7th July 2023

 Audible:  Listening books is it a good thing?  I think the answer is yes, though of course you have to pay money for it.  But I am one of those people who believe you should pay for services.  I pay £7.99 a month, why in this day and age can't companies be truthful and tag on the one penny?

That gives me one book, and the option to buy three credits for £18, which I do each month, that is my limit. Though as you build your library up you can go back and listen to an old book.

The reason I have audio books is because of my sight which is slowly going down hill.  If fiction I choose at least ten hours of storytelling, and as you can listen to a sample of the voice reading it, quite important, you can choose whether to buy or not.  There is a lot of rubbish books in my opinion but there are also some gems amongst the old authors and you just have to seek them out.  

You end up with a library that is virtual and doesn't weigh the bookshelves down but of course you lose out on visual pictures within the book.  For instance my beautiful Saxon book on jewelry would not be part of the collection.  Consider how much you spend on a book, the hard back book my daughter gave me came in as £7 from the secondhand bookseller, originally £20 so there is not much inheritance in a whole load of books sitting on the shelf.

Clearing one's shelves of books is one of the hardest things to do.  Books are friends with personality, you can reach up almost immediately to where they may be sitting on the bookshelf.  But they are also heavy, take up space and if cheap disintegrate over time.  Ever watched a Penguin book dissolve into a brownish colour with the spine unpeeling?

-------------------------------------

Adam Nicholson and Sissinghurst.  He sees it as a lost era.  Once it was a farm with animals, orchards (all grubbed up) as well as a hops field.  Now it is quiet except for the increased noise of motor cars.  The National Trust runs it for all the hordes of people that come to visit.  Old barns turned into visitor centre and restaurant.  When he was a child, he and his friends would bicycle around furiously on the paths.  Children from the village would also play in the garden. A magical childhood, well yes if you had well off parents.

Do I feel sorry for him? Times they are a-changing, and though I agree everyone driving round the country visiting places of interest has almost gone past a joke.  Rubbish and fires at our beauty spots are just one of the problems.  I suppose you could argue that many more people have freedom to enjoy themselves.

------------------------------------------------