Audiobooks + Long Drives = Bliss

October 08, 2011

Audiobooks saved my neck. Literally! No more twisting around to the back seat reading picture books to my kids on long car trips. They saved my dignity too. No more trying – and failing – to do 20 different character voices complete with foreign accents and hearing, "Why can’t Daddy read to us?"  Professional actors do a much better job reading stories than my husband and I ever could. Audiobooks made the miles fly by.

MCPL has hundreds of audiobooks on the shelves for kids and adult, and hundreds that are downloadable to your portable devises. When my boys were young, our favorite audiobooks on long drives were those by Terry Pratchett. Mr. Pratchett writes for adults. I’m sure the boys didn’t get all the satire, but they loved the stories, and Nigel Planer’s great character voices. I loved the shared experience.

Once you find a reader you love, follow them. Use the reader’s name for your author search. Here are a few of my favorites: Nigel Planer, Kate Reading, David Ledoux, John Randolph Jones, and Nick Podehl. Performers tend to work within one genre, so you can be pretty sure you’ll enjoy whatever they read.

I actually look forward to my drive to work when I have a book to listen to. Fiction or nonfiction, there are plenty of titles to choose from. My recent favorites in fiction: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (romantic historical fiction), Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (literary fiction) and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy).

Non-fiction: River of Doubt by Candice Millard and Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, both historical. A patron recommended Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston. I love the title.

If you need new ideas, check out award winning audiobooks in all genres at the Audi Awards site. 

Happy listening.

Laura M.
Kearney Branch