All About Audiobooks: A Reading Via Your Ears Challenge

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Oh yeah Follett could be contender. I was thinking Edward Rutherfurd... his New York is "only" 36 hours, but he has some other gigantic books too

[Kristie]

Good call! World Without End and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett are both over 40 hours. (yikes!) Has anyone read them? Are they any good. I'd hate to waste that much time on one book, if it wasn't good.

Karen - Most of the books I saw by Edward Rutherfurd were just under 40, but his Sarum: The Novel of England was 45 hrs 36 min. I haven't read any of his books either. Are they just histories of places?

[Barb]

I haven't read them myself, Kristie, but a lot of our library patrons have good things to say about them, if that helps at all :)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Kristie wrote: "Good call! World Without End and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett are both over 40 hours. (yikes!) Has anyone read them? Are they any good. I'd hate to ..."

I haven't read Follet, but I did really enjoy the TV series which was an adaptation of The Pillars of the Earth and I have been told it was very close to the book.

A friend of mine who is a HF buff loves Rutherfurd. I have started his "New York" and yes it is the history of the place, but told through characters so it is more of a story than non-fiction. I guess you could always try a sample of Sarum and see what you think? It is a lot of time to invest!!

[Kristie]

Thanks, ladies. At least I have some ideas now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'll let you know when I figure it out.

[Nichole]

I have read them both. The were both good, but Pillars was fabulous!!

[Lara]

Lisa Kay wrote: "Lara wrote: "I started listening to , which I haven't read."

I've been tempted by that story in all its various media. I'll be interested to see wh..."

I finished this last week, and really enjoyed it. I did eventually get used to the narrator's voice. Perhaps as I got to know the character, and how his view of reality was skewed. After finishing, it seems to be that a lot would be lost in a movie. While I figured some things out ahead of time, others I was uncertain about until they were explained.

The narrator was very good in terms of keeping the correct tone and providing consistent voices for different characters, including women.

[Lisa Kay]

Thanks for letting me know, Lara.

[Shadow Jubilee]

Upgrading to Sound Engineer!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Thanks Lara, I'm certainly more interested in that book now

Woohoo! Nice work The UHQ Nasanta!

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Completed
√ Midnight Crossroad (9hrs, 26mins). June 2014 BOM Completed 26 June2014 ★★★★

Great audio narration, and the book is my favourite Harris so far. It is a very character-driven novel so I can see why some people have criticised it as 'slow', but that is right up my alley

[Jamie]

This looks like a lot of fun!

Duration: 5/1/14 - 4/31/15
Option 2
Level: Director
Completed: 6/30


◈ Female Narrator - Murder on a Girls' Night Out 7/22 ★★★

◈ Male Narrator

◈ Duets

◈ Full Cast

◈ Dramatizations

◈ Celebrity Narrator

◈ New-to-Me Narrator - Midnight Riot 7/5 ★★★

◈ Favorite Narrator

◈ Volunteer Narrator

◈ Less Than 3 Hours

◈ Between 3 - 5 Hours – The Case of the Missing Marquess 6/5 ★★★

◈ More Than 5 Hours to 9.9 Hours – The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul 5/3 ★★★★

◈ 10 Hours to 14.9 Hours

◈ 15 Hours to 19.9 Hours

◈ 20 Hours to 24.9 Hours

◈ 25 Hours to 29.9 Hours

◈ 30 Hours to 34.9 Hours

◈ 35 Hours to 39.9 Hours

◈ 40 Hours and Beyond

◈ In-Sync Multimedia

◈ Digital Downloads Freebies

◈ Doing it “Old School” - A Fatal Grace 7/11 ★★★

◈ Planes, Trains, or Automobiles with an Audiobook

◈ Multitasking! Listening on My Portable Music Player (PMP) Audiobook

◈ Audie Award Nominees and Winners

◈ Recommended by Others

◈ BOM via Audiobook – The Book of Lost Things 5/10 ★★★★

◈ “Buddy Read” via Audiobook

◈ Classic Read

◈ Re-Read a Favorite

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

Welcome to the challenge, Jamie!

