Now that I’ve talked up audiobooks all week and you are dying to get your hands on one, you may be wondering where to begin. Well, aside form the awesome flowchart I posted earlier this week, I have some thoughts for you.

How I Find Them:

I find audiobooks the same way I find print books. I listen to what my wonderfully bookish friends are saying. I think I’ve only taken one audiobook for review, so for the most part I am free to listen to anything at anytime. Which I love. Some of my go-to people for audiobook recommendations:

• Jennifer from The Literate Housewife (@lithousewife)
• Candace from Beth Fish Reads (@bethfishreads) – make sure you check out Audiobook Jukebox for reviews

and of course

• Jen from Devourer of Books (@devourerofbooks)

And the professionals that I enjoy following on twitter:

• @mitzpa: Megan Fitzpatrick – Publicity/Marketing for Hachette Audio (also @hachetteaudio)
• @xesands: Xe Sands – narrator
• @dogearedcopy: Tanya Perez – Studio Services at Blackstone Audio
• @tantoraudio: Tantor audio – publisher
• @simvan: Simon Vance – narrator
• @macmillanaudio: MacMillan Audio – publisher

Where I Find Them:

Almost all of my audiobooks come from the library. The CDs are pretty expensive and I haven’t given in to an Audible subscription yet, so I get what I can from my local library. Luckily, we have a great library system in Pinellas County and I’ve only been unable to find one or two titles. If you haven’t done so, check our your library’s audiobook selection. You might be surprised.

Extra:

Last summer, I posted about why I am a genius (i.e., how I mark my place in audiobooks). If you have an iPhone and you listen to audiobooks, you should read it.

 

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.

My general advice to those new to audiobooks is to just keep listening. Over time, your brain will figure out how to interpret them and you will enjoy listening as much as reading. But it does take a little bit of effort at the beginning before you get to the point where you can do the dishes and listen without missing anything.

And now I will tell you where I learned to really enjoy audiobooks. Gather round.

I was new to audiobooks last year but this is the year that they really became a staple in my reading life. It is also the year that I started running. And the two interests have created some kind of synergy that keeps me in physical and intellectual shape. I look forward to my runs because of audiobooks and I read more audiobooks because of running. It is a fantastically rewarding relationship. I listen to audiobooks in the car and while I’m cleaning and when I can’t sleep in the middle of the night, but running is the majority of my audiobook time these days. Two years ago I would have laughed if you told me I would soon be addicted to both running and audiobooks. Now I can’t imagine life without them.

End Story Time.

What about you? Do you listen to audiobooks when you exercise? Are you going to try it now to see if you find similar motivation? Have you found some other task that audiobooks make bearable?

 

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.

Current/most recent audiobook: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (narrated by Cassandra Campbell with Bahni Turpin)

Impressions: Loving it. Like the narrator. Like the subject. Finding the whole experience enjoyable.

Current favorite audiobook: Stardust by Neil Gaimain (narrated by the author) or America, America by Ethan Canin (narrated by Robertson Dean)

One narrator who always makes you choose audio over print:

Robertson Dean. Mr. Dean, please start narrating more books that I want to read. Your voice is so dreamy.

Genre you most often choose to listen to:

Nonfiction

If given the choice, you will always choose audio when:

Rereading

If given the choice, you will always choose print when:

Reading YA

 

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.

Some quick thoughts on audiobook presentations:

Sound effects: I am usually not a fan. I want my audiobook to be more like a regular book than a radio program.

Multiple narrators: I like it when the book is in first person. Otherwise give me one narrator. I mean, the voice in my head is always female and I still manage to successfully read books about boys.

Changing narrators over the course of a series: I find it jarring at first. If the new narrator is good, I can adapt, but I prefer consistency with a series.

Other things I’ve discovered:

• I usually prefer male narrators. I hate saying this, being not male myself, but it’s true. I still listen to plenty of female narrators but some of the men just have these TERRIFIC audiobook voices (*cough* Robertson Dean *cough*).
• Nonlinear novels are tough for me in audio. Unless there are good markers, I get confused.
• Books that I would put down in print because they get slow or are a bit long, I can continue to listen to for far longer. Which is great at getting to those nonfiction books and classic novels.

What do you like in your audiobook?

 

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.

If you are new to audiobooks or if you are just looking for your next read, I can help. These are the books I have listened to and enjoyed in the past year (or so) compiled into one helpful little flowchart. It’s also a pretty good summary of my audiobook life.

How To Choose Your Next Audiobook
(from my limited experiences)

[Click to enlarge – I know it’s tiny here]

Let me know which book you got in the comments! (This is better than a cootie catcher, right?)

PS – I inadvertently left off two Neil Gaiman audiobooks I loved: Stardust narrated by Gaiman and Anansi Boys narrated by Lenny Henry. But you should just all get those two anyway. Because they’re pretty amazing.

 

Join the fun and head on over to Devourer of Books for all of the Audiobook Week goodness.