You hate to read but you like a good story. Unfortunately, tape decks are out of style and only CDs are accepted in the world. Enter Simon and Schuster Audio, who take away the doldrums of a long car ride with repeating radio stations or the painstaking task of reading until the words blue on the page.
Simon and Schuster has alleviated the problem for students who have no time to sit down to read. The books are even downloadable to the sleek white iPods that most students sport. So aside from providing background to toilet cleaning and road trip adventures, audiobooks can be listened to when students are exercising or even walking to class.
STORIES
Debuting are three college-inspired audiobooks, including two nonfiction titles and one fiction title, which make up a range of three to six CDs each. The first nonfiction title is the unabridged version of Lewis Black’s Nothing’s Sacred. Read by Black himself, the audio is his angry humor about the world and everything in it. Hilarious and subversive, Black examines his experiences and how they have shaped him.
The second audiobook is the nonfiction title of Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Using humor and wit, Vowel describes an American political murder as the story unfolds. Read by herself and a few guest readers such as Stephen King, Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien, the narrative is both entertaining and informational.
The only fiction-based compilation of the three, edited by David Sedaris, is group of classic children’s narratives. Entitled Children Playing Before A Statue of Hercules, Sedaris uses his voice along with others to communicate classics by Tobias Wolff, Amy Hempel and Akhil Sharma. Dancing around themes of love and betrayal, the stories are aimed more toward the old rather than the young.
Visit a local bookstore and entertain your mind with more than just tunes about lickin’ the lolli.
Joanna Davila can be contacted at j.davila1@umiami.edu.