Audio books

I have shared my thoughts on the new wave of e-readers before (here if you missed it) but I have never experienced an audio book. However, with a six-hour bus ride across the Mid-West looming before me, and myself unable to read in a moving vehicle without becoming violently ill, I did something drastic. I loaded up my ipod nano with all of the Harry Potter audio books, read by Jim Dale.

The one I chose to listen to first was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because it is one of my favorites in the series and I wanted to brush up on it before I moved on to Deathly Hallows.

I do have a special place in my heart for the art of storytelling. My father read The Lord of the Rings series, yes all of them, to my two brothers and I when we were very young. He did voices for all of the characters and though I cannot remember everything from his reading, the story has a very special place in my heart.

Anyway, back to Harry Potter. Jim Dale does an amazing job of creating voices for all of the different characters, and has a beautiful narration voice as well. " So much so that even when I turned off my ipod, I could still hear him in my mind, narrating away about what I was doing. The only thing I couldn't stand was the way Dale had Hermoine whine "Haaaaarrrrryyy" every single time she says his name.

I have listened to a good chunk of Deathly Hallows after finishing my first audio book, but I am not sure how much I like this medium. I mean, for my travelling purposes, it was wonderful. And I suppose if I was the type to actually go to the gym it would be nice to be able to listen to something literary while on the elliptical. But I am just first and foremost a fan of the printed word. It is nice to have these audio books in my back pocket, but I think I will save them for when reading an actual book just isn't practical.

Do any of you readers listen to audio books regularly? Have any favorites? Any that you cannot stand?

French Milk

I picked up French Milk by Lucy Knisley along with I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley the day before I left for Italy. French Milk is described as a comic journal. It's the story of a girl who goes to Paris with her mother and lives there for a little over a month.

I've actually been meaning to pick this up for awhile. I stumbled across Lucy's blog one day and love her artwork. Her website is lucyknisley.com; check it out she's pretty awesome. She makes me giggle and want to kick myself into my own creative frenzy.

Anyway, back to her book. I liked it. I did feel like she didn't really deliver on the coming of age turmoil/deeper issues of facing adulthood, but she got me super excited about travelling and (sort of) excited about growing up. And really made me want to try fois gras. Her drawings were wonderful and the photos were beautiful. I read this in only a couple hours and then passed it on to my mom. She said she really enjoyed it too.

Perfect book if you are going to Europe and want a quick read to get you in the mood.