Reading is hardwork

I have never been much of a reader. For a brief period in college I fell head-over-heels for Chuck Palahniuk, but after a half dozen books and starting to feel like I was reading behind the typewriter with each new release, I kind of quit cold turkey. Sprinkled between the Palhniuk releases I read some of my favorite biographies, retrospectives, and cultural critiques, but once I was in the working world I lost the appetite to spend my free timing reading.

Since college I have read... But very sparsely. Some Vonnegut, some Dick, but just as before Palahniuk; if something didn't grab me within a few pages, I dropped it. It's always been something I wished I could embrace but I have never been able to sit still long enough and give myself over to trickling narratives and writing styles that didn't grab me right out the gate.

That is until I recently got sick of podcasts. I have been a podcast fiend since discovering Filmspotting in early 2007 and wanted something to listen to while bike commuting in San Francisco. For 13 years I fell deep in love with the modern revival of talk radio, but after a bakers dozen of solar circles I needed a break from the monotony. The problem is I still have LONG, solo drives built into my professional life; traversing the state to film assorted projects. I can do music for a while but my relationship with music hasn't been the same since my band broke up in college.

So what is available to fill the air? Audiobooks. They are the perfect solo drive filler. Yes, I have listened to plenty of audiobooks I'm the past but only as a novelty. Like when I drive the family dog to California. Or when a Filmmaker put out a book. This new bender is purely right moment with the right media. I've teetered on the edge of embarrassment for years over how little I read and how many society changing literary works I've been too lazy to pick up. But with OverDrive and Audible, my driving world has changed.

It feels weird saying I've read a book when I've actually listened to it, but setting that aside this has been a beautiful breath of fresh air. I started with my old, trusty Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, weaved in some lesser renowned Dick and Vonnegut, and now I'm starting to tread out into the literary landscape of authors that are celebrated but I've been indifferent too for decades.

I just listened to the uncut, 48 hour reading of Stephen King's "The Stand,"... in a week! That thing is epic and heavy. When I first started it, I was worried I was digging into a project that would extinguish my excitement with it's shear heft, but it's quite the opposite. The Stand is damn near a masterpiece and it makes me hungry to bite into other important literary works. Heck, it makes me want to write my own novel.

No, I don't see myself picking up any paperbacks anytime soon, but that is partly because it seems selfish to read a book instead of spending time with my infant daughter. Maybe when she's old enough to read herself I'll give hobby reading an honest try, but at the moment I'm loving this whole new adventure.

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