[Lisa Kay]

I haven't used Librivox, Judy, so someone else will have to weigh in.

For the NBRC BOM category it may be any prior, current, or upcoming BOM.

[Shadow Jubilee]

Judy wrote: "I'm going to try to do all of the categories at least once, so

Has anyone used Librivox (for the volunteer narrator) and do you have any recommendations?

For the NBRC BOM category- do we have to ..."

Judy, I enjoyed Annie Coleman's Pride & Prejudice reading. This was before she joined Librivox. I believe she also read Huck Finn.

I also had started The Road to Oz by Kara Shallenberg. I think she was decent, too.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Judy wrote: "I'm going to try to do all of the categories at least once, so

Has anyone used Librivox (for the volunteer narrator) and do you have any recommendations?

For the NBRC BOM category- do we have to ..."

I quite liked the Picture of Dorian Gray from Librivox and I would recommend that narrator as he has other books there too. I also read Gulliver's travels via librivox, and she was ok although some of the accents got on my nerves ;)

Yes for the BOM category you can use previous months :)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Thanks to audiobook sync's free downloads I re-read this old favourite. I loved it just as much, possibly more, as an adult and the narrator does a great job with the maritime Canadian accent and her interpretations of the characters


✓ Anne Of Green Gables Completed 27 June 2014 ★★★★★

[Charlotte]

I don't read audiobooks that often but would love to start getting into it! I hope I can actually do this challenge.

Duration: 12 Months (1 Year)
Start: June 27, 2014
End: June 27, 2015
Level: Audio Technician (11-15 books)
Option One: Freestyle
Completed: 0/?

CATEGORIES:
Thirty categories from which to choose.

◈ Female Narrator
An audiobook with one female narrator.

◈ Male Narrator
An audiobook with one male narrator.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick


◈ Duets
An audiobook with one female and one male narrator.

◈ Full Cast
An unabridged audiobook with several narrators; there is a narrator per character (e.g. American Gods by Neal Gaiman). To find these, you can search most sites by the term “Full Cast.”

◈ Dramatizations
An abridged audiobook with background music/noises like the “old school” radio plays (e.g. BBC Radio Drama Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett). Also known as “Performance” audios, if you’re doing a search.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

◈ Celebrity Narrator
Category name says it all: Somebody famous narrates. Examples: James Marsters reading Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series or Anne Hathaway reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. BTW, when searching, audible.com is calling this their “A-List Collection.”

◈ New-to-Me Narrator
A narrator that you haven’t heard before.

◈ Favourite Narrator
A narrator that you have heard and loved before and would recommend to others.

◈ Volunteer Narrator
A narrator that is not professional, but volunteers to read books. (Such as those used on librivox.org)

◈ Less Than 3 Hours
An audiobook that you can read in one day!

◈ Between 3 - 5 Hours
An audiobook that falls in this range.

◈ More Than 5 Hours to 9.9 Hours
An audiobook that is over 5 hours in length.

◈ 10 Hours to 14.9 Hours
An audiobook that is a CHUNKSTER! ;) More than 10 hours in length, but less than 15.

◈ 15 Hours to 19.9 Hours
An audiobook that is a Colossal Chunkster! More than 15 hours in length, less than 20.

◈ 20 Hours to 24.9 Hours
An audiobook that is a Super Colossal Chunkster! More than 20 hours in length, less than 25.

◈ 25 Hours to 29.9 Hours
An audiobook that is a Super-Duper Colossal Chunkster! More than 25 hours in length, less than 30.

◈ 30 Hours to 34.9 Hours
An audiobook that is a Monstrous Chunkster! More than 30 hours in length, less than 35.

