Category: Audiobooks

Howdy audiobook fans,

First off, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who offered recommendations for the sci-fi road trip audiobook extravaganza. I’m going to put these together for a Book Riot post for future reference but since you all were generous to send me your suggestions, Imma give you the list in this newsletter first. MANY MANY thanks again!

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Sponsored by the new summer must-haves: freshly picked audiobooks from bestselling author Warren Adler. Discover them all here.

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Audiobooks for a road trip with a sci-fi lover and a sci-fi lukewarmer

The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

Nightwise by R.S. Belcher

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

Dark Matter Blake Crouch

Little Brother or Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book  (go for the full cast production) by Neil Gaiman

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

11/22/63–-Stephen King

Dragonflight (and all Dragonrider of Pern series) by Ann McCaffrey

Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson

Grace of Kings Ken Liu

Books by John Scalzi, narrated by Wil Wheaton like Lock In, Fuzzy Nation, and Agent to the Stars.  

The Domesday Book by Connie Willis

 

Selected New Books 

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? Written and read by Alan Alda

“The beloved actor shares fascinating and powerful lessons from the science of communication and teaches listeners to improve the way they relate to others using improv games, storytelling, and their own innate mind-reading abilities. With his trademark humor and frankness, Alan Alda explains what makes the out-of-the-box techniques he developed after his years as the host of Scientific American Frontiers so effective. This book reveals what it means to be a true communicator and how we can communicate better in every aspect of our lives – with our friends, lovers, and families; with our doctors; in business settings; and beyond.”

The Chalk Artist: by Allegra Goodman, narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

“Collin James is young, creative, and unhappy. A college dropout, he waits tables and spends his free time beautifying the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his medium of choice: chalk. Collin’s art captivates passersby with its vibrant colors and intricate lines – until the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collin’s life is meant to last. Then he meets Nina….

The daughter of a tech mogul who is revolutionizing virtual reality, Nina Lazare is trying to give back as a high school teacher – but her students won’t listen to her. When Collin enters her world, he inspires her to think bigger. Nina wants to return the favor – even if it means losing him.”

I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons written and read by: Kevin Hart

“Superstar comedian and Hollywood box office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.”

The Switch by Joseph Finder, narrated by Steven Kearney

“Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.

When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. If those documents wind up in the wrong hands, it could be Snowden 2.0 – and her career in politics will be over. She needs to recover the MacBook before it’s too late”.

Small Hours by: Jennifer Kitses, narrated by: Tanya Eby, Dan John Miller

“In the vein of Richard Russo and Tom Perrotta, a gripping, suspenseful, and gorgeous debut novel–told hour-by-hour over the course of a single day–in which a husband and wife try to outrun long-buried secrets, sending their lives spiraling into chaos.”

 

That’s it for this week! Audiobook news, LGBTQIA/Pride audiobooks recs, and more next week. And as always, feel free to be in touch on twitter (I’m at msmacb) or at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Happy listening!

~Katie

 

Happy almost-officially summer, audiobook lovers!

First, huge thanks to everyone who sent me suggestions for my road trip with a sci-fi lover! I’m compiling all your fabulous recommendations now and I’ll put them in the next newsletter (to recap: I’m taking a road trip with a dude who pretty much exclusively reads sci-fi and am looking for audiobooks that will be palatable to both of us).

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Want free audiobooks? Celebrate Audiobook Month this June with a premium giveaway every Thursday, brought to you by Audiobooks.com! Plus, members can access 2-for-1 offers, exclusive sales and bundled deals all month long. Listeners can stream books live or download for offline listening, and enjoy great features like sped-up narration, sleep timer and custom bookmarking. Plus, Audiobooks.com integrates with CarPlay, Android Auto, Sonos and tvOS for easy listening in your car and home. Create your account for free and get started today!

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Audiobooks have been on the minds of Book Riot contributors recently–-in the past week we’ve had several helpful audiobook posts: everything from audiobooks for new listeners to instructions for lending Audible books with an old smartphone.

Book Riot Round-up of Audiobooks Posts

Lending Audible Books With an Old Smartphone: How one audiobook listener gets around the impossibility of lending out audiobooks.

5 Best Audiobooks for New Listeners: Queen of audiobooking Rachel Smalter Hall Audiobooks are more popular than ever, but “reading” with your ears is a learned skill. Where do you start? Rachel suggest 5 of the best audiobooks for new listeners.

Awesome Audiobooks Read By Actors: Y’all know I love a good narrator and rioter Susie agrees. The actors-as-narrators do these excellent books justice in the audiobook format. Give them a listen!

Hilarious non-fiction Audiobooks to Power Your Summer Road Trip: These ten hilarious nonfiction audiobooks will entertain your brain while you drive.

