Reading with My Ears

Years ago I started driving across Pennsylvania for my job as a quality assurance nurse for a company that owns nursing homes throughout the state. I discovered that driving on the PA Turnpike and Rt. 80 was mind-numbing and after several hours, even listening to my beloved Beatles got boring.

I decided to start listening to books on tape (and now CD) while on my business trips. I've even collected audio books of a mystery series: Lillian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who...series.   My darling daughter started me on this series, usually read by George Guidall. I fell in love with the characters and they helped me survive five to six hours of driving. The Stephanie Plum series by Jane Evanovich also became a favorite. I remember listening to one book right after breaking up with my long-term boyfriend and laughing out loud for the first time in days.

Tony Hillerman's Navajo/ Four Corners books became favorites, too. Morgan just gave me The Sinister Pig and I'm having a great time listening to the trials of Bernie Manuelito as a Border Patrol officer chasing down "coyotes" and illegal immigrants - very timely. I've been following the lives of "The Legendary Lt. Joe Leaphorn" and Jim Cee and learning about the area of the Navajo rez and the Navajo way for many years. I mourned Hillerman's death (like I'm mourning Larsson's) - I wanted more stories; selfish of me, I know.

Audio books helped me discover Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, J. A. Jance, three of my favorite mystery authors. Scottoline's themes are close to a woman's heart and Fairstein gives you New York City politics and history along with mystery. Many of Jance's mysteries are set in the Seattle area, a place that I've come to love.

As a writer I found that listening to books imprinted (almost magically) on my brain plotting, dialogue, pacing. The best audio book for writers, one I listen to at least once a year, is Stephen King's On Writing. This book, audio or print, should be required reading for every would-be-writer.

When I no longer have to drive across the state, I'll still be "reading with my ears."