My Latest Bookish Addiction [10] – Audiobooks

MLBA

In keeping with the theme of my blog, I decided to start bringing you updates of the newest and greatest bookish addictions in my life so I can share with you some awesomely bookish things or discuss if maybe we share the same bookish loves. It seemed like a great way to get a little discussion going in a very relaxed way.

This Edition’s Bookish Addiction? Audiobooks

I’ve been loving audiobooks for a while now, but I think it’s about time that I gush about the to their fullest extent. I was nervous to try audiobooks when I first tried listening. What if the narrator was awful? What if they couldn’t hold my attention? What if I got bored or annoyed or mad?

In all honesty, any one of those is a very real possibility, but that’s why I try to do some good research before picking a new audiobook. Sometimes a breathy narrator ruins the experience for me… On the flip side, a fantastic narrator can totally make the listening experience that much more amazing!

I feel that audiobooks should be selected just as carefully as your regular reads. The fact that you’re listening to a book and it’s being read by someone else just throws one more factor into your reading experience. I’ve been trying to pick my reads more carefully nowadays because I’ve finally come to grips with the very sad but real fact that I can never possibly read all of the books I want to… BUT audiobooks do help with that.

I’m a multi-book reader. That’s not a term, I know, but what I mean is that I read more than one book at time and audiobooks are a great way for me to read multiple books at once. I always have a physical copy that I’m reading and sometimes I throw in an ebook in there, but recently I’ve started adding a constant stream of audiobooks to the mix. I have a semi-long commute to work so they’re great for the long drives and who would have ever thought I could read while I was driving!? I love being able to read at a time when “traditional” reading isn’t quire possible. Depending on the production of the audio and how engaging the narrator is, I can even picture it as sort of a movie in my mind which is great to keep my attention and to further pull me into the book.

Looking for a good audiobook? Here are just a few of my favorites — both for the content of the book and some excellent narrators as well!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Ready Player One was one of the earlier audiobooks I listened to and I LOVED it. Wil Wheaton narrated this masterpiece and aside from the great content of the book (sci-fi, dystopia, pop culture of the 80s), the production quality was fantastic! Wil Wheaton does a great job of narrating and I was HIGHLY entertained the entire time. I’ve been itching to re-read this on audio ever since I finished it because it was THAT good.

lines

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater: The audio for this book was amazing. This was the first audio production that I had listened to that incorporated more than one narrator. Since the book alternates between the voices of both Sean and Puck, the narrators alternated chapters as well. Listening to this book was just fantastic and it absolutely enhanced my reading/listening experience! SO many readers have fallen in love with this audiobook and I’m so glad I listening to the suggestions to pick this one up on audio first!

lines

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I was in a YA kick when I started The Night Circus and honestly, I wasn’t 100% sure if it was YA or adult when I first started it because so many of my fellow YA bloggers were raving about it! I turned the audio on and to my surprise, the narrator was Jim Dale! (He also narrates the Harry Potter audiobooks, but I knew his voice as the narrator for Pushing Daisies.) The story was magical and listening to it somehow made it even easier to picture! Everything felt so vivid and like I was right in the action.

lines

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book was my first Neil Gaiman book which I selected thanks to the help of Alyssa (a major Gaiman fan) and because I wanted to listen to a good book for Halloween-time. This book was fantastic on audio. Neil Gaiman narrates the book himself and I was utterly swept away on this literary journey. His voice is just perfect for narration and I’ve pretty much made a promise to myself to listen to any of his books that he narrates! If you have the opportunity to listen to Neil Gaiman narrate, I highly recommend it!

lines

Some other great audio that I’ve listened to:

How do you feel about audiobooks? Is there anything holding you back from trying them? Are they a constant in your life? Do you have any personal favorites? I want to hear it all!

Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

Recently Read

Dead Moon
The Fold
14
Instant Karma
American Girl
The Recovery Agent
The Harbor
One of Us Is Dead
The Last Thing He Told Me
Hook, Line, and Sinker
It Happened One Summer
The Good Lie


Brittany S.’s favorite books »

13 thoughts on “My Latest Bookish Addiction [10] – Audiobooks

  1. Cassie

    HAHA we did this post a week apart from each other! Adorable :). I also LOVEEE audiobooks as of lately! I was so nervous [like you] that it would be difficult to pay attention all the way through and that maybe I’d hate the narrators, but alas, – that is not the case! It HAS happened one or two times that I couldn’t do it cuz the narration was terrible, but from that I learned to listen to the samples first, that is the BEST way to go about it!

    I LOVED the audio for Cherry Money Baby by John Cusick and Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain!

    Reply
  2. Krys

    I LOVE, LOVE LOVE The Night Circus through audiobook, I bought the paperback version not too long ago, but the story just kept me so entertained, and it was truly memorizing.

    Reply
  3. Miranda @ Tempest Books

    I love audiobooks, too! I don’t read them as much as I probably should (maybe one each month?), but when I do get around to listening to one, I usually love it. I wrote a post recently about how I was an audiobook convert…I was SURE that I was going to hate the experience, but I ended up enjoying it so much!

    Reply
  4. Kristen H.

    My favorite narrator of all time is Katherine Kellgren, who I was first introduced to through the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer and went on to listen the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood, Enchanted by Alethea Kontis and Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson. I just resubscribed to audible this year, so I’ve been listening a lot. I really loved Scarlet by Marissa Meyer and the narrator of Kresley Cole’s series – both Poison Princess and Endless Knight. 🙂

    Reply
  5. acps927

    I recently decided to give audiobooks another try, and was so gung-ho about it that I even wrote a post about it, but since then I’ve run into a snag with trying to deal with Overdrive not wanting to transfer what’s on my computer to my listening device, grrrr. Anyhow, I hope I can figure out the issue and get back into it, and I’ll definitely have to check some of these out when I do!

    Reply
  6. Pamela D

    Yea for audio book love! I love them so much. I am very picky about what audio books I listen to, because the reader can really make or break the book. Whenever I hear someone say that they don’t like audio books, I figure it is because they haven’t found the right reader yet.

    Reply
  7. Rebecca @ The Library Canary

    I’ve been playing around with the idea of audiobooks for a little while. I am not a multi-book reader, but i feel like maybe if one book is audio and the other either physical or e-book, I might be able to differentiate between the two. I think I might try it and see how it goes. No one cares if I listen to music at work so I could totally listen to audio books the whole day. I could get through so many more books that way!

    Reply
  8. Amy @ bookgoonie

    Agree. Great audiobooks create a magical experience. Not so great, need to be passed on quickly.

    Loved Scorpio Races also. The Daughter of Smoke & Bone was my first. I was addicted immediately. Glad to know Game of Thrones is bueno. That’s probably how I’ll attack that series.

    Reply
  9. Carrie Jo

    One of my favorite narrators is Jenna Lamia, particularly The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is narrated by a full cast, and I love that listening experience. The four narrators of Pushing the Limits and Dare You To by Katie McGarry are fantastic, as is the narrator for the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. (Can you tell I love audio books?)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: