Author: Katie MacBride

Hello audiobook lovers!

Thanks to all who have written to let me know what their favorite audiobooks for 2017 are. I’ll put the list together for next week, so if you want to chime in, hit me up at katie@riotnewmedia.com or on twitter at msmacb, and use #BRaudio2017 to let me know which audiobook(s) topped your list in 2017 (they don’t have to have been published in 2017, you just have to have listened to them for the first time this year).

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We’re giving away a stack of our 20 favorite books of the year. Click here to enter, or just click the image below.

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In the meantime, I’ve got a couple of a big, honking list of Book Riot posts for you. There have been so many great pieces about basically any aspect of audiobooking one could hope for, so I decided to go through them all and bring you some highlights from the year.

But first! Did you know we’re giving away a stack of our 20 favorite books of the year! That’s right, the most knowledgeable book people I know put together a list of the 20 best books of the year and YOU CAN GET THEM FOR FREE. Click here to enter.

Without further ado…a selection of my favorite Book Riot audiobooks posts from 2017 (in no particular order…I was trying to go chronologically but that didn’t work out so…no particular order).

Dangers of Listening to Audiobooks at the Gym (Comics)

OK, to be fair, the concept of doing anything at the gym is foreign to me. Because I am a terrible adult. But all of these things have happened to me whilst walking my dog or listening to audiobooks in any number of public places.

When To Play It Big: Q&A with Audiobook Narrator Robin Miles

The narrator of books like  An Untamed State by Roxane Gay,  A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown by Julia Scheeres, and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks narration secrets with Book Riot’s Erin Burba.

Audiobooks for Short but Loud Commutes

Because commuting is kind of the worst. And audiobooks are kind of the best. (You see where I’m going with this…)

Best Audiobooks of 2017 Thus Far

In June, rioter Jamie put together a list of the best 2017 audiobooks in various categories. Six months later? I’d say her assessment is pretty spot-on. What do you think?

Hilarious Audiobooks for Your Summer Road Trip

Because nothing makes the time go by like laughing so hard that you have to make an emergency bathroom stop.

Audiobooks: My Unexpected Journey to a Happier Life

One of the themes of this list is readers discovering something about themselves (or learning something, or finding comfort about something) through audiobooks.

25 Best Children’s Audiobooks

Got kids? Read this.

 

How Audiobooks Made Me Appreciate Non-fiction

I relate to this so much. I have listened to and enjoyed so many nonfiction audiobooks I don’t think I would have made it through in print. Thank you, audiobooks!

Badass Women in Politics: The Audiobooks Edition

By yours truly. Because the need for more women in politics (and in positions of power everywhere) has perhaps been the defining truth of 2017.

Best Audiobook Apps

Ashley Holstrom put together an amazing post with possibly everything you would ever need to know about audiobook apps.

How to Become an Audiobook Narrator

I’ve gotten a number of questions about how one becomes an audiobook narrator and the truth is, I have no idea. Well, prior to September, I had no idea. Now, thanks to Rebecca Renner and Noah Michael Levine, I do!

Short Nonfiction Audiobooks To Expand Your Mind

Good, because if my mind is going to be expanded, I don’t want it to be for a lengthy period of time. I want short bursts of mind expansion before I go back to rotting my brain with trash. Basically, this is mind expansion for lazy people (yaaaay!!).

Best Spanish Audiobooks for Learning Spanish

I don’t know why it never occurred to me to brush up on my Spanish through audiobooks before but it’s kinda genius, right? (Or should I say genio?)

Free Romance Audiobooks

Free stuff=good. Romance audiobooks=good. Free romance audiobooks=great.

“Audiobooks Don’t Count:” A Suggestion of Extreme Privilege

They do. They do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do they do.

Why I Listen To the Hard Stuff

I loved and related to this piece from Nikki Demarco so much.

Best Full Cast Audiobooks:

Full cast audiobooks always make me feel like I have really terrible seats at a great theater performance. It’s such a treat, especially when you’re not at the theater and you’re sitting in traffic.

Self-help Audiobooks to Untrash Your 2018

As someone whose life is in perpetual need of untrashing, Imma bookmark this post.

Most Popular Audiobooks of the Last 20 Years

Read them all!

That’s all for this week (and don’t forget to send me your favorite listens of the year!)

Thanks for being awesome,

~Katie (and Sally, who I’m shamelessly including a picture of because look how cute she is!)

 

Happy December, Audiobook fans,

It’s that time of year–-Best Of the Year lists. Audible has already kicked things off by announcing their Best of the Year winners in various categories. Among them: The Hate U Give took Audiobook of the Year! YAY! Take a minute to celebrate something good happening in 2017! Jump up and down and clap and shout. I’ll wait.

Seriously, if you haven’t listened to Angie Thomas’s debut novel yet, what are you waiting for? It’s so good and so necessary. You can take a look at all the categories, nominees, and winners  here.

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Listening to an audiobook can bring family and friends together this holiday season. Listen to Turtles All the Way Down by John Green on your next family road trip and discuss the important themes of the story. Or, listen to Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak with your friends at book club to prepare for the holiday season. Connect, listen, and discuss with audiobooks from Penguin Random House Audio.

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But I want to know what you all, the readers of this newsletter think! What were the best audiobooks you listened to this year? Don’t worry about if they actually came out in 2017–-if you listened to it for the first time in 2017 and it was your favorite listen of the year, I want to know about it. You can email me at katie@riotnewmedia.com or hit me up on twitter (@msmacb) (but let’s use a hashtag of some kind, shall we? I have the memory of a goldfish and will likely need some way to revisit what everyone said. How about #BRaudio2017? I’ll compile a list for an upcoming newsletter.

Speaking of Audible, what the hell is happening with the audio of Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem? Diane Keaton narrates, which sounds like it would be awesome, right? Not so, according to the reviews. Of course, sometimes Amazon/Audible reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt but these reviews all seem to be written by people who loved the book but hated the narration. But…but… it’s Diane Keaton? Color me confused. If anyone has listened to it and has strong feelings one way or the other, I’m all ears.

So while you are all mulling over your favorite titles of the year, I want to highlight some of the books coming out in 2018 that I am specifically stoked about.

A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa (1-1-18)

Here’s an embarrassing thing about me: most of what I “know” about life inside North Korea I learned from the fictional book The Orphan Master’s Son.  Incredible book, by the way, but fictional. This isn’t entirely my fault–-not a lot of information comes out of North Korea about what daily life is like there. Which is why I am so looking forward to A River in Darkness.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa moved from Japan to North Korea when he was thirteen years old. In North Korea, he and his family “unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the newly Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.”

Ishikawa recounts “the brutal thirty-six years” he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life.

Brave by Rose McGowan (1-30-18)

Before there was #metoo, there was Rose McGowan (and many other survivors of sexual assault and harassment) who spoke out about abuses of power, both against her personally and systematically in Hollywood. After having her reputation smeared simply for speaking the truth, McGowan more than deserves the chance to say exactly what she wants to say, how and when she wants to say it. And I, for one, can’t wait to listen.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (2-6-18)

“Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man.” He moves his family off the grid, to the Alaska. Allbright and his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter begin their new life in a “wild, remote corner of the state.” Initially, it seems like the right decision. The family connects to the small, strong community. But they are unprepared for the rigor of the Alaskan wild. “In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger.”

Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride (3-6-18)
Sarah McBride shares what it was like to be frightened teenager struggling with her gender identity, a closeted college student, and tells us about her “heartbreaking romance with her first love and future husband Andy, a trans man and activist who passed away from cancer in 2014, just days after they were married.” But despite (or perhaps because) of those struggles, Sarah became an activist and McBride was the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. More books like this, please.

So Close to Being The Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta (5-29-18)

I am a Parks & Recreation superfan. Like, I actually fall asleep to it every single night because I love it so much it soothes me to sleep like a lullaby. So while I am quite confident that I know exactly how close to being the sh*t Retta is (so close it may as well be the same damn thing), I am still here for this book. I don’t know much about Retta’s personal story but “making it” in Hollywood isn’t easy for anyone, especially for women of color. So much to look forward to with this one.

 

New Release of the Week (publisher description in quotes)

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Hadish

I wasn’t familiar with Hadish until her SNL appearance a few weeks ago but I loved her performance on the show. Her story is challenging but inspirational (can you tell I’m a sucker for a good Nevertheless She Persisted story). And this one starts out like a punch to the gut: Hadish’s mother gets a debilitating head injury from a car accident, so Hadish spent much of her childhood in foster care. “As an illiterate ninth grader, Tiffany did everything she could to survive. After a multitude of jobs, she finally realized that she had talent in an area she would never have suspected: comedy.”

Hope those titles give you a little something to look forward to in 2018. Any titles you are particularly excited about? Let me know!

Until next week,

~Katie

Happy Thursday, Audiobook fans,

I loved Carrie Fisher. Unlike many in my generation, I didn’t become aware of Fisher through the Star Wars films. Instead, I became aware of Carrie Fisher in 2009, through her book Wishful Drinking. I had been sober a little less than a year and OH MY GOD it was a relief to read something funny by someone sober. And not only was she sober, she also had a mental illness! It was my US Weekly “Celebs, they’re just like us!” moment because I have a mental illness too! Despite struggling with addiction and bipolar, Fisher was smart, funny, and creative. imply by being honest about her experiences, Fisher made me believe it was possible for me to be all those things, too. So while I still mourn the loss of Fisher, I’m excited because….she’s been nominated for a Grammy for her narration of The Princess Diarist! This is actually her second Best Spoken Word Album narration, the first was for the aforementioned Wishful Drinking in 2009.

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Season 1 of our new podcast series Annotated is complete! Each episode is about 20 minutes long and is great for fans of podcasts like This American Life. Go here to check it out, or just click the image below:

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The Princess Diarist is the result of Fisher coming across her journals from 1977, the year she filmed Star Wars. The book is “Fisher’s intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time – and what developed behind the scenes. And today, as she reprises her most iconic role for the latest Star Wars trilogy, Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty.”

Fisher discussed the audiobook recording of the book in an interview on Penguin Random House Audio’s “This Is The Author” podcast, saying: “I don’t know that my mother read a lot to me when I was a kid, probably when I was a little teeny kid…but I was a big reader so she must have read to me sometimes, and I read aloud to my daughter, because I love words. I fell in love with words as a kid and the love goes on.”

Listen to a clip from The Princess Diarist.

Here are a few other Carrie Fisher books I loved (and she narrates all of them! Delightful!) Goodreads description in quotes.

Postcards from the Edge

Fisher’s first book, published in 1987, follows Suzanne Vale, a young actress who finds herself in a “drug hospital” (rehab, or “The ‘Hab,” as I call it). The novel follows Suzanne as she navigates the world of early recovery and, perhaps more dangerous, her relationship with her mother. Bonus: it was made into a movie with two actresses you may have heard of, Shirley MaClaine and Meryl Streep. Check out the trailer here.

The Best Awful

The Suzanne Vale saga continues in The Best Awful. Deciding that her medication is hindering and not helping her, Suzanne decides to stop taking it. “The ‘manic’ side of the illness convinces her it would be a good idea to get a tattoo, cut off her hair, and head to Mexico with a burly ex-con and a stash of OxyContin. As she wakes up in Tijuana, the ‘depressive’ side kicks in, leading Suzanne through a series of surreal psychotic episodes before landing her in a mental hospital. With the help of her movie star mom, a circle of friends, and even her ex-husband, she begins the long journey back to sanity.”

