Wednesday, January 1, 2014

In With the New!

Welcome to 2014!  A blog hop starts today, where book bloggers are going to list their 3 favorite audio books that they listened to in 2013.  What's a blog hop?  Well, we are learning together here.  Apparently, a few bloggers host the "hop" and other bloggers sign up to participate.  The readers then get linked to other bloggers who they probably have never heard of by clicking to the hop, and then choosing some blogs to check out.  Lots of the blogs will also be offering prizes, so give it a try, and sign up to win! 

The blogs participating in the Hop are all listed at the bottom of this post.  Just click away, and check out a few.

So, what are my three favorite audio books of 2013?  (You can click on the links below to get to my full reviews)  The first one is an easy pick:

1.  The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison.  I loved the story, and the reader, Jeff Woodman, was amazing. This is one of my favorite books of all time.

Next, I have to reluctantly give props to Junot Diaz, for his book:

2.  This is How You Lose Her by Diaz.  I am always intrigued by a book that is read by the author.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I really think that I liked TIHYLH more because Diaz read it, than if I would have read it myself.  The main character, Yunior, who is seemingly based on Diaz, is a total pig, who would be a nightmare to date.  But when Diaz does the reading, the listener almost feels empathy for Yunior, when he just can't help cheating one more time.

The third was a tough pick, but in the end I had to go with this one:

3.  Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.  This audiobook is 25 discs, or 30 hours, long, but don't despair!  John Lee is such a great reader that you'll wish for more.  In fact, I'm listening to the next book in the series, Winter of the World, right now, so Lee is still reading to me. 

If you just can't get enough, by clicking this link, you can get to the reviews of all of my favorite audiobooks.

Have fun on the Hop, and check back soon for my review of The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  Fair warning, not everyone on the Hop reviews best sellers or contemporary literature.  Feel free to judge a blog by its name, and brace yourself for books with shirtless men on the cover if you click on a blog with "nympho" in its name. 


16 comments:

  1. Happy New Year!!

    I hopped on over to read are three favorite audiobooks for 2013. The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison sounds awesome. I've added it to my ever growing reading list.

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    1. Happy New Year to you too! You will love Revised Fundamentals - move it to the top of the list!

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  2. I have the audio of This is How You Lose Her but didn't realize it was performed by the author! Glad to see it on your list of favorites. I liked The Interestings - looking forward to your review. Happy listening!

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    1. I am really liking The Interstings too. . .hopefully nothing falls apart in the last 25 pages

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  3. I have yet to listen to an audio book read by the author but I do remember listening to Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris Perry who is such a great speaker and wishing she was reading the book because the narrator was so boring and per her reviews I was not the only one... So I guess it can go both ways.

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    1. The reader makes SUCH a difference! I've returned a couple of audiobooks to the library but kept the paper copy when the reader just grates on my nerves . There are some great ones out there, but some are just too dramatic.

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  4. Love Ken Follett, but haven't read his 2 most recent. I think I need the audio.

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    1. You'd better hurry! The third in the trilogy is due out in August.

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  5. Audible has changed my life! Thank goodness I got an Apple Classic IPOD. Happy New Year from Oklahoma, USA. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com

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    1. I have not made the transition yet. I still listen to old school CDs, which does limit my choices. Fortunately, I have a great library near me that still supports CD listeners.

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  6. Just an observation. You're right, many of the blogs on this hop, including the host, don't typically review contemporary literature. Your other statement was not necessarily correct. Many are in fact best sellers. As a book reviewer you should know not to judge a book by it's cover.

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  7. I agree completely with Stephanie, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover or a blog by its name; especially if the one you are judging is one of the blogs hosting the hop you are "willingly" participating in.

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  8. Relax Stephanie and Bookaholic! By being a part of the Hop, I am offering my regular readers a way to explore blogs that are DIFFERENT from mine - different isn't necessarily bad! Note that NPR included a shirtless cover on its list of the best books of 2013.

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    1. Those shirtless men make my listening more enjoyable. LOL Not to mention the leather clad heroines in the Urban Fantasy audios I listen to as well.

      The best thing about audio books is finding great narrators to read the books to us no matter what genre(s) you enjoy. As long as you're reading/listening it's all good. Thanks for joining the hop.

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  9. I was thinking of trying the kevin follet book but I'll admit to being put off my the amount of discs
    Tweeted your pages :)

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    1. Thanks for the tweet! The Follett books are all worth the long listen - I really liked World Without End too.

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