First Quarter Book Report — An Ode to the Audiobook

Well, we’re three months past the new year, time for a reading goal update. There’s just no way to sugar coat it, I’m not doing so well. I started off strong, but as Ryan’s vacation days grew further and further apart and as baby Genevieve started taking more and more of my brain power, I’m barely left the wherewithal to read the cooking instructions on frozen pizza.

Of course the greatest irony of being both pregnant and a parent to small children is that I spend all day tired but can’t sleep at night. I try not to watch movies or be on the computer late because it seems to keep me up longer, but I rarely have the energy or focus to read anymore. The last four books I’ve “read” were audiobooks. They’ve been a great solution to the problem of wanting to read but not having the mental energy to do so. And I have to say, it’s the most peaceful way to fall asleep. Thank goodness for  the sleep timer.

The downside, however, is that I am cheap and don’t want to pay for each audiobook I read. I have an Overdrive account set up through my local library which I enjoy and they indeed have a wide selection. Unfortunately, I can’t always find specific books I’m looking for, and unlike print books, I can’t request inner-library loans. To make the search selection slimmer, I’ve only really been able to handle listening to fiction. While I enjoy reading non-fiction, I have a harder time consuming them via audiobook. Maybe I just need to keep trying.

On to the actual report. To date, I’ve read 8 books, only one of which is on my Southern to-read list for the year, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor.  I just found Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find (and other stories) and The Moviegoer by Walker Percy on audiobook, so I should be able to check those off my list soon.

I have read one non-fiction, Get Me Out: A History of Birth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank  by Randi Hunter Epstein. I thoroughly enjoyed this cursory overview and was tickled to see the Wertzes in her bibliography. It was gratifying to come across information with which I was already familiar while also expanding my understanding and learning new opinions. I am still very much interested in birth history and hope to keep adding to my book repertoire after my pregnancy brain lets up a little — oh sweet irony. It has also given me a lot to think about in regards to what is considered a woman’s “right”. Maybe I’ll post more on that when I’m ready to poke a hornets nest.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep on keeping on with my audiobooks and hope my brain hasn’t turn to complete mush by the time I have a new newborn. We’ll see!