Audiobooks are an excellent alternative to sitting down and paging through a book. I listen to audiobooks while I garden and go on walks as well as during my daily commute.
Audiobooks make a book come to life, providing the listener with a new perspective on an old favourite. You can borrow audiobooks in a variety of formats from your local library. including digital, CD and mp3 editions.
The trick to enjoying audiobooks is to find a narrator you like. I recommend borrowing two or three audiobooks to try different narrators. Online, through your library’s website, you can listen to a sample of the reading before borrowing. Some narrators are so good at their trade that they have the ability to make you think about the story long after it has finished.
This worked for me: While listening to Eragon by Christopher Paolini, with narration by Gerard Doyle, I became mesmerized by Doyle’s voice. I looked online and found that he had narrated 130 audiobooks (now up to 145 titles). When searching my local library’s online audiobook database, I found Doyle’s narration of The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People by John Kelly. My listening journey went from dragons, magic and action to learning about my cultural heritage, all thanks to an excellent narrator.
Some common questions that I hear from library customers when I recommend an audiobook include:
• “Does that count as reading the book for book club?” Yes, I would consider it counting for book club.
• “How can you listen while you drive?” I listen to children’s or young adult stories for less complex storylines while driving and it is similar to listening to news radio stations.
• “Am I really reading the book if I listen to it?” YES! For some inexplicable reason, the viewpoint that audiobooks are a lesser way of reading persists. In our busy world, should it matter how we get a chance to enjoy a book? Storytelling existed long before the written word and it is just as valid as reading.
Both adults and children are rediscovering stories through audiobooks. An outstanding children’s audiobook is Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George. This tale features a royal family living in a castle that has a mind of its own. It is up to the royal children to protect the castle using all their hidden knowledge to save the day during an attempted takeover. With five books currently written in this series, it is an excellent option for readers/listeners of all ages.
The winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, is a father-son story that takes place during the first year of the Civil War. This story, told over the course of one night, mixes history and fantasy. It tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s deceased son’s journey in the bardo — the space between life and death. A challenging, beautiful and important novel that you will definitely not forget, this audiobook features a full cast of voices, many of which are those of award-winning actors, including Nick Offerman, Julianne Moore, Ben Stiller, Carrie Brownstein and more.
If you prefer classics, Anne Hathaway narrates Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, and Elijah Woods has narrated The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. An alternative narrative to Twain’s Sawyer is the book The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher by Jessica Lawson.
Winner of three awards and a finalist in the Canada Reads competition, Company Town by Madeline Ashby is a story about a city-sized oil rig off the Maritimes in Canada called New Arcadia. With a story featuring murder and betrayal, a hostile company takeover and futuristic biotechnology, Company Town is an interesting audiobook to try.
Visit your local library where helpful staff can recommend more audiobooks for your listening pleasure.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Brandon Monahan works at PoCo’s Terry Fox Library.
