Where To Borrow Audiobooks Novels & Stories

“We improvise it live.” Pauly handed her a slim, battered paperback—Mockingbird, cover worn, pages gutted to hold a wafer-thin transceiver and a micro-SD slot. “Your new copy. Same weight as the real one. Press the title twice if you’re burned; it wipes your last three hours and plays an audiobook. Press the author twice and it pings us with location.” She slid the book into her tote without looking. “And if I press the spine?” “It complains about being objectified,” Pauly said.

I’ve never heard of it. I’m not much of a reader of books. I’m too distractible. When the money started to come in from the farmers’ market, I got into audiobooks, though. The sound doesn’t exactly drown out the pecking voice, but I can kind of focus on the narrator, and it really helps the day go by better.

“It’s just hard. Audiobooks make it easier.” He nodded but didn’t say anything. He just stood there awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before there finally were some words that left his lips. “I don’t think we have any audiobooks,” he confessed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “But if you make me a list of what you need, I can see if there are any online, and I’ll buy them for you.”

Walking through the doors, I hear the shower running, but the door is closed and music blares from the other side. I pop in my earbuds, hoping to drown out the music with an audio book. I typically prefer reading physical copies myself, but given the circumstances, I would hardly be able to focus on the words. I've read entire books and not remembered a single thing as the words blended together in my mind. Laying back, I hold the bowl of fruit to my chest as words fill my ears, but I’m not paying attention to what they’re saying. Just a string of sounds filling my head in an attempt to drown out the sound of my own thoughts.