adventures in reading Swedish

The advantage of having a partner who is so fluent in the one language I speak that I only have to define words I use about once a fortnight is that we can communicate about anything. The disadvantage is that it is very, very tempting to just use English all of the time, and not practice the little bit of Swedish I am learning in class or picking up through songs and children's books. On the days we don't have something scheduled like folk dancing, choir, SCA stuff, or gaming, we tend to stay home and enjoy one another's company and work on projects. On those days the only time I hear Swedish is if I remember to get out one of the kid's books and read it to him. I do hear Swedish at dance and choir, but only related to the dancing or singing, so I am getting better about understanding that. This isn't enough exposure to the language for me to have hope of actually learning it well enough to speak it.

Therefore I have started listening to an audio book that he also has on paper, Aurian, by Maggie Furey. Not one I had ever heard of before--it was chosen because he happens to have it in both formats, so I can listen to it whilst my eyes follow along on the printed page. I have decided to just listen/read at full speed ahead, and not worry about the fact that I don't understand all of the words, just try to spot the places where I do know the words. Today I made time to listen to chapter one (about an hour long), and was pleased that there were some sentences I could understand every word, and even more sentences containing words I understand. Though there were far more sentences where I was simply lost. Nonetheless, I was able to ( grasp some things about the plot so far )

Not a bad amount of understanding, given how few words I actually know. I am certain I am missing lots of important details, but if I make myself listen to the whole book through, one chapter at a time, and then go back and listen again another time, when my vocabulary is better, I will pick up more of it. I would really like to get my hands on books I already know in both print and audio format. I would have NO problems following the Swedish version of Anne of Green Gables, having read it so many times before, and there are plenty of other books that I would be better able to follow because I have read the story, so have a good idea of what happens in each chapter. I wonder where to find them? Apparently there isn't really a decent book store in this town, though I haven't been into the one that is here to see how far it really is from "decent". And where does one find audio books, anyway? I have no idea. Especially if one wants them in Swedish, preferably in a matching edition to the print book, so that one can follow the text while one listens...