Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved to read. Now, when I say I loved to read. I sincerely mean it. I remember staying up until 3 a.m. reading books. I read by the headlights from the car behind us on the way home from church or on road trips. Once, we were on a short trip, I borrowed some books from the friend we had gone to visit. We didn't leave until late. More than anything, on the way home, I wanted to start reading. Now, there was a rule about reading in the car, while we were allowed to read as much as we wanted, we were not allowed to turn lights on, because that bothered the driver. So, we were driving home, on back roads, no vehicles behind us to illuminate the pages of my book, right? Well, guess what? There was a full moon that night. I distinctly remember it being so bright that I thought maybe I could read. I think I managed a sentence or two, and then either clouds came out, or the moon was obscured, or it wasn't quite bright enough to make the effort worth it. So, disappointed, I fell asleep. No worries, however; I read the books as soon as I could!
I could tell lots of stories about reading. How I was reading when we were in an accident on the way home from the library and I barely felt the impact (it was very small). Or how the worst punishment I remember was the one time I got in so much trouble that Mom told me I could only get 4 books from the library, and one of them had to be a biography. Imagine!! We didn't get to the library very much (they were very forgiving toward our late fees ;) ) and 15 books didn't last me until the next trip, how on earth would 4? Or how I would reread books because I ran out of books before our next trip. Or how I would take books to the barn while I was supposed to be doing chores. Or how I would hide in my room "doing school" while reading all day long. Or how we went on a field trip one day, with some friends, and over the course of the day, I read 3 chapter books that I happened to find in my friend's vehicle. Or how I could read a "Redwall" book in one day. Alright, so there are LOTS more examples, but I'll stop there, I think/hope I've made my point.
Unfortunately, as I got older, I discovered the Internet, I went to high school, I started driving (anybody else notice how that cuts into reading time?!?), I started working, I went to college, and I stopped reading. No, I didn't stop reading entirely. If anybody asked me, I would still say I loved reading. But, it certainly went on the back burner. Things that get in the way: homework, work, school, driving, TV, meals (weird how I'm still not supposed to read at the table), the Internet, sleep! (who would have thought I'd not stay up til the wee hours reading? Not me! But then I'm blogging about reading at 12:30 am, the irony does not escape me), friends, Candy Crush (and the other games we play while waiting for that next update, hurry it up King!), family, etc. Everybody has their own things.
When I take a good hard look at my life, I know that I could spend way more time reading then doing other things, and think how much smarter I'd be! But, it just doesn't happen. So, I made it a resolution to read 100 books this year. I have a solid plan to make it happen. I know this will not come as news to anyone, but audio books are great!! Am I right? Listen in the car while you're driving, at home, etc. Well, my car has only a tape player, the option of audio books on tape are becoming more and more limited. So, for a while, I would listen to tapes. That was cool. Then, my tape player stopped working. So, for approximately 2 years, I didn't listen to any tapes, I listened to the radio. Also, turns out that grown-up me also has a problem with getting things back to the library on time. And as the librarian told me oh so sweetly just a month ago, when I went to a library I haven't been to since high school ( I have library cards for 2 libraries), that the computer never forgets. There was a reason I hadn't been there in 3 years, I didn't want to pay the fine for the 5 books I had surreptitiously dropped in the night deposit 1.5 weeks late.
Next, on my attempts to listen to books was Audible. If you haven't heard of Audible, you should know about it. It is great! For a monthly fee, you get 1 credit a month toward any audio book of your choice. Now, these audio books are read by extremely talented people, they are top-notch! After you use your free credit, depending on the level of your Audible subscription, you get a discount on the rest of the books you want that month. The credits roll over, and the books are yours to keep. It is really cool! I kept seeing offers for a month free from Audible, so finally I went to check it out (this was in December, well December 23 to be exact). The first book I listened to was "Divergent" by Veronica Roth, I couldn't stop. With the handy app, I could listen to it while I was gathering eggs, with no wifi connection, while I was driving, while I was cleaning, anything. I was instantly hooked, on Audible and on the series. I went through the entire series in a week and a half, that's approx. 11 hrs per book. The best thing about Audible, is that you can speed up the reading time, it doesn't affect how it sounds, but you can shorten the time. I preferred 1.25 speed vs. 1.5 speed. So for example, at speed 1, you listen to the book for 10 hrs, and 1.5 you listen for 5. It's pretty nice.
The real problem about Audible is this. I just don't have the money to buy audio books plus a monthly fee. I can't justify it. I loved every moment I spent listening to books through Audible, but I didn't continue my subscription. I knew that I would not be able to use Audible. All that to say this, if you want to, there are plenty of offers out there to listen to a free audio book from Audible, and it is well worth the free trial!!!!! Keep your eyes open, some of the offers give 2 credits instead of one. And then, if you have money for it, you will probably be hooked! It is a great service!
Next, I started thinking, maybe I could borrow books on my phone. I Googled it, and found OverDrive. OverDrive has made me so happy that there aren't even words! Seriously! With it, I can borrow an audio book from my library, listen to it, and then return it, all on my phone. It is so nice! There are a couple of cons. Sometimes I have to wait if someone else has the book I want checked out. The quality may not be as good as Audible. You can't adjust reading time, and I kind of start to lose interest after a lot of hours listening to the same voice. The app is not the easiest to understand, it took me a while to figure it out. So far, in the past 2 weeks, I've listened to a book and a half. I really am enjoying the service, and it's all free! Which is perfect for me.
When I found OverDrive, I was thrilled. I assumed that my small town library would not utilize this service, so I immediately tried to use the library card for the larger library. I had forgotten my pin. When I went to the library and was reminded that the 'computer never forgets fines' they had given me a new pin, written it down on a brochure. I threw it away, of course, not expecting to need it. Well, 3 weeks later I did. So, I call the library to request a pin. Well, I was informed that I would need to go into the library to get a new pin. They can't give account information over the phone. Turns out that these days library cards are as tough to get as credit cards (my sister moved back to the area and had to provide 3 proofs of residency to get hers) not only that, but apparently getting account information is even harder than it is to get credit card information, I can call the credit card company and find out my password. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I would prefer someone using my library card without my permission over my credit card. I mean really. This is unnecessary to say, but I was annoyed. I made a special trip to the library to get the pin. Later that evening I sat down with my phone to figure it out. I logged on, and after a long while, found that this 'big, city library' didn't have audio books on Overdrive. Then I searched for the smaller library, sure enough they had audio books!! When I went to the library website, they informed me that my pin was the last 4 digits of my card number. Which meant, instead of making a special trip to the library and getting all annoyed, I had an audio book to listen to with in 3 minutes! Yet another score for West Virginia! :)
So, with the use of OverDrive and of course the old fashioned way of reading, I think I will accomplish my goal of reading 100 books this year! With that I will leave you with a picture of my dresser, proving that my love of books is not dead yet (also, I'm messy).
- Do you like to read? If so, any weird book-loving stories?
- Any suggestions for my reading challenge?
