopefully) to impress my kids with!
I’m taken back to the days when my I’d lie in bed in the room I shared with my younger brother. We’d be in our PJs waiting for our father to get home from work. We’d hear him come upstairs, still in his suit and tie but with his jacket off so we could see his coloured braces. He’d sit down on one of our beds and pick up the book he’d read from the night before, and continue with the story.
We’d be spellbound as the story unfolded – dragons, princes, giants and tailors who could fly or fight or outwit monsters with many heads or poisoned tongues. My brother liked stories of Gumdrop, a car with a personality and I giggled at a wolf who could never catch a break with Polly or her younger sister.
Now accomplished actors read the stories aloud, their expression so skilful it’s like listening to a play. Sometimes I am listening to a play, with different voices for each part and sound effects, while some writers have chosen to narrate their novels themselves.
For the price of 2 fancy coffees a month, I am transported by my choice of 1 book and unlimited exclusive podcasts. I can listen to the stories as many times as I want, once they are downloaded and I can file them on my phone by categories I define, I can gift them to a friend or delete them if I don’t want them anymore.
By using the sleep function (a timer on my phone) I can even recreate the feeling of being read to as I fall asleep. Happy days!
Current Recommendations:
The Devil & the Dark Water : Stuart Turton [Crime/Mystery/Historical]
The Midnight Library : Matt Haig [Philosophical / Adventure]
What Alice Forgot : Liane Moriarty [Chick Lit / Mystery]
Sharp Objects : Gillian Flynn [Crime / psychological thriller]
The Girl who Fell from the Sky : Simon Mawer [WWII Spy / Adventure]
Crush It Like Cleopatra ~ Podcast [Humour / History / Life]
My Father the Spy ~ Podcast [Stuart Copeland’s Recollections / History / Humour/ Spy]
Hell Cats ~ Dramatisation of the True Story of Women Pirates Anne Bonny & Mary Read [LGBTQ+ / History / Adventure]
GriffinsKeyFiction 