Dog Days of Summer

The dog days of summer are here and the heat has taken its toll. All I want to do is lay around and read or listen to my mp3 player. The best of both worlds are the downloadable audiobooks or the mp3-cds that I can listen to and while away the hours. If you haven't tried them yet, they are wonderful. Through Overdrive or Netlibrary (available through the library website), I can download books to listen to on my mp3 player. With the mp3-cds, I can listen to the cds in my car while driving without having to download them. For some reason, I've tried new authors and genres with the audios, and I have discovered some new favorites.

Robert Dugoni writes stories that are similar to John Grisham, and I found myself not wanting to turn off the car to listen to just a little more of the action.

J.D. Robb writes a futurisitic cop series with a female lead that is set about 50 years in the future. The good thing about this series is that there are currently over 25 titles in the series so I have many hours of pleasurable listening to look forward to.

Stephanie Laurens is another prolific writer who pens historical romances. She has several series, the most recognized one being about the Cynster family. Fiesty heroines, commanding leading men and a dash of sensuality -- makes those hot days a little warmer.

I've even dabbled in some non-fiction titles, primarily histories or biographies. Barack Obama's biography was intriguing, and I really enjoyed learning about the culture of Afghanistan in "Kabul Beauty School: an American Woman Goes Behind the Veil" by Deborah Rodriguez.

So, take the heat out of the hot days of summer with some frosty and enjoyable audios. There's no bookmarks to lose and no heavy lifting with mp3-cds or downloadable audiobooks.

End of Summer Reading

Summer reading is at an end, and I am truly exhausted. Last year I read 40 books, but this year I managed to only read 25. That ends up being about 3 books a week. I know that sounds like a tremendous amount, but it is my number one past time. I read an hour before bed each night and also find time to read while watching (listening to) tv, eating, and even sometimes at traffic lights. Its an addiction. I also took the easy way out this year and read around 10 romance novels and 10 science fiction novels. I wasn't reading Proust or any heavy literature, that is for sure! I am sure, however, that I will get on one of those kicks again when I see another best 100 books list such as Entertainment Weekly's The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008 (I've read 20) or Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of All Time (I've read 12 of the editors picks, 29 of the readers). And if I really want to make myself feel better about percentages of books read, I can always take a look at the top 100 science fiction--I've read 45 of those.