Maria and I currently live about 45 minutes apart from each other. In addition to that, we go on many trips throughout the state and in the midwest. For my day job, I have clients all over the state that require a decent bit of driving to reach. So it’s safe to say that I spend a lot of time in the car.
My favorite way to pass the time is to read. I have always loved reading. Growing up, my parents would yell at me because I brought a book with me everywhere. And I mean everywhere. If I had one minute of idle time, that book would be open. In high school, I preferred cargo pants or shorts because the pant leg pocket was perfect for holding a paperback novel.
Despite my love of literature, there is one place I have never been able to read: moving vehicles. I get motion sickness like nobody’s business if I read anything more than a few words. That’s ok for text messages, but forget about reading a book. Which means long car rides have always been incredibly boring for me. Even when I lived in Chicago, I would get sick trying to read on the El. It sucked.
Since I get car sick, I always drive when Maria and I travel together. That gives Maria plenty of time to pull out her computer and squeeze in a few hours of work.
A road trip for me means more Interactive Sight Word Readers for you! Any sight word or topic requests? #roadtrip #WHPontheroad #iteachtoo A photo posted by Maria Manore (@kindercraze) on
Back in 2013, Maria and I drove to her brother’s place in northern Michigan. We knew we were in for a three-hour car ride so Maria suggested that we download and listen to Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, by Piper Kerman. We had just finished watching the first season of the show on Netflix and Maria wanted to see how it compared to the book. And thus began my addiction to audiobooks.
In the year and a half since that trip up north, I have become an avid listener of audiobooks. I have enjoyed the audio versions of Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and Devil in the White City on my own. In our various trips together, Maria and I have also heard The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent. All of these were great books and the narration was excellent.
Audible and iTunes are certainly the leading contenders in the audiobook market, but if you are looking for a more budget-friendly source for audiobooks, I recommend using Librivox. Librivox audiobooks are FREE recordings of public domain (no longer protected by copyright) works, such as War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The recordings are created by dedicated fans who record the books, either individually or collectively, and upload the audio files to Librivox for anyone interested in downloading them. The quality of the readers can vary widely, so it may take a little effort to find a reader that you are happy with, but the price cannot be beat. Since Maria and I are paying off my debt, free audiobooks is the most logical choice for me!
An additional place to gain access to many wonderful audiobooks is your local library. The selection may be limited and you will probably have to wait your turn for a popular title to be available, but it’s a great way to gain free access to the same high quality audiobooks that you find on iTunes or Audible. My local library has several methods of getting audiobooks via the internet, including OverDrive and 3M Cloud Library. You should check your local library to see what options they have available.
As my workload has steadily increased (and I dive deeper into the blogosphere,) I have less time to read paper books like I used to. Seriously, my average used to be about 30-40 books a year. I’m probably down to 20, and that’s a feat in and of itself. Audiobooks are a fantastic way to enjoy literature during the times I would otherwise just be listening to the local alternative rock station. If you find yourself wishing you had more time to read, I highly recommend making the switch to audiobooks.