Wishful Drinking

I already gave you my glowing review of this book above but here’s a bit more detail from Goodreads, “It’s an incredible tale – from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.”

 

New Release of the Week

I might as well call New Release of the Week “Audiobooks that Will Eat All My Audible Credits” because that’s basically what this is. My remaining audible credit this month will likely go to Roberto Bolaño’s By Night in Chile.

This is a new audiobook but not new book–-it was actually the first of Bolaño’s novels available in English. It “recounts the tale of a poor boy who wanted to be a poet but ends up a half-hearted Jesuit priest and conservative literary critic, a sort of lapdog to the rich and powerful cultural elite, in whose villas he encounters Pablo Neruda and Ernst Jünger.

Father Urrutia is offered a tour of Europe by agents of Opus Dei to study ‘the disintegration of the churches’ – a journey into realms of the surreal – and, ensnared by this plum, he is next assigned, after the destruction of Allende, the secret never-to-be-disclosed job of teaching Pinochet, at night, all about Marxism, so the junta generals can know their enemy. Soon, searingly, his memories go from bad to worse.”

The narrator of By Night in Chile, Thom Rivera, has some serious audiobook cred–he’s narrated work by Isabel Allende, Maggie Stiefvater, Marlon James, and Lucia Berlin.

Links for Your Ears

Count on PBS to do a really excellent history of the audiobook.

A short history of the audiobook, 20 years after the first portable digital audio device I’ve been really impressed with Bustle’s audiobook game, this seems like the millionth list I’ve linked to from them. 11 Incredible Audiobooks That Might Actually Be Better Than The Written Version Bustle

I love love love stories about audiobooks and accessibility.

Ten Leading Doctors Share Top Lyme Treatments in New Audio Book ProHealth

That’s all for this week! As always, you can hit me up on Twitter at msmacb or by email at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

~Katie

Happy Thanksgiving, Audiobook fans (or if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday)!

I’m listening to Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win by Luke Harding. If you are watching all the Trump/Russia stuff closely, I highly recommend it. Harding is a reporter for The Guardian and former Moscow bureau chief. The narrator is excellent and, to my crude American ears, sounds a little like Jim Dale. And because Thanksgiving is all about giving and sharing (or something) I wanted to share my favorite part thus far. I’m not sure why I found it so amusing will translate without the British accented narration, but here goes: Harding is talking about the primaries when Paul Manafort was still running Trump’s campaign. Harding says:

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

When there’s a crime that can’t be solved, listen to the experts. Visit http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/thriller-series/ for a thrilling mystery series that you can get hooked on.

If you are looking for a brassy, independent female protagonist, you’ll love Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. If you want an experienced ex-CIA man turned President, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the man for you. Or, perhaps you’d like a Victorian-era detective; then Clive Cussler’s Isaac Bell is a character you’ll enjoy.

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“The strategy was to try to persuade skeptics that Trump wasn’t the man he seemed. Unlike the brash reality TV showman who trash-talked his rivals, the real Trump was measured, rational, statesmanlike…The problem was that Trump seemed unaware of his impending metamorphosis. Instead, Trump got into an argument during a TV debate about the size of his penis…” at which point I burst out laughing so hard that I woke up my dog, who ran around the house barking frantically at all the windows. It was totally worth it. And it made me so happy I wanted to share it with you, my audiobook-loving friends.

Regardless of if Thanksgiving is your thing, gratitude is always a good thing to have. And I am so grateful for books. They’ve been my companions in the best of times and carried me through the worst of times. So I’m taking this opportunity to sing the praises of some of my favorite audiobooks. I didn’t intend for the list to be all women but I feel pretty great about it.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

Whenever I read the publisher’s description of this book, I’m always surprised it’s (somewhat) framed as a story about Ifemelu and Obinze because I always think of it as Ifemelu’s story. It’s Ifemelu who we follow through most of the book, from her early relationship with Obinze in Nigeria to her navigating the unfamiliar world of Princeton, New Jersey, and beyond. I’m grateful to this book for offering a perspective on race in the united states that’s so different from my own (as a U.S.-born white person), for depicting what it’s like being a young writer, for being so beautifully written and powerful that it’s almost always the first book I recommend to someone.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I know there was great YA prior to 1999, when Speak was first published, but I consider Speak One Of The Greats. The novel begins at the beginning of Melinda’s freshman year of high school. Ostracized for calling the cops to an end-of-summer party, Melinda has stopped speaking almost entirely. I am grateful to this book for helping so many young survivors of sexual assault feel less alone and find a voice.

Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy

“Fifth-generation New Yorker, third-generation bartender, and first-generation author Tara Clancy was raised in three wildly divergent homes: a converted boat shed in working-class Queens; a geriatric commune of feisty, Brooklyn-born Italians; and a sprawling Hamptons estate she visited every other weekend.” I am grateful to this book for showing how paradoxical, confusing, and fucked-up family can be, and how much love there can be in all the chaos. I am also grateful that Tara narrates the audiobook because her voice is amazing.

Hunger by Roxane Gay

I am grateful for All Things Roxane Gay and this book is no exception. I am grateful for the bravery, eloquence, and insight Gay brings to literally everything.

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

I know, I know, I have raved about this book no less than 827,937 times in this newsletter, but it’s so good. I’m so grateful for Irby’s humor, her willingness to talk about poop/bowel problems, and for never suffering fools. She’s a national treasure and if you haven’t checked this one out yet, hop on it.

The Good House by Ann Leary

This is another one I have raved about multiple times in this newsletter, but it’s so good–-and I love love love the audiobook. Hildy Good is a real estate agent in a small town on Boston’s North Shore. And she knows everything about everyone. What she doesn’t know–-or at least can’t admit to herself–-is that she has a drinking problem. As a former blackout drunk myself, Hildy’s denial/confusion/fear as her alcoholism gets increasingly out of control is frighteningly accurate. It’s a great book for anyone, but if you’ve ever wondered what alcoholic denial feels like, listen to this book.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I am grateful for The Hate You Give because it’s a story that desperately needed to be told and Thomas hits it out of the freaking park. When 16-year-old Star Carter witnesses the murder of her childhood friend at the hands of a police officer, the two worlds she’s been oscillating between collide. The Hate U Give is brutal, honest, and a book everyone should read.

