Reduce, reuse, recycle ...

So ... in straightening out the cupboard over my computer desk I found a forgotten cache of books on tape. Seriously, on cassette. I've probably got a hundred of them all in one place now and catalogued.  Some were never even opened. Although I recognized the titles of many, I also recognized that I'd never listened to any of them - many were Jim's discards. 

This was actually kind of exciting.  My city van has an operating cassette player in it and since I've been spending so much more time in the van and out of the office I'm now catching up and going through them at a pretty good clip.  When one is done I'm listing them for trade on both Paperbackswap.com and BookMooch.com.  And there have been some takers!

However, considering that the van is a 2000 model, I don't know how long I'll have this rolling cassette player.  Even with under 37,000 miles on the odometer, it is just a matter of time before it is selected for replacement. Of course, the new one will not have a cassette player and probably will be lacking a CD player as well.  Back in 2000, I was extremely lucky to get the city with the cassette player in it (low bid van just happened to have one.)  Hard to believe that back then, CD players weren't standard equipment.

My last listen was Nocturne by Ed McBain.  I remember reading the 87th precinct series back in the day but not being as entertained as I was by this abridged edition of Nocturne.  Amazon.com shows Ed McBain himself as the narrator and that may have made all the difference in the world.  It was great! 

So with all the cassettes waiting in the storage room for me, I've gone off to the library and checked out another 87th precinct on tape to listen to.  If this keeps up every time I pop in a change in author I may never clear out the collection.

However, while waiting for the "new" Ed McBain to get to my shelf at Central Library I'm listening to Assumed Identity by David Morrell (bringing my "Currently Reading" count up to 11).