By the book

The bus shook in the backside. An old lady that looked like a housemaid frowned and mumbled. She came to sit by my side, fighting subtly with other passengers which also long to sit and rest their legs and feets. I would not notice the shift if she did not barely touch her leg in mine. I was far away, delighting  myself with a possible distant future, my mind's eyes following the adventures of Harry Seldon in the amazing Trantor, the planet at the center of the galaxy from the Foundation Series created by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
It has been like this since I moved to downtown and decided that i would not let the routines of traffic jam, violence and stupidity spoil none of my days. My greatest concern was making the time I spend in buses or trains useful.
So, one of the best decisions i took were to use the locomotion time to listen a good Audio Book with my mobile phone headsets.

Rosemary, one of my teachers from the intensive english studies period in Canada, advised: if you  really want to learn more english, you should read. To widen the range of your vocabulary, she said, you need to read. read everything. Books, short stories, magazines. Go to dictionary only for the words that keep repeating and insisting in showing up. That was  her advice which i followed by the book. I mean, by the audiobook! You can download awesome public domain audiobooks from sites like Librivox , Openculture or Freeclassic audiobooks. You also can buy new titles in  Amazon.From Librivox i recommend War of the Worlds by HG Wells and Star Born by Andre Norton.

(I love Science Fiction) . You can choose a short story, with the length of your bus trip, usually around twenty or thirty minutes. Or you can pick up a saga and listen it in parts. Like a chapter per day.That's my usual choice. I spent six months to finish Lord of the Rings part one, and another six months to listen to the whole work of Dan Brown. It feels like an ongoing day dream that is constantly interrupted by life.The experience of listening a book is incredible.You are constantly reminded that you really have to pay attention in it.Because it never stops unless you pause it! So, if you are out, take care when you cross streets. Furthermore, listening audio books are great to quickly fall asleep. Do not expect to find even a small range of audio book titles in portuguese. Unfortunately you won't. I just love to go to my balcony, take a beer and listen to a good story while i stare to the bright lights of downtown, where i live. I can not help but share this feeling here with you.