Welcome to another edition of AudioSynced, a monthly roundup of audiobook reviews, news, and fun from around the blogosphere. It’s hosted by us and by Abby (the) Librarian. If you posted something about audiobooks in the month of December, drop a note in the comments with a link to your post.

Reviews
I’ve collected a ton this month, including a lot I just pulled up through my own RSS search. If I missed you, let me know!

• Lee has a wealth of reviews this month, including Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, George Pelecanos’s Cut, Mark Mills’s The Summer Garden, and Jack Gantos’s Dead End in Norvelt. I envy that amount of monthly listening! Another thing Lee wrote about this month were a couple other places audiophiles can read reviews (in round up style). Check it out.

• Beth’s A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust has a pair of reviews this month, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Catalyst and Lauren Oliver’s Liesl and Po. If you haven’t been by Beth’s blog, I suggest not going over there while hungry! Her header makes me crave ice cream every time.

• Abby reviewed Adam Rex’s The True Meaning of Smekday. She also talked about her favorite listens of 2011.

• Beth Fish Reads offered up a host of reviews this month, including Robert Massie’s Catherine the Great, Hector Tobar’s The Barbarian Nurseries, Charlaine Harris’s From Dead to Worse, Kathy Reichs’s Virals and Seizure, Alice Walker’s The Chicken Chronicles, and Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

• Sarah at Green Bean Teen Queen reviewed the John Newman’s middle grade book Mimi and Nikki Grimes’s Planet Middle School.

• I really like this review of Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Glow by Yan at Books by Their Cover. It’s her first audiobook and I thought her review captured so well what does and doesn’t work in an audio production of a book (from a first time listener at that).

• Liz, over at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, reviewed Holly Cupala’s Tell Me a Secret. I’ve got a copy of this sitting on my shelf, and despite having read the book, I’m eager to listen to it since it’s narrated by my favorite reader, Jenna Lamia.

• Melissa over at One Librarian’s Book Reviews did a retro review feature on Christopher Paolini’s Eragon.

• Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelves reviewed Toby Ball’s The Vaults.

• Michelle at Never Gonna Grow Up reviewed Marie Lu’s Legend at the tail end of November, but I thought it would be worth sharing anyway.

• Nerfreader’s got a review up of Jo Walton’s cozy mystery called Farthing.

Other Audiobook News

• I have a love-hate relationship with best of lists, but I read them anyway. Here’s Library Journal’s picks for Best Audiobooks of 2011.

• The Guilded Earlobe is an audiobook blog you should be following, and here, you can read his top 20 audiobook picks for 2011.

• If you weren’t familiar with Large Hearted Boy’s annual roundup of “best of” lists from around the web, then you’re going to love this little link. It’s not separated out by audiobooks, but you can find them with a little browsing.

• Publisher’s Weekly talks about how this year, there was not a children’s spoken word album among Grammy nominees.

And that’s a wrap on this month’s AudioSynced! We’ll be back next month at Abby (the) Librarian.