Lizz Free or Die by Lizz Winstead

In this collection of essays, Winstead writes about how she came to be the influential comedian she is today–-starting with a childhood desire to be a priest, to her penchant for rescuing dogs with gross habits. I am grateful for this hilarious collection of essays because they made me laugh when I really needed to laugh, inspired me when I really needed to be inspired, and made me aware of Lizz Winstead, who is a delight.

Don’t forget to enter to win $500 to your favorite bookstore with our giveaway! Enter to win here.

As always, you can hit me up on twitter at msmacb or say hey at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Until next week,

~Katie

Happy Thursday, Audiobook fans!

You know what a week from today is in the United States? Thanksgiving. You know what the next month is a lot of places? Time to see your family. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe that’s a bad thing–-most likely, it’s a bit of both. So, I’ve pulled together a list of books about, among other things, family. Family struggle, family conflict, family grief and, of course, family love.

(I realized after I made the list, there’s a lot of death on here. I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention. Apparently I just gravitate towards depressing books).

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Penguin Random House Audio

Penguin Random House Audio has audiobooks that are a perfect way to bring your friends and family together this busy holiday season.

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Family Feuds and Fury (publisher description in quotes):

Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow

In this universally acclaimed memoir from the New York Times columnist, Blow describes growing up in segregated Louisiana in the 1970s. “Charles’s attachment to his mother – a fiercely driven women with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, a job plucking poultry at a nearby factory, a soon-to-be-ex husband, and a love of newspapers and learning – cannot protect him from secret abuse at the hands of an older cousin. It’s damage that triggers years of anger and searing self-questioning.” When Blow leaves to attend college, he finds himself in the unfamiliar role of being called on to perpetuate abuse as opposed to being on the receiving end of it.

May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes

“Harold Silver, [is] a historian who’s always been jealous of his successful brother, George. When the hot-tempered George is institutionalized for committing a violent act, Harold finds himself comforting his brother’s wife and children. What follows is a scathing examination of a family so fractured it may never be whole again.”

 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

“Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how a chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.”

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Touted as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin,” I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter follows Julia in the wake of her sister Olga’s death. Olga was the perfect Mexican daughter. Or was she? Even as her mother lambasts her for not being Olga, Julia begins to realize some things about her supposedly perfect sister aren’t adding up. Will she figure out who her sister really was? And will she, Julia, the sister who’s still alive, ever be enough?

Where’d You Go Bernadette by Marie Semple

15 year-old Bee is not your average teenager. As a reward for getting straight As on her report card, for example, she asks to go on a family vacation to Antarctica. But then Bee’s mother, Bernadette, disappears. An even more eccentric character than her daughter (by a lot), Bernadette is smart, funny, sarcastic, and terribly discontent. “To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence – creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.”

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

When the patriarch of the Foxman family dies, the whole clan gets together for the first time in years. They sit shiva and “spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened.” Baby mama drama ensues.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

I haven’t listened to this one yet, but it’s next on my list. Everyone I know has been raving about it and it’s no secret that Ward is a stunningly gorgeous writer. “For Pop and Mam; their daughter, Leonie; and her kids, Jojo and Kayla, life is hard. Mam has cancer, Pop is preoccupied by working their small parcel of land, Leonie has a meth problem, and Jojo and Kayla seek love from their grandparents rather than their absent mother.” When Leonie gets word that the white father of her children is getting released from prison, she embarks on a journey with the children to meet him.

“Confronting the realities of life in the rural South, Ward gives us an epochal story, a road novel through Mississippi’s past and present that explores the bonds of family as tested by racism and poverty.”

New Release of the Week

The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis

Jenifer Lewis talks about the road to becoming one of the stars of the hugely popular show, Black-ish. “From her first taste of applause at five years old to landing on Broadway within 11 days of graduation and ultimately achieving success in movies, television, and global concert halls, Jenifer describes a road to fame made treacherous by dysfunction and undiagnosed mental illness, including a sex addiction. Lewis tells her outrageous life story with lots of humor, a few regrets, and, most importantly, unbridled joy.”

Don’t forget to enter to win 500 buckaroos to your favorite bookstore with our giveaway. Enter to win here.

Links for Your Ears:

Uncle Joe is joining the ranks of Obama-era Democrats penning a memoir about their political career. There are about 7,339,634 reasons we’ll all cry listening to this one but you should probably do it anyway. Exclusive: Hear Joe Biden Read From New Book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose

Sean Penn has a cool pen name: Sean Penn in process of writing novel under pseudonym ‘Pappy Pariah’

Are you excited about this Philip Pullman novel because I am: Michael Sheen’s Solo Narration of Philip Pullman’s New Novel Is Better Than an Army of Voice Actors

You had me at Helena Bonham Carter: Bonham Carter and Beale read MCB poetry collection

As always, you can hit me up on twitter at msmacb or say hey at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Until next week,

~Katie

Hey there audiophiles,

You are all so awesome. I mentioned in last week’s newsletter that I really want to listen to audiobooks at a higher speed but it sounded unbearably unnatural to me. As you smart and kind audiobook listeners tend to do, you came through with some excellent advice.

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It was interesting to see some common themes among your responses. Many of you said that listening at a higher speed is something of an acquired taste–-it sounds strange at first, but you gradually become accustomed to it. Narrators also played a role–you said that accents are tough to listen to at a higher speed but slow, southern drawls are often improved by kicking it up a notch. For example, audiobook aficionado Sarah said, “Certain narrators still sound amazing at 2x speed (Juliet Nicholson, Nicola Barber, Simon Vance and Luke Daniels are prime examples), while others have verbal tics that are only accentuated by the faster speed (the author of The Only Street in Paris, and the narrator for The Invisible Library immediately come to mind).”

