June is Audiobook Awareness Month!

By Stacey Anter

The Library Detective

Ahhh, June! Summer is on its way! More sunny days are to come, and with it, more opportune times to go for a drive with the top or windows down, to do some gardening/yard work, sunbathing, or even better, to go for a nice long walk. And while you’re doing some of these things, you might want to consider listening to an audiobook. After all, June is Audiobook Awareness Month! There are so many good books (‘so many books, so little time,” right?) and, for me, listening to audiobooks is the best way to get some reading done while doing other things simultaneously. I like to listen to audiobooks while getting in my walk. A few years ago, a friend of mine had been temporarily laid off from his job due to needing extensive eye surgery. He was bored and wanted to be able to read books again, but he was frustrated that he couldn’t see well enough to read yet, so I suggested that I get him some audiobooks. He was hooked! He “reads” different titles from Tom Clancy, James Lee Burke, and others. I even got him hooked on Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. I let him borrow an audiobook that I had on hand to start him off until I was able to get his first batch of audiobooks. Now that my friend is back to work, he still listens to audiobooks and he always enthusiastically shares with us what he’s “reading.”

Audiobooks are wonderful because they are usually read to you in an entertaining fashion. The book comes to life when they are read by talented actors and voice-over professionals, but they are also enjoyable when read by the author because it feels like he/she is reading it just to you. The library has books on CD, books on devices called “playaways,” which is like a pre-loaded MP3 player, and we also have digital downloadable audiobooks from our EZone. If you have a downloadable device and want to learn how to download audiobooks, or even ebooks, call or come to the Coventry Public Library. For a limited time, we are offering classes to show you how you can order and download to your digital devices. Then you can “soak up the sun” with a good book.

On a more serious and personal note, I want to tell you that June is also National Migraine Awareness Month, and this first week is National Headache Awareness Week. I can tell you from personal experience that someone suffering from migraines or chronic daily headaches does not look like someone who suffers from a chronic health condition. On the outside, we look fine, but on the inside, we’re wincing with sensitivity to light and/or sound, we’re experiencing some kind of aura whether it is visual or otherwise. (I get phantom smells as an aura, such as smelling dryer sheets or a sappy sweet overpowering perfume.)  Migraines can be caused by so many different things, from stress, to food triggers, to hormones, to weather, among other things. Some medications help alleviate migraines, some prevent them for the most part, but sometimes nothing helps and all we can do is learn to live with the pain of having a migraine until it goes away, or perhaps even living with headaches of varying intensity on a daily basis. Some people get nauseous and/or dizziness with their migraines. For me, medications don’t work, so I’ve tried acupuncture, which does help to reduce or eliminate nausea. If you suffer from migraines or chronic daily headaches, you need to learn and understand your body. What causes your migraines (perfumes, barometric pressure, artificial sweetener), how to help alleviate and/or prevent (avoiding triggers, staying hydrated, getting plenty of sleep), and noticing how your body reacts in certain situations for example can make a difference between having a good day and having debilitating pain. To learn more about migraines, one book I highly recommend is The Migraine Brain by Dr. Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine McArdle. This book has tons of information and useful tools like a migraine diary template to help you learn more about your migraines by tracking them and surrounding circumstances. For instance: Did you just eat some chocolate? Have you been sleeping poorly lately? Have you been unbelievably stressed? Naturally, there are several other books about migraines and chronic daily headaches to check out as well.

As a migraine sufferer, there have been many times when I wished I could read my book but my eyes hurt, and I ended up listening to an audiobook with my eyes closed, fighting off a migraine. It has helped me get my mind off of the chronic daily headaches and migraines that tend to come on. While I’m sitting back or lying down with my eyes closed, I can imagine the story’s setting and who I would cast in the movie version. However, this doesn’t work when you’ve already seen the movie. With audiobooks, you get to be the director, and don’t we all wish we could do that?

I call myself the Library Detective because I can find the answers to any question you can think of, or at least I can point you in the right direction.  To find out more about audiobooks, our EZone downloads, or migraines, visit your local library; there are more Library Detectives there, too.  If you would like to read other blog posts, come visit my Wordpress blog at http://librarydetective.wordpress.com/