I have less time for reading these days, which is good and bad. It's good because I'm busier doing other things I want to be doing (watching CRjr eat, for example, continues to be a joy) and don't want to be doing (good lord, I could mop the floor under CRjr's highchair every day and my floor would still be sticky). I can't complain about any of that.* It's bad because, well, I miss reading.
So lately I thought maybe I would get some books on audiobook, and that way I could listen to some nonfiction while I did other tasks like cleaning and cooking and even playing with CRjr. This plan, however, is failing spectacularly, for a variety of reasons.
The first book I tried was Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia, which got great reviews. I listened to about three CDs of this one, and the book did seem interesting, but Frazier himself read it, and that was a huge mistake. His voice is okay, but he's got that over-enunciation thing that people who are not natural performers have. (Maybe natural performers have that problem too, if they're not very practiced in reading for recording.) And the subject's just not interesting enough to me to keep on keeping on. The only time I really perked up was when Frazier described meeting an American journalist in Russia who couldn't believe that Frazier was in love with the place--the journalist complained about nothing in Russia working, and he did so using a lot of "fuck"s. Now, I know that Matt Taibbi spent many years in Russia working as a journalist, and I know he loves to swear, so now I'm dying to know if that was Matt Taibbi. How can I find that out, short of emailing either author?
The other book I tried was Chris Hedges's Death of the Liberal Class, which I really wanted to read. Unfortunately, I started listening to it while I was trying to sort hand-me-down clothes from my sisters' kids for CRjr**, and while CRjr was playing in the room. And here's something I'm learning about parenting: even if you take what you think is going to be a braindead job like marking and sorting clothes, it takes just enough of your brain to make it impossible to focus on a book on tape. So I couldn't focus on the Hedges book, and it will have to go back too.
So we're back to listening to music CDs. CRjr seems relieved, particularly when I play Dan Wilson. He loves Dan Wilson.
*Okay, maybe I can complain about the cleaning. I HATE cleaning. And as a person with a high filth tolerance, it's sometimes more work to convince myself of the value of cleaning than it is to actually clean.
**Which I really appreciate, as the only thing I hate more than cleaning is shopping.
Hey, CR! Using a lot of "fuck"s does sound like Taibbi, but I always had the sense he loved Russia and its people. I think he even played baseball there for a while. That doesn't mean he still didn't hate things not working.
Re: housecleaning. I like to surf the web trying to find ideas how to do it faster than actually doing it.
Posted by: Venta | 19 September 2011 at 08:48 AM
Venta,
Yes, I don't think he really hated Russia--I think he probably loved it, and was therefore all the more disappointed when things went wrong. I'll have to rewrite that bit to make it clearer, I think.
Ugh, housecleaning. I've even given up reading books about it.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 19 September 2011 at 09:13 AM
Citizen -- I know exactly what you mean. I lost track of the plot in a romance audiobook while doing nothing more than mere dusting. Weird. I can *drive a car*, but not dust my house, while doing the audiobook listening thing.
Posted by: Unruly Reader | 19 September 2011 at 10:48 PM
Unruly,
Well, I AM rather relieved to hear it's not just me. And not just NF. I wondered if maybe some fiction wouldn't be easier to follow. I still may try that.
Be careful driving your car while you listen! :)
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 20 September 2011 at 02:24 PM
LOL! I remember turning on an NPR program while sorting and marking baby clothes. Apparently, I could barely manage that because somehow the sharpie ended up in the rocking chair and my daughter found it when she was supposed to be napping and. . .well. . .you can guess what happened next. (At least I wasn't so upset that I couldn't take a picture of the destruction before dissolving into tears.)
Thank you for the lovely thank you note, by the way! That was very sweet of you!
Posted by: Phaedosia | 20 September 2011 at 04:06 PM
Phaedosia,
Ha! That's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. I wish my boy would find my Sharpies for me, even if destruction ensued--I seem to keep losing Sharpies. And my keys. And work projects. And my mind. :)
Thank YOU for letting me Skype with you and for the library swag. I'm using the mug as we speak!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 21 September 2011 at 09:03 AM
I agree with you about Travels to Siberia. It was interesting, but Frazier's reading didn't add to it at all. It drove me crazy how he kept misprounouncing Farley Mowat's name.
Posted by: Shonna | 07 October 2011 at 07:29 PM
Shonna,
Yes, I couldn't believe that after the publishers heard him reading, they didn't decide they needed to go another way. Especially when they heard him mispronouncing Farley Mowat's name! That's just wrong.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 09 October 2011 at 09:14 PM