Audio Book Hogs discussion

Welcome! My name is Keri. I am a book blogger and booktuber from New Zealand and I love audio books.

I started listening to books on tape about 20 years ago. Back then I had a chunky cassette player like the one in Toy Story...only without the creepy face. I was reintroduced to audio books via Audible in 2012 and I've been hooked ever since. I've just started listening to Maurice by E.M. Forster, narrated by Peter Firth.

Please introduce yourself and feel free to share what drew you to audio books and/or what book you are currently listening to.

Hey! I'm Discoverylover. I'm also from New Zealand :)

I think I mostly started listening to audio books when I found out that my local library system had free audio books. I had been wanting to try them out since I attempted to read 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and failed mainly due to the large amount of detail described. I knew that in theory I should like the book (I like the genre, like the films, like 'The Hobbit', but I kept getting bogged down, so thought maybe if I tried the audio book I could listen and do other things at the same time. Happily this totally worked, and hilariously I've just now started 'The Return of the King'!

I mostly listen to audiobooks while walking/knitting/on public transport.

Hi! :) I'm Emma! I'm just a bookish girl with a love for all things literary. <3

Hi! I'm Gina, I'm a booktuber in the states and I'm so excited for this group! I just recently started getting into audibooks and I am in love! I've listened to a few throughout the years but only started getting them regularly from the library, and now overdrive, this year. What drew me to audio books was the fact that I could listen to them at work and ultimately read more during the month than I would have the time for just reading physical books.

So far my favorite audio books are NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, the Boundless by Kenneth Opal, and Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan (also narrated by him, sadly I don't remember who the other two were narrated by). I also books that Jim Dale narrate, so far I've listened to most of the Harry Potter books and The Night Circus :)

Gina wrote: "Hi! I'm Gina, I'm a booktuber in the states and I'm so excited for this group! I just recently started getting into audibooks and I am in love! I've listened to a few throughout the years but only ..."

Oooh what is 'The Night Circus' like? I absolutely LOVED the physical book!

Discoverylover wrote: "Oooh what is 'The Night Circus' like? I absolutely LOVED the physical book!"

it was fantastic!!! I read the first part in the physical book awhile ago and put it down because I was busy and just not in the mood for it but the audio book was just so magical and amazing! I would definitely listen to it again!

it was fantastic!!! I read the first part in the physical book awhile ago and put it down because I was busy and just not in the mood for it but the audio book was just so magical and amazing! I would definitely listen to it again! "

Who is it narrated by?

Discoverylover wrote: "Who is it narrated by?"

Jim Dale

Gina wrote: "Discoverylover wrote: "Who is it narrated by?"

Jim Dale"

Oh sorry, I completely misread your sentence!

Discoverylover wrote: "Gina wrote: "Discoverylover wrote: "Who is it narrated by?"

Jim Dale"

Oh sorry, I completely misread your sentence!"

That's okay! :) It was an odd way to phrase that sentence :3

Gina wrote: "I've listened to most of the Harry Potter books and The Night Circus."

Welcome to the group! I've got The Night Circus on audio, narrated by Jim Dale. Only sampled the beginning, but he's excellent. Can't wait to finally getting around to listening to the entire novel.

Skyring here. Ex-cabbie in Canberra, booklover, purveyor of fine puns - I have an excellent one about cough drops that can make people groan from across the Tasman - and lover of audiobooks.

Best played on long car trips, especially if I can find some sort of theme. Listened to "The Grapes of Wrath" on Route 66, a book about Scotch in Scotland - twice - and so on.

The best I've found have been the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin canon narrated by Patrick Tull. Superb. I'd often pull into the garage or carpark and just sit there in the car until he'd finished the chapter.

I have an excellent one about cough drops that can make people groan from across the Tasman

I'm not sure I would exactly describe it as "excellent". "Awful" might get an agreement out of me!

If it was awful, you wouldn't groan or react. I remember you threw something at me - possibly a Tim Tam - in Oxford.

Hello. I'm Christy. I'm in Tennessee (USA).

