Summer is the perfect time to listen to a good book. That’s right, listen! Certainly reading print books is of critical importance to all of us who are library people, but hearing a book brings another dimension to a story. A narrator can add certain inflections, accents or emphasis which might change the way we picture the characters, plot, or information. Also, we can only read a physical book in certain environments. Reading is a completely absorbing activity, which of course it one of the great things about it. But listening doesn’t require quite as much concentration. We can listen to books while walking, while doing housework, on a plane, and, of course, my personal favorite, in the car. So think of all the additional books that you can enjoy if you add audiobooks to your life.
Listening to books is great at any age. For kids who may not be avid readers, audiobooks can expose them to literature and might inspire them to read more. Children are also able to tackle books at a higher and more complex reading level when they hear the text. Another advantage to listening to books is that it’s easy and enriching to share the experience with those near and dear. You might set up a time to listen with your children and talk about the books afterwards. A great choice for a short simple story is The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon. For older children, try a creepy but compelling novel like Doll Bones by Holly Black or The Best Man by Richard Peck, a touching family story that’s laugh out loud funny.
I love to tell about the time that my husband and I shared an amazing listening experience. We were taking a car trip and I needed to finish a book for my upcoming book club meeting. My husband almost never reads fiction. In fact, he hardly reads anything except the news and technical manuals! Since he was with me, he had no choice but to listen. My book club had chosen a literary historical fiction novel, The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende, which was definitely something he’d never pick up on his own. However, the narrator of the book was wonderful, and my husband was quickly drawn into the complex drama of Jewish and Japanese families affected by World War II. When the last CD was completed, my husband sighed and said, “That was the most beautiful book!”
There is such a wide variety of books available through MCPL that you'll have no trouble finding something that can touch you in the same way. In fact, you’ll probably find so many wonderful books that you’ll continue listening all summer and beyond!
We have two collections of audiobooks you can download onto your phone, tablet, or other device, Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium (Overdrive) and RBdigital. We also have an extensive collection of audiobooks on CD, which you can access through our catalog. Here are our latest CD books, from 2017 and 2018. Happy listening!
For more audiobook fun, listen to our Library Matters podcast episode, "You Gotta Hear This! The Joy of Audiobooks." Audiobook enthusiasts from among our staff share their love for audiobooks, discuss the qualities that make a good narrator, and recommend titles that will be music to your ears.
Labels: Books, Reading
