I have discovered a great combo that allows me to take a break from the bleak news, doom-scrolling, and altogether too much screen time, and just relax: I listen to an audiobook while working on a jigsaw puzzle.
A longtime fan of audiobooks, I listen best when doing something else. Washing the dishes and folding laundry are productive options but, while satisfying, are not the distraction I've been craving. I love it when the reader’s voice matches the writing and I can disappear into the story. Kala by Colin Walsh, narrated by Frank Blake, Moe Dunford, and Seána Kerslakeall – while dark and challenging – is a recent favorite: Ireland, mystery, friendship, and messy families. Or How to Say Babylon, an intense memoir by Safiya Sinclair read by the author.
Jigsaw puzzles are brought out in my house around the holidays when folks are hanging out, visiting, chatting, digesting big meals, and otherwise enjoying the moment. Being a bit fidgety, I did not gravitate toward starting a new puzzle when the house guests returned home.
One weekend this winter, I was spinning, not sure what to do with myself. I was caught up—sort of—with chores and needed to take a break, but could not settle down with a print book. So I got out a devilish 500-piece puzzle of Van Gogh’s Stairway at Auvers, downloaded Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, and escaped into words and ideas, colors and shapes. It worked again with Walter Mosley’s Known to Evil and a busy Paris street scene that arrived in 1000 little bits. (Yes, I have eclectic tastes!)
So now I have a dedicated puzzle table in front of the window in a corner of the living room, not far from the wood stove. I find myself gravitating there for a few minutes during a tea break when I am working from home, or at the end of the day while supper is cooking. Long enough to listen to a chapter, piece together a few patches of color or pattern, and decompress.
I wonder if pairing images and storylines would enhance the experience…
Liza Bernard is a voracious reader who enjoys both printed volumes and audiobooks. Formerly co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore, she maintains her connections with readers and writers as the Programming and Marketing Librarian at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Vermont.