Would you like some cake with your Maupin?

...or aka "An Ode to Audiobooks"

I had been in between audio books until late last week.  That was causing a big problem in my running routine. Little did I know that listening to a little CAKE would bring me back 25 years to San Francisco.  Not really San Francisco, but the life of Armistead Maupin's characters in Tales of the City.  Yes, way before I became a librarian, I was addicted to those characters (you know I'm a character girl) and could not put down any of those books circa my life in the early 1990s.

About that same time, I discovered "Cake."  Sort of a funk, rock, country band that you may have heard of when they made a remake of "I Will Survive."  I loved, still love, their first album from 1994.  That was a good year.  I had a boyfriend (my husband). I was in graduate school for health education at the University of Maryland. And I was having a ton-o-fun.  CDs were the rage and I was listening to my "Motorcade of Generosity" on loop (if you could even do that back then).

I still love those songs but boy has a sea of guilt fell over me my last few runs.  I was not listening to a book! How could I just listen to music?  I'm always reading, thinking, doing something related to my job.  As it was, while I was enjoying my "Cake" I was editing this blog post in my head.  Whatever. That's how I roll and I'm still loving that I'm humming these songs days later.

Audiobooks All Around

Today's NYT Book Review reviewed several new audiobooks including Becoming Madeline: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters. The book is written by her granddaughters and read by them.  Only 2 1/2 hours long, this would be a good choice for a shorter road trip or just a week driving around town.

My friend and colleague, Dr. Jen Cannell, had an article published in the most recent issue of School Library Connection on ebooks and audiobooks.  She includes some great tips on how to keep "the reading momentum going throughout the summer." I heavily rely on Overdrive for my audiobooks on my road trips and when I want to read a book "instantly" after midnight and I'm hundreds of miles from home.

My Audiobook Slides

Thursday I presented my love for books at a recent workshop.  I couldn't leave out my passion for audiobooks and my crushes on the characters and readers.  Have I ever mentioned my crush on Michael Crouch's voice before?  I never met a book read by him that I didn't like.

And on that note, I have chores to do and a run to squeeze in before the rain falls again.  No more guilt--I have a book to listen to!

*ps-I just realized I titled that slide, "I run to YA" and included Lily and Dunkin on that one. Lily and Dunkin is really middle grade.  This slide really was about the readers--I listened to Perks of Being a Wallflower right after we saw Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway and Noah Galvin was our Evan.  Noah is the reader for this book.  Michael Crouch reads Lily and Dunkin and Simon (see above!) 😉