Audiobook Week Mid-Week Meme

Jenn K. a.k.a. devourerofbooks, is hosting Audiobook Week 2013, which consists of prompts for daily postings relating to audiobook love :-)

Today's Prompts:

Current/most recent audiobook:

The Man in the Empty Suit

by Sean Ferrell

narrated by Mauro Hantman

Ⓟ 2013, AudioGO

Impressions:

+ The story is fascinatingly complex and demands the listeners attention
- The narrator has a clear voice but had difficulty shaping the text, delineating characters and maintaining the feminine tenor of a key figure
- There was distracting booth noise late in the audio production 

Current/most recent favorite audiobook:

The Ghosts of Belfast

by Stuart Neville

narrated by Gerard Doyle

Ⓟ 2009, Audible, Inc.

This is the latest entry to my Personal Pantheon of All-Time Great Audiobooks, coincidentally displacing another Gerard Doyle-narrated audio, The Dead Trilogy (Dead I Well May Be, The Dead Yard and The Bloomsbury Dead; by Adrian McKinty.) Even though the audio was published in 2009 and I listened to it in 2012; and I've listened to a lot of good and sometimes very good audio in the past year, nothing since as come my way that I absolutely made me drop whatever it was that I was doing and just listen.

Favorite narrator you’ve discovered recently:

Davina Porter

Photo snagged from AudioFile Magazine, Golden Voices profile

I read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series in print, so the audio that Davina Porter is most noted for is something that I haven't experienced! But this year, I listened to Splendors and Glooms (by Laura Amy Schlitz) and loved her performance! From the Armchair Audies review I wrote and posted:

Her cultured voice, distinct characterizations, her ability to disappear into the text, mark her as a master narrator. In Splendors and Glooms, Davina Porter voices the POVs of an aged crone, an old, sleazy man, a pre-adolescent girl with theatrical training, an illiterate street urchin (boy) and a little rich girl, all with seeming ease. Splendors and Glooms is a relatively long book for children's fare, but the narrator's pace never flagged and was as strong at the end as it was in the beginning.

One title from your TBL (to be listened) stack, or your audio wishlist:

The Dead Beat

by Jim Butcher

narrated by James Marsters

Ⓟ 2010, Penguin Audio

If past experience is any indicator, the writing wil be terrible; but the narration will be great! I'm starting this one today though I've had it in hand for a couple of years!

2012-2013, My Audiobook Year

Jenn K. a.k.a. devourerofbooks is hosting Audiobook Week 2013, which consists of prompts for daily postings relating to audiobook love :-)

Today's prompt: 

"Are you new to audiobooks in the last year? Have you been listening to them forever but discovered something new this year? Favorite titles? New times/places to listen? This is your chance to introduce yourself and your general listening experience." 

I've been listening to audiobooks and working in the industry for about eighteen years now! Yep, I pretty much eat, breathe and live audiobooks. It's more than a job or a hobby, it's a lifestyle :-)
 
I left Blackstone Audio last October to pursue freelance opportunities! 
Sometimes scary! But exhilarating too! I've been able to work on some great audiobooks! :-)

I judged the category of Best Audiobook for "Children, Ages 8-12" for the Armchair Audies! Wow, I learned so much about children's audiobooks from judging this category with my daughter (who is between the ages of eight and twelve!) You can read about what I learned in my post, Armchair Audies: Best Audiobook for Children Ages 8-12 Wrap Up Post, which also contains links to reviews of the contenders. The Armchair Audies judged seventeen categories this year and you can check out what's what at ArmchairAudies.com :-)

Favorite Audiobooks!
Two books that greatly influenced me in 2012 were The Weight of the Nation (by John Hoffman and Judith Salerno, M.D., M.S. with Alexandra Moss; narrated by Bernadette Dunne) and Black Genius: Inspirational Portraits of African-American Leaders (by Dick Russell; narrated by Kevin Kenerly.) You can read a little bit more about the how and why they impacted me in my post,  Epiphanies 2012

I've pretty much shuttered my blog, dogearedcopy.com!
Except for special runs like The Armchair Audies and Audiobook Week (and Murder, Monsters and Mayhem this year and Zombie Awareness Month next year if I can get my act together,) I've ceased and desisted from blogging.  I love the blogging community, and I'm still on twitter (@dogearedcopy) and always willing to facilitate whatever other blogging projects you have in mind that you think that I can help with; but the daily angst of trying to find the right turn of phrase for a review or posting content consistently has been kicked to the curb in favor of playing with puppies, frolicking in the sun and reading more!

I hike! And bike!
For exercise, I hike and bike a little; but I don't listen to audiobooks when I'm doing either. With the very real threat of bears, rattlesnakes and mountain lions on the trails, not to mention aggressive mountain bikers and hunters, I prefer to be more aware of my surroundings :-)


You can see what I wrote for the meme in years past:

• 2010-2011, My Audiobook Year
• 2011-2012, My Audiobook Year

A couple of other JIAM posts :-)

• Audiobook Interview with Grover Gardner and Tanya Perez (interview conducted by Jennifer Conner (@lithousewife at literatehousewife.com) #JIAM2011
• 2011-2012, My Audiobook YearThe Many Hats of Tanya Perez (Behind the Scenes interview conducted by Karen White (@KarenWhite at Home Cooked Books: karenwhiteaudiobooks.com) #JIAM2012