The only saving grace commuters desperately cling to is their conviction that what they are doing is inevitable, heroic, and therefore, good(?). At any rate, the unhappiness is a known factor and commuters all over attempt to think nothing of it by singing, eating, mind-wandering (another blog post on that soon) to dreamy or murderous thoughts (whatever keeps one awake), drive-by calling folks, and my latest discovery- listening to audio books.
This post is not really about commuting, but about reading. I used to LOVE reading. I would stay on bed and read all day long. Sadly, I no longer have the same fortitude - for anything really, except, for trolling social media sites, maybe? Anyway, I decided recently, that to dilute the unhappiness that apparently consumes my commute to work, I will enrich my mind by listening to audio books.
This week, I discovered Librivox that offers free public domain audio books. The free books usually consist of the classics - some really obscure tomes written by, of or for medieval saints (seemed to me) to the more staple ones like Dickens, et.al. My first foray into the audio library was into the world of E.M. Forster. I chose the Room with a View - a book that I had started reading a third into a long time ago and never got around finishing.
Just like Lucy Honeychurch was transformed by her trip to Florence, so did the audio-book listening activity transformed my commute. The almost 3 hours commute went by literally (maybe, unsafely so) like a blur. And just how I used to be transported into the world of the story when I read, I found myself in the painterly world of Florence and English countryside as I listened to the story of A Room With A View. And thankfully so because Highway 80 is anything but painterly.
The funny thing though is, I continued to listen to the story even after my commute was over. Admittedly, it was kind of disorienting to listen to a book when one is just sitting or lying on bed. But in the end, the story took me over. I was so deep into Lucy's world that I had to extend my time in it by watching the movie in Netflix. The movie was not nearly as nuanced and rich as the book, but it was enlightening to see that Helena Bonham Carter used to be an ingenue and Maggie Smith was actually young once, and so was Judi Dench.
I was a little sad when my time with the Edwardian folks of A Room with A View ended. I am contemplating on starting Howard's End today.
