Murderbot & Meditation

The Sunday Salon, What I'm Reading

I am still reading The Murderbot Diaries. I read the first one, All Systems Red, last Sunday, and then finished the second one, Artificial Condition, Thursday night. I’m now on to the third one, Rogue Protocol, tomorrow afternoon. I loved the first one and enjoyed the second one.

Also this week, I ditched my subscription to Audible in favor of a meditation app, Insight Timer. Not only is the app a third of the cost of Audible per year, but also I believe I will get more use out of it than Audible. I’m just not an audiobook person.

I understand the appeal for those who commute or who like to do housework while listening to an audiobook, but I do neither. I work five minutes away from the library where I work and I don’t like doing housework 😉 . The real reason, though, is just that I don’t like being read to when I can read faster than any narrator. Plus I’m weird, at least to some of you, in that sometimes I like to listen to music, mostly instrumental, when I read.

As I write this, it’s a little after 7 p.m. Saturday, and I missed Dewey’s Reverse Readathon, which started at 8 p.m. EST Friday night and ends at 8 p.m. EST Saturday night. I had to work earlier today so I knew I wouldn’t be participating…

To be honest, I think I’m over readathons. After 15-plus years of being a book blogger, I think I’ve done enough readathons. Also with the torch being handed on from Andi and company at Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon to the next generation, I think it’s time to say goodbye to them (readathons). Plus I like to read at my own pace, which is slow – and steady. I don’t need the pressure.

So whatchya’ll reading now? Anything good (or bad). Share in the comments.

Published by Bryan G. Robinson

Blogger formerly known as Unfinished Person. Still an unfinished person...

Published

16 thoughts on “Murderbot & Meditation”

  1. I finished In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. Hugely popular and advertised as a thriller, which it was not, but it was enjoyable to me and that is all that matters. I just started Bill Clegg’s The End of the Day. I really liked his other book so I am looking forward to this one. It started off slow. Very slow but it’s picked up. Right now I am technically working but the used bookstore is having a 50% off sale right now so I am debating a quick trip there on my break to see what they have. The downside is when they have a sale there is a long line to get in due to capacity rules. I don’t know. I have so many books but it’s hard to ignore 50% off plus I like to support them.

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  2. I couldn’t live without my audiobooks. They’ve enriched my life for 30 some years. But I totally get that they’re not for everyone. I participated in the first maybe 4 readathons way back when.

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  3. I also missed the readathon this time around. I like doing them when I have uninterrupted time, but don’t like feeling guilty when I sign up then don’t read. Like you, I don’t listen to audio books. I am much better with the printed word.

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  4. I listened to lots of audiobooks when I had a long commute for work. Then I stepped away from them for a long time. Now my library has Hoopla, and I find that occasionally listening to classics seems to work better for me than reading the books. In general, I am like you in that I can read faster than I can listen to someone else read to me. Sometimes I don’t like the voices the people are given either. I’m listening to Wives and Daughters right now on Hoopla and I abhor the voice of the girl Molly. I may have to give up on it.

    During this pandemic, one of the things that has kept me going is Christian Meditation. I have met with a group now and then for years, but now that we are stuck at home, we Zoom once a week. It’s refreshing and uplifting. My yoga class at the Y did much the same thing for me. I wish I could find a good online yoga class.

    This readathon was probably the best readathon I ever did. I read for a couple of hours, hosted (which meant I mostly read some more), slept, woke up the next day, took a walk, and then read for the rest of the day. I didn’t stress about how much I was reading or what I was reading or if I was posting enough or any of that. It was actually very meditative.

    I hope you have a lovely week.

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    1. What kind of Christian meditation do you? Even though I am no longer Catholic, I like using Ignatian practice, especially The Examen in an abbreviated form. Through a spiritual guide who took me through The Spiritual Exercises, I discovered a book called Sleeping with Bread that includes two simple questions: For what was I most grateful for today? For what was I least grateful for today? I still try to do that as well as a simplified version from The Book of Common Prayer for morning and evening prayers.

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  5. Given that we are back in lockdown here and it is highly unlikely that I will go back to commuting which is when I used to listen to audiobooks, so I am struggling to find time to listen. I do understand what you have said about being able to read faster than the narrator because I feel the same, but I guess this way when I find time I still get to read.

    I haven’t participated in a readathon for a while now. I enjoyed the community feel but I never managed to get the balance right between reading and being social so I never really read as much as I wanted to. I would rather sleep in and read or bake or watch something than put pressure on myself.

    Have a good week!

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  6. I keep thinking about cancelling Audible as well. I don‘t commute, I‘m close to work as well. And my housework is limited, as I live in a small apartment. I really have to commit to listening.
    With the Audible app the speed of narrator is not an issue, I just go to whatever speed works — usually 1.5x as fast and sometimes 2x as fast.
    I think I will spend my remaining credits and then cancel or at least take a longer break again.

    Martha Wells—will you read the full-length Murderbot novel as well?

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  7. Glad you are adjusting to what works best for you. I actually subscribe to EStories, $11. Only because I can’t get audiobooks from my library, and I like listening to brand new French audiobooks. I listen to audiobooks each time I do things around the house (dishes, dusting, ironing, cooking, gardening, etc). I currently alternate audiobooks between the Bible (youtube recordings- I’m in the 2nd Book of Kings), French thrillers (just finsihed one by Franck Thilliez) and classics (am in a project to listen to all of Hercule Poirot – next in line: The Big Four).
    Sometimes, when I find the narrator too slow, I do speed it up!
    I just finished reading The Inugami Curse (Japanese classic) and today I’m reading a French novel Le Livre de Perle (readalong with one of my students) and Killer, Come Back To Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury!
    Have a nice Sunday!

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  8. I ditched Audible for Scrib’d which is $8.99/mth – but you don’t “own” the audiobooks (they have eBooks too). And, I do love a good readathon but since I can never devote all day to reading – and I don’t read fast. You said you don’t really love scifi but looks like you’re enjoying the Murderbot series. I really liked it too. Right now I’m reading The Ballad of Sonbirds and Snakes and I’m really enjoying it. On audio, I’m listening to Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay – loving that too.

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