As for me, I’ve never been in the middle of several audiobooks at once, but that’s where I find myself. See, I got the audio copy of Roxane Gay’s new book, Hunger, and so I had to stop listening to all the audiobooks I was in the middle of and immediately settle into Gay’s brilliant collection of very personal essays.

New Releases (descriptions in quotes via publisher)

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; narrated by Sneha Mathan

This charming YA novel was released on May 30th but somehow I missed it. I read the print book, however, and absolutely loved it. From the publisher’s description:

“Now that Dimple Shah has graduated, she’s ready for a break from her family – especially from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the Ideal Indian Husband. Ugh. But Dimple knows that her mother must respect that she isn’t interested in doing that right now – otherwise she wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers, right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic, so when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him – during which he’ll have to woo her – he’s totally onboard. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. Although their parents hadn’t planned suggesting the arrangement so soon, when their kids signed up for the same summer program, they figured why not?”

The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter; narrated by Kate Orsini

“Reformed party girl Meg Ashley leads a life of privilege, thanks to a bestselling horror novel her mother wrote decades ago. But Meg knows that the glow of their very public life hides a darker reality of lies, manipulation, and the heartbreak of her own solitary childhood. Desperate to break free of her mother, Meg accepts a proposal to write a scandalous, tell-all memoir.

Digging into the past – and her mother’s cult classic – draws Meg to Bonny Island, Georgia, and an unusual woman said to be the inspiration for the book. At first island life seems idyllic, but as Meg starts to ask tough questions, disturbing revelations come to light…including some about her mother.

Soon Meg’s search leads her to question the facts of a decades-old murder. She’s warned to leave it alone, but as the lies pile up, Meg knows she’s getting close to finding a murderer. When her own life is threatened, Meg realizes the darkness found in her mother’s book is nothing compared to the chilling truth that lurks off the page.”

Magpie Murders by: Anthony Horowitz; narrated by Samantha Bond, Allan Corduner

“When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.

Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.”

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness written and narrated by Arundhati Roy

“In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears just after midnight. In a snowy valley, a bereaved father writes a letter to his five-year-old daughter about the people who came to her funeral. In a second-floor apartment, a lone woman chain-smokes as she reads through her old notebooks. At the Jannat Guest House, two people who have known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around each other, as though they have just met.

A braided narrative of astonishing force and originality, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is at once a love story and a provocation – a novel as inventive as it is emotionally engaging. It is told with a whisper, in a shout, through joyous tears, and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Its heroes, both present and departed, have been broken by the world we live in – and then mended by love. For this reason they will never surrender.

How to tell a shattered story?

By slowly becoming everybody.

No.

By slowly becoming everything.”

Audiobook News/Links for Your Ears

The 2017 Audie Awards  – which honor the best in spoken word entertainment – were announced last week. Check out the winners by category below, explore the full list of nominees, or let them know what you think on Twitter @audible_com.

The One Novel You Need To Listen To on Audio: OK, can someone listen to this and tell me if it’s too scary for me?

Finding Your Audiobook Voice: The author of The Mighty Franks on the peculiar pleasures of writing his memoir—and then recording himself reading the whole thing aloud.

Ben Aaronovitch interview: Cityread, Doctor Who, audiobooks, Peter Grant

Talking Book Center Awarded Grant: Talking Book Center awarded grant from United Way of Greater Augusta

Best Audiobooks for a Silent Road Trip: I don’t have kids, but if I did, you can be damn sure I would be all about whatever it takes to distract them during car trips…and everything else.

How to Get Alexa to Read You a Kindle Book: Someone mentioned this in the last Insider’s Audiobook Chat (every second Thursday of the month at 1 PM EST. #shamelessplug) and I have never heard such a compelling reason to get an Alexa-doodybob.

Thank you again for all your lovely recommendations and I promise I’ll get that list going ASAP. Feel free to say hey whenever (Twitter: @msmacb, email katie@riotnewmedia.com). Hope you have a great week!

~Katie

If you are a book nerd like me (and if you are reading this, you probably are) the summer months can be especially delightful for audiobooking. It’s beautiful out, so you want to leave your house (or people are forcing you to leave the house). Like a true “indoor kid,” I want to be reading pretty much all the time. Audiobooks are great for hikes, lounging by the pool, road trips, and whatever else you have planned for these summer months.

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Sponsored by the new summer must-haves: freshly picked audiobooks from bestselling author Warren Adler. Discover them all here.

Want a free Warren Adler audiobook of your choice? Just email bookreviews@warrenadler.com with the subject line “Audiobook Month” and the title you’d like to receive and we’ll send it to you! Limit to 20 entries.