And then there’s this cool tidbit from Andrea, “I used to work with employees with disabilities who require adaptive equipment to navigate the computer and our programs. People with low or no vision often use Job Access with Speech (JAWS).  This program reads the screen for them, identifying links, buttons, combo boxes or other controls. Power JAWS users often have a high speech rate set for their profile. People who listen to audiobooks at 1.5x may include those who are JAWS users.”

Thank you for being such responsive, interesting readers! You have inspired me to relisten to an audiobook (Stephen King’s On Writing) at 1.25x to see if I can speed up my listening.

New Release of the Week (publisher descriptions in quotes):

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad

When Nadia Murad was 21 years old, Islamic State militants stormed her small village in Northern Iraq, massacring men who refused to convert to Islam and forcing women into sex slavery. Nadia was among those women. Repeatedly beaten and raped, Nadia eventually managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety. The Last Girl is, “a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war.”

Audible is celebrating 20 years (how is that even possible? Am I 672 years old?) and they’ve put together a list of their best selling books in a variety of categories. Some titles (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as the Most Repeated Listen) are expected, and others (Fifty Shades of Grey as the best-selling romance title), surprised me. That’s not a judgment about Fifty Shades; I haven’t read it. I just forgot it was ever a thing.

The most anticipated novel is Oathbringer by Brian Sanderson. According to Audible, the sequel to 2014’s Words of Radiance, “has more pre-orders than any other title in Audible’s history to date. In this epic fantasy saga, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the vengeful Voidbringers.” And is it just me, or is there something reassuring about the fact that The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” is the most bookmarked audiobook?

Check out the full list here. Audible is celebrating through November 20th with deals and other shiz happening through November 20th, so hop on them discounts while the getting is good!

Two Cool Things:

The BBC recently launched an interactive story for Amazon’s Alexa called The Inspection Chamber. Listeners are placed into shoes of a character within a story, (though not able to direct the plot or trajectory). According to the folks at Engadget, it’s “genuinely fun and entertaining” and “more Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy than Twilight Zone.” It sounds like it’s more of an audiobook that listeners can interact with, rather than a choose-your-adventure kind of game, but it’s still a pretty awesome idea. We’re living in the future!

The folks behind a project called Ambient Literature have developed an interactive story that takes readers around London. The Irish Times says the story, The Cartographer’s Confession, “encourages users to head to the areas of London featured in the story to unlock new parts of the tale.” Using a free smartphone app, the story “presents audio recordings, letters, notes and photographs to readers as they move both literally and figuratively through the story.”

The A.V. Club reviews Tom Hanks’ new short story collection, Uncommon Type. Although the review is of the print version, the reviewer makes a compelling case for the audiobook. He says, “The story collection also features dialogue that one can’t help but hear in Hanks’ voice, crammed with yowzas and lemmes and cuppa joes. This audiobook should be a bestseller.”

AudioBook Riot Recap

Rioters have been dishing out some excellent recommendations over the past few weeks.

Sarah suggests 12 books to listen to while doing holiday chores; rioter Erin gives you 6 reasons to adore Audible’s new romance package (*cough*); Nikki writes about listening to the hard stuff.

Would you like $500 to the bookstore of your choice? OF COURSE YOU WOULD. Lucky for you, we have just such a giveaway happening now. Enter to win here.

That’s it for this week! As always, you can say hey to me on Twitter, where I’m msmacb or at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Until next week,

~Katie

Happy November, audiobook fans!

I missed y’all last week but I know Amanda dazzled you with her wit and excellent book recommendations. I’ve been remiss recently in getting to the Links for Your Ears/audiobooks news roundups section of this newsletter. So this week, I’m bringing you all the audiobooks news I can fit in a single newsletter so we can all catch up.

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Sponsored by Unbound Worlds

Build your library with a collection of classic science fiction and fantasy novels from Unbound Worlds! Fall is in full swing, and it’s the perfect time to cozy up with some classics. Unbound Worlds is giving away thirty-two books from timeless sci-fi and fantasy authors like Philip K. Dick, T.H. White, Anne McCaffrey, and Samuel R. Delaney, plus some bookish swag from Out of Print! Enter for a chance to win.

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BUT FIRST: Can we talk about listening speed? I tried listening to a book at 1.25x and it was bananas. It makes the narrator sound like they’re an auctioneer. But I think it’s pretty common to listen to audiobooks at a higher speed? How do people stand it? What am I missing? Let me know: on Twitter or at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Spooky, Scary!

I know, Halloween is over. But that doesn’t mean you have to let the spooky times go. The weather is getting colder, the nights are getting longer, you might as well curl up with a book that’s going to scare the bejeezus out of you. Bustle has you covered with a list of 8 Horror Audiobook recommendations for when you want a good scare. I’m currently listening to one of their recommendations, A Stranger in the House, and so far so good! (Also, one of the books on the list, This Darkness Mine, takes place at Oberlin College–- I was yapping about my alma mater to y’all a few weeks ago. Hoping to tackle that one next.)

I have not seen the Netflix Original Series Mindhunter because I’m worried it’s going to be too scary for me. BUT basically everyone else in the world says it’s fabulous. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Mindhunter is a fictionalized retelling of the crimes committed by a serial killer named Ed Kemper. When Kemper was in the California Medical Facility State Prison, he started narrating audiobooks for the blind. The A.V. Club cites a “recently unearthed” 1987 Los Angeles Times article about a prison program in which incarcerated individuals narrate audiobooks for the blind. From the Times article:

“Kemper, a confessed mass murderer, has read onto tape cassettes more books for the blind than any other prisoner. He has spent more than 5,000 hours in a booth before a microphone in the last 10 years and has more than four million feet of tape and several hundred books to his credit.

