Confessions of a Bookslut

Or, What Haven‘t I Done?

I get around a lot.

But shockingly, there’s a lot out there I haven’t done.

First, I have never listened to an audiobook. Secondly, I have not yet read Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series. I know, I know!! Bear with me here.

Last month, I did something amazing. Something unbelievable. Something naughty. I signed up for Audible.com. The first thing I downloaded was Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark. I got sucked in (haha, get it?). Now I got it bad, for both audiobooks and Ms. Harris alike.

But aren’t audiobooks just for listening while driving? Au contraire, dear readers! I thought that too, not so long ago. Dead Until Dark, a delightful 8 hours, kept me entertained while I:

• walked/played with the dog
• worked in the garden
• prepped and cooked dinner
• tried to fall asleep
• folded laundry
• prepared boring spreadsheets at work
• drove

Now, normally, I would never be able to read while doing some of these things. Many a time have I wished I could walk the pup while reading a book (though I have a feeling it would end in disaster). Of course, for safety, I walk with only one earbud in so I can still hear what is going on around me.

This has been a breakthrough. Of course, I knew audiobooks existed, but for some reason (mostly $$) I never really got into them. I am furious at myself now for not experimenting earlier! When I was in college, it was a 3 hour drive to get home to see my parents. The time wasted trying to figure out new radio stations when I could have been immersed in a book! While driving! Ugh. Well now I know better. Now, with a long distance wedding coming up next month, a lot of driving, and a dog that needs exercised, I couldn’t be happier about this choice.

Now. On to to Sookie. Did I mention I really enjoyed Dead Until Dark?

Charlaine Harris is both hilarious and deadly, in the same instant. Dead Until Dark tells the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a cocktail waitress in a small town in Louisiana. She has a certain “disability” (reading thoughts) that makes relationships very difficult. While Sookie’s world is similar to ours, hers includes vampires, who “came out of the coffin” several years prior. When vampire Bill Compton first sets foot in the bar where Sookie works, she only hears silence, as opposed to the yammering thoughts she has to continually block out. To her, this magical silence is a godsend, and she continues to see Bill, until women begin turning up dead. Women who have had previous relationships with vampires. In such a small town, Bill’s arrival and the coincidental timing with the murders sets tongues wagging, and it’s up to Sookie to figure what is going on, before she becomes one of the murderer’s next victims.

The book is at times terrifying and funny, and I found myself loving Charlaine’s writing. She goes from extreme to extreme with barely a thought, and reader has no choice but to haplessly follow along. There are laugh out loud scenes, steamy sex scenes, and utterly frightening scenes. She writes all with ease and then links them together for a thoroughly satisfying read.

What made this first time experience even better was the narrator. Listening to a book adds a fun new element–voice. The narrator was just as I would imagine Sookie–a honeyed southern accent that voiced all the other characters with ease.

If you loved library time in grade school, check out audiobooks. You won’t regret it.