In my desire to soak in the activities of writer’s I began listening to podcasts. I listen whilst walking the dog and am quite selective about what I listen to (as we should all be – why waste time listening to something you are not engaged with?).
I found the challenge of coming home after walking the dog and writing was impeded by the piquing of my interest in the book the author had been talking about in the podcast. As I am exploring narrative non-fiction these tended to be what I would be intrigued by. As the books were not immediately to hand (for some reason, I’m averse to putting non-fiction on my kindle) I would google to find more information about the author or the book the podcast centred on. My To Be Read Shelves were added to by the purchase of narrative non-fiction; books I did not immediately read, on account of the already extensive To Be Read Pile I am making my way through.
I enjoyed listening to the Hope 103.2 podcast interviewing Walkley award-winner Dan Box about his latest book, The Man Who Wasn’t There that explores the issues around mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory and their impact on First Nations people. Interestingly, to me anyway, Dan Box is English and wrote much of the book after returning to England to live.
Due to my toppling pile of books I’ve yet to read I can take a while to decide to buy some books. Then the summer holidays rolled around and I went shopping to an actual bookshop where I spent a pleasant few hours buying Christmas presents and discovering books ‘off the shelf’ – a never-tired of thrill. Hence I bought You Called An Ambulance For What? by Tim Booth. Having listened to the podcast I knew the events in the book largely take place near where I grew up. I also wanted to increase sales so the important message of the book has more chance of being heard.
Trish Lewis 