Listening to Audio Books While Driving around Los Angeles

I started listening to audio books mainly because with age, I have a hard time reading words on pages without my reading glasses, so spontaneous reading just doesn't happen anymore as it used to. I have to say though, I enjoy audio books tremendously.

I binge read/listened to five books over two weeks recently. 

A couple of weeks ago, I read In the Woods by Irish writer Tana French.  I was hooked enough that I wanted to get a hold of Tana French's four other novels. I found that Los Angeles Public Library didn't have all the books available to borrow on Overdrive e-Media. But, I did find two of French's books: The Likeness and Faithful Place available on Audible.com.  Audible is now a service provided by Amazon. However, the monthly subscription to it is $14.95 and I can only download one free book per month.  Additional books cost extra. This is a bit too steep especially if I am willing to wait for the audio books to be available for borrowing through the public library for free. However, Audible currently has a promotion that allows me to sign up, download two free audio books and cancel within one month and not be charged the monthly subscription fee if I choose. I wanted to check out Audible, so I downloaded the two free audiobooks onto my Samsung Galaxy Player. You can download it onto your tablets, ipad, or ipods, or smart phones.

Overdrive allows me to connect to many public libraries I am a member of and borrow from their extensive e-media catalog.  The drawback is that the public libraries have limited licenses to lend out the downloadable audiobooks, and I sometimes have to place a popular book on hold and wait in queue until someone returns his or her borrowed copy.  When available, I am notified by email that I can download the audio book. For the most part, this is not a problem because I can always find an available book to listen to while I put a hold on a book I want and wait patiently in queue. Once downloaded, I have three weeks to listen to the book. When the three weeks is up, the book is automatically returned to the library via the internet. I never have to worry about late fees.

Audible requires that I download an app to listen to my downloaded books. That was easy enough.  I used Playstore to download the app onto my Samsung Player. The experience was similar to Overdrive Media, quite pleasant. I own the books I downloaded and as far as I know, I don't have to return them. This makes sense: the $14.95 subscription fee allows me to own the books I download.

I did find the fourth book in the series: Broken Harbor, available as a hard back in the LA Public Library, so I read it the old fashioned way, turning the pages, with my reading glasses on. Just when I finished reading Broken Harbor, the final and most recent book by French, Secret Place, became available on Overdrive Audiobooks through the LA Public Library.

After finishing all five books, I came to the conclusion that I may like Audiobooks over reading hard copies of books, or reading e-books. The reasons? 1. I don't have to worry about not seeing the words if I don't have my reading glasses with me. 2. I can listen to the audio books anywhere: while driving, while eating lunch, while cooking, etc. 3. While I might miss some nuances during the readings if I am distracted, for the most part, I am forced to listen to every word and can get the descriptive details the author intended so much more. It is hard to jump ahead with the app not knowing what I am missing. When reading a real book though, I get so engrossed in the plot and would often skip descriptive lines or paragraphs and jump ahead just to find out what's next in the plot.

In my book, these are great reasons to listen to audio books.

Open Past Midnight: Side Show Books

After "A Letter to Momo" at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles, it was close to midnight. We walked out of the theatre into the dark side street where our car was parked.  A few steps away, a quaint stand alone building was lit up in the darkness with welcoming strands of mini light bulbs.  A display stand outside the open door ways announces: "SideShow Rare Remarkable Books, Art and Curiosities".

photo by Boffinart

The store that was open at midnight conjures up images of bookstores from literature such as Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, or the toy/curio store from The Invention of Hugo Cabret, where one might find books or objects that open up a new world. Here at Side Show Books, we founds old movie posters, matchbooks, old scripts, signed art books, paintings, original pulp fiction, comic books, music scores, and much more.

My daughter bought a copy of Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger for $3.  Hubby couldn't resist ponying up $150 for an old movie poster of "The Cincinnati Kid" with Steve McQueen.

Well, there weren't any real magical occurrences there or even a mysteriously ancient bookseller. Yet the fact that the store was just there, open past midnight and beckoning to the night owls, was a treat in itself.

Sideshow Books: 11323 Idaho Ave Los Angeles, CA 90025‎(310) 428-4631

Imagined Worlds: Donald Evans' World of Stamps

A while ago, my friend Julia lent me a copy of "The World of Donald Evans" by Willy Eisenhart. I liked it so much, I kept it for a couple of  years, and finally returned the book to her last year.  Because the book is so unique, I went and bought a copy of it for myself.

Donald Evans was an American artist who painted postage stamps and cataloged them in a compilation called "Catalogue of the World". The stamps are of fictitious countries with their own history, geography, climate, currency and customs.

Displayed on the pages of The World of Donald Evans are exquisitely drawn postage stamps of imagined countries in imagined worlds. Evan's attention to details can be seen in his taxonomic elaborations of his invented stamp collections. Plants, fruits and objects of one imagined country, quilt designs of another, all demonstrate the research and detail Evans placed in his art.

Stamps from the republic of Banana

Stamps of quilts from the Tropides Islands.

Check it out. One can't help but be mesmerized at the wild imagination of a non-existent yet orderly world and at the same time, be impressed with the artistry of Evans' work.

Arcana Books on the Arts: A New Book Store on the Westside

Coffee table book about Chinese junks

Not too long ago, I discovered this new book store in Culver City: Arcana Books on the Arts. http://www.arcanabooks.com/. This independent book store carries everything you can imagine about art. While browing the shelve: If there is a trend in art, there's an art book documenting it, and you can find it at Arcana.

Ever since the big chain book stores such as Barnes and Noble, Borders, Brentano's, and Crown Books left my neighborhood, it seems like only the small and specialty book stores are still hanging in there. Sam Johnsons Book Shop, which is a used book store, Children's Book World, catering to kids, and now, Arcana.

Tattoo of 1970s Tokyo

I miss the feeling of being able to browse a book store's physical books, flip through the pages, and read the covers to sample the content. It's just different browsing on line.  I have to admit, too often I end up going on the internet to buy books at a much cheaper price than at book stores. Sometimes, I just go to the library to borrow books. I admit, this habit of chasing less expensive books are probably what contributed to the demise of brick and mortar book stores. But then again, who wants to over pay for something that most don't have the space to keep and will donate or toss after they're done reading it? I used to think that any book is worth keeping. I don't think that anymore.

But Arcana found a niche: While most of its books are brand new and can probably be found cheaper on the internet, some of the art books are probably out of print already and are just so gorgeous too look at that you can't help but make an impulsive purchase. The beautify art work depicted is just too irresistible to browse over and over again, and I would think twice before tossing them, knowing they are probably hard to find elsewhere.  (I have to admit though, no matter how great the photography is of original art work, it can't compete with the original art objects hanging on walls, or wherever they come from).

This Christmas, I will make a special effort to support my neighborhood book stores and purchase Christmas presents from them lest they disappear from my neighborhood too.

Buy a book as a gift this holiday season!