My new found goodie

Praise be the Lord. I have finally finished two audio books! Two! Can you believe that?

I have to say that audio books are AWESOME, especially for someone who doesn't have the time to pee, much less sit down and read a book. I'm sure a lot of my friends will say, yeah, DUH, didn't you know that? Audio books have been around forever!

Per has been telling me for months that I had to listen to the books in the car and on the way to work. He loves them and swears by them (when he's not on the Kindle or the iPad).

Last year...I mean LAST YEAR November, I downloaded the second Stig Larsson book on my iPod to listen to on the way to the U.S. with Keira. The reader was sooooooooo SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW. His voice was boring, he sounded like he just got out of remedial class for English speakers. He didn't change his voice to match the characters, there wasn't any excitement building and frankly...I was bored out of my skull...it seemed that I always found something else better to do. I ploughed through the audio book because I thought that the first book was so great (which I read in Norwegian, mind you) and wanted to finish the series. I just finished it last week.

This week, I started on a David Baldacci book, called True Blue. It had been burning a hole in my iPad since last year also, but I couldn't exactly begin a new one without having finished the old book. Let me tell you. Listening to this book has changed my whole outlook on audio books. I was so down on them because I had such a bad experience with the Stig Larsson book.

But this one, on the other hand, held me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. When I heard how quickly the guy read and how he changed voices according to the characters, I was so very pleasantly surprised. And the piece the resistance was when the music came on at the end of every major section...it was this crescendo building music like what you hear in a soap opera right before they go to a commercial. I found myself feeling mildly irritated when the music came on because I half expected that a commerical break was coming. Of course, there wasn't a commercial break, but that's how it felt.

Baldacci wrote in some shooting and bombing scenese and even car chasing scenes and the sounds matched the scene. I felt like I was actually there when one of the characters was about to get her ass kicked by a drug gang.

I am sold on audio books. So, last night, I wanted more..more and more. With great hesitation, we downloaded the last Stig Larsson book "The Girl Who Kickced the Hornet's Nest." Why? Because if I didn't listen to it as an audio book, then I probably will never finish the book. It's about 24 hours long. A painful, slow 24 hours long. I'm not looking forward to listening to the guy, but I am looking forward to hearing the story. It may turn out that I can't stand him anymore and just try to read the book.

On the other hand, we've downloaded a new Baldacci book and I can't wait to get started. I just can't decide which one I should start first!!!

Decisions. Decision. :)