This morning as I made breakfast, I decided to try listening to the The Man Who Was Thursday instead of to music. And I did, for about 20 minutes, and it was better than I expected (the experience, that is — I’ve already read the book). Listening to audiobooks is like being a kid again and snuggling up with Mommy or Daddy while they read to you. Except without the snuggling.

Anyway, I haven’t really read any Chesterton in the last four years, so it was nice to remember how great he is. I really had to concentrate to keep up with the story, though, because it’s deep. Here’s one of my favorite quotes so far, pulling from the Bartleby edition:

Gregory wagged his heavy, red head with a slow and sad smile.

“And even then,” he said, “we poets always ask the question, ‘And what is Victoria now that you have got there?’ You think Victoria is like the New Jerusalem. We know that the New Jerusalem will only be like Victoria. Yes, the poet will be discontented even in the streets of heaven. The poet is always in revolt.”

“There again,” said Syme irritably, “what is there poetical about being in revolt? You might as well say that it is poetical to be sea-sick. Being sick is a revolt. Both being sick and being rebellious may be the wholesome thing on certain desperate occasions; but I’m hanged if I can see why they are poetical. Revolt in the abstract is — revolting. It’s mere vomiting.”

The girl winced for a flash at the unpleasant word, but Syme was too hot to heed her.

“It is things going right,” he cried, “that is poetical! Our digestions, for instance, going sacredly and silently right, that is the foundation of all poetry. Yes, the most poetical thing, more poetical than the flowers, more poetical than the stars — the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.”

That’s Chesterton for you.

If you go to ChristianAudio.com and click on the big orange button labeled “Free Download,” you can get a nice audiobook of G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. (It’s five MP3s of about 35 megs each.)

I’ve never really been a fan of audio books, but then again I’ve never really listened to any. Today at the bookstore I was reading in Steve Leveen’s The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life and came across the chapter entitled “Reading With Your Ears.” He did a pretty convincing job of it and I’m going to try some out. The three main sources that come to mind are the iTunes Music Store, Audible.com, and Project Gutenberg. More on this later (once I start listening).