June Is Audio Book Month!

Hey, guess what? I finally figured out who hosts June Is Audiobook Month - the Audiobook Publisher's Association (who'da thunk it?). 

Do you listen to audiobooks?

I first started listening to audiobooks about five years ago. I felt like my brain was turning to putty at work. To try to keep my brain alive, I brought in an old boom box and started listening to music and NPR. Soon I decided if I could focus well enough on that programming to get something out of it without having it impact my work, I might as well try books. I spent the next year plugged into audiobooks until I finally changed positions. In a sense, audiobooks saved my sanity.

Not long after I started listening to books on CD, I began blogging. Of the 23 books I reviewed in the first month I was blogging, ten were audiobooks. I was hooked, despite mixed experiences. If it weren't for my inability to give up on books, there's no way I would have finished Andre Dubus III's The Garden Of Last Days despite an very interesting story. On the other hand, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union was so good, I would be willing to pick up anything Peter Reigert narrated. The reader can make or break a book, no matter how well written it is. Do you have particular narrators you would recommend?

I've also enjoyed using LearnOutLoud.com and Librivox.org, both great sources of free classic literature. I was able to listen to Austen, Twain, Chopin, Voltaire and Wharton right off my computer while I worked but any of the books could be downloaded. One of these days, I'm going to have to figure out how to do that with my new phone! I know a lot of you use Audible.com; what other sites are available to audio downloads?

I can't listen to books at work any more but I've always got a supply of books in my car to listen to while I'm driving. What are you doing while you're listening to books?

Later this week I want to talk favorites!