Yesterday writer Belinda Webb posted an item on the Guardian's books blog announcing her New Year's resolution to keep to an "audiobook diet " in 2008. She writes, "So here we are, in 2008. Today is the day when many of us will take stock of the 12 months that have passed us by. Some of us will also set out our good intentions for the year ahead. A few of my friends will fork out loads of money to join a gym--whether they go enough, or at all, is another matter. I, however, have made a different resolution this time, and it involves cancelling my gym membership. No more feigning enthusiasm for body-bending yoga or trying to improve on the just-about-attainable 10 lengths of a crowded public pool. Instead I've vowed to do something I am actually quite good at, and which comes naturally to me. I will use the money saved on gym membership to subscribe to an audiobook service from which I can download 'books' onto the MP3 player I bought myself for Christmas. I will walk the hour or so to work every morning while consuming classics and other books that, in print format, I have so far failed to 'get.'"

If you find Webb’s resolution intriguing, note that you don't have to subscribe to a paid service to try your own audiobook diet. As one of Webb's readers comments, it's "[worth] reminding people that many public libraries now subscribe to audiobook services on your behalf, so take a look at the services wherever you live, work or study and get them for free!" Indeed. The Free Library currently offers more than 1000 fiction and nonfiction audiobooks for download, everything from Pride and Prejudice to Freakonomics. Visit our Advanced Search page and click on Audiobooks under Featured Resources to start browsing and planning your own audiobook diet for 2008!