Audiobooks take me back

     I live in a small town and don't have much of a commute, but I do take lengthier trips once or twice a week. If I'm not in the mood to argue with public radio (yes, I'm an avid NPR listener, no, I do not agree with everything they air), I put in a CD and listen.  I don't have a particular genre I prefer hearing rather than reading.  Listening is a different experience, and it works for a wide variety of literature. 
     I recently listened to Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton. Ms. Marton is a familiar name to many of us.  She was a foreign correspondent through much of my adulthood, and was married to two quite prominent and influential men, journalist Peter Jennings and diplomat Richard Holbrooke. She loved them both, and she also loved Paris.
     I don't speak French. Two of my children do, though I can barely hear the nuances in that romance language. They tease me whenever I try to say something as mundane as crepe. I'm far more comfortable with the harder sounds of its synonym blintz.
     But back to the book. French and Hungarian flowed off the narrator's tongue. Though I would be hard pressed to mimic the narration, I became entranced in the story and the authentic language with which it was told.
     I remember hearing a radio program several years ago. Yes, it was on NPR. A college professor spoke about his life. He taught himself English by reading -- without having heard much spoken English at all. As a result, he knew he mispronounced some words, but since he was the professor, his students were loathe to correct him.  When he was learning English, audiobooks were few and far between, generally available only via libraries for the blind. Today, they are available in most every library, downloadable at no charge via many of those same libraries, and available for purchase from retail outlets.
     And they are an experience worth having. It takes me back to reading to my children. It takes me back to my mother reading to me.  And, when I'm listening to an audiobook, laughing out loud somehow seems imminently more acceptable than doing so while reading quietly. After all, I'm not breaking any silence.
     As a librarian, I think about access to information.  Access an audiobook.  It's a refreshing way to connect to the pages of a book.