Monday, June 17, 2013

June Is Audio Book Month!

Hey, guess what? I finally figured out who hosts June Is Audiobook Month - the Audiobook Publisher's Association (who'da thunk it?). 

Do you listen to audiobooks?

I first started listening to audiobooks about five years ago. I felt like my brain was turning to putty at work. To try to keep my brain alive, I brought in an old boom box and started listening to music and NPR. Soon I decided if I could focus well enough on that programming to get something out of it without having it impact my work, I might as well try books. I spent the next year plugged into audiobooks until I finally changed positions. In a sense, audiobooks saved my sanity.

Not long after I started listening to books on CD, I began blogging. Of the 23 books I reviewed in the first month I was blogging, ten were audiobooks. I was hooked, despite mixed experiences. If it weren't for my inability to give up on books, there's no way I would have finished Andre Dubus III's The Garden Of Last Days despite an very interesting story. On the other hand, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union was so good, I would be willing to pick up anything Peter Reigert narrated. The reader can make or break a book, no matter how well written it is. Do you have particular narrators you would recommend?



I've also enjoyed using LearnOutLoud.com and Librivox.org, both great sources of free classic literature. I was able to listen to Austen, Twain, Chopin, Voltaire and Wharton right off my computer while I worked but any of the books could be downloaded. One of these days, I'm going to have to figure out how to do that with my new phone! I know a lot of you use Audible.com; what other sites are available to audio downloads?

I can't listen to books at work any more but I've always got a supply of books in my car to listen to while I'm driving. What are you doing while you're listening to books?

Later this week I want to talk favorites!





7 comments:

  1. Audible works for me, once you get addicted to their monthly *free* credit, well - you're hooked. (oh yea, I do know I pay for that credit. sure...)

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  2. I have only begun to embrace audio books this past year. I began with The Great Gatsby and then had to read Middlemarch for my book group. Couldn't bear the idea of lifting such a heavy book while lying in bed so listened to the audio. I think they're great, especially for something difficult. Am listening to Moby Dick now. Much easier than holding such a chunkster and trying to concentrate on the text.

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  3. I keep planning to get more Audio books out of the library, but I never do. I should think they're useful for listening to blockbuster novels and some of the classic literature. We have a good daily session on a BBC radio channel that I can listen to as I'm working on my home computer although that's dependent on listening every day, of course.

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  4. I really enjoy audio books if the actor(s) are good and of course the story :) I've been listening to Christopher Hitchens this week.

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  5. Funny how I can sit book in hand all day and yet give me an audiobook and I quickly become bored. Still, each to their own, its just as well there is a market out there for these things as I know some people, my mam for one, wouldn't be without them.

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  6. I've been totally hooked on audiobooks for over 10 years...they allow me to fit so many more books into my life. And I love how listening often gives another dimension to the book.

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  7. I love audio books and 2013 has seemed to be the YEAR for me. I use audible.com app on my iPhone/iPad. I also use overdrive for the free YA audio books I get every summer. I always listen to them in my car, walking, and just doing stuff around the house!

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