◈ 35 Hours to 39.9 Hours
An epic, indeed! More than 35 hours in length, less than 40.

◈ 40 Hours and Beyond – or a Trilogy!
Beyond epic, indeed! Time to implant ear buds in your head. Forty hours or more! For this one we will also allow a trilogy that qualifies in length, or three books anywhere within a series, if you “read” all of it/them via audio.

◈ In-Sync Multimedia
Use an audible sync option to read-along! Such as the new read-along with your Kindle option by audible.com called Whispersync, which remembers your last stopping point in either device. However, you may read a book using any two media choices your desire, as long as one of them is via audio.

◈ Digital Downloads Freebies
Keep it legal! Public libraries using OverDrive Media Console, or Bolinda Audio (BorrowBox), or OneClickDigital downloads. There are also free sites like:
librivox.org
Project Gutenberg Audio Books Project
audiobooksync.com - scheduled release dates
Audiobooksync has free audiobooks over the Northern Hemisphere’s summer.

◈ Doing it “Old School”
Use audiobook CDs, or cassette, or even LPs or 8-Track-Tapes, if you have them! Don’t have the right equipment? Oftentimes your public library will have these devices to loan.

◈ Planes, Trains, or Automobiles with an Audiobook
Go on a road trip, holiday, or just listen during your daily commute to work while “reading” in your car or public transportation!

◈ Multitasking! Listening on My Portable Music Player (PMP) Audiobook
Put on those headphones, get cleaning, gardening, grocery shopping, power-walking, even knitting while “reading” a book! Use your Smartphone, MP3, Walkman, portable CD player, iPod, episodic podcast, whatever! Just make Oprah proud.

◈ Audie Award Nominees and Winners
You be the judge. Try an audiobook that has been nominated or won an Audie – any category counts – and lists may be found at audiopub.org (look to the right of the screen for past years).

◈ Recommended by Others
Audiobooks recommended by your friends or other NBRC members.

◈ BOM via Audiobook
Read a NBRC Book of the Month via audio.

◈ “Buddy Read” via Audiobook
Read a “Buddy Read” book via audio and/or listen to your book with another person.

◈ Classic Read
Have you always wanted to broaden your reading horizons and get to that classic everyone seems to talk about? Try it via audio.

◈ Re-Read a Favourite
Old or new, choose a book you’ve read and loved - and see if you could possibly love it even more via audio. (Note: The right narrator is even more crucial here!)


Read:

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Welcome Charlotte!

[Renee]

Karen wrote: "Thanks to audiobook sync's free downloads I re-read this old favourite. I loved it just as much, possibly more, as an adult and the narrator does a great job with the maritime Canadian accent and h..."

I got that one too, will have to give it a go.

[Kristie]

How do you know if the narrator is a volunteer narrator? I'm a bit confused. Librivox seems to just bring you to a bunch of other sites where you can get audiobooks.

Anyone have suggestions for volunteer narrators?

[Jamie]

Kristie wrote: "Does anyone have any thoughts for the longest of the timed reads (40 Hours and Beyond – or a Trilogy!)? I don't have anything planned for this one and most of the series reads I'm interested in at the moment are not trilogies, but longer series. I'd be interested in seeing other people's ideas."

Hi Kristie ~ Not sure if you'd be interested in it or not, but I'm planning on using The Count of Monte Cristo for this task (it's 47 hours).

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Kristie wrote: "How do you know if the narrator is a volunteer narrator? I'm a bit confused. Librivox seems to just bring you to a bunch of other sites where you can get audiobooks.

Anyone have suggestions for v..."


Hmmm. My experience is that Librivox is only volunteer narrators. They have books in the public domain. Maybe the books you are searching for are still copyrighted and so they just give you a link elsewhere?
Try this page as an example. This guy does a lovely job at the narration
https://librivox.org/the-picture-of-d...