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In July, I’ll be braving a two-week road trip from California to Oklahoma (don’t ask). Audiobooks are going to play a VITAL role. I’ll be journeying with a sci-fi lover, which is not my typical genre. I’m trying to think of books we’ll both enjoy for the trip. If you have any suggestions, tweet them to me at @msmacb or email me at katie@riotnewmedia.com and I’ll compile a list of whatever suggestions I get and post it on Book Riot. Then, I’ll listen to as many as I can on the trip and report back.

If sci-fi audiobooks that are palatable to non-sci-fi listeners is also an interest of yours, I strongly recommend the Ready Player One audiobook, written by Ernest Cline and narrated by Wil Wheaton. Set in the not-too-distant future (2044), Wade Watts is a high school student living in “the stacks,” trailers stacked atop each other. There’s never enough money, food, or space, and the only escape Wade has is “the Oasis” a virtual reality world with infinite possibilities. Buried inside the Oasis is a buried treasure that could solve all of Wade’s problems. Filled with ’80s nostalgia, corporate bad-guys, and magical treasure hunting adventures, this is an incredible book that’s even better an audio.

Another one from the backlist:

I watched *all* of Big Little Lies this weekend and while I think it was so well done (and talk about a killer cast–-pun very much intended), I’m happy I listened to the audiobook first. For the uninitiated: “Big Little Lies focuses on three women, all of whom have children at the same preschool. One is a great beauty married to a fabulously rich businessman; they have a “perfect” set of twins. One is the can-do mom who can put together a mean pre-school art project but can’t prevent her teenage daughter from preferring her divorced dad. The third is a withdrawn, single mother who doesn’t quite fit in. Right from the start–thanks to a modern “Greek chorus” that narrates the action–we know that someone is going to end up dead. The questions are who and how. Miraculously, Moriarty keeps this high concept plot aloft, largely because she infuses it with such wit and heart. She also knows not to overplay the message she’s sending: that we all tell lies–to each other and, more importantly, to ourselves.”

Over at Book Riot:

One Rioter discusses how audiobooks reignited her love of poetry.

New Releases:

The great Carl Sagan was the voice of the original Cosmos and a hero to many. Three of his books have just-released audio versions: Cosmos, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, and Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. 

The current voice of Cosmos also has a newly-released book on audio: Neil de Grasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is narrated by the author (yay!) and explores questions like, “What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us?”

Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris, read by David Sedaris.

David Sedaris audiobooks are pretty much a sure thing…especially his memoir/non-fiction. This has all the makings of an excellent book–what more could you want than David Sedaris literally reading the highlights of 25 years of diary entries?

 

File Under: Things Everybody but Me Has Probably Known About Forever

Did y’all Know that Spotify has a Spoken Word Option? Under which you can find audiobooks? [insert seventy-five million heart eyes emojis]. Right now I have the free version of Spotify because I don’t use it enough to warrant the $10/month premium version but depending on how much I start using the audiobook collection, I’ll likely be shelling that $10/month in the not-too-distant future.

Links for Your Ears (this is such a gross image; I keep picturing sausage links hanging from someone’s earlobes but I’m also kind of attached to the phrase, so…)

7 Best Audiobooks for Dog Lovers

I’m so happy that Inside of a Dog’s Mind is on this list. I love this book so much; I gave it to my grandmother for Christmas and she loved it, too. What’s that, you say? You’d like me to take this opportunity to unnecessarily insert a picture of my dog here? Ok, well if you insist. Here’s one from World Book Night in 2013, when she “helped” me pass out copies of The Handmaid’s Tale. 

People doing cool things to support audiobooks and accessibility

Last week it was Bangkok, this week it’s Glasgow and Odisha, India. Awesome, right?

Partially sighted Glasgow man skydives for charity

Samaritans for Sightless

 

For Writers:

Audiobook Narration, Production, Distribution, And Marketing Tip

Audiobook Review:

Between the World and Me Audiobook Review

Until next week, Audiobookers, and say hello anytime!

~Katie

Happy Thursday, Audiobooks fans!

We’ve got lots of new releases and audiobooks new, so let’s dive right in!

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Sponsored by Audiobooks.com

100,000 titles, 1 app, endless listening! Your first book is free when you sign up for Audiobooks.com, the premier membership service for audiobook lovers. You can stream books live or download for offline listening, and enjoy great features like sped-up narration, sleep timer and custom bookmarking. Browse by genre or curated lists, check out promotions and giveaways, and switch seamlessly between devices with cloud-syncing technology. Plus, Audiobooks.com integrates with CarPlay, Android Auto, Sonos and tvOS for easy listening in your car and home. Try Audiobooks.com today!

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New Releases:

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby:

I am a huuuge fan of Samantha Irby (keep your eyes peeled for an interview with her on Book Riot in the not-too-distant-future) and her new book, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, is out on May 30th. Irby is funny and sarcastic without shying away from painful topics. I’ve been reading her writing for years but We Are Never Meeting in Real Life is the first time I’ve gotten to hear her voice and her narration is perfection.