Two large trophies saluting Kemper for his dedication to the program, presented by supporters outside the prison, are on display in the Volunteers prison office, which has eight recording booths, two monitor booths and a battery of sophisticated tape duplication equipment.”

I actually think this is a great program, especially in 1987, when audiobooks weren’t quite as ubiquitous as they are today. But it is a little creepy when The Lad Bible puts it this way, “Next time you’re settling down on the evening and you pop an audiobook on while you relax, bear in mind that you may well be chilling out to the dulcet tones of a convicted serial killer.”

On a completely different and way less serial killer-y note: Jim Dale is interviewed on the Children of Song podcast! Dale is the Tony award-winning narrator of the Harry Potter series (in which he narrates a Guinness Book Record-setting number of distinct characters, 174 to be exact. In this interview, Dale talks about  “how he came up with the voices behind those quirky characters, some of whom he met on the street, and others he borrowed from his eccentric family.” Well worth a listen to hear one of the greats.

Audiobook Review:

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Nobel winner’s best-selling audiobook got a rave review from James Kidd of Post Magazine. He says, “The story of a butler’s repressed love (for a passionate, frustrated woman and a weak-willed employer), it displays Ishiguro’s key strength: graceful prose that unravels to reveal powerful emotions, and which also conveys grand sweeps of history. This portrait of life denied and wasted is beautifully read by Dominic West, whose clipped, refined tones are perfect for Stevens, the writer’s personification of duty, self-sacrifice and moral neutrality.”

New Release of the Week: In the Midst of Winter by Isabelle Allende; Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Alma Cuervo

I love love love audiobooks with multiple narrators. Even though there are really talented narrators like Jim Dale (see above) you can do different voices well, there’s just something about multiple narrators that makes me feel like I, I don’t know, have really bad seats at a theater and am listening to a play.

From the Publisher: “In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident – which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster – a 60-year-old human rights scholar – hits the car of Evelyn Ortega – a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala – in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor’s house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz – a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile – for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.”

Obituary: Robert Guillaume

Guillaume won a Grammy award for his narration of The Lion King, but he was a theater, film, and television actor as well. Read his full obit here (and check out the Lion King video)!

Don’t forget (and really, how could you?), we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter to win here.

Until next week,

~Katie

Hoo-boy, y’all, it has been a tragic couple of weeks. It feels like there have been non-stop tragedies: Hurricanes have done tremendous damage to the U.S. with many in Puerto Rico still in desperate need of basic supplies. The shooting in Las Vegas was horrifying and for the last week and a half, wildfires have been ravaging my beloved state of California. And that’s just a few examples from the United States; there’s no shortage of tragedy globally, either. So I asked readers of this newsletter and my Book Riot pals for soothing narrator recommendations. If you tweeted at me and you don’t see it here, I’m very sorry. I was going to do this last week, but the North Bay fires made things bananas and when I went back through my feed I couldn’t find them. I’m the worst! Feel free to tweet at me again and tell me what a dingdong I am.

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Listen to your book club’s next pick. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/bookclub for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of The Knockoff!

With fall ramping up, it’s back to juggling busy school and work schedules with social engagements like date nights, yoga with friends, and book club. Luckily, you can listen to your book club’s next pick so you can stay on top of it all.

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Before I get to those syrupy-sweet narrator voices, I want to take a second to appreciate firefighters. From the California firefighters who have been going days without sleep to the firefighters from around the country (and world!), who have gathered in California to help us, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Soothing Narrators

So which narrators do listen to when you need to mellow out? Reader (listener?) April recommends the Pulitzer Prize-winning Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. She says it’s “by far my favorite audiobook. The writing is exquisite and his quiet surfer drawl is so calming.  Whenever I have trouble sleeping I love to put an earbud in and set my audible sleep timer and let him lull me to sleep.”

If a voice could melt in your mouth, reader Myra says, Caroline Lee’s voice would. She says, “Caroline Lee has one of the most soothing, ‘melt in your mouth’ voices I’ve ever heard. Check out Silver Wattle by Belinda Alexandra.”

If you’re looking for YA with a great narrator, Beth recommends Will Patton’s narration of The Raven Boys  by Maggie Stiefvater. Want YA that’s a little lighter than that? Beth still has you covered. She says, “I’ll also listen to anything narrated by Rebecca Lowman. I fell in love with her renditions of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park and Landline.”

 

When I asked my fellow Book Rioters which narraters make them feel peaceful, Aimee sang the praises of Fiona Hardingham. She says, “I’m listening to The Dark Days Club and she’s so wonderful. I first heard her in The Scorpio Races, where she reads opposite Steve West, who is Elias Viturius.  I had heard a lot about the rape-iness of An Ember in the Ashes, so I’d avoided it, but gave it a try solely for Steve and Fiona, and ADORED it.  Good narrators are SO good!  I wish their performances were listed on IMDB.” <— (ISN’T THIS A BRILLIANT IDEA?! CAN SOMEONE MAKE THAT A THING!?)

Jess echoes Aimee’s love of Hardingham, saying “she’s awesome in The Fair Fight and Sabaa Tahir’s books as well.”

Jamie noted that the audio of When Dimple Met Rishi got her through the days following the election, which is basically the strongest endorsement of “soothing” I can imagine.

Jessica (different from Jess but equally awesome) turns to Toni Morrison for soothing narration. She also wrote this list of books to read when the world is terrible, which we should all probably bookmark immediately…

While we’re talking Book Riot, how would you like $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice? (Honestly, I find the idea of spending $500 on books LITERALLY AROUSING…) If it sounds pretty good to you, too, enter to win: https://goo.gl/cMpa5g

As for me, I love this recording of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Campbell Scott’s voice fits Hemingway’s prose perfectly–it’s simple, clear, and lovely.

