Working on New Listening Skills

K – Y – W, News raaadio, ten sixtyyyyy

Whenever I participate in WWW Wednesday, I am always blown away at the amount of books other people are reading.  There are a lot of dedicated readers out there that are not only reading a ton of books – they are reading a ton of books AT ONE TIME.

I don’t know how they do it.  At most I have read two books at once.  I used to read my non-fiction books when I would have to shadow Declan around the house.  The little bugger never sat still and was always getting himself into unsafe situations or destroying things (on accident).  Declan really did take stay at home parenting to a whole new level.  I couldn’t do anything else, and since I don’t really prefer non-fiction, I could put just as much attention into the book while a level of my brain was focused on Declan.  When I finally got some ME time, well, that was when I sat cozied up with my fiction story.

I realized a lot of the books people are reading are audiobooks.  They’re LISTENING to the stories being read to them.  For a while I had questioned if that was considered actually READING a book since there was no actual book involved, but for all intents and purposes they are hearing a story when otherwise they would not.

Me, I have book rules.  I want to hold my book.  I want to see how many pages are left in my story.  When things get too hard – when I find my character in a tough situation, emotionally or physically – and it’s just TOO much for me to take!  Well, I usually skim through the rest of the paragraph until safe waters are reached again. 

Heck, I even like the smell of my book.  Weird?  Yeah, maybe.   

So, I’ve never even read a book on a kindle or reader.  Pssshaaw…. Not for me.  I have book rules.

But there is a benefit to listening to a story – I could get through more.  On the last WWW Wednesday, a book was recommended to me as an audiobook.  That the reading of the story was SO good, this was the medium to (I’m sorry, no offense – it’s the whole absence of book thing) “read” this book.  And I began thinking.  I spend hours in the car, per day, driving.  I would say ninety percent (or more) of the time I am listening to nothing.  I love the silence.  I have kids that have big reactions and they blow my mind sometimes.  So, silence in solitude is something I enjoy.  But I like stories, too.

Then I began to wonder if I could listen to a story.  Me.  Miss Reader. 

Another line the kids hear me say whenever they ask for help with their homework: “You can read me the question a thousand times, but I will never comprehend it until I read it.”  I usually get a grunt and eventually the book or paper with the question is placed before me, but it’s true, I can’t comprehend what’s being said.  I need to read it.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting, What to Expect the First Year, What to Expect the Toddler Years – yeah, that’s how I learned about parenting.

 

 

So, could I “read” and audiobook? 

My thoughts flew back to a time I had an hour commute to work.  I didn’t listen to music then either.  While the kids were in the backseat watching SpongeBob on the portable DVD player on their way to daycare, I listened to 1060, our local news radio station. 

The news looped every 10-15 minutes, so the same stories were being repeated.  Did I HEAR them all the first go around?  I’m not sure.  But by the time I got to work I had listened to the same news stories four or five times and could say I knew the top news stories.  I could listen to a book too, then, right?

I’ve decided to give it a try.  I’m going to try and listen to an audiobook.  I’m not really sure how to get one, but one thing I have learned is that there is probably a book on it, and I can figure it out.