I’ve avoided audio books mostly for two reasons: my dad used to make me listen to talk radio every morning in his ’66 Mustang on the way to school when I would have much rather been listening to the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, so the sound of droning voices makes me IRRATIONALLY POUTY and … the audio books I’ve tried have been super BIZZORING.
That’s like boring, only more obnoxiously stated.
But all that changed after I became a little podcast obsessed with the introduction of Serial into my life last year. Suddenly I could listen to sweet, euphonious voices tell me a well-crafted story and be into it. Still, audio books love evaded me.
I was pretty sure that people who were listening to a lot of audio books were intellectually subjacent, incapable of taking the proper time and mental acumen needed to sit and just freaking READ. Because I tried audio books, man, and I wasn’t engaged. It wasn’t enough.
Well, all that changed on my recent vacation when I borrowed an audio copy of The Martian, a book I had tried to read and got bored with, and decided that I could much better listen to it. And even better, I could get my husband to listen to it as we drove to the beach and he’d be into it.
We couldn’t put it down. So to speak.
I don’t remember how many hours long that audio book was, but we drove for 16 hours there and back again, and we finished it just before we pulled back into our garage. It was a smooth ride.
And now that I am finding myself a harried homeschooling mom and self-employed business lady (not lady business, which is what I wrote first and means something else. My lady business is UNEMPLOYED, I mean … exclusively employed by … I mean, GAINFULLY EMP … I mean, an unemployable autonomy … god, no one is paying me for sex, ok?), I don’t have as much time to do all that mental acumen reading I was talking about. And finding time to listen to a book while I walk the dog, fold the laundry, chart my business expenses and cook dinner has been a life and sanity saver.
But the biggest problem I have with audio books and podcasts is still time. There are parts of the day when I have 12 minutes, 7 minutes to spare to listen to something while I work, but I don’t always have 45 minutes to an hour to devote to This American Life, or an entire chapter of MOBY (God help).
So while searching for interesting podcasts to fill up my feed, I stumbled across one that fulfills a couple of needs I have: an interesting and engrossing story, and small, easily digestible bits of time.
New Podcast Fun: The Message
The Message is a theater podcast, in the same way that War of the Worlds was radio theater. It’s meant to feel real, and to feel like an imminent danger to the listener. And it’s pretty solid so far.
The Message is a new podcast following the weekly reports and interviews from Nicky Tomalin, who is covering the decoding of a message from outer space received 70 years ago. Over the course of 8 episodes we get an inside ear on how a top team of cryptologists attempt to decipher, decode, and understand the alien message.
So far the episodes are quality, the story is reminiscent of popular sci-fi movies and novels, and I haven’t gotten bored yet. There’s mystery, suspense, sci-fi and even a little taboo romance brewing.
Each episode is around 12 minutes, so I can start and finish one on a quick run to the liquor store and back. It’s KISMET.
The Message is sponsored by GE, and apparently incorporates real technology that GE has or is developing into it’s sci-fi storyline, but all that is happening on a level that I care none percent about. I want to know if certain someones are going to kiss, and yanno … whether or not the world will implode if they don’t decode The Message.
As of right now, The Message is at #13 on iTunes, so I may not be introducing you to something you haven’t heard of. But if you are new to podcasts, and looking for something to pique your interest without absorbing a ton of your time, it’s a great place to start.
Other podcasts that fill up my need for good stories and compelling narratives: The Black Tapes, Welcome to Night Vale, Lore, Undisclosed and Criminal.
What are your favorite podcasts right now? What are your favorite audio books (don’t tell me Outlander, I’m not listening to those on audio, you can’t make me. Some things I will never relent or repent).