I was a huge bookworm when I was a kid, but as I became a teenager and then an adult, and my responsibilities increased, I found myself practically never reading for my own enjoyment. I also have ADHD, so it's hard for me to sit still and only read (I would just lose myself in books when I was a kid because I became so absorbed in them.)

In 2002, I was a junior or senior in college when I discovered Audible while doing the computer night operating at a bank (plenty of free time and boredom). I became a member and could stream my books. I listened on & off until I got my iPhone when they first came out in 2007. Being able to listen to audiobooks on a smartphone was awesome. I really went wild with it starting in 2010 after a nasty breakup with my fiancé, and since then, I've listened to at least 100+ books per year.

I switched from a harder job to clerical work in 2013, and it's easy enough that I can listen to books at work now too. It's heaven for me. I now mostly read Fantasy (most all the sub-genres), some SF, and some fiction. I occasionally listen to college lectures or history. I will admit to listening to some Romance & Erotica, but the Romance can't be cheesy or else my eyes would get stuck rolled up looking at my eyebrows. Growing up, I read a lot of fiction, especially literary fiction. I majored in English in college with dual minors in history and creative writing.

I just started Stacia Kane's "Downside Ghosts" series yesterday with "Unholy Ghosts." It's urban fantasy, narrated by Bahni Turpin, and thus far I've been pleasantly surprised.

(I obviously can talk a lot. Sorry in advance.) Nice to meet everyone. :)

Christy wrote: "Hello. I'm Christy..."

Welcome! Great that you're an avid listener of audio books and have such eclectic taste. I'm sure you'll have lots of good recommendations, and there's nothing wrong with admitting to listening to romance/erotica novels. :D

It's not the erotica novels I mind admitting to...

And I just realized how judgmental that sounds. Well, crap. I think it's an amazing industry and if someone can lose themselves in that fantasy world like I can in my preferred ones, then great. For me, the classic Romance has the awesomely burly guy that's secretly a marshmallow but just for one woman saving her...

(Misnomer: I like romance itself. And the Romantic Period yielded some wonderful--if overwinded--works. I'm also a complete addict. Of the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb. On audio. One of the best combined teams of author/narrator I've run into. And yes, I know Robb is Nora Roberts.)

When I was a kid, I was the one chasing the boys then spinning around so they couldn't keep hold of me. I've never found a better, simpler, or shorter analogy. Most "Romance" (and I say that meaning the ones that are specifically meant for that genre) books make me laugh hysterically, get hives, and/or roll my eyes. A lot.

But that's me, and just like my general attitude towards most stuff, I wholeheartedly believe in personal freedom and choice. Everybody's got their own kicks and foibles, etc. For the most part, I can't read horror books. Most horror stuff (movies, books...) literally give me nightmares. I have, and have always had, too much of those on my own because my sleeping mind is all too awesome at creation.

The summation (I never get to it quickly. Examples always worked best for me.) is that I think it's great for people to read. Period. Well, except if they only do if for stuff like reading up on how to make bombs or arsenic pie or the like. (Did I mention Humor is my favorite genre in EVERYTHING???!!!) What they read is personal, and my not liking it is a personal taste thing to, not a judgment call. Unless you actually like "The Eye of Argon" for itself. Then you do not exist for me. That is all.

Christy wrote: "I just realized how judgmental that sounds..."

I didn't mean to imply that you were being judgmental. Not that there is anything wrong with having opinions about genres and elements within. :) I'll admit that some of the romance I read is cheesy. It's weird, I'm aware that I'm reading and enjoying elements of books I'm critical (even cynical) about. I suppose that's what they call a guilty pleasure...only, I never feel guilty. XD I'm also not big on horror. Like you, I'm not into having the crap scared out of me. o.O Humour is definitely a big thumbs up in my books.

I didn't think you were implying being judgmental. I just realized my own prejudice and wanted to explain it was due to personal preference vs a judgment call. Heaven knows we all have too many of those in our lives already. :)

I guess I should go post in one of the threads about a book, but I'm listening to one right now and want to go back to it. :D