[Charlotte]

Judy: Where did you get the audiobook from? I love David Tennant's accent and would love to hear him read haha

[Kristie]

Jamie wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Does anyone have any thoughts for the longest of the timed reads (40 Hours and Beyond – or a Trilogy!)? I don't have anything planned for this one and most of the series reads I'm i..."

Thanks, Jamie! I may do that. I've been wanting to read that forever. This may be the perfect opportunity.

[Kristie]

Karen wrote: "Kristie wrote: "How do you know if the narrator is a volunteer narrator? I'm a bit confused. Librivox seems to just bring you to a bunch of other sites where you can get audiobooks.

Anyone have s..."

I found my problem! I was on Librivox.com, not .org. Now I've got it. :)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Awesome Judy - I must check that out!

teehee Kristie ;)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Book 7 for my challenge completed



I thought this was a pretty good YA mystery and there were still enough questions left unanswered about the Angel family to entice you to keep reading the series, The story is told completely from the point of view of Tandoori (nickname Tandy) who is the daughter of a very wealthy and prominent New York couple found dead by poisoning in the beds one evening. Tandy's 2 brothers and the mother's PA were also in the apartment that night, and so are the prime suspects.
The Angel family turn out to be a little cruel and unusual, and this alone keeps the reader engaged as you wonder what is going to be divulged next!
The audio was a free download from audiobook sync and I would recommend the audio version.
3.5 stars

[Marcia]

Karen wrote: "Hey Kristie - Great job getting through so many already!

For the 40 hours yes you can read any books within a series not just a trilogy, so the Dresden books could be a good option. I must get bac..."

Kristie- I recommend Les Misarable translation by Julie Rose, I got my version from audible. My second recommendation is 11/22/63 by Stephen King; the narrator is incredible!

[Shadow Jubilee]

@Charlotte: I went from "I could never listen to audiobooks. I won't be able to focus on the story" to "That's all I seem to be 'reading' right now". I am a big chagrined to realize this since I still have a HUGE e-book library as well as plenty of hard copy books.

@Judy: Thanks for the recommendation of David Tennant. I am really enjoying the sample for How to Train Your Dragon. It is really fun. :)

@Karen: I will have to move up Anne of Green Gables now although I've already listened to several versions of the audiobook! lol

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

lol!
I'm listening to the librivox version of Anne of Avonlea now, which is pretty good for a volunteer narrator, but not as good as the Anne of Green Gables commercial production :)

[Lara]

Podiobooks is another option for free audiobooks. These are books posted by the authors, although I'm not sure they are always the narrators.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for that suggestion Lara! I just started listening to Shadowmagic which is read by the author on that site. Its really fantastic quality!

[Barb]

Even if you're not a member of Audible.com, you should be able to see this page, which they call Narrators' Greatest Hits, Vol. 1. If you scroll down a bit, there are suggestions for Duets and Ensembles as well as lists of books read by each of the featured narrators. Too bad my favorite narrators -- Scott Brick and Ron McLarty -- isn't on the list this time around :(

[Sheila]

All done! I decided to go with the spell it out portion of this challenge only and call it done. (over extended challenge wise)



All About Audiobooks
May 10, 2014 - May 10, 2015



Spell Out

I - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 7/2 ✔
P - Unlucky 13 by James Patterson (Women's Murder Club #13) ✔
O - Unspeakable by Kevin O'Brien ✔
D - Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon 7/13 ✔


C - Out Of Range by C.J. Box (Joe Pickett, #5) 6/25 ✔
L - The Last Girl by Jane Casey (Maeve Kerrigan #3) 6/20
A - Stranded by Alex Kava (Maggie O'Dell #11) 6/24 ✔
S - Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson (Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht #2) 6/21 ✔
S - State Fair by Earlene Fowler (Benni Harper #14) 7/2 ✔
I - Inferno by Casey Hill (Reilly Steel #2) 7/9 ✔
C - Cross and Burn by Val McDermid (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #8) 6/21 ✔

[Lara]

Wow! Yea Shiela!

