Audiobooks: My House Has Never Been So Clean

The days of audiobooks being for long car rides or marathon training are long gone.  With smartphones, apps, easy downloadables and expectations of frantic multitasking, the audiobook has moved from the car stereo and portable CD player to the palm of our hands and our back-pockets.   

Downloadable audiobooks are not just a trend; they are significant part of how readers now enjoy books. Here are just a few advantages to using downloadable audiobooks:  

1.     Great way to pad your Goodreads reading list.  It is true listening to a book is equivalent reading a book, so you can double or triple your book completion rate by listening to books while multitasking. Time to burn through that list of Classics that you have wanted to get back to since college.

2.     No need for dancing breaks. Listening to music is great for housecleaning, but in my case results in far too many dancing breaks; whereas, my hyper-focused audiobook listening frequently results in cleaning the same spot a few times. Who knew dusting could be so relaxing and thought-provoking?

3.     Spoken-language is beautiful. Hearing words read out loud is a different experience than reading silently in your read. Sometimes adults need to storytime too. Feels good all over.

4.     Audiobooks can make an average book great. A great audiobook reader takes the mundane and makes it spectacular. Case in point: Most of my book club thought that Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain was average to good. I initially gave it two thumbs-up until someone asked me, “Did you think the dog was talking to you?” Yes! Yes, I did.       

Enjoying audiobooks has never been so simple with products like Audible (a fee-based subscription service from Amazon); Overdrive (a free service available at most libraries with your library card) and OneClick (also a free service available at most libraries with your library card).    

Two Old Ladies and a Book Club

Two elderly ladies walk up to the reference desk, "Could you please show me where the book club kits are?"

I escort the women to the shelf with more than 30 kits and explain that each kit has 10 books and a manual with discussion questions, author information, and a sign-out sheet. I ask, "How many people do you have in your book club?"

First woman says, "About 7 or 8. Who knows how many we'll have by the meeting. They seem to be dropping like flies."

Second woman says, "Dying or quitting."

First woman says to second woman, "Dying. We lost one a few weeks ago. Do you want her spot?"

Banned Books Week: Celebrate Your Right to Read

Obscene, blasphemous, violent, smutty, gory, profane, and racially charged—this is how the censors describe some books. They say, “No.” They say you can’t read it. They say that they know better. They say they are protecting children and preserving values in the community. They say, “No.”

“Yes” is what I say.  Yes, you can have what you want to read. Ask me and I will do my best to give you “obscene, blasphemous, violent, smutty, gory, profane, and racially charged” if that is what you want. If that is not what you want, I will help you find what you do want.

I am public librarian. I will protect and defend your right to read whatever you want, even if you are a kid. I do this each and every day. But, this week is particularly special because it is Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. According to the American Library Association, more than 1,300 books have been challenged since the inception of the event.

This year, I am defending your right to read about underwear clad superheroes, gay penguins, bondage, ghosts and a potty-mouthed Native American. All these topics have been the subject of book challenges. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported. The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 were:

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

3. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group

4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

5. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group

6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

8. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
   Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence

9. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

10. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence