Tampa Book Buzz

the joy of audiobooks

This week at my Real Job (much less fun than blogging, but it pays the bills) I had to clean out a departing coworker’s office and get things ready for a new employee. This boring task was enlivened by playing Finders Keepers. I figured any personal possessions left behind were abandoned on purpose. So in addition to a jump-out-and-startle-you Halloween decoration left strategically in the middle of the desk to scare the new person, I took home Skipping Christmas by John Grisham on CD. Unabridged, of course — if it were abridged, I would have left it for the new person myself.

I’m about 3/4 of the way through it and I was already familiar with the basic plot based on previews of the movie version Christmas with the Kranks. It’s an amusing story of a couple who, because their daughter is in Peru with the Peace Corps, decide to forgo the rituals, stress and expenses of Christmas and take a cruise instead. Of course, everyone in their social circle, neighborhood and practically their whole town is shocked and angered by their decision.

I am having the most fun listening to it in my car. Part of the reason is because I’m enjoying the story, but part of the reason is because I’ve discovered how to read more in my severely time-challenged life. I drive 30 minutes to work each way, every day, which means I have five hours every week when I could be listening to a book instead of singing along to the radio or getting depressed listening to the news. Five hours! As soon as I finish blogging today, I’m going to the library’s website and checking out their audiobook selection. (Unabridged, of course. Abridged doesn’t count.)