Episode summary
Have you ever finished a book you couldn't put down, only to find the person you wanted to talk to wasn't on the same page yet? A Kickstarter audiobook, a hardcover still in the mail, and two phrases for that gap.
T.E.A. Time is hosted by English teacher Tayvin Bayless. Read the full transcript.
Hello, hello, and welcome to T.E.A. Time with Tayvin Bayless. If you’re here for the first time, I’m really glad you found me, and I hope you’ll stick around. And if you’ve been listening for a while, it’s wonderful to have you back with me again.
Have you ever been so caught up in a story that stopping felt worse than staying up through the night? Have you ever gotten to a part where everything you wanted to know was just a few more chapters away, and the rest of the world would just have to wait?
Yesterday, I got to experience that feeling again. I finished a book that I have been waiting for for months, and it landed better than I had even hoped. And I had high hopes! But before we get to that, I want to share the phrase that’s going to follow us through this whole episode.
The phrase is: couldn’t put it down. Couldn’t put it down.
Imagine this. You’re holding a beautiful, weighty hardcover book. The kind you could fight off a home invader with. You’re reading, and the story is so good, so compelling, that you cannot convince yourself to set it aside. You don’t want to. You’ve tried to stop, it’s late, your arms are starting to get sore, but every time you think you might have finally found a good stopping place, something happens and you have to turn the next page.
In English, when we say we couldn’t put a book down, we mean we were so caught up in the story that we didn’t want to stop reading. The book was unputdownable. That’s a word reviewers sometimes use when they can’t quite believe how much a story pulled them in. Unputdownable. One word, same meaning: so compelling you couldn’t set it aside. It’s not the most elegant word in the English language. It’s a little clunky, honestly, three words smashed together, pretending to be friends. But it says exactly what it needs to say, and sometimes that matters more than being pretty.
Let me clarify what this phrase is not: it’s not about addiction or a lack of self-control. It’s not about being glued to your phone in a distracted way, scrolling past things you’ll forget in ten minutes. It’s the pull of a good story. It’s the opposite of distraction. It’s focus so complete that everything else falls away, and you don’t even notice it happening until you look up and realize hours have passed.
A teacher might not be able to put down a book she borrowed, even though she promised to give it back yesterday. A parent might not be able to put down an audiobook, even when there are other things that probably need doing. And, while it’s primarily used to talk about books, a college student caught up in a truly immersive game might not be able to put the controller down to study for an upcoming test.
Here’s my example: I love listening to audio books and when I get to a really exciting part, a moment where something is about to happen, or something I wasn’t expecting just did, I stop moving. I find myself, phone in hand, staring at the cover art. I can’t look away. I can’t turn off the anticipation long enough to do anything else. It’s an old reflex, born from years of staring at physical pages. This week, I found myself doing the exact same thing with the beautiful cover art of a new favorite book. Staring. Waiting. Unable to break away until the moment passed and I could breathe again. My wife has caught me doing this more than once, standing or sitting perfectly still in the middle of the room, phone in hand, eyes locked on a picture instead of whatever I was supposed to be doing. That’s what I mean by couldn’t put it down.
Keep that phrase in mind. It’s going to come up more than once before we’re done.
So. Last year, around the end of the year, I backed a Kickstarter campaign for a special-edition hardcover book. It’s still on its way. Crowdfunded projects don’t always have a set ship date, so I’ve been waiting, and I’ll probably keep waiting for a bit more. The tier that I backed included the audiobook version, which is really how I prefer to read. I already own five other special-edition Sanderson books from past Kickstarters sitting on a shelf in our apartment. Every one of them is gorgeous. Intricate covers, interiors full of art, the kind of books you almost feel bad opening because you don’t want to crease a single page. They’re works of art in themselves, and I’ve been a fan of the author long enough that a new one feels less like a purchase and more like an event.
So I’ve been waiting for The Fires of December. And then, yesterday, something happened out of the blue. I was scrolling through YouTube, just looking for something to watch, when I came across a video saying that the digital files for backers had gone out. I was shocked. I quickly checked my email, and sure enough, there was the link. Clearly I need to check my emails more often. I immediately downloaded the files, and started listening to it as I headed out at five o’clock to pick Emma up from work.
We got home, and I kept listening. I was going two times speed, which is my baseline audiobook speed. Emma knew what kind of evening this was going to be. She knows me. Quiet reading time is normal for both of us. It’s not that we don’t talk. It’s that sometimes one of us is somewhere else for a while, living in a story. But I got the dishes done while listening, so I guess I wasn’t completely lost to the world.
I was swept up in that story for the rest of the night. I fell asleep still listening around 10:30 p.m., the story still playing through my headphones.
But then five a.m. came, and I had to get to work. I taught until 10:00 a.m. with no room for listening. If I didn’t like talking with my students so much, it would have been torture! Well, I finished up my lessons, and then I was in the car taking Emma to work, and the story was back on!
I ended up listening to the rest of it pacing around my church, Eliana following in my wake. This is where I clean on Saturdays, so I have access to the building. Our apartment doesn’t have a lot of space for Eliana to really stretch her legs. It’s the tail end of Texas summer, and running around outside isn’t really good for a little girl still figuring out how to regulate her body temperature. But the church has room. A whole gym of it. And it was cool and quiet and empty except for the two of us. Eliana was climbing up the stairs that lead to the stage and back down, over and over, like the stairs themselves were the whole point of the outing. Maybe they were. I was standing there, hovering so she didn’t go tumbling down the steps, my phone tilted just enough so I could see the cover art and the time remaining ticking down. That’s where I listened to the last few pages as my daughter was learning how not to fall flat on her face. From the moment I started it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it down. And I didn’t.
Whenever I finish a new book, the part I’m most excited about is sharing it with Emma. Talking about the story. Going over the things that caught me off guard and the satisfying moments of resolution. That’s one of my favorite things after I finish a book. But right now, we’re not quite there yet.
Because Emma is waiting for the hardcover.
That brings me to my second phrase. On the same page. On the same page.
Here’s the scene. Two people sitting together, reading the same book. They’re literally looking at the same words, following the same story at the same time. They can talk about what just happened because they’ve both read it. They know what the other person is talking about. They’re on the same page.
In English, when we say two people are on the same page, we mean they share the same information or understanding about something. They’re in sync and have the same perspective on the situation. A couple might need to get on the same page about their budget before they buy a house. A teacher and a student might need to get on the same page about what an assignment requires. A boss and an employee might need to get on the same page about a project deadline. And two coworkers splitting a task need to be on the same page about who’s doing what, or the whole thing falls apart.
In my case, I finished the book. Emma hasn’t. I’m waiting for her to catch up. Well, really, I’m waiting for a box to come in the mail. Because when it gets here, she’s gonna do the same thing as me. Once she has it, it’ll be done in a day and we’ll finally be on the same page. Then I can tell her all the things I’ve been thinking about. The hardcover is in transit. It’s the only thing keeping us from getting on the same page.
So here’s something for you to think about. When was the last time you finished something you were dying to talk about, and the other person wasn’t there yet? A show you binged, a book you read, or an album you listened to. The next time that happens, remember these two phrases. Recognize the pull of that thing you just can’t put down. And maybe, when the person you’re waiting for finally gets on the same page, enjoy that moment of being able to really talk about your experience.
And with that, my cup is empty. Thanks for joining me for T.E.A. Time. Until the next pot.
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