I have had a very enjoyable first audiobook experience this week.

Up until now I haven’t really been interested in audiobooks, for two reasons:

1. they are more time-consuming than reading, and
2. they cost, and it seems a bit pointless buying audiobooks instead of the actual book.

However an offer of a free audiobook did tempt me, so I got The Worst Hard Time : The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dustbowl by Timothy Egan. And let me just say: Oh. My. God. How did those people survive?

Well, a stupid question of course, because so many of them didn’t. I knew some basic facts about the 1930s Great Plains dustbowl, but I didn’t know how hard it was, how catastrophic it was and how incredibly tragic, and this title does an excellent job of conveying that. Egan focuses on little stories, personal accounts from several families and his language is stunning in its pointedness, and so I find myself sitting in my car, trying not to cry.

You know that has to be good. You can taste the dust, you can almost smell it and you can imagine how it drove people mad. And Egan’s detail of the history of the area and the causes of the eventual disaster just leave you wondering where and when will this happen again (as it seems it surely will) – it’s just so typically human.

The audiobook is narrated by Patrick Lawlor who does a good job, with only the occasional irritation at the “voices” he puts on.

So my first brush with audiobooks has been extremely successful. I still find it not nearly as satisfying as actual reading, and the time it takes to get through one is definitely a negative. But I’m more than pleased I made the effort with this title. Now I need to find me a physical copy. The only thing I really missed was some photos or illustrations and maps. (Incidentally a google search to find some photos led me to Google street view [yes I'm using that as a verb] some of the towns mentioned – seeing these 70 years later made it a fascinating exercise.)

4 little black BookieMonster Kitteh paws up – and a tail too! It was just that good.