Audiobook Week: Listen Up!

Last day of Audiobook Week, hosted by Devourer of Books. The final discussion topic is:

Where do you learn about great audiobook titles? Find reviews? Buy your audiobooks? Share your secrets with the rest of us!

Right now, I get audiobooks from two locations:

• The library- great source, and great price (FREE!!). Mostly, I get them from the Overdrive system three of my library memberships offer. Not sure if libraries you use (or can use), go HERE, click on the library search tab and enter your city or zip code.
• Audible.com- I only recently signed up, and its a great value for money. You can get one credit a month for $15, which is almost 25% of buying your favorite book on cd, at the list price. Plus you don't have to import multiple cds into Itunes or your favorite music software. Only downside is they are currently owned by Amazon.com, so if you try to avoid Amazon, that could be an issue for you.

My first audiobook purchases I got were The Harry Potter series on CD and the Chronicles of Narnia series on CD (highly recommend both, by the way), I purchased mostly via the warehouse stores (Costco and Sam's Club), but also from Barnes and Nobles and Borders. Audiobooks on cd are still pretty high priced, but if you want hardcopies of them, try joining a warehouse store, or look out for coupons from your favorite bookstore. If you did join a warehouse store, you will likely still saving money buying one or two audiobooks, even after factoring in the membership cost (ex. Narnia set- list $75.00, WS price~ $40.00, Sam's membership- $40). Just, sayin'.

As for finding books at the library, mostly I consider books I'm already checking to see if they carry yet. But also ones which covers and titles get my attention, and then which blurbs then sound interesting. Those don't cost anything, so I'm not as picky for what I try as when I look at Audible. But that's how I found Finnikin of the Rock.

For reviews on audiobooks, I have trouble remembering which blogs do audiobook reviews. Usually, I refer to the two I do manage to remember, who review audiobooks regularly: Devourer of Books and Book Journey. Otherwise its been luck of the draw if I remember where I saw a particular audiobook review. Hopefully by the time my next credit rolls around, I can remember all the new audiobook junkies I've found this week.

Audiobook Week- Mid Week Meme

Day three of Audiobook week hosted by Devourer of Books. Just a quick run through since I need to head off for work.

Current/most recent audiobook:

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, Narrated by Susan Duerden

Impressions:

It is an interesting story premise, but I am finding that I need to do something where little thinking (ie. no report or blog writing) to listen to it.

Current/most recent favorite audiobook:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I am so glad I listened to Sheila and Jen's recommendation of this one!

Favorite narrator you’ve discovered recently:

I really enjoyed John Pruden, who narrates The Sisters Brothers. He had the perfect sound for an old West set novel.

One title from your TBL (to be listened) stack, or your audio wishlist:

1776 written and narrated by David McCullough

Your audio dream team (what book or author would you LOVE to see paired with a certain narrator, can already exist or not):

Keith David narrating Ragtime by Doctorow would be pretty grand, at least in my head.

So you want to review audiobooks....

Day 2 in Devourer of Books Audiobook Week. Today's topic is:

Discuss the essentials of audiobook reviewing. What do you make sure to include? What do you want to see when you read other people’s reviews?

In audiobook reviews, I try to cover the same things I'd address in a normal book review- what I liked and didn't like about the book. But since it is an audiobook, I also make sure I address the performance. I'll mention what worked for me, and what didn't. I also try address if the I think the performance may have influenced the rating I give, and if I think the print edition might be a better route to go.

When I read other peoples' reviews of audiobooks, I look for similar thing. What they thought of the story and what they thought of the narrator. Both of these elements are need for audiobook reviews. Just like an actor can have a great performance in a bad movie, or a great screenplay can be performed by badly cast actors, the same is true with audiobooks. You don't really want to listen to some actress who sounds like she's 12 narrating an adult romance novel, do you? That's the kind of thing a reviewer can cover, which might not be quite so obvious in a library or Audible sample of an audiobook.

Is there anything you like to see in an audiobook review?

Audiobook Week: 2011-2012, Your Audiobook Year

Devourer of Books is hosting Audiobook Week, for June is Audio Book Month. There are daily discussion topics and giveaways for participation. Check out her blog for linky lists of participants.

Are you new to audiobooks in the last year? Have you been listening to them forever but discovered something new this year? Favorite titles? New times/places to listen? This is your chance to introduce yourself and your general listening experience.

I've been listening to audiobooks for a while, but only in the last year have I been using them to discover new titles. In high school, I tried some for the library for the required summer reading lists, but these were cassette tape times for audiobooks, and the ones I found were selection from books, and not even an abridged copy. When Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came out, I started buying them for the books I already had read, and enjoyed. Not long after I heard about Librivox and downloaded a few from there. But it was this past fall and winter when I started borrowing titles I had not read before from the library.

I can drive a lot for my work, anywhere from half an hour, to two hour one way commutes. I also tend to focus on my work better when I am listening to something. So instead of my current music playlist, I started listening to audiobooks during my drive and research trips. They are great for get a little reading in while having to do something else, and many times the wait for the audiobooks were much less than the ebook copies. Some had been books I'd been waiting for. Some that I've checked out are ones I heard about on blogs, or sounded interesting, so I just figured What the Heck... and checked them out. This randomly trying various books has let me try various authors, or genres I don't really read (contemporary, for example).

I'll be posting more discussion topics, and a few audiobook reviews throughout the week, so I hope you check them out.