An email arrives telling me Librivox has just catalogued its 1000th book, and pointing out that there is the equivalent of 6 months of continuous audio available for free download over at www.librivox.org. The community-based project has become the most prolific audiobook publisher in the world.

I’m feeling immensely guilty for not making much progress with my own projects on LV. My recording of 80 Days Around the World is languishing incomplete. There are other things I’d love to read and haven’t got around to. And I’m letting others down by not playing my part in group recordings also.

On an almost weekly basis, I’m getting touching fanmail from people who have heard some of the work I have already done there. Every time I reply to thank them, and say I’m planning to do more, but finding the time is proving difficult.

The emails often include interesting snippets about what people were doing whilst listening. This is often driving great distances, often in the United States or Canada, and I am enjoying putting the journeys into Google Maps and seeing where these places are. Some people who mail me are listening to audiobooks because they are housebound or disabled, and are finding the recordings a lifeline.

Entrepreneurs have even begun selling the recordings on eBay! I must get back to doing it!