Listening to Books

In my mind, there's nothing like reading a real book. My local library is excellent, so access isn't the problem as it is for some. I do end up schlepping tomes around when I could use a smaller electronic device, but it's not a real book.

I drive a lot where I live. While I can easily walk to town, I have to drive to appointments that are usually at least a half an hour away. Why not spend all that time listening to a book on CD? My husband and I had once listened to an an English mystery novel on a long road trip, and the experience was enjoyable enough. A couple of weeks ago, I took out A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. She's a great writer, introduced to me by my niece, Rebecca, who was one her students in the graduate program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Moore has a number of short story collections, of which I may have read, Like Life.

Briefly, A Gate at the Stairs, is about a young college student named Tassie who gets a part-time job as a babysitter for a middle aged couple who've adopted a mixed-race child. The themes in the book are many, including grief, loss, secrecy, anxiety and racism. Moore balances this with razor-sharp wit. I especially enjoyed her skewering of  restaurants with dishes that have way too many ingredients, and menus that describe them in all their ridiculous detail. This was fun to listen to, rather than read. Descriptions of the weekly meetings of the self-righteous inter-racial parent's group were hilarious. But still.

For the most part I'd rather read than listen to a book. It's easier to re-read passages for one thing instead of fiddling with the CD while driving to back it up. It depends upon the person who reads the book aloud, how different voices are used, and how well. I checked out a CD of stories by John Updike wich is going well perhaps because it's not a novel.

It turns out that as I was writing this post I went to see what Lorrie Moore book I have a signed copy of via my niece. Surprise! A Gate at the Stairs.