New Release of the Week (publisher description in quotes)

Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together by Van Jones

Longtime progressive activist Van Jones, “offers a blueprint for transforming our collective anxiety into meaningful change. Tough on Donald Trump but showing respect and empathy for his supporters, Jones takes aim at the failures of both parties before and after Trump’s victory. He urges both sides to abandon the politics of accusation and focus on real solutions. Calling us to a deeper patriotism, he shows us how to get down to the vital business of solving, together, some of our toughest problems.”

Famous People Narrating Audiobooks

A famous narrator isn’t always the BEST narrator, but there are some folks you just KNOW will probably be kickass narrators. There are two new audiobooks with famous narrators I’m excited about: Rosario Dawson is narrating Artemis, the second book from The Martian‘s Andy Weir. Read what Dawson has to say about narrating and listen to a clip of the audio here.

And if October is getting you in the mood for mystery, Kenneth Branagh narrates a new version of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Branagh in anticipation of the star-studded film adaptation of the title he’s directing. Fittingly, the audiobook will be available for download on October 31st.

Let me know what you’re listening to, audiobooky things you’d like to see in the newsletter, or send me pictures of baby animals via katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Until next week,

~Katie

Hey audiobookers! This week, we’re continuing our doing behind-the-scenes look at audiobook creation with a guest post by Jordanna Max Brodsky, author of The Immortals, which Whoopi Goldberg (a huge audiobook lover) picked as a Summer Reading Pick for The View. Before we get into that, though, I want to address the fact a lot of us feel like we are swimming in tragedy these days. There’s an ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico and other hurricane-devastated areas, the shooting in Las Vegas killed and injured a horrifying number of people–it’s just a lot. And while it can be a time to remember what we’re grateful for, or spur us to action, we also need to be soothed. So, I want to know which audiobooks and narrators you find the most soothing. Hit me up on Twitter or send an email to katie@riotnewmedia.com and I’ll compile a list for next week.

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia, partly because its creator James Halliday has hidden a series of keys in it. Whoever finds all the keys and solves all the riddles will win big time. When Wade stumbles on the first key, suddenly the race is on. Wil Wheaton narrates the audiobook edition of this pop-culture loving adventure-filled quest.

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Without further ado, here’s Jordanna Max Brodsky on narrating her own audiobook and the unusual experience of being both storyteller and listener, reader, and writer.

A Novelist-Narrator’s Labor of Love 

by: Jordanna Max Brodsky

For the first time, I am both the reader and writer of my own book. The listener and the storyteller. Most thrillingly, I become its heroine, inhabiting her every emotion, her every action—even as I watch her tale unfold anew. That’s the power of narrating my own audiobook.

The recording booth feels like a sacred space. In it, I’ve found the sort of solitude and focus that novelists constantly seek and rarely acquire. At home, the phone rings, family intrudes. In the library, patrons bicker and children whine. Even when I’ve managed to unhook from the Internet and block out everyone I love, life’s ceaseless distractions beckon from afar. But when the heavy studio door whooshes shut and I raise the page of my book before my eyes, there’s only my story, my characters, and me. I have nowhere else to be, nothing else to do. Even the director, sitting just beyond the glass, is nothing but a disembodied voice who only occasionally interrupts my tale with a bit of encouragement or advice.

As a novelist, I reread my own book dozens of times before it goes to print. By the final copyedit, I know most of the passages by heart, and I’m capable of overlooking the same typo five times in a row. We’re often told to read our writing aloud to get a new perspective. That advice works great for a scene or a chapter, but no one ever mentions just how hard it is to read an entire four hundred-page novel out loud to yourself in the final editing stages. Sooner or later (usually sooner), your voice tires, you get bored, you start reading without listening to a damn word you’re saying. But step in front of a microphone, slide the headphone over your ears, and…magic. The story is reborn.

Inside the booth, I stop remembering previous versions of lines or worrying about whether chapter length. Instead, with my own voice echoing back through the headphones, I can read and listen at the same time—the best kind of ambidexterity for a writer. For hours at a time, for several days in a row, I live in my story. We generally record chronologically, so I get to experience the tale just as the reader does, from careful exposition to rousing climax to satisfying denouement.

I write because I’m happiest when completely subsumed in a story, and I can imagine no greater privilege than to create those stories for others. Yet it can be hard to fall into a story of my own creation in quite the same way. I know how the characters have evolved over the course of the process. Perhaps they’ve changed names or personalities or fates. Even though I see them more vividly than a reader might, I also see the shadows of their former selves, the scars of my sculpting and slicing. But in the recording booth, they jump off the page and take on lives of their own. As a writer, I create their words. As a narrator, I actually speak them. And unlike a reading at a bookstore or library, where I feel slightly absurd shouting or weeping or laughing through the dialogue, an audiobook demands that I inhabit the characters completely. When my heroine cries, I cry. When my villain growls, I growl. By the end, I’m exhausted, hoarse, and covered in sweat—but also reveling in the remembered thrill of writing the final line of the final chapter and turning off my computer for the night.

I wish all authors got a chance to record their own audiobooks. Not only for the pleasure, but for the instruction. Even as the story sweeps me along, I sometimes hit the odd boulder in the current: a word that I suddenly realize breaks the rhythm of a line, a phrase that feels out of place for a character, that last typo I could’ve sworn wasn’t there a month before. At that point, of course, it’s generally too late. The book is off to the printers, and all I can do is tuck away the lesson for the next novel. If I had my druthers, I’d sneak into the studio halfway through the writing process and record a version just for myself. I’d walk out with all sorts of insights I couldn’t get any other way—and probably an arrest record for trespassing.

So for now, I’ll leave the audiobook recording where it is: the final frenzied push in the long labor of bringing forth a novel, complete with sweat and screams and an aching back. When it’s all over, I get to hand over that squalling new child to the whole world. It’s not mine any longer—it belongs to those who read it. But unlike most authors, my voice will remain to shepherd it along. To give it life. I hope that’s a gift to my readers. I darn well know it’s a gift to me.

 

Happy Thursday, audiophiles!

Given how much I talk and write about audiobooks, it occurred to me that I haven’t given much thought into audiobook production. Instead of doing a round-up of audiobooks, as I usually do, I thought I would hunt down a bunch of different interviews with audiobook narrators and take a behind the scenes look at how some of the audiobooks we all know and love get made (cue The Room Where It Happens). We all intuitively know that being a good audiobook narrator requires a certain something, and it’s interesting to read how different narrators approach that.

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Sponsored by Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Calling all listeners—audiobooks are now available from Kobo. Find all your eBooks and audiobooks together in the FREE Kobo App for iOS and Android. Save with a subscription for the best deal on audiobooks—your first 30 days are FREE.

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Daniel Wyeman has narrated Peter James’ Roy Grace novels since 2013 and won Narrator of the Year at the Audiobook Production Awards in 2016. He did an interview with PanMacmillan this summer for #LoveAudio Week and described how he prepares for recording. First, he reads the text aloud with a pen in hand, so he can mark how the dialogue is supposed to be read, because the author often doesn’t make that clear until after the dialogue. Wyeman says, “Many authors only describe the character who spoke and how, after they have delivered their speech e.g., ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Alison shouted. Prepping like this means my reading can be more fluid.”

Physically engaging with the text doesn’t end there, Wyeman says, “I also mark-up inflection, intonation and pacing to help convey the drama of the story. I make lists of all the characters and note down what the author says about each character to help me imagine their voices, and then I record their voice so that I can keep it consistent over the course of the book.” Kinda makes you want to see the hard copy of the books your favorite narrators use when they’re recording, doesn’t it?

Once that’s done, Wyeman sits down with the producer and/or the author and goes through any questions he has about how something should be read, or the plot or storyline. He also talks about eating and drinking on a regular schedule when he’s recording to prevent any strange stomach noises that might disrupt the recording. On a personal note, I would give my right arm to hear a collection of Unfortunately Timed Farts Audiobook Narration Bloopers.

Not all narrators prepare the same way, however (#notallnarrators?), as this interview with Emma Galvin, narrator of the Divergent Trilogy among other titles demonstrates. She says, “I’m not a big technical prepper. I read the book as much as possible and just try and get deeper into the story, what the tone is, who the characters are, and I mark up big shifts in story, etc. But when I go in to actually record, I just work from a clean copy. It feels like a nice fresh start, like I’m discovering this world for the first time as I read.”

Galvin also talks about fighting various gassy urges during recording, so it must be something all the great narrators grapple with (everybody burps!). She says, “I happen to be a big belcher, especially when I’m talking a lot, so I usually just warn whomever I’m working with, and I also have a foul mouth, I think, compared to most people. But this one director/engineer I worked with, Mark Kondracki (great guy), put together a compilation of all of my burping and cursing during a book. It was pretty amazing. I think he called it his “Ode to Emma Galvin.” So that says a lot about me…” What is says about Emma Galvin, of course, is that I want to be best friends with her.

Here’s another interesting tidbit I came across while reading all these narrator interviews. Joel Leslie, narrator of many audiobooks, including the Skyler Foxe books, gives authors a one page character sheet to fill out. He says, “I ask [the author] to tell me for each character their Hollywood dream casting (vocally), age, level of education, who they are related to or from the same region as (You might accidentally miss that on page 264 you learn someone is someone’s sister and they grew up in the same town and you’ve been voicing them from totally different regions). I also ask them what kind of animal the character would be…knowing an author thinks of someone as a bear or a snake or an owl or a basset hound really helps me find the voice. Weirdly, for me, the minor characters with a couple of lines are the ones that are the toughest sometimes.”

New Release of the Week (publisher description in quotes)

Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur

I cannot freaking wait to listen to this audiobook. Aside from the fact that she spells her name the wrong way (it’s Katie, Katy, OK?) I love Katy Tur. I’m an avid MSNBC viewer and it was really interesting (and depressing) to see the kind of vitriol and harassment Tur received from Trump and his supporters during the 2016 election. It was so bad, in fact, that “following one rally, during which Trump launched a personal attack against her, the Secret Service had to accompany Tur to her car. But Katy was not alone. Millions of Americans watched in disbelief as Trump ordered Tur to ‘be quiet’ during one of his many press conferences and called her ‘disgraceful’, ‘third-rate’, ‘not nice’, and ‘Little Katy.’ Unbelievable is an unprecedented eyewitness account of the 2016 election from an intelligent, dedicated journalist at the center of it – a thoughtful historical record that offers eye-opening insights and details on our political process, the media, and the mercurial 45th president of the United States.”

Book Riot Audiobook Posts You May Have Missed:

HOW TO BECOME AN AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR

Rioter Rebecca interviews Audie Award winning narrator Michael Levine about everything from audiobook narrator salaries to how to become an audiobook narrator.

8 GREAT MISSING PERSON MYSTERIES ON AUDIO

A selection of thrilling and addictive missing person mysteries that are as wonderful in audiobook format as they are in print.

10 WORLD OF WARCRAFT AUDIOBOOKS, TO GET YOUR READ ON WITH YOUR GAME ON

As they won’t take time away from the game, World of Warcraft audiobooks can be an excellent solution to get some reading in while gaming. Rah Carter tells you what you need to know to get started.

Feel free to get in touch any time, for any reason! I’m on Twitter at msmacb and/or you can reach me by email at katie@riotnewmedia.com. I’m always looking for suggestions or ideas for the newsletter, questions you’d like me to address, or hearing about whatever it is you’re listening to and loving.

Until next week,

~Katie (not Katy)