 

May 30th really is shaping up to be an excellent day for audiobook releases. Random House is releasing the audiobook version of Walt Whitman’s Life and Adventures of Jack Engle, just in time for the author’s 198th birthday on May 31st. The book will be narrated by none other the Don Drap–-I mean Jon Hamm. Hamm said of the opportunity, “I had been a fan of Whitman’s work, so it was an easy choice for me. And this is a lost work. It’s exciting to read something new by someone who’s been dead over 100 years.”

The story follows orphan Jack Engle through 1850s New York as he tries to make his way as a young lawyer, apprenticing with the cheating Covert, uncovering the truth about his own father’s murder, and revealing Covert’s deceit about his inheritance.

You can hear an excerpt of Hamm’s narration of the book here.

 

It’s Always the Husband by Michele Campbell

The last thriller I listened to was a bit of a disappointment, so I’m really looking forward to listening to this book, described by Kirkus as “an intriguing whodunit that examines the explosive potential of secrets to destroy friendships, marriages, and lives… a page-turner.”

 

So what do I want when I say I’m looking for a thriller? One of my favorite thrillers is The Passenger by Lisa Lutz. I’m scared of…well, most things, but I was able to listen to Lutz’s book while alone in a cabin in Tahoe *at night* and I didn’t have to sleep with the lights on. I highly recommend it. And if you do listen to it and love/hate/whatever it, let me know! You can find me on Twitter at @msmacb.

10 Listens to Inspire Better Cooking and Eating: The Audible blog has neat little playlists–-the most recent one I found particularly helpful seeing as I know how to cook exactly one thing (omelets) but I love learning about how other people cook and listen to stories about people who are more motivated than I am to make delicious food.

People Doing Good Through Audiobooks: Look, I don’t know if there are any Book Riot Audiobook Newsletter readers in Bangkok, but I love to see this kind of stuff happening. Pond Sinlaparatsamee, a third-year student from the Albert Laurence School of Communication Arts at Assumption University of Thailand is heading a project named “Voice Out”, and hopes to raise awareness about the lack of educational audiobooks available for the visually impaired.

Following-up

Last week, I talked about W. Kamau Bell’s audiobook, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell. If you’re still unsure about if his book sounds good, check out the interview with him here.

Audiostate, a subdivision of a new Dallas-based entertainment company, is creating audiobooks that are like movies for your ears. In other words, they’ve got a full cast, an original score, sound effects, and so on. They released the first title, The Narrow Caves, last week.  

More Links for Your Ears:

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer: Twin Peaks’ Problematic Tie-in

Gemma Whelan Q&A: on Game of Thrones, The Crown, The Moorside and new audiobook ‘Just One Damned Thing After Another’

The Sound of Sherlock: Stephen Fry Voices the Master Sleuth

Newsday editors share their favorite audiobooks (I very much approve of this list, not that anyone asked).

A Publisher Tries Podcasts as a path to Audiobooks

Until next time,

~Katie

I have long been a fan of Open Culture and I don’t know why people don’t talk about or use it more. Do people not love free things as much as I do? I love free things so much. And Open Culture is chock full of free things–-ebooks, audiobooks, lectures, and videos–-all in the public domain. Sure you can root around on different sites for different things, but wouldn’t you rather have a whole bunch of it in one place? Me, too. Some of these are short stories; pieces by Jamaica Kincaid are read by Edwidge Danticat and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and others, like C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, are full novels. There are a variety of formats, including MP3s, which leads me to my next item…

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Sponsored by Audiobooks.com

100,000 titles, 1 app, endless listening! Your first book is free when you sign up for Audiobooks.com, the premier membership service for audiobook lovers. You can stream books live or download for offline listening, and enjoy great features like sped-up narration, sleep timer and custom bookmarking. Browse by genre or curated lists, check out promotions and giveaways, and switch seamlessly between devices with cloud-syncing technology. Plus, Audiobooks.com integrates with CarPlay, Android Auto, Sonos and tvOS for easy listening in your car and home. Try Audiobooks.com today!

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Is the MP3 dead?

It’s hard to feel like something is dead when you have 6 billion of them living on your computer and you use them all the time, but okay, I guess.

What’s that? You want *more* free audiobooks? OK, I’ve got you covered (BOOK PUNZ!). Kim Komando talks LibriVox Audio Books.

New Releases

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology

From Lydia Yuknavich’s review in the New York Times:

“There is a difference between reading a book and listening to stories, a difference amplified to epic proportions in the case of Norse Mythology. I knew it immediately when all of the hairs on my arm shot up during the retelling of how Odin lost his eye when he traded it for a sip from the well of wisdom. My theory was confirmed when my 16-year-old son passed by my bedroom door one night and could not stop himself from coming in to listen — for an entire hour. Hearing a story aloud, you are seduced by the wonder of an ancient oral tradition.”

Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin

The Washington Post says of Baldwin’s narration, “Baldwin’s trained delivery, his air of candor and, above all, his engagement with what he is reading elevates this book above its printed form.” Want to hear for yourself? Listen to an excerpt of it here.

WaPo also reviews In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant, saying, “Nicholas Boulton delivers the general narration in a courteous, gentlemanly manner, a temperate foil to his virtuoso performance in capturing the extravagant, Renaissance personalities of the story’s many characters.”

An upcoming release for the young feminist in your life:

She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton (on sale 5/30)

This book is marketed as being for ages 4-8, but I think people of all ages could use a reminder about the awesome-ness of the women covered in this book. Among the lives recounted by Clinton: Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Clara Lemlich, Nellie Bly, Maria Tallchief, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges, Margaret Chase Smith, Sally Ride, Florence Griffith Joyner, Oprah Winfrey, and Sonia Sotomayor. 

Links for Your Ears

Audible Highlights 10 Books Where Small Towns are Gigantic Characters

Cory Doctorow talks “Cage-Free Audiobooks and Libro.fm”

Students Learning to Read by Listening: I am incredibly stoked to see this happening. I have long been a believer that our educational system is too rigid in how we teach literacy skills. If you get kids hooked on the story, they’re going to want to learn how to consume that story. Or so says me.

Turn books into audiobooks (if you have Windows, that is).

Are you a writer? Concerned about your novel getting proper audiobook treatment?

My bad:

Last week, I mentioned an awesome Audible article about audiobook narrators first taking the mic. And then I linked to the wrong article. I’m very sorry and you should definitely check out the *right* article here.

Happy almost-Friday, Audiobookers, I hope you had a great week!

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by You Don’t Look Your Age.

In You Don’t Look Your Age, a frank, funny, poignant audiobook, famed documentary producer Sheila Nevins tells it like it is. She is your discreet confidante, your sage mentor at work, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” and the best friend you never knew you had.

The audiobook is read an all-star cast including:  Alan Alda, Christine Baranski, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, Blythe Danner, Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Lane, Audra McDonald, Rosie O’Donnell, RuPaul, Liz Smith, Gloria Steinem, Meryl Streep, and many, many more.

Start listening here!

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I sort of abandoned Only Daughter, though I might return to it because I really am interested to know if all those seemingly unbelievable threads are somehow believably resolved. For the time being, though, I have moved on to Edan Lapucki’s Woman No. 17 (which I just saw was a sponsor of another Book Riot newsletter, but I swear this is unrelated). Woman No. 17 tells the story of two women; Lady, newly separated and trying to start a new career and S, the young woman Lady has hired to live in her guest house and help with the kids. So far, it gets two thumbs up. 

 

New Audiobook Releases that I am Super Excited About!

The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell, read by W. Kamau Bell

Friends of mine have raved about W. Kamau Bell’s comedy for years, but I was only exposed to him over the course of the primary/election season when I got hooked on his Politically Re-Active podcast with Hari Kondabolu. The best narrators are often performers reading their own work, and I have high hopes for this audiobook.  

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey, read by Finty Williams

TBH, I probably am going to be too scared to read this. Because I was too scared to read the Carey’s first acclaimed novel The Girl With All the Gifts. But The Girl with all the Gifts got rave reviews and, based on the publisher’s description,  it sounds like this one might follow suit.

“From the author of bestseller The Girl With All the Gifts, a terrifying new novel set in the same post-apocalyptic world. Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived.” –-Publisher’s Description

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

There’s lots of buzz about this new title from Patricia Lockwood about having a married Catholic priest as a father. This is another title where the author narrates, which makes it especially appealing to me, and a blurb from the great Mary Karr makes it all the more appealing:

“Patricia Lockwood’s side-splitting Priestdaddy puts the poetry back in memoir. Her verbal verve creates a reading experience of effervescent joy, even as Lockwood takes you through some of her life’s darker passages. Destined to be a classic, Priestdaddy is this year’s must-read memoir.” (Mary Karr, author of The Liars’ Club)

Book Riot talks Audiobooks:

Audiobooks for Loud (but Short) Transit: Rioter Yash discusses what makes a good audiobook for public transit and other loud, short journeys.

3 More Fiction Podcasts to Satisfy Your Love of Stories: Fiction podcasts aren’t exactly the same as audiobooks, but they’re pretty close. Patricia put together a new list of three fiction podcasts to follow her previous fiction podcast post.

Audiobook News

Robert Caro narrates On Power: Well, that seems timely…

Something very cool is happening in South Korea: Old phone booths are being converted into recording stations to record audiobooks for folks who are visually impaired.

