Every Thursday, over the lunch hour, the library close to my office has their book sale. I make it a point to stop by once every couple of months to drop off books to donate and to see what I can pick up for $20. Generally, I try to pick up five new audio books; at just $2 a book, even when I'm paying for a book I already own in print, it's a bargain. This generally results in me driving around with several books in my car at a time. Until yesterday. Thursday. The day I could have stopped by the sale but didn't. Today I put in the last disc of the last book I've got in my car.
Now the question is do I do what I always used to do, listen to the news or music while I drive until next Thursday? I always enjoyed that and I must say I felt much more in the loop about what's going on in the world when I did that. Plus, the books at the library are, after all, only two bucks and I'm supporting a great cause.
Or do I load books onto my phone and start listening that way? And if I do that, where do I get my books from? I can get classics from Librivox for free but to get more current books, who should I pay? Who do you use? I'd like to use iTunes (since I do have a resident Apple genius to help!) but, dang, they are not cheap!
If I'm paying real prices for books, I definitely won't be paying a second time for books I already have on my shelves. So what do I want to pay for? I'm very tempted by Mary Russell's
The Sparrow (as so marvelously sold to me by Andy of
Estella's Revenge yesterday) or Cathleen Schine's
Fin And Lady which I've been looking forward to for months. Do you have any recommendations for great books on audio that are well worth the price?
The Night Circus
ReplyDeleteCalling Me Home
Ready Player One
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
The Good House
The Aviator's Wife
Little Princes
I haven't listened to The Sparrow, but it's an amazing novel!!
EVERY THURSDAY???? How are you not broke yet? :)
ReplyDelete-Rebecca @ Love at First Book
My two favorite audios this year have been Calling Me Home and The Good House - both well worth the price! Right now I'm listening to JFK's Last 100 Days and it's fascinating. If you're in the mood for nonfiction, check it out.
ReplyDeleteI vote for The Sparrow. Yep. For sure.
ReplyDeleteI don't know--$2 a pop is quite the bargain. I have an Audible account and pay $16 a month for one audiobook. Every so often they have great sales so I've stocked up on more audios at those times. Now I have over 50 titles in my library (including ones Scott got when he still had a commute) but now that MY commute is gone I'm thinking about freezing my account. Sad! Anyway--Audible is very easy to use and sync to your apple devices. I don't know anything about iTunes books.
ReplyDeleteI second Trish's comments re: audible - I find it very easy and they have an excellent selection. Can you borrow audiobooks electronically from your library? My library offers that - it take a little longer than audible but it is also easy.
ReplyDeleteI have loved American Dervish and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on audio this year.
Does your library have an overdrive collection? When I don't have any audiobook cds to listen to, I usually just download something from overdrive. If that doesn't work, you could buy something online just to get you until next Thursday or listen to some awesome bookish podcasts, like Books on the Nightstand or BBC's World Book Club podcast.
ReplyDeleteOur library has Overdrive for audio downloads and it's easy. I always have an audio going in my car and another on my computer at work or ipad - usually of a book I am reading in print - I finish twice as fast. Lots of times I can listen at work when I am doing repetitive things at work.
ReplyDelete