eAudiobooks

There are so many reasons to listen to audiobooks. We like to listen to them while we are struggling with household chores, or crafting. Some people enjoy listening to them in the car, particularly for long road trips. And they are not just available in CDs anymore, although we still have plenty of those - the library catalog also offers the Playaway format and downloadable audiobooks (eAudio). There are two eResources for eAudio avaible to ABC Library customers, Overdrive (which also provides eBooks) and OneClickdigital; you can search their databases for titles rather than the library catalog, if you prefer.

If you would like to stick to books on CD, don't miss the featured collections list of Adult Books on CD and Playaways and Children's Books on CD and Playaways - these will show you our latest acquisitions. However, if you'd like to give eAudio a try, the list below is compiled from recommended recent audiobook lists - because, for audiobooks, a good reader is so important! If you find you need help with downloading, you can find help on the library website or stop at one of our Gizmo Garage sessions!

Non-Fiction

Wildflower by Drew Barrymore

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

A House of My Own: Stories From My Life by Sandra Cisneros

A Fine Romance: A Memoir by Candice Bergen

Words Without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson 

Fiction

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk 

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro 

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson 

Early Warning by Jane Smiley

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
  

And finally, if you want the personal touch, try Adult Storytime at our San Pedro branch or Storytime for Grownups at our Los Griegos branch! "Sit back, relax and listen to a San Pedro Library staff member read aloud from a selection of classic literature, short stories or other favorite works. Unlike a book club, there is no need for you to read the selection ahead of time, but feel free to join in a lively discussion after the reading. Adult Storytime happens at the San Pedