Summer has arrived, and with it long drives for much-needed vacations. If you’d like the companionship of this author, and the multitudes within Stories About Storytellers, the audiobook is available for order from Audible, and provides over 17 hours of company on the road.

Points of interest about this particular incarnation of the book include that (a) the Introduction by Alice Munro is read by my multi-talented editor, Jen Knoch [ed. note: a daunting task!] and (b) that although I have read more than 100 movie reviews for CBC microphones over the years, it was a shock for me to find out how reading a book aloud is very, very hard work. To be precise, with gulps of air and gulps of hot soup to keep the Scottish-accented voice healthy, day after day, it took me over 20 hours of reading over 5 days to get the whole book on tape.

The good news, of course, is that when the book (as in this case) is written in the first person, and read by the writer, the listener knows that this is the way the author meant it to sound. It does add to the listening experience, which is why I did it.

And, of course, being a professional reader in the studio day after day, accompanied by the patient Kevin at the controls, was a fascinating new experience for me. I’m still working  at expanding my resume. You never know.