Read A Book Today
Where will you read?
I visited the local library in 1990 after being inspired by a lady who came into school to read books from the library down the road. The library had a shelf of audiobooks locked away in a side room. The audiobooks were cassettes and sometimes they were not all in the case, which left the reader really wondering who done it. The introduction to audiobooks was one of the most life-changing moments of my life. I am not sure where this lady is today or if she still reads books to children at school, but I certainly owe her a big thank you. If she is not, she certainly should get back into it.
In 2025 things have changed dramatically I have been recently enjoying the Dolby sound audiobook range from audible. I have access to books anytime of the day. I have a collection of over a thousand digital downloads and the internet provides opportunity to find new authors. For any author having an off day or a dip in motivation the impact of a book is amazing to improve a person’s quality of life so keep going. As a person who has been visual impaired most of my life from listening to Andrew Sachs read Watership Down from Richard Adams to books like Bag Of Bones being brought to life by the author himself Stephen King, Stephen Fry with Harry Potter and Girl on the Train by India Fisher which was made in to a recent movie. The magic of a traditional library has never been lost.
for me personally even with so many digital channels to access information being amongst books is like standing in a doorway to anywhere you want to go and in to so many minds. I am unable to read printed books but still enjoy picking up a book and flicking the pages. Technology will allow pages to be scanned and text to be accessed by phones and tablets. However, I again personally find this more helpful with research and academic literature due to the technology sounding voices and navigation involved. The narrator of an audiobook can uplift an average book to excellent and reduce an excellent plot to a book that you will put down very quickly.
The journey of audiobooks is something that really does need to be celebrated from my early days of alternating library visits from C S Lewis and Gene Kemp as the range was so small as what is now available covering any topic. Books will be something that will continue to change my life over the coming months and years. I usually have a few books on the go at the same time listening to a chapter when I can at home or on the move. An amazing book can take a day with a few cups of coffee and a pack of biscuits to keep the energy levels up. I heard Stephen King once describe his mother as collecting and reading trashy easy to read novels, I would say that my normal approach to reading books is like Stephen Kings Mother with allot of mainstream authors making up my collection.
The minds of authors leave me inspired and worried at times but the insights, the inspiration, the hours of entertainment and the improved mental health and wellbeing a regular reader will experience is something I take for granted today. I became very aware of the impact of not being close to a book when I was unable to access my books after leaving my phone at home for a week away for work and being left to watch Freeview in a cheap hotel.
I will not get a chance to meet and thank all the authors who make so much positive difference or the narrators who have brought so many books to life over the years but I will end this post by saying a huge thank you to each one of you. I am looking forward to my next read already, it may be your book and hard work changing my day.
