Audiosynced: May Edition

May 1, 2012 |

Welcome to another edition of AudioSynced, hosted by us here at STACKED and Abby over at Abby (the) Librarian. This monthly roundup features reviews and other links to all things audiobook. If you’ve posted any reviews in the last month or have other audiobook related links from April, drop them in the comments!

Reviews & Recommendations

Michelle at Never Gonna Grow Up reviews Gayle Forman’s If I Stay.

Over at Shelf Employed, you can read reviews of Jennifer Finney Boylan’s Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror and Sonya Hartnett’s The Midnight Zoo.

Abby’s got a review of Wendelin van Draanen’s The Running Dream and she’s got a review of Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Cheshire Cheese Cat.

Flannery over at The Readventurer reviews Jack Gantos’s Dead End in Norvelt.

Check out April at Good Books and Good Wine’s reviews of Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander, Adam Rex’s The True Meaning of Smekday, and L. A. Meyer’s Bloody Jack.

Adam at Hitting on Girls in Bookstores offers a review of Julie Cross’s Tempest.

Our friend Lee has reviews of Kristin Levine’s The Lions of Little Rock and Carolyn Turgeon’s Mermaid.

Beth Fish Reads offers up a ton of recommendations for non-fiction audiobook listening.

News & Other Links

Fan of Shakespeare? The BBC is making podcasts of their Shakespeare Unlocked series available for download.

So is listening to audiobooks the same thing as reading? The Chicago Tribune asks this question, and there’s a great post from Scholastic exploring that very question.

This feels a little like a cop-out, but Becky over at RA for All has amassed a ton of interesting audiobook related links. Rather than share them all with you, I’ll let you go over to her blog and check them out.

I hope you all know about Sync, the audiobook community for YA Lit. I’ve been paying attention to them for the last couple of summers because they offer up — for free — two audiobook downloads each week. One of them is a newer YA title and one is always a classic. Bookmark this site because they’ve listed this year’s titles, and they look fabulous.

The Audio Publishers Association has their finalists for Audiobook of the Year up. I love that Samuel L Jackson’s rendition of Go the Eff to Sleep is among them.

Same Narrator, Very Different Experiences

March 14, 2012 |

Like most audiobook listeners, I have some narrators I love: Jim Dale, Barbara Rosenblat, almost anyone at Full Cast Audio. Then there are some who are just duds, who can turn a good book into an annoying or even miserable experience.

And then there are narrators who can do both. Kirsten Potter is my most recent experience with this phenomenon. About a year ago, I listened to the production of Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky and was unimpressed. I wasn’t hugely thrilled with the story itself, but the narration dragged the book down even further. I thought Potter’s voice for Hattie sounded much too old for the youthful protagonist, and her accents for ancillary characters sounded overwrought and false. Overall, it wasn’t what I would consider a good production.

Then on a whim, I picked up Christina Meldrum’s Madapple, without knowing or caring who narrated it. As I listened, I recognized the voice, but the effect was very different this time. Meldrum’s book has a sleepy, somewhat haunting feel to it, and Potter’s voice is a perfect match. There are no fake accents, and it doesn’t seem like Potter is an adult mimicking a child because the character of Aslaug is so different from Hattie. Potter expertly makes me feel for Aslaug, and her voice keeps me riveted to the story, despite the fact that as a contemporary realistic novel, it’s something I’d usually avoid. Meldrum’s writing combines with Potter’s narration to make Madapple seem almost like a fantasy. It’s a very atmospheric story which fits Potter’s low tones much better than did Hattie Big Sky.

Do you have this relationship with any narrators you’ve listened to? It’s the first time I can remember where my reactions have been almost polar opposites of each other, and I’m curious to know if I’m alone in this.

Audiosynced: March Edition

March 3, 2012 |

Before diving into this month’s edition of AudioSynced, can we take a second and celebrate the fact Abby and I have been hosting this feature for two years now? Two years seems like such a long time in the blogging world, and I am so glad we’ve been able to “meet” so many new people through celebrating audiobooks. You can check out the Audiosynced archives here.

If you’ve reviewed or blogged about audiobooks this last month, drop a link into the comments and I’ll add it to our roundup!

Reviews

Our friend Lee at Reading with my Ears has reviews of Heidi W. Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Matthew Kirby’s Ice Fall, Amanda Quick’s The River Knows, Lauren Oliver’s Liesl and Po, and Daniel Kraus’s Rotters.

Sarah at YA Librarian Tales has a review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and read by Wil Wheaton.

Beth at Foodie Bibliophile has a review of Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs.

Michelle at Never Gonna Grow Up book reviews shares her thoughts on Anna Carey’s Eve.

Allison at Reading Everywhere has a review of Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky.

Melissa at The Book Nut offers up a review of Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, narrated by none other than Fey herself.

Over at Shelf Employed, there’s a nice review (with sound sample!) of Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson.

Last but not least, Jeanne has a review of Carol Plum-Ucci’s Fire Will Fall on a blog that looks like one any audiobook lover would want to check out, Books for Ears.

News & Other Audiobook fun

Every year the Audio Publishers Association honors the best of audiobooks with the Audie awards, and the 2012 Audies finalists have been announced. Each of the audiobooks nominated also has a sample included, so check them out.

Want to check out behind-the-scenes stuff at Audible? They have a YouTube channel where you can check out various narrators in the process of recording their books. It’s very neat (via Publishers Weekly’s Audiobook Blog).

Speaking of audiobook narrators, check out this great interview with narrator Karen White.

Then check out this vlog by Jackson Pearce about recording her forthcoming book Purity.

Gretchen Kolderup has a great post up on YALSA’s blog about her experience serving on the Amazing Audiobooks committee (just look at the pile of audiobooks from this year!). And while you’re at it, check out her post about the Amazing Audiobooks list at YALSA’s The Hub.

AudioSynced: December Edition

January 2, 2012 |

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.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

December 13, 2011 |

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwell’s writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasn’t disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success – how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.

The thesis – that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth – isn’t exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I don’t think I’m lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.

Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I can’t really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means they’re already better at the game (because they’re bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, they’re much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kids’ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults – and it’s nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, it’s Gladwell.

Gladwell also talks at length about Bill Joy, one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems. Joy is brilliant, yes, but he also had a wealth of opportunity presented to him when he attended the University of Michigan in the 1970s. One of Gladwell’s main arguments is it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at any one thing. At Michigan, Joy had access to a computing center where he could program continuously for hours. It was one of the few places in the country where this was possible. Joy didn’t go to Michigan intending to become a computer programmer, but once he got there, the circumstances provided a way for him to get in his 10,000 hours. Pretty darn lucky.

I could go on and on with the examples. With so much emphasis on circumstances rather than effort determining our success, it can get a little discouraging at times, but Gladwell stops short of saying circumstances are all that matters. All of the people he profiles had both luck and talent. It actually made me think of the ways my own circumstances contributed to my current success, and I realized that I’m a pretty lucky woman (but I work hard too).

I really enjoy nonfiction in audio format, and Outliers was no exception. Gladwell narrates the book himself, and his voice is great for the conversational tone of the book. Like his writing, he’s friendly and easy to follow. I’d pick up another audio by him any day.

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