Listen Up

Who has time to read for pleasure this week, anyway? If not dashing off to work, you’re tuning up friendships or whittling down to-do lists. This might be the perfect time to clamp on earphones and listen to books the audio way while you walk the dog or rake your neighbor’s leaves.

A friend dropped off Anne Tyler’s “Accidental Tourist” (Random House-Audio) during an extended downtime, and it felt like eavesdropping on a slightly dysfunctional family. Hooked on audio books ever since, I’ve found they ease boring treadmill sessions and calm flight jitters. To stay alert during a solo trek from California to Washington, another friend checked six audio books out of the library. People sew, iron, paint and vegetate while listening. What better companion to a cranky patient recovering from the flu? Not to mention the obvious boon to the visually impaired. Just forget about getting a tooth filled at the same time--high speed drill or otherwise.

So, who does the talking? According to a source at Books on Tape, since most authors lack dramatization skills, they prefer professional readers. You couldn’t prove that by a quick sampling at a local bookstore. Author-read works include Charles Frazier’s “Cold Mountain” (Random House-Audio), Rebecca Wells’ “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” (Harper Audio), and Cherie Carter-Scott’s “If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human” (Audio-Renaissance).

Winner for sheer length is the 15-audiocassette, multivoiced presentation of “The Century,” co-written by Todd Brewster and narrator Peter Jennings (Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc.).

“The Greatest Generation” (Random House Audiobooks), read by author Tom Brokaw, is a mere four hours. But Jennings covered the last 100 years, while Brokaw confined himself to the Great Depression and the Second World War. Could retrospectives be the wave of the future?

So, where do you get them? Wherever books are available--bookstores, libraries and the Internet. The trademark company, Books on Tape, can be reached at (800) 626-3333 or www.booksontape.com.

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Annual Party at Mysteries to Die For, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, free books, food, Christmas story giveaway by author Richard Barre. 374-0084, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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KCLU Live in-store broadcast interview--Frances Halpern, host of “Connections,” and guest Kim Kirberger, co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul” (Health Communications).

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Book Signings: “Grandparents and Grandchildren: Shared Memories” by Carol Abrams and Ferne Margulies (General Publication Group Inc.), 2 p.m. today, Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura 339-9179.

“No Offense Intended” by Barbara Seranella (Harper-Collins), noon Saturday at Mysteries to Die For, (location above).

Catch you next week.

* Information about book-signings, writers groups or publishing events can be faxed to Ann Shields at (805) 647-5649, or e-mailed to anns@40aol.com.