Until I started working at the public library a few years ago, I'd never listened to an audiobook.
I'd heard of them, sure, but I'd never actually checked one out myself and given it a listen.
I have always loved the action of reading - the smell of the book, the feel of holding the book, the sound of the pages flicking from side to side. What was going to be the fun of listening to someone reading to me, when I was more than capable of reading it myself?
But now, my friends, I have seen the light.
When I took this librarian job, I was moving three and a half hours away from my friends and family, down a very long, very deserted interstate with nothing remarkable to see.
And after driving home only once, I became determined to pass the time more sensibly - a little multitasking, if you will. And so, on my next drive home, I grabbed a well-narrated, hilarious novel by Janet Evanovich, and the rest was listening history.
I'm now a total devotee to the audiobook genre - I listen while I'm driving in the car, while I'm washing dishes at the sink or cleaning the house, or while I'm weeding the garden with earphones on. I listen while brushing my teeth or cooking dinner, and it certainly passed the time while I was painting and moving furniture around my new house. I especially love listening while quilting - every quilt I make, I now look at and think of the story I listened to while cutting and sewing. Each one has a story memory, if you will.
Lots of my patrons are skeptical about trying an audiobook for the first time - they are afraid they will "lose the thread", or get bored of the story, or like me, they like the act of reading, but if you get the right "starter" book, audiobooks can be so satisfying.
And you can always rewind a minute or two if your mind starts to wander – goodness knows mine does sometimes!
Narrators are such an integral part to the audiobook experience - if I don't get on with the narrator's voice after even a few minutes, I turn it off. You have to love the voice, and feel them truly convey the story to enjoy it. Narrators in the audiobook world in some cases take on almost a cult following with listeners. For example, there are several of us at the library who are devoted to Scott Brick, one of the most prolific and talented narrators in the business today. Scott Brick could read the phone book, and I'd listen to every word. I've been known to listen to a book in which I have zero interest, simply because Brick is narrating it. He’s a great “starter” voice, and he narrates a lot of page-turning mysteries and suspense novels, as well as a variety of others.
Some of the other great "voices" I've run across in my time are: C.J. Critt (who narrates the fantastically funny "Stephanie Plum" series by Janet Evanovich and gives it just the right Jersey punch), Jenna Lamia (narrator of The Secret Life of Bees, who makes you believe she is truly a 13-year-old girl), and Ilyana Kadushin (who narrates the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer with just the right teenage tone). In addition, it's sometimes fun to listen to celebrity narrators (Julia Roberts, Lou Diamond Philips, Eliza Dushku, for example), or to hear the subject of a biography read their own story (Hillary Clinton and Queen Noor are great productions). I’ve even gotten to the point where I will only listen to certain authors on audio, because of the narration of the series – Stephen J. Cannell (Brick), Janet Evanovich (Critt), Nora Roberts (various readers) and more.
Likewise, I prefer unabridged audiobooks – the author usually approves abridgments, but it feels as though I'm missing something. The author puts the words in when they write the story - I hate the idea of me missing any of them! Unabridged means every word written is spoken - if you get a long book, you'll have a lot more discs to go through! Most audiobooks are now available on CD and mp3, though many libraries still stock older titles on cassette. You can also download audiobooks through vendors such as iTunes for fairly reasonable prices.
If you haven’t tried an audiobook before, give it a shot. Ask your friendly neighborhood librarian for a good narrator or a great story, and give it a try. If you are already an audiobook devotee, I’d love to hear about some of your favorite narrators, productions and stories!
Happy listening!
Looking to ask the Loud Librarian a question or comment on one of her reviews? Email her at Marissa.Priddis@CrucialPop.com.
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