Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My county library’s Goodreads Challenge for May is to listen to an audio book; that coupled with the death of my treadmill and the impossibility of reading on the elliptical pushed me to explore the possibility of listening to a book while exercising.  My hubby very sweetly put several apps on my phone to make the process easier for me, and a week or two ago I went looking for an audio book that fit my inaugural requirements.  I wanted something a) non-fiction (listening to fiction has been a struggle for me in the past), b) immediately available to borrow (so many of the books I was considering had a holds list!), and c) relatively short, since that seemed wise for a first try.  After a great deal of searching and one false start, I ended up with Stephen Rebello’s Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.

I have to say, it was generally fascinating.  I’ve always been a sucker for ‘making of’s, and while my interests lie in the history rather than the intricacies of film making, Rebello’s story and tone were well done enough that I never got bogged down in the details.  I’m not usually a fan of horror movies, thrillers, shockers–you name it–but I do enjoy Hitchcock enough that I checked “Psycho” out of the library once upon a time and watched it.*  It’s been a while, but I remembered enough not to be lost.

As for the audio part of the audio book, well, I still prefer reading when I can, but listening when I can’t read worked well enough for me to try it again.  (I’ll keep you posted.)  In the meantime, if the topic or Hitchcock in general interest you, this is definitely a worthwhile read–I learned all kinds of interesting things.  (Did you know that a toilet had never been seen onscreen before?  Not even someone using the toilet–just the thing itself?)  You should try it–and let me know what you think.

*I have a memory of doing it the first night my sister was home from the hospital with her oldest girl, which meant she would have been on a mattress in the same room as the TV for the night; I feel worse about this now that I’ve had babies and been through postpartum myself.