[Lisarenee]

Sheila wrote: "All done! I decided to go with the spell it out portion of this challenge only and call it done. (over extended challenge wise)"



Well done! :) That's a great list too.

[Sheila]

Thanks

[Kristie]

Marcygold wrote: "Kristie- I recommend Les Misarable translation by Julie Rose, I got my version from audible. My second recommendation is 11/22/63 by Stephen King; the narrator is incredible!"

Thanks for the recommendations, Marcygold! I just looked them up and 11/22/63 is only 30 hours, so it won't work. (I thought it would have been longer.) But, Les Miserable is 60 hours!! Holy moly! It definitely meets the requirements!

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Thanks Barb and Lara for the site recommendations!

[Marcia]

I usually buy my audiobooks from Audible or I check them out from the Wisconsin Digital Library. Where do you all get your audio books? Any particular apps or service that is your favorite?

[Kristie]

I get my audios from Audible, the library, or Sync.

[Renee]

I usually use Borrowbox which is linked up to my local library in Australia.

[Barb]

Audible and my library are my primary sources :)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

I use my local libraries primarily which all have different access to titles. The apps I use for them are Overdrive, Borrowbox and Oneclickdigital.
I also download the free YA books from audiobook sync over the NA summer and use librivox.org for classics

[Kristie]

I'm flying through this challenge must faster than expected. I just finished book # 10 and I'm almost 1/2 way through #11. I'm definitely going to change my goal to one of each category. Updating to Want-it-all!

[Rebecca]

I'm so in!!

Start: July 1st 2014
End: March 27th 2015
Executive Director: 50/50 books

◈ Female Narrator
1/26/15 3/11/15

◈ Celebrity Narrator
9/26/14 1/13/15

◈ “Buddy Read” via Audiobook
7/4/14 9/19/14

◈ Favourite Narrator
7/15/14 10/30/14

◈ New-to-Me Narrator
9/2/14 11/14/14

◈ Between 3 - 5 Hours
7/26/14 9/24/14

◈ More Than 5 Hours to 9.9 Hours
8/19/14 2/25/15

◈ 10 Hours to 14.9 Hours
8/27/14 1/9/15

◈ 15 Hours to 19.9 Hours
7/22/14 8/25/14

◈ 20 Hours to 24.9 Hours
7/30/14 10/10/14

◈ 25 Hours to 29.9 Hours
11/11/14

◈ 30 Hours to 34.9 Hours
11/26/14

◈ Digital Downloads Freebies
8/4/14 9/5/14

◈ Male Narrator
8/1/14 9/10/14

◈ Doing it “Old School”
8/6/14 3/4/15

◈ Multitasking! Listening on My Portable Music Player (PMP) Audiobook
8/8/14 9/13/14

◈ Re-Read a Favourite
8/12/14 8/29/14

◈ Classic Read
10/3/14 12/30/14

◈ Planes, Trains, or Automobiles with an Audiobook
10/15/14 1/28/15

◈ Recommended by Others
10/22/14 2/4/15

◈ 35 Hours to 39.9 Hours
12/22/14 2/20/15

◈ 40 Hours and Beyond – or a Trilogy!
Trilogy: 12/2/214 12/8/14 12/30/14

◈ Full Cast
1/6/15 1/15/15

◈ Less Than 3 Hours
3/3/15

◈ Dramatizations
3/3/15

◈ BOM via Audiobook
12/4/14

◈ Duets
3/22/15 3/27/15

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Nice work Kristie!

Welcome RebeccaS! The Orphan Train is a fabulous book. I hope the audio is good for you too

[Robyn]

I'm sure it's been mentioned in the thread before, but are there any free apps that offer free audiobooks?

[Renee]

Check with your local library to see which one they associate with - mine uses Borrowbox. Overdrive and LibriVox are others.