Jul 01

Books on the Nightstand Podcast, Episode #34: Our Listeners Sound Off About Audiobooks!

By Michael Kindness Podcasts Add comments

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Books on the Nightstand, Episode 34 (31:25)

(You can listen by using the player above. If you’re using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won’t see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

It’s finally here. Our long-promised and long-awaited audiobooks episode. We turn the podcast over to you, our listeners and we really want to thank everyone who called in and left us a message:

  • Heidi Estrin who writes the great Book of Life podcast compactdiscasks the question: does listening to an audiobook count as reading the book?
  • Carla Thompson, one of our Goodfriends from Goodreads describes herself as a “blind audio reader and… a book junkie.” Narrators are very important to Carla as are detail-filled and fast-paced stories.
  • Tanya shares several of her favorite audios and raves about all of the narrators.
  • Melissa Klug also loved the narrator of The Thirteenth Tale, an audio Tanya recommended
  • Heather Elia, from the Colgate Bookstore, called in with two older titles that still entertain.
  • Stanley Hadsell, manager and buyer at Market Block Books recommended The Graveyard Book to me a few months ago. I loved it so much and I’m glad he called in with that recommendation!
  • Julie from Minneapolis recommends Barbara Kingsolver reading her own book Prodigal Summer.
  • Hope from Australia buys her audios from Audible.com and raves about the versions of several wonderful books she’s found there. [Note: We're unsure if those same versions will be available in other countries] Other ways online to get your audios are Emusic.com and Librivox.org.

Ann and I throw in our two cents throughout and recommend several of our favorites along the way.

me talk 13th tale girl with dragon outliers

This call-in format worked so well, we’re opening it up to another topic, one suggested by Melissa on Goodreads: Is there a book that you hated when it was assigned in school, but loved when you read it later in life? Call our voicemail line at (206) 350-2068 to share your story.

NOTE: Michael misremembered… John Irving does not read The World According to Garp. Sorry if he got anyone’s hopes up!
__________________________

We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters, Blackstone Audio
As Time Goes By by Michael Walsh, Hachette Audio
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, Listening Library
Tell No One by Harlan Coben, Random House Audio
Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter, Brilliance Audio
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Highbridge Audio
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Random House Audio
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Harper Audio
1984 by George Orwell, Blackstone Audio
Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Buzzy Multimedia Publishing
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, Random House Audio
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, Simon & Schuster Audio
When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman, Random House Audio
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, Hachette Audio
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, Harper Audio
When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, Hachette Audio
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, Random House Audio
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Random House Audio
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi by Aaron Allston, Random House Audio
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Harper Childrens Audio
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Listening Library
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, Listening Library
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, Listening Library
The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, Recorded Books
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Brilliance Audio
The World According to Garp by John Irving, Random House Audio
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, Random House Audio
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Hachette Audio
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Hachette Audio
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, Audible.com download
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, Audible.com download
The Terror by Dan Simmons, Books on Tape CD
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Random House Audio
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Random House Audio

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

  • Jen Sullivan

    Fantastic show! I hope you guys do another one in the near future.

  • Jen Sullivan

    Fantastic show! I hope you guys do another one in the near future.

  • http://taueret.typepad.com/ Taueret

    looking fwd to all your recco’s, as usual I have Audible credits piling up and no idea what to spend them on!

  • http://taueret.typepad.com/ Taueret

    looking fwd to all your recco’s, as usual I have Audible credits piling up and no idea what to spend them on!

  • http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com Suzy Levin

    Great post! Very hard to pick out a good audio book without being able to ‘take a peak’ like a ‘paper book’. I happen to have just posted a bit about the audie’s on my blog, Chick with Books, and this ties in nicely! I also happened to shamelessly promote your blog at that time too!

