Yay, another challenge down (I don't want to count how many more to go, although I'm sure it's still not as many as most of you signed up for). Anyway, I enjoyed this challenge, which is hosted by one and only J.Kaye, and I am definitely signing up for next year's edition. The only problem I had was with reviewing. I have learned that reviewing audio books is one of the most difficult tasks for me. There several reasons but mainly I felt that the books I listened to were probably much better read because the choice of narrators was simply bad. I don't know if authors have any say in choosing who will narrate their books. I hope that in the case of books I felt were ruined by narrators, the authors didn't choose them. Also, while listening to the books on audio I have noticed certain things that I would not pay so much attention to if I were reading them:
a) shaky to bad dialogue
b) excessive use of adverbs
c) repetitive use of certain words throughout the book.
The worst books of the bunch were High Profile by Parker and The Forrest of Hands and Teeth by Ryan. First one made me want to shoot myself when listening to the dialogue parts and the second one made me want to pull over and fall asleep. The best book was The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid by Bryson. I think the fact that Bryson chose to read his own book was a good one because he read it in exactly the way he wanted it to be read.
2009 Audiobook Challenge
1. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
2. One For the Money by Janet Evanovich
3. High Profile by Robert B. Parker
4. Hard Truth by Nevada Barr
5. Death of a Dreamer M. C. Beaton
6. The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
7. Twenty Seven Bones by Jonathan Nasaw
8. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
10. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
11. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
12. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Woohoo, congrats on finishing another challenge Lilly.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to some absolutely fabulous audiobooks lately but I never signed up for the challenge.
Congratulations! This is fantastic. As far as reviewing, I so get that. You don't have to review for the challenge, but my guess is you are wanting to for your blog, right?
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem. It took about a year (maybe) of really listening to a LOT of audio books before I became just as comfortable with them as I do reading. This could come from my style of reviewing has changed and I am not so detailed. Whatever the reason, it's all sort of come together over time. Does that make sense?
Narrators use to bother the heck out of me. They don't any more. I think my mind had trained it to be more like background noise. I am listening to the story, visualizing in my head and the voice isn't a focal point. Of course, there are those magical narrators that bring a story to life...those are way cool!
Congrats on finishing :D
ReplyDeleteGreat job on completing the challenge!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Lily!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteAnd a really interesting post about the differences between reviewing a read book & an audiobook!
Great Job Lily. I enjoy audio books and always seem to have one going.
ReplyDelete