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Book Blogger Lunch

Yesterday, a group of us bloggers met for lunch in Santa Barbara. Helen, offered up her home, which was very nice of her, and we had a fabulous time. The Hub and kids dropped me off at her house and then headed to the beach. Don’t you love it? I go off to enjoy “me” time and send the Fam to the beach. We met up for dinner later though.

Top Row, Left to Right:

Florinda – The 3 R’s
Jill/Softdrink – Fizzy Thoughts
Amy – My Friend Amy
Leah – Amused by Books

Bottom Row, Left to Right:

Helen – Helen’s Book Blog
Danielle & her son Jase – There’s a Book
Me

After lunch, some of us headed over to Chaucer’s Books on State Street. I visit Santa Barbara all the time but have never been to Chaucer’s so it was a real treat.

Chaucer's Books Santa Barbara

Chaucer's Books @

Books

What I Purchased:

Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I am working through Orwell’s lesser known works. I really enjoyed Coming Up for Air so I have high hopes for this one as well. As for Lord of the Flies, it’s one of my favorite books, but the copy I own is falling apart so I picked up this version which includes an introduction by E.M. Forster.

Sunday Salon

Today, I plan to finish Invisible. It’s one of those very strange books that sort of resembles an acid trip, or what I think an acid trip would be like since I’ve never actually dropped acid. Later, lunch with the Fam and then tonight I am sneaking away for dinner with some friends from book club. I know! I am once again abandoning the children. The shame.

Tomorrow, I start my Contemporary Lit class. It’s wonderful because I am not taking it for credit so I should be able to really enjoy it and not feel pressured by it.

On Tuesday, I will be reading the book that everyone will be reading. I just wish I had taken the day off from work. It will be hard to read it while I work.

Oh well, off to eat some breakfast. Hope you have a great Sunday!

Many years ago, someone in my book club stated that she “listened” to her books instead of reading them. At the time, I was shocked by the statement. Why would anyone join a book club only to have someone read the story to them?

Now, years later, and with a much heavier schedule, I still find myself leaning toward traditional reading but I can easily see why audio books are so popular. But, having a story read to me leaves little to the imagination. I know there are exceptions. There are some really fabulous narrators out there and they manage to paint quite the scene in their delivery of the story, but it’s still their interpretation of the story, isn’t it?

Intonation, dramatic pauses and the like would probably be different if you read the book yourself. In turn, the experience would be different. At least that’s what I believe. Not necessarily better, I want to make that clear, but different. The process of seeing the words, processing their meaning and the actual formulation of thoughts would be different. I think about the story while listening to an audio book but it’s not active listening…it’s passive and I will catch bits of meaning here and there.

On the rare occasion that I do listen to a book on audio, I do include it in my reading stats. So this isn’t a conversation about whether or not they count. But, is listening to a book considered reading? What do you think? And for those of you who use audio books often, what do you like about them beside the obvious time-saving aspects?

Chatting with friends about books and life…