Audible asked popular narrators about their first experience at the mic.

Audio Publishing’s Digital Boom: Think you’re alone in your love of audiobooks? Not so, according to these publishing insiders.

How to import audiobooks to iTunes without making everything horrible: I know y’all are probably iTunes, but depending on where you’re getting your audiobooks, importing them into iTunes can be kind of awful.  

That’s all for this week! Feel free to ping me on twitter to talk about anything/everything related to books or anything else @msmacb. My instagram is mostly pictures of my dog (who happens to be the most perfect, beautiful dog in all the world) but if that’s your thing, you can follow me at msmacb_sally.

Until next time,

~Katie

Greetings Audiobookers!

I’m Katie and I’ll be taking over as your audiobooks tour guide! (This also means I’ll be hosting the Book Riot Insiders audiobook chat at its new time, the second Thursday of each month from 1-2 PM EST, so Insiders, mark yer calendars!)

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Audiobooks.com

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I’m currently listening to two audiobooks: one is A Colony in a Nation, written and narrated by Chris Hayes and Only Daughter, written by Anna Snoekstra and read by Saskia Maarleveld.

A Colony in a Nation is really interesting–-it’s one of those books that has a straightforward way of synthesizing information you know to be true in a better-articulated package than you (or at least I) could do alone. Hayes looks at race relations, crime, and the privilege/marginalization dichotomy from through the lens of the “colony” (poor areas, often with heavy Black and brown populations) vs. the “nation” (middle/upper class white areas) and the systems that keep these two communities separate. He’s a good narrator; it’s always a treat when the author narrates their own book (although there are a few times where he tries a little too hard to do the “voices” of the people he’s quoting and I’ve found myself cringing during my commute).

The jury is still out on Only Daughter –-I’ll report back. So far, the plot has required absurd suspension of disbelief–the protagonist assumes the life of a girl who went missing 11 years prior. If you can get past the fact even the twins in the Parent Trap couldn’t pull it off (and they were, you know, twins) it’s kind of an interesting story. If I were reading the print version, I probably would have abandoned it by now, but the narrator’s voice is so soothing (a calm Australian accent is hard to turn off) that I’ve been letting the book play while I do laundry.

With The Handmaid’s Tale sweeping the nation (interpret that however you’d like), I want to put in a plug for The Handmaid’s Tale (BBC Radio Collection) version of the audiobook. Full disclosure, it’s a slightly abridged version of the book (I know, I know) but it’s read by a full cast and it’s basically like listening to a really lovely stage performance of the infamous book. There’s also a version narrated by Claire Danes that I’m told is very good but I’m partial to the aforementioned BBC version.

New Release I am Very Excited About:

This is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare by Gabourey Sidibe

“Gabourey Sidibe—’Gabby’ to her legion of fans—skyrocketed to international fame in 2009 when she played the leading role in Lee Daniels’s acclaimed movie Precious. In This Is Just My Face, she shares a one-of-a-kind life story in a voice as fresh and challenging as many of the unique characters she’s played onscreen. With full-throttle honesty, Sidibe paints her Bed-Stuy/Harlem family life with a polygamous father and a gifted mother who supports her two children by singing in the subway. Sidibe tells the engrossing, inspiring story of her first job as a phone sex ‘talker.’ And she shares her unconventional (of course!) rise to fame as a movie star, alongside ‘a superstar cast of rich people who lived in mansions and had their own private islands and amazing careers while I lived in my mom’s apartment.’

Sidibe’s memoir hits hard with self-knowing dispatches on friendship, depression, celebrity, haters, fashion, race, and weight (“If I could just get the world to see me the way I see myself,” she writes, “would my body still be a thing you walked away thinking about?”). Irreverent, hilarious, and untraditional, This Is Just My Face will resonate with anyone who has ever felt different, and with anyone who has ever felt inspired to make a dream come true.”

Links for your ears!

Listen To Gabourey Sidibe’s Hilarious Audiobook Bloopers — EXCLUSIVE CLIP–Bustle

EW Releasing Chapters of David Sedaris’ Audiobook Before its May 30th Release–EW

Stephen Fry talking about Sherlock Holmes is pretty much the most British thing ever– Mashable

Five reasons I learnt to stop turning a deaf ear to (and start loving) audiobooks–Scroll.in

Audible Releases Alien: River of Pain–Yahoo Finance

I’m new to the newsletter game and I’d love to hear from you about what you want to see in the newsletter, what’s making your ears happy these days and/or anything else. Feel free to tweet at me (@msmacb).

