Hello! I am back after my two day hiatus after the busyness that was the winter Biannual Bibliothon. While it was loads of fun, it was a little draining but over the weekend I recharged and am ready to blog! Lately I have been listening to a lot of audiobooks, I think I listened to about 4 this past week, and have been loving them, so I decided to share a few audiobook recommendations with you guys and some tips if you are just starting out. I hope you enjoy!
Audiobook Tips for Beginners:
- Choose An Audiobook That You’ve Read the Physical Book Of – When it comes to your first few audiobooks, I find that it is a lot easier to ease into the world of audiobooks when you listen to a book you have already read. When adjusting to audiobooks, it can be difficult to retain all the info you hear while listening to the story, so my advice is to start of listening to a favourite book of yours!
- Free Audiobooks! – If you aren’t sure if you will like audiobooks, try borrowing them from your library. And I don’t mean borrowing the 30+ disk set, but borrowing from their online selection. Lots of libraries have links on their websites to online libraries where if you use your library card, you can electronically borrow books and audiobooks on your phone or computer, and they are free!
- Don’t Waste Audiobook Time – There are so many times throughout the day when you could be listening to an audiobook. So instead of watching mindless YouTube videos while getting ready, press play on an audiobook! You can also listen to them while walking around, driving, doing mindless tasks, etc, etc. Don’t waste perfectly good audiobook time!
Now for my audiobook recommendations!
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Not only do I recommend this physical book, but the ebook is so much fun! I get the exact same feel as I do when I physically read it, and listening to the book come alive just brings so much more to the story. This is one I am actually currently listening to, and it is nice to discover the world of Fangirl in a different medium.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
I don’t have a specific book recommendation for this one, but really any of this series would be amazing on audio. I have only listened to the fourth in full, and snippets of some of the others but listening to the fourth was a blast, and the person who voiced it did a great job of giving each character a different voice and making the journey so much more fun!
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Listening to The One on audiobook was really good, I felt the tension between the characters and really felt the emotion I felt while reading the physical book, which is obviously what you want from an audiobook. While it did sound a little robotic, I quickly got over that and became so incredibly invested in the story. I can only imagine that the first book, The Selection, would be just as good!
Peter Pan by James M. Barrie
Really, I think that any children’s book would be magical in audiobook format. I listened to this book during the Biannual Bibliothon, and it was fun listening to Wendy, John, Michael and Peter’s adventures in Neverland. Again, it brought the story to life in a way like a movie would, and while I was walking around and listening to this book I would get so invested in the story I would wander around for hours. Also, it is really short (about 5 hours or so) so a perfect first audiobook!
Those are a few audiobook tips and recommendations for any of you considering giving audiobooks a try, or for any of you who just were in need of some more recommendations. I hope you enjoyed this, and make sure you check out my last blog posts: 2018 Biannual Bibliothon Day 7: Write a Book Recommendation + my Day 7 Reading Update!
Thanks 🙂
Other Places You Can Find Me:
Twitter:@zoermathers
Pinterest: @zoermathers
The Lux Series by Jennifer L Armentrout – These books are about a human and a hot, alien badboy falling for each other…how more cliché can it get? I read the first book in one sitting because I didn’t want to stop, and same with the second. The series falters a bit after the second, but I still really enjoy it overall. If you want a fast-paced, trashy YA series, definitely give this a go!
Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins – These are some of my favourite contemporary books, but they definitely fit into the category of trashy YA. They have such adorable romances and clichés that even though they are heavily used, you can’t help but appreciate. Once you pick up the first one, you want to pick up the next one right away and voila! You are once again sucked into the trashy YA’s.
The Heir by Kiera Cass – When I think of books that get on my nerves, this is the first book that comes to mind. If you didn’t know, The Heir is a continuation of the Selection series and in my opinion, is a continuation that was not needed. The first three books in the Selection series were great, but they had to ruin it with this book! The Heir is a sequel that takes place 20ish years after the events of The One, and follows America and Maxon’s daughter Eadlyn who is of age and has to hold a selection to find “the one”. I enjoyed seeing America and Maxon again, but there daughter, Eadlyn is such a hard character to like! She is whiny, inconsiderate and incredibly selfish, and is in no way a relatable character. I honestly felt this book was unnecessary and I am sure there are a lot of people out there who agree!
but overall it did have some very frustrating moments! Lady Midnight follows two shadowhunters named Emma and Julian who live in a world of demons, magic and fighting. Our main characters are the frustrating part and I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t read this book, but if you have you know what I am talking about!
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – Again I love Fangirl but our main character is such a stubborn character sometimes that it irritates me. Fangirl follows a girl named Cath who is attending her first year of college with her twin sister, Wren, and while Wren wants to be independent and have fun, Cath is much more shy and reluctant. I do love this book, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I wanted to scream at Cath to take a risk for once, or just leave her dorm room instead of moping around and letting life pass her!
Prodigy by Marie Lu – I really enjoyed Prodigy but the relationship between our main characters is something I don’t always enjoy. The first book in this trilogy, Legend, follows a teenage criminal named Day and a soldier named June who become an unlikely team as they band together for revenge. I am honestly not a huge fan of June because in my opinion, she is quite a hard person to like and see through her suit of rock hard iron, so I did have some moments were I gritted my teeth during specific scenes.
mylifewithbooks 