audiobooks

I finished These Is My Words by Nancy E Turner for book club this week. It is a historical fiction story of Sarah Agnes Prine, a pioneer from childhood to motherhood in the southwestern US territory in the late 1800's.  It was written as a journal.  It is full of adventure, betrayal, family life, hardship, love, and tragedy. 

from These Is My Words.

"Sometimes I feel like a tree on a hill, at the place where all the wind blows and the hail hits the hardest. All the people I love are down the side a ways, sheltered under a great rock, and I am out of the fold, standing alone in the sun and the snow. I feel like I am not part of the rest somehow, although they welcome me and are kind. I see my family as they sit together and it is like they have a certain way between them that is beyond me. I wonder if other folks ever feel included yet alone."

"It seems there is always a road with bends and forks to choose, and taking one path means you can never take another one. There’s no starting over nor undoing the steps I’ve taken."

"Taking up marriage is a good excuse for taking up cursing. And It would take more patience than I could muster to have someone underfoot all the time and trying to tell me what to do like some men do their women,"

Audiobooks have become my preferred method of enjoying literature, but the voice of the narrator is often the deciding factor in my choices.  Today, I hardly accomplished anything until I finished the book and finally set about being somewhat productive this evening doing laundry cleaning the floor, scanning some documents for insurance, and making banana nut bread.

I was about to say that I only recently started using audiobooks, only recently indulged in hours of listening, but it is not true.  Audio "reading" began when taking Austin, Nathan, Kaylee, and Maddie to the public library. We read books and also listen to books on CD in the car and at home. Listening became more enjoyable than reading.

When I listen to a well written story, I occasionally get caught up in the uses of a word, phrases, or sentences and mentally pause thinking "oh, that wording was 'beautiful', 'descriptive' or 'magical' ". Some sentences seem melodic and tangible at the same time, and I may repeat the sentence a couple of times for sheer enjoyment before moving forward in the narrative.  Other times I momentarily imagine expressing the words through paint and brush strokes but lack the confidence to actually try. 

Lately, though, I have noticed that it takes more effort to focus and concentrate when listening.  I am not sure if it a hearing loss, or a mental fog / processing problem. However, especially when Maddie is talking to me from another room. I hear the sounds she makes, but sometimes the words I hear don't make sense in context, or the sounds are jumbled into nonsense words, so I know I haven't heard correctly.  I repeat what I heard, and we both laugh at the nonsense produced.  Good thing, people, particularly my husband and daughter are good natured about it.  

Listening to audiobooks, I am less likely to hear nonsense words but listening while doing another task makes it harder for my brain to process information.  I may as well be holding a physical book, because I cannot seem to listen and do other tasks at the same time.