Audio books have changed my life! What did I ever do before them? How did I keep up on all my necessary reading? Since I got my new car - the first one I've ever had with a CD player in it - I have totally overcome my road rage and actually volunteer to drive everywhere so that I can submerge myself in a great book. Having someone read to you is one of life's ultimate pleasures and many times the reader can make or break a book. Hint, most authors are NOT great readers. Go figure.

I'm about 3 disks into Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. This isn't the type of book I normally read but it's gotten such wonderful reviews and was an ALA Notable pick this year so I took a shot and am glad I did. The reader is Kirby Heyborne and his British accent is just so perfect that the personality of 13 year old Jason Taylor, whose coming of age tale is the subject of the novel, just jumps through the speakers! Drivers on the dreaded route 41 must be wondering what the heck is going on in my car because I'm just roaring with laughter most of the time. This book reminds me somewhat of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was another great listen.

My library system now offers something else that's really neat - downloadable audio books. My mp3 player is my new favorite toy, a Christmas gift from my dear friend Don. Without it I would never be able to exercise as much as I do - walking for walking's sake just doesn't cut it for me. But, if I can listen to books in perfect stereo, I can keep up a good steady heart rate boosting walk for 45 minutes to an hour just about every day that I can find the time. I can't tell you how many fabulous books have gotten me around the block over the past several years. Of course, one of the reasons I can't tell you is because I don't remember, but that's another story!

Last night I started listening to Nelson DeMille's Wildfire. It had me at "hello." Read by one of the best, Scott Brick, who was recently a presenter at our library's 8th annual reading festival, this book represents my guilty little secret. I LOVE suspense novels! I'm almost sorry I'm going out to dinner tonight - yeah, right, - as I'll miss an hour of DeMille. If you read Night Fall you'll remember the husband/wife, FBI agent duo who narrowly missed being annihilated at Windows on the World on Sept. 11th. John Corey and Kate Mayfield are back, working an anti-terrorism task force that must stop a right wing conspiracy (I just had to use that term) that's intent on pulling the United States into a nuclear conflagration. Sound too close for comfort? Read it and weep.