marcicat: (peace dreamsheep)
marciratingsystem ([personal profile] marcicat) wrote2025-05-05 07:42 am

audiobook ramblings

Yesterday I started listening to an audiobook that was ten hours long. I usually try to listen for at least 20% of the run time before deciding if I'm going to bail out, because that's ABSOLUTELY what the 80/20 rule is.

(Note: that is not what the 80/20 rule is. Except that it sort of is, in the sense that we all seem to have collectively agreed that we can call almost anything 'the 80/20 rule.')

I got an hour and a half into the book, and thought to myself, 'these characters are absolutely UNHINGED,' and I couldn't decide if I was reluctantly admiring of that fact, or just reluctant. But I wasn't at the two-hour mark yet, and there was an action scene, and so I kept listening. I made it to three-ish hours before I threw in the towel.

(I completely agree that in real life, people can feel nervous and playful and angry all at the same time. We contain multitudes! But I read fiction because I prefer to relax with characters who are LESS complicated to figure out than real people.)

Also, it was right about that point when the library app informed me that a copy of 'Murderbot' was ready to borrow, which turned out to be Extremely Entertaining! EXCELLENT TIMING, LIBRARY APP!