Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

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14. BOOKS ON TAPE 
I do, um, I do read. Uh, I-I don’t read nearly as much as 
other people. I know my wife devours b—, you know, 
paperbacks like there’s no tomorrow. Uh, but I always 
have a book on tape that I listen to, which I consider 
reading, uh, but I always, I always have a book on tape 
that I’m listening to, to and from work. Uh, my commute 
to work is about, uh, thirty-fi ve to forty minutes, um, and 
I, and then I also always have a book that I’m actually 
reading, which is mostly for the days I’m on public tran-
sit. And, uh, right now I’m reading—what am I reading? 
It’s a book about Venice, of course, because I’m getting 
ready for my trip. Uh, I forget what it’s called—
City of 
Fallen Angels
? Uh, so it’s a little bit disorienting because 
I always have two—one in my car and one that I’m read-
ing—and then there’s also the fact that my, we have two 
cars and a driveway that, you know, whoever comes in 
last is the car that’s available. One car has a CD player 
and the other car has a tape player, so I always have one 
that I’m reading, one that I’m listening to on cassette, 
and one that I’m listening to on CD. Um, but, and then 
in, what I listen to usually rotates between a fi ction and 
a history. Uh, the public library has a fabulous collection 
of books and CDs of college courses and history, and it’s 
a lot of stuff that, you wouldn’t necessarily pick up and 
read a biography of Julius Caesar but, you know, listening 
to and from work, it’s fabulous—or the travels of Marco 
Polo, to and from work. It’s not necessarily something I’m 
gonna pick up and read on a Saturday afternoon, but—so 
I do a lot of that.

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