Weekly topic for discussion - Do you read or listen to Nora's books?

[Jonetta]

I've recently amped up my reading using audiobooks. That format is helping me get to some books I'd never get a chance to read anytime soon and I'm loving some of the really talented narrators.

This month I plan to listen to my first Nora book, The Collector. I'm very excited as I never thought I listen to any of her books (I love reading them) and reviews of the audiobook are pretty good.

Have you listened to any of Nora's books? Do you have any favorite narrators of her stories?

[Heather L]

I can't listen to audio books. It's the talk radio effect: I either end up being lulled to sleep, or I zone out and miss half of what is said. It would take me forever to get through anything.

[Elizabeth]

I only can listen to an audio book in the car if I am on a trip.

[Jonetta]

In addition to the car, I listen while cleaning and cooking! It's made those two chores more enjoyable. Yesterday, I dusted my whole house listening to Voyager and the next thing I knew I was done. And ironing...wonderful.

[Elizabeth]

I should try that. Thanks I am not good at getting house work done.

[Jonetta]

My hubbie bought me headphones for Christmas with a 100 ft (or 30 - I cannot remember) range and it made a HUGE difference. I can now listen while vacuuming:)

[Maggie]

I've only ever read Nora's books. I never had an interest in audio books until reading you ladies discussing them. One of these days I'll try one.

[Talya]

I've only listened to samples, and I was very disappointed. To me they all sounded like an older man who was really tired at the time.

Maybe I'm sexist, because I prefer female narrators, they tend to sound more upbeat to me, and they are generally good at the male character voices without sounding goofy. Sometimes male narrators sound silly doing female character voices to me. Sorry I'm being so pessimistic :-( Jonetta, I hope you enjoy it though, audio books are an awesome way to read. My favorite is listening to audio on my Kindle Fire while reading the book at the same time, it's like being read to.

[Jonetta]

Narrators make or break a book. I don't have a gender preference...just want them to get it right.

My most recent audio experience was really bad. The narrator took a good story and ruined it with her performance.

On the other hand, Sebastian York, narrator of Tangled by Emma Chase, made the book incredible with his performance because he WAS the character.

I hope you have better experiences, Talya, with male performers. Phil Gigante made me swoon for weeks with his narration of Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series. His Scottish brogue was oh so sexy. I hated when I finished listening to the series and could no longer hear his voice:)

[Sharon]

I read and re-read her books. I'm not into audio books.

[Sara ♥]

I LOVE audiobooks!!! I think I've listened to ALL the Nora Roberts books I've read... Yeah. I've read a couple of the newer J.D. Robb books, although it's just not the same! I'm currently listening to Face the Fire to finish up the Three Sisters Island series! The narrator is pretty great, except that Mia's voice sounds too old. *shrugs* :)

Jonetta's exactly right. Narrators make or break the book. I was listening to Nora's suspense romances in reverse chronological order, and there were a couple I had to skip because the narrator was just so bad. Women narrators, those ones.

I just finished the Circle Trilogy not too long ago, and when I first started, I was like, "WHO ON EARTH picked DICK HILL to narrate? The only other thing I'd ever heard him read was 2001: A Space Odyssey, which, in my opinion, could win the award for MOST BORING BOOK OF ALL TIME. But after about 5 or 10 minutes, I was sold. He did an excellent job.

I listened to the Key Trilogy, too. Do I need to tell you how incredible Susan Ericksen is? Because she is. Although the bad guy's voice was creepily similar to Roarke's... which was strange. But he wasn't around TOO often, so.... :)

[Jonetta]

Sara, I had no idea that you listened to so many books!

[Sara ♥]

I do... I listen A LOT. I almost always have a print book and an audiobook going. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two VERY active girls (ages 3 and 19 months). Lots of laundry and dishes and picking up... I listen while I breastfeed.(Yes, I STILL nurse the 19-month-old. She's VERY attached to me AND breastfeeding! I'm HOPING she'll want to wean before high school!) And while I drive (1 earbud in while the girls listen to Frozen! Haha!) and clean and stuff. I just don't have as much time to SIT and read as I did before I had kids or even when I just had ONE kid. It really helps me fit in more books.

I've actually recently introduced my 3-year-old to audiobooks! They've got little kid books that come with a CD that makes a chiming noise when it's time to turn the page. My mom got her Frozen, and our library has a bunch more—we checked out Brave and Tangled and listen to them in the car. She thinks they're are pretty fun! They're like 10-15 minutes long, and we don't drive farther than that terribly often. But she's 3, so she'd be perfectly willing to read it 3x in a row... haha! :)

[Jennifer]

Personally, I need to read a book. I won't explain this right, but I need my voice in my head reading the story. Otherwise I can't get lost with the characters.