Happy Audio Book Week everyone!!! For anyone who does not know, June is Audio Book Month, and Devourer Of Books is hosting Audio Book Week June 6-10. Click the picture above for more information on Audio Book Week.
Monday's blog topic is: My Audio Book Year
Are you new to audio books 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.
Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Mickey, and I'm a book blogger. I live in sunny Arizona, in a NW suburb of the Phoenix Valley. I have a full-time job, lots of reptiles as pets, and natural reddish hair. I have no children of my own, but my boyfriend of 3.5 years as 3 and I treat them like my own when we get to see them (they live in IL, where we're from). I haven't been blogging long, but I've been reading since I learned how. Audio books are relatively new to me. I've been listening to books for over 2 years now, and I very much enjoy it. I have favorite narrators, production preferences, and reasons to listen rather than read. Favorite narrators and books will be posted up on Thursday; favorite places to score audio books will be posted on Friday. Make sure you check back!
I'm a pretty awesome multi-tasker. I generally have to be doing more than one thing at a time ALL the time, so listening to books is a great way to add on one more task. I have favorite times to listen to books:
- At work: I cannot have an iPod at work, but I do have a CD player. Archaic, right? Luckily I found the best CD player on Amazon.com. I don't work with customers directly, so I can listen to books on CD all day long. LOVE it. This is where I get most of my reading done.
- In the car: This is where my iPod comes in handy. My boyfriend bought me a new CD player deck thing for my car for my birthday a couple years ago. It plays MP3 CDs and has a USB port to connect my iPod directly into my car. LOVE this too!! I have an hour ride to work and from work, so I have a good chunk of time to listen to a couple chapters.
- While exercising: When I actually get in the mood to work out, I can listen to a book while on the treadmill, while walking in the neighborhood, or while doing jumping jacks in the back yard. This keeps my mind off how long I've been exercising. It's effective!
- While cleaning: Listening to books while cleaning is also effective in taking your mind away from the task at hand. Laundry, sweeping, tidying up.. it's all made better by a good book!
Some books must be listened to. Some must be read. That's just how it is. If you haven't started listening to books, you'll learn your preferences of times, authors, narrators, productions, etc, as you listen more and more. I've developed an ear for certain things, and some things will stop me from listening to certain books. Here are some of my thoughts on listening to audio books:
- I usually won't listen to a book in a middle of a series that I've been physically reading. If I've been reading a series, I will continue reading it. If I started listening to a series, I will continue listening. I'm not a fan of mixing the mediums in this way.
- I will listen to a book because of the narrator. If I really like a certain narrator (their voice, the way they read a book, the different voices for other characters), I will find other books they've narrated and listen to those. It expands the genres, authors, or age ranges of books I will listen to.
- I'm a slow reader, so this is fast reading for me. Reading is a slow process for me if I'm not thrilled with the book. Listening to it helps me push through slow parts of novels or whole books in general that I might have not spent the time reading. This way, too, I don't spend 10 minutes on the same sentence because I can't focus. My attention is demanded.
- Sometimes the narrator ruins a book. If a narrator's voice is not appealing, if a narrator's pronunciation is wrong, if an accent is off.. these things can prevent me from listening to or finishing a book. There are risks in listening, especially if you have already read a book and have a voice in your mind (which is why #1 in this list is important). It's different for everyone but I can put up with most things to finish a book.
Check my Goodreads page to see which books I've listened to since I started audio books. Let's compare! Leave a comment here with a link to your page and I'll check it out :o)
I will be looking forward to your audio book week! I don't listen to them much, but one of my yearly goals is to get through a couple. :) I have done one already, and discovered I like non-fiction better than fiction to listen to. I think I usually already have a "voice" for them inside my head.
ReplyDeleteThanks! :o) Non-fiction does work wonderfully on audio books. I totally get what you mean about the voice for characters inside your head. I feel you. But if you start listening to books (not ones in the middle of a series..) the voices you here will work for you soon. Good luck, and let me know!
ReplyDeleteI'm still relatively new to audio books but agree with you about the narrator thing - they can totally make or break the book!
ReplyDeleteMy intro post can be found here.
I don't usually mix delivery systems either, but one of the audios I loved last year was part of a series and just how the series progressed the narrator I adored won't be narrating (I think she'll have a bit part, but won't do the majority of it), so I switched and bought the book for my Nook this time around.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Mickey,
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about audiobooks is when you find a narrator you like, you can check what they have done in the past, and it opens a whole new world of options.
-- Bob
Kristin - Checking our your blog now :o)
ReplyDeleteJen - If I start reading a series and then find it on audio and it's a narrator I like, then yes I will probably listen to it. But you're right, if the narrator switches in a series, that's rough too. Yay for reading, no matter what!
Bob - Thanks! I agree about the narrator thing! I like finding out what narrators have done in addition to the one I enjoyed. I find books in different genres that I didn't even know I would like :o)
Thanks everyone!
You're right - a narrator can make or break an audiobook. I love listening to samples first on audible.com.
ReplyDeleteSamples are a fantastic idea! Getting an idea of what you're going to be listening to is a great thing to do. Thanks JoAnn!
ReplyDeleteHi. I found your blog through the audiobook week challenge over at Devourer of Books. I love the design of your site. Beautiful and useful at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThank you Molly! I will go check out your blog too :o)
ReplyDeleteI listen to books while working out too! It can get a bit disconcerting if I'm listening to something super-strange at the gym, but hey...if it keeps me from getting off the treadmill, then it works for me! And I agree - the narrator can make or break the book. That's honestly my #1 factor in choosing a book, even over author or book description.
ReplyDeleteHow great that you can listen at work! I agree with you that a narrator can make listening a pleasure or pain.
ReplyDeleteSarah - You're right.. it's a little weird for me too at work when some of those sexy scenes come on.. LOL. And I agree with your #2 factor as well. Narrators are really important when listening! Especially if the book is long.
ReplyDeleteNise' - It is awesome being able to listen at work. Not something I take for granted! :o)