Booksquare

What with one thing and the other, we don’t get as much reading done as we should*. For the past year or so, we have tried to figure out how a person without a day job works so many…days. It’s like every time we turn around, we’re heading for this office or that office. This is wrong on so many levels (not the least of which is the fact that all this to-ing and fro-ing wreaks havoc on our afternoon naps).

For a while, we tried listening to books-on-tape at the gym — actual cassettes. Which, it turns out, they still manufacture. Go figure. It seemed inevitable that the tape would end mid-workout, not necessarily the most convenient time to pop back home and get the next in the series. Then we hit upon a brilliant plan. Whining. When one whines effectively, one gets an iPod and a subscription to Audible. Oh sure, we had to make vague promises about, uh, curbing our hardcopy book purchases, but, as with all things, what certain people don’t know won’t hurt them.

All of this is really irrelevant to our point, but we’ve forgotten what that was, so we’re filling time until something pops up. Hmm. Yes, it appears this is one of those thoughts that is well and truly gone. Audiobooks, MP3, iPod — all things that combine to seduce readers into the wonderful world of books.

* – When one is an addict, one needs a regular fix. Without said fix, one gets crabby. Actually, the word used by certain family members to describe our mood is stronger, but we are trying to contribute to the elevation of discourse and all that.

• A novel use for iPods: Audio books have shaken off their image as something to listen to when you’re ill in bed. Now the MP3 generation is driving a revolution in stories that can be enjoyed on the go