    Suzanne
    Chick with Books Blog
    http://tinyurl.com/mxzbh2

  • http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com Suzy Levin

    Great post! Very hard to pick out a good audio book without being able to ‘take a peak’ like a ‘paper book’. I happen to have just posted a bit about the audie’s on my blog, Chick with Books, and this ties in nicely! I also happened to shamelessly promote your blog at that time too!

    Suzanne
    Chick with Books Blog
    http://tinyurl.com/mxzbh2

  • http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

    Thanks, everyone!

    Suzy, we fully intended on covering the Audies, but the episode ran very long. We may try to include it in next show, but in the meantime, thanks so much for your post, which everyone can read here:
    http://chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/audie-awards-2009-or-best-bedtime.html
    and for what you had to say about BOTNS! Honored to be a favorite of yours.

  • http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

    Thanks, everyone!

    Suzy, we fully intended on covering the Audies, but the episode ran very long. We may try to include it in next show, but in the meantime, thanks so much for your post, which everyone can read here:
    http://chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/audie-awards-2009-or-best-bedtime.html
    and for what you had to say about BOTNS! Honored to be a favorite of yours.

  • sibylle

    Thanks for this show. I love both “real” books and audiobooks for different reasons and always have one of each on the go. :-)

    My favourite audio book of all times is American Gods by Neil Gaiman, read by the amazing George Guidall. You talked a lot about narrators in the podcast – I think he is one of the very best, and he portrays the novel’s different characters in the most gripping way.

    For books read by the author, I highly recommend anything by Steve Martin. I’ve listened to him reading his novella “The pleasure of my company” and his autobiography “Born standing up” and both are an absolute joy.

  • sibylle

    Thanks for this show. I love both “real” books and audiobooks for different reasons and always have one of each on the go. :-)

    My favourite audio book of all times is American Gods by Neil Gaiman, read by the amazing George Guidall. You talked a lot about narrators in the podcast – I think he is one of the very best, and he portrays the novel’s different characters in the most gripping way.

    For books read by the author, I highly recommend anything by Steve Martin. I’ve listened to him reading his novella “The pleasure of my company” and his autobiography “Born standing up” and both are an absolute joy.

  • Tanya

    So much to respond to! For now, I’d like to respond to Heidi Estrin’s question as to whether or not listening to audiobooks count as reading an audiobook: I would have to answer “yes.” I remember reading an article in the NYT years ago wherein a critic said “no,” as the printed page required the reader to use “an inner voice” to help interpret the material and; an audiobook preempted that “inner voice.” I believe, however, that regardless of how ardent a reader one is, that inner voice is often under-developed and/or muted, especially when handling material that is not immediately within our ken. Audiobooks help develop that inner voice. Moreover, regardless of how the material is ingested, the same set of critical and analytical abilities some into play. Both the reader and the listener should be able to discern the narratives, the mechanics of the story (such as plot, setting, irony, foreshadowing, etc) as well as have a more visceral or personal response to the material.

    The best narrators do not get in the way of the material. They are supposed to be the mediums of the writer’s intent. In these cases, the narrators surrender themselves to the text so completely, they become the text or protag of the story. Great examples of this would be Nadia May narrating the Barbara Tuchman non-fiction history books (“The First Salute,” “The Peoud Tower,” “A Distant Mirror,”etc.) as well as Simon Prebble narrating “1984″ (by George Orwell) and, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (by Harper Lee and narrated by Sissy Spacek.)

  • Tanya

    So much to respond to! For now, I’d like to respond to Heidi Estrin’s question as to whether or not listening to audiobooks count as reading an audiobook: I would have to answer “yes.” I remember reading an article in the NYT years ago wherein a critic said “no,” as the printed page required the reader to use “an inner voice” to help interpret the material and; an audiobook preempted that “inner voice.” I believe, however, that regardless of how ardent a reader one is, that inner voice is often under-developed and/or muted, especially when handling material that is not immediately within our ken. Audiobooks help develop that inner voice. Moreover, regardless of how the material is ingested, the same set of critical and analytical abilities some into play. Both the reader and the listener should be able to discern the narratives, the mechanics of the story (such as plot, setting, irony, foreshadowing, etc) as well as have a more visceral or personal response to the material.

