Welcome to another edition of AudioSynced, co-hosted by myself and Abby (the Librarian). Each month we offer up links to reviews, news, and other interesting audiobook tidbits from around the web. You’re welcome to contribute anything you’ve written about audiobooks in the month of December by dropping a link in the comments. If you missed out last month, AudioSynced will be hosted over at Abby’s blog in February, so send her your goods.
A couple of thoughts before the round up: would people be interested in an updated list of Twitter accounts or strong audiobook reviewing blogs? It’s probably been almost two years since we did that, and we could put something together again. If so, what are some of your favorite — strongest, most interesting, most helpful — blogs and Twitter accounts for audiobook information or reviews? Or if you know other great resources, including Pinterest boards (I’ve included one below) or Facebook pages, those would be worth knowing about, too.
Second, I haven’t reviewed an audiobook in a long time, but I did get the chance to listen to one last month, and it’s made me eager to try bringing that back into my life and routine. If anyone has good tips or suggestions for doing that, I’d love to hear. I commute to work — about 20 minutes each way — which is one way to sneak it in, but I’d love to hear your tips and tricks, too.
Don’t be shy. AudioSynced is meant for you to promote what you’ve written, so share away in the comments.
Audiobook Reviews
- Melissa over at Book Nut has a review of Erik Larson’s In the Garden of the Beasts. She says, “This book was fascinating. It did spawn a lot of thought and discussion: about the nature of evil, about relationships, about what could have been done, about politics.”
- Lee at Reading with my Ears offers up a ton of really smart and thoughtful reviews this month (as always!), including Rebecca Stead’s Liar & Spy, Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars, Holly Black’s Black Heart, Deborah Hopkinson’s Titanic, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and Maggie Steifvater’s The Raven Boys.
- Sarah at the YA Love Blog reviews Courtney Summers’s Some Girls Are and says, “Katie Schorr is a good choice for Regina … I think hearing it, as opposed to seeing it, took away from the effect the clipped, sparse lines were supposed to have.” Sarah also has a review of David Levithan’s Every Day.
- Beth over at A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust reviews Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Tractor Wheels. She admires Drummond’s own narration of the story.
- Trish at Hey Lady, Whatcha Readin’? shares a review of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and says, “Gaiman does an amazing job, making me eat my opinion about authors reading their own books.”
- Jen at A Book and a Latte has a review of Michelle Gagnon’s Don’t Turn Around, noting she felt indifferent about the narrator.
- April at Good Books and Good Wine reviews Vicky Alvear Shecter’s book Cleopatra’s Moon, noting that, “At first I was not entirely won over or in love with the audiobook version.” She’s also got a review up of Mistletoe & Margaritas by Shannon Stacey and Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror.
- Cassie at Galavanting Girl Books has a review of Mary Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and she says Jenna Lamia is the perfect narrator for the story. She’s also got a review of Meg Howrey’s The Crane’s Dance, noting that the narrator captured the main character’s persona well.
- I’m not committing to any reading challenges this year, but if you are, Jen over at A Book and a Latte is running a YA Audiobook Challenge for 2013. If that’s your thing, it’s easy to sign up and participate.
- Check out this year’s audiobook Grammy Nominees.
- What were the best audiobooks last year, according to Booklist? The top spot went to a YA book that also saw top billing on many other “best of” lists in 2012. Want more “best of” audiobook posts? Large Hearted Boy has you covered in his list of best of lists. Just search for audio or audiobooks.
- Don’t miss Audible’s 2012 best audiobooks, either.
- An interesting piece out of New Hampshire Public Radio — in this interview with AudioFile founder and editor Robin Whitten, she talks about the best audiobooks read by celebrities. You can even listen to some clips to see what makes the production worthwhile.
- In other interesting news, Brilliance Audio is going to get into the print and ebook business, in addition to their audiobooks.
- Park Ridge Public Library has a great Pinterest board of outstanding audiobook narrations. If you’re looking for a place to start or new ideas, here’s a bunch.
For December I posted 17 Reviews of 19 Full Length Audiobooks and 3 Audio Novellas, but most importantly, I posted my Top 20 Audiobooks of 2012 here: http://wp.me/pKOrz-iR
Thanks Kelly and Abby for Audiosynched. I have found a lot of great bloggers through this feature who I may not have known of other wise.
Thank YOU for sharing!
Brenna has a lovely December review of MONSTROUS BEAUTY over at Esther's Ever After. (I only feel free to toot this horn because Katy Kellgren does such a brilliant job of the narration–with incredible mermaid dialect, sea gull calls, and a pitch-perfect old Scotsman–I wish everyone knew about it.)
Toot away! Knowing where any audiobooks are being reviewed is immensely helpful in putting this together.
I usually post a few audiobook reviews a month on the Bay State Reader's Advisory blog. In December, I also posted Audiobooks for the Winter Holidays and a list of my favorite audiobooks listened to in 2012.
Some of my favorite audiobook suggestions/reviews come from Devourer of Books, The Guilded Earlobe, and Literate Housewife. Would love an updated list of Twitter feeds to follow. (Twitter led me here tonight.)
I gave up review writing a long time ago, but I've been listening to audiobooks a lot since I had a baby in May. I listen while I give her bottles, since it's kind of a boring thing to do that takes up a lot of time in the day. I'm kind of dreading her dropping bottles because it will cut way into my reading time.
I also listened to a disc of The Raven Boys while wrapping Christmas presents, and I have a feeling that if I ever start cooking dinner on a regular basis that might be a good time to give it a try as well.