It's Been An Audio Year

For the past few months, I haven't had any time to read. I can probably count the number of books I've finished on one hand. Wow. That's just nuts when my TBR pile continues to grow to monstrous proportions!

Anywho -- I've been listening to a ton of books on audio, so I thought I'd do a brief rundown of the ones I've listened to -- and would recommend.

The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling -- all seven. Jim Dale narrates and does a FANTASTIC job. I became completely enchanted with the series all over again. Even if you've read them, go out and get the discs. I promise you'll enjoy them.

The Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer -- all four. I have to admit, it was a real struggle to get through the first two books. Not sure why. I think it's a combination of the story dragging a bit and the narrator. She doesn't do voices, so everyone sounds the same. After 10-15 hours of it, it tended to get a bit old. For whatever reason, it wasn't a problem in the second two books -- which also added a male narrator for Jacob. His voice was pretty cool and I tended to think of Jacob as more of an adult because of it.

The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich -- all fourteen. I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed these books. The voices, while a bit spotty at times(there are two different narrators for this series -- at least at my library) are HILARIOUS -- especially some of the secondary characters. I laughed out loud a gazillion times, making my co-workers raise a few brows in my direction. I will tell you this -- the voices get better the further into the series you go. I didn't know if I could listen to these based on the first book, but I gutted my way through and really enjoyed them. The comic timing when they're read is just fantastic...go..run...get 'em.

The Host by Stephenie Meyers -- I thought this book was great on audio. The narrator has this airy, clipped tone that sounds how you'd think an alien would sound. (g) I greatly enjoyed it.

The Outlander Books by Diana Gabaldon -- the first three (Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager). The narrator of these books is fantastic -- and of course, the story is great. I haven't continued in the series yet -- mostly because it's quite a time committment when you listen to one. I think Drums runs over 40 hours...so yeah, I'm working my way up to it again. :) Very enjoyable, tho.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak -- I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago. Go. Get it. Now. It's fantastic. The narrator is one of the best I've listened to.

The Firm by John Grisham -- I've never read a Grisham. Shocker, I know. I've seen several movies -- including this one -- and even own at least a half dozen of his novels. Alas, this was my first read/listen. It was good -- not great, but a solid listen. I thought the ending to the movie was much better. :)

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton -- This was an okay book. It was hard to follow in parts, but I blame that on the media and my tendency to lose track of what's going on in a book I haven't read before. All in all, I would probably listen to another, though they probably wouldn't be first on my list.

Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson -- Anne Heche narrated this book, and she's got a great voice for it. I found the book a little sickly sweet, but he always manages to get a few tears out of me -- no matter how hard I fight them. (g) It's a short book -- 4-5 hours tops, so if you want a little sentimental listen, this is the book for you.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova -- I started this book a while back and got sidetracked mid-way through it. I'm about 4/5ths of the way through it right now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It has a male and a female narrator. The man is solid, but the female narrator is EXCELLENT. She does fantastic accents. I will say it's a little hard to follow in this format, but I'm still managing to get the gist of what's going on.

So yeah....34 books in the past 4 months or so. I'd say I'm getting my fill of literature despite cracking only a handful of "actual" books. (g)

Next in the queue:

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
1st to Die by James Patterson
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon