I love audiobooks. It started about 7 or 8 years ago when I transferred to a new job at the library I was working at then. Before, I didn’t need to know anything about audiobooks, and they had never appealed to me personally, so I’d never listened to one. But in this new position, I was expected to know a little something about audiobooks so I could help patrons find the right ones for them, so I decided I ought to listen to a couple and see what the fuss was about.
Now if I’m nearing the end of an audiobook and I don’t know what I’m going to listen to next, I start to panic.
How did this transformation happen? Well, there are several factors, including the fact that since I spend so much time reading for my job, I find that I prefer to listen in my spare time. Also, having a good audiobook makes all the difference between hating yard work and laundry, and making them things I don’t really mind so much anymore. But what really hooked me were the good readers. Some of the first audiobooks I ever listened to were the Harry Potter series, and as anyone who has listened to those books can tell you, Jim Dale is as good an audiobook reader as you will ever find.
Now I get truly excited anytime I hit play on an audiobook and it’s a reader I like. For instance, just this weekend, I started listening to Nathaniel Philprick’s Valiant Ambition. I was looking forward to starting this, because I really like the other Philbrick book I’ve read, In the Heart of the Sea, and because I’ve become something of an American Revolution junkie. But when I heard Scott Brick’s voice reading it, I’ll admit I made a little squee noise I was so happy, because I just listened to him read Ron Chernow’s biographies of both George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, so his voice has come to represent the America Revolution to me. I’m still smiling about it.
Point is, I love my audiobooks. I get a little giddy when I hear Simon Vance or Nadia May begin a book I was already looking forward to listening to. So if you need help picking an audiobook, we’re happy to help you out with that. Plus if you didn’t know, you can search for audiobooks by the name of the reader; this is true whether you’re looking for books on CD in our catalog or at either of our e-audio services, Ohio Digital Library and Hoopla.
Happy listening!
Shelia
I really only started listening to them a little over a year ago! But now I can’t imagine my life without audiobooks! haha!