    The best narrators do not get in the way of the material. They are supposed to be the mediums of the writer’s intent. In these cases, the narrators surrender themselves to the text so completely, they become the text or protag of the story. Great examples of this would be Nadia May narrating the Barbara Tuchman non-fiction history books (“The First Salute,” “The Peoud Tower,” “A Distant Mirror,”etc.) as well as Simon Prebble narrating “1984″ (by George Orwell) and, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (by Harper Lee and narrated by Sissy Spacek.)

  • Chris

    Thanks for another great podcast. This is my favorite so far.

    I think that listening to an audio counts as “reading the book”.

    In addition to George Guidall and Barabara Rosenblat, a favorite narrator of mine is Davina Porter.

    Audio recs: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley read by Davina Porter (I’ve listened to this three times).

    Agatha Christie mysteries. BBC Audiobooks America is releasing these in new digitally remastered editions. They are great.

    I agree with Ann that shorter, faster paced books are better on audio. I’ve tried several large fantasy novels on audio and just couldn’t get through them. The exceptions are Harry Potter books and The Mists of Avalon.

  • Chris

    Thanks for another great podcast. This is my favorite so far.

    I think that listening to an audio counts as “reading the book”.

    In addition to George Guidall and Barabara Rosenblat, a favorite narrator of mine is Davina Porter.

    Audio recs: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley read by Davina Porter (I’ve listened to this three times).

    Agatha Christie mysteries. BBC Audiobooks America is releasing these in new digitally remastered editions. They are great.

    I agree with Ann that shorter, faster paced books are better on audio. I’ve tried several large fantasy novels on audio and just couldn’t get through them. The exceptions are Harry Potter books and The Mists of Avalon.

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  • Susan R

    Our library has an amazing variety of audiobooks on CD and PlayAway, and also is part of the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative that offers ebooks, eflicks, and audiobooks in MP3, WMA, and other formats.

    I have a set of wireless headphones with terrific range that stays connected to my computer, so that I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks when I’m doing laundry and cleaning, cooking dinner and washing dishes, sewing and crafting, or even fetching the mail… I actually look forward to housework because I know I am going to get to listen to something wonderful while I’m doing it!

    Some of my favorite narrators- George Guidall, Barbara Rosenblat, Alyssa Bresnahan, Frank Muller, Johanna Parker, and Susan Ericksen. I also love it when an author reads their own nonfiction or memoir/biography, such as Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, Martha Stewart reading The Martha Rules, Janet Evanovich How I Write, and Stephen King’s On Writing, to name a few.

    What amazes me is when I both read and listen to a book, I pick up completely different things, so I’ve gotten into the habit of doing both, mostly with nonfiction, whenever possible.

  • Susan R

    Our library has an amazing variety of audiobooks on CD and PlayAway, and also is part of the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative that offers ebooks, eflicks, and audiobooks in MP3, WMA, and other formats.

    I have a set of wireless headphones with terrific range that stays connected to my computer, so that I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks when I’m doing laundry and cleaning, cooking dinner and washing dishes, sewing and crafting, or even fetching the mail… I actually look forward to housework because I know I am going to get to listen to something wonderful while I’m doing it!

    Some of my favorite narrators- George Guidall, Barbara Rosenblat, Alyssa Bresnahan, Frank Muller, Johanna Parker, and Susan Ericksen. I also love it when an author reads their own nonfiction or memoir/biography, such as Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, Martha Stewart reading The Martha Rules, Janet Evanovich How I Write, and Stephen King’s On Writing, to name a few.

    What amazes me is when I both read and listen to a book, I pick up completely different things, so I’ve gotten into the habit of doing both, mostly with nonfiction, whenever possible.

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