Happy Thursday, audiobook minions! I just started listening to American War by Omar El Akkad, a buzzy new book about a civil war that erupts in the US on the heels of an energy crisis in 2074. I’m also wrapping up The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker, about two cartoonists who meet in art school and must navigate the fiery terrain of their years-long creative friendship. They’re narrated by Dion Graham and Alex McKenna, respectively — two of my favorites — so you could say I’ve had a pretty great week in audiobooks. And we have tons more audiobook goodness to get to this week, so hang onto your hat!

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Welcome Home to Booknerdlandia

We are so excited to announce Book Riot’s brand new subscription program, Insiders! Look up new releases in our shiny New Release Index, listen to our Read Harder podcast just for subscribers, get a look behind-the-scenes, and more, starting at $3/month. Check out the Insiders site for full details and to sign up.

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A Summer of Free Audiobooks for Teens: SYNC Returns

Only 7 days until the return of SYNC, y’all!!! Starting April 27, teens 13+ can once again download 2 free audiobooks per week for 15 weeks of summer. SYNC keeps getting better and better, and I love their mission to introduce the listening experience to teens who are working on Required Reading. (But these audiobooks are so good I’d listen even when not required.) This year’s lineup of free audiobooks includes Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older, The Witches by Stacy Schiff, Stephen Fry’s performance of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and many more. See the full list and find download instructions at audiobooksync.com.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Return In New X-Files Audiobook

Amanda Kay Oaks writes, “X-Files fans, get your muppet arms ready: you’re getting a new audiobook!” The best part? David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are returning to voice Mulder (!!) and Scully (!!!!!). The X-Files: Cold Cases will answer questions about Mulder and Scully’s reappearance, and also promises encores from “friends and foes of the agency long thought gone.” Find more details — including how to get your hands on the July 18 release — at Book Riot.

Every Audiobook Is 50% Off At Audible Thru April 24

It’s that time again… Audible is having a 50% off spring sale. Every single audiobook on the site is on sale thru this Monday April 24. In other words, this is pretty epic, and I’m so sorry for the shopping spree I just enabled. The sale is open to Audible members only, so this might be the right time if you’ve been thinking about renewing a lapsed membership.

Watch Kirby Heyborne and Jorjeana Marie Bake Cookies for Audiobooks

I giggle every time I watch this cute video of one of my favorite narrators, Kirby Heyborne, giving an encore performance of his role as Nick from Gone Girl while baking cookies with fellow narrator Jorjeana Marie. (It also makes me hungry for chocolate chip cookie dough.) Treat yourself to this short video that shows how any time can be reading time:

Odds & Ends:

I adored this glimpse into the making of an audiobook that’s inspired by a true outer space love story, via See You On The Bookshelf

How audiobooks helped a chronic procrastinator overcome a lifelong struggle with getting motivated, via Book Riot

A book lover on going blind and falling in love with a whole new world through audiobooks, via Audible Range

An author’s accidental journey to becoming an audiobook convert, via Signature

Hear a clip from the Hamilton-inspired Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz, via Hypable

8 reasons Millennials are choosing audiobooks, via Inc.

Smalls out! Thanks for going on this audiobook adventure with me. If you want to stay in touch and swap audiobook recommendations before the next Audiobooks! Newsletter, you can find me on Twitter at Rach_Smalls or on Instagram at LadybitsKnits.

High five,
Rachel Smalter Hall

Welcome back, audiobook fans! I’ve just come off a streak of excellent, short listens — Exit West and A Separation are both moody little novels with a global scope, and The Rules Do Not Apply and Wishful Drinking are both eye-opening memoirs by women who aren’t afraid to wear their flaws on their sleeves. And if you’re still in search of listening ideas, you’re in luck because today’s newsletter is full of recs!

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Sponsored by Little House on the Prairie

The Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder is now available in digital audio! Listen to excerpts from all nine audiobooks, performed by Cherry Jones, plus the playing of “Pa’s fiddle” by Paul Woodiel.

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“The Handmaid’s Tale” Continues in New Audiobook Scene by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale famously ends with the line “Are there any questions?” and now we finally have the chance to get some of our questions answered. Margaret Atwood has written a new Q&A between key characters from the original story, available as a special edition audiobook from Audible. Claire Danes reads the classic novel, and a full cast performs the new material. Learn more and listen to an excerpt at EW.

Take a Bookish Audio Tour of New York City

You can now take an audio listening tour of New York City by clicking on a map to hear recordings of famous New York writers like Zora Neale Hurston, Harper Lee, Richard Wright, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. How great is this?! I’d love to listen to this while actually roaming the streets of NYC, but meanwhile I’m happy to play along from my office in Kansas City.

10 Underrated Audiobooks You Should Listen To

Maybe you’ve already heard of these excellent books, or even put a few on your To-Be-Read list. But what you might not know is that the audiobook versions elevate them to must-listen status. There’s something about each narrator’s performance that reveals just how funny, or sad, or insightful that particular book is. See the complete list at Book Riot.

