Audiobooks, common definition: a recording of a book, usually a novel. Audiobooks, my definition: what I reluctantly pick up when it’s the only format available and I desperately want the book immediately.
I haven’t had a good history with audiobooks. The last time I checked one out was when I was going on a road trip a few years ago. I picked up a spy novel and popped it in the CD drive. And it’s not that the book was bad. In fact, itwas really good. So good that when we got to an exciting bit I got a little heavy on the gas pedal. I was very conscious of making sure I was attentive to all other aspects of driving, but my foot was heavier than I thought. Two weekslater, there arrived in the mail not one, but two speeding tickets for over $100 each. That’s the only time I got a speeding ticket. It was also the last time I picked up an audiobook, until last week.
Two days a week the library gets deliveries of several bins containing items that people have requested from other libraries in the area. A staff member held up a book that had come in and all of us were immediately intrigued by thetitle: You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I was so intrigued that I looked it up in the catalogue and did a guesstimate as to how soon I could get a copy to read for myself. Too long. Then I saw that it was in the system as anaudiobook. And there were no holds on it. So, I got it, figuring if I couldn’t follow it I would still ease my curiosity until I could get the book.
The day it came I popped it into the CD player in my car and headed home. Initial reactions were not good. The book is read by the author herself, and I would have thought that someone reading their own book would sound morefluid, less stilted. Eventually I got over it and tuned in to the message, even coming to enjoy the way she read.
Some of the ideas presented were the same old, same old: “if you want something done, just do it.”
Sincero’s assertion is that if you want something badly enough and you open yourself to the leading of the universe, open your mind to the possibilities that you hadn’t thought of before and work really, really hard, then the universewill miraculously reward you, you will get what you want, and you will be awesome. She believes that we all vibrate, and the higher the frequency you vibrate at, the more good stuff/people you will attract (yeah, I rolled my eyestoo).
But over the course of the five CDs I found myself planning longer drives, so I could hear more. The stories that Sincero uses as examples are engaging, her language is colourful, and her logic is easy to follow. She likes numberingher points and subpoints. (It always seemed like I was on point four every time I got in the car – weird.) She is inspiring, and she seems to practice what she preaches. I agreed with her on some points, other points not so much anda few not at all. As with any self-help book or piece of advice given: take it with a grain of salt. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels like they just need a kick in the pants to get going – this is it.