A Power Commuter Shares Her Audiobook Tips

If you had your dream job but had to commute an hour each way, would you look for a worse job? Or get super cozy with audiobooks? One commuter who chose the latter shares her daily reading ritual and what she’s learned about juggling tools like Overdrive, Hoopla, Audible, and more to keep her audiobook queue flowing. Get her tips at Book Riot.

Odds & Ends:

The unglamorous ordeal of recording your own audiobook, via LitHub

Audiobook listening trends by state, via Audible

The many benefits of audiobooks, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Our obsession with productivity is driving the audiobook trend, via Quartz

Alec Baldwin reads a clip from his new memoir, via HarperAudio

Smalls out! I hope you loved all the new links tucked under “Odds & Ends.” If you want to stay in touch and swap audiobook recommendations before the next Audiobooks! Newsletter, you can find me on Twitter at Rach_Smalls or on Instagram at LadybitsKnits.

High five,
Rachel Smalter Hall

Hi there, audiobook fans! I’m feeling fantastic because I’ve finally been won over to the beauty of listening to books at 1.25x speed. Have you tried this? A lot of audiobook apps like Audible, Overdrive, and Volumes offer the option to listen at 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x speed or even more. I’ve tried it with fiction before and it just wasn’t my thing. But I was listening to some pretty straightforward non-fiction the other day and gave it another try. Jackpot! I loved jamming those facts in my head and shaving 2.5 hours off my listening time.

Speaking of things that fly by, let’s get on to this week’s audio goodies:

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Sponsored by Unbound Worlds: Cage Match.

Cage Match is back! Unbound Worlds is pitting science fiction characters against fantasy characters in a battle-to-the-death tournament, and you can win a collection of all 32 books featured in the competition. Enter now for your chance to win this library of sci-fi and fantasy titles!

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Stephen Fry Reads A New Sherlock Holmes Collection

Jamie Canaves, who writes Book Riot’s Unusual Suspects newsletter, has a mystery pick I think you’re going to want to hear about. “A new audiobook has Stephen Fry narrating Sherlock Holmes! The collection has four novels and four short stories AND Fry wrote an introduction for each, exclusively for Audible Studios. Even though I’ve previously read A Study in Scarlet I couldn’t pass up listening to Fry’s introduction, nor his narration. His introduction is the perfect length and gives a quick insight into his personal attachment, some history on Arthur Conan Doyle, the characters, the time period, and the detective genre. If you’ve never read Doyle’s Holmes before this is a perfect collection to read so that when you’re in the mood for a novel or short story you can select one and find yourself in Baker Street with Fry’s wonderful narration in your ears. Or if you’re a superfan already the collection is a hell of a binging challenge!” Treat Yo Self to a sample.

Audiobook of the Year

The finalists for the Audie Awards’ 2017 Audiobook of the Year were just announced: Boys in the Trees by Carly Simon, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer, Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. The winner will be announced on June 1, 2017 — congrats to all the finalists!

Buy Downloadable Audiobooks, Support Your Local Indie

If you love your local indie bookstore, listen up because you might want to check out Libro.fm. Libro.fm lets you buy downloadable audiobooks directly from the independent bookstore of your choice — kind of like Kobo, but for audiobooks. How cool is that?! They handle all the technical stuff, but your dollars directly support your favorite indie. You can setup a monthly subscription or buy titles individually, and they have partnerships with indie bookstores in over 40 states and growing. My favorite part? The files are DRM-free so you can just download the file and listen on any device you want! Genius.

The Libro.fm website says they’re giving away free audiobooks on April 29 for Independent Bookstore Day, so I’ll definitely be checking that out.

Wattpad Stories Are Finally Coming to Audio, Thanks To Hachette

Do you Wattpad? The Wattpad community is 45 million passionate readers strong, and is putting out the freshest voices and worlds in storytelling. And traditional publishers have been snapping up these voices for book deals. Authors like Nikki Kelly (The Styclar Saga), Natasha Preston (The Cellar), Beth Reekles (The Kissing Booth) and Anna Todd (After) were discovered on Wattpad, just to name a few.

Wattpad has recently been developing stories for film and TV, and their newest venture is a first-of-its-kind audio partnership with Hachette Audio. For the first time, Wattpad stories will be adapted as audiobooks! The first batch of titles are slated to come out in late spring or early summer. They say they’ll be experimenting with “audio formats other than the standard audiobook format,” and I’m excited to see what this means and how they’re going to shake things up.

Smalls out! It’s been a pleasure chatting about audiobooks, as always. If you want to stay in touch and swap audiobook recommendations before the next Audiobooks! Newsletter, you can find me on Twitter at Rach_Smalls or on Instagram at LadybitsKnits.

High five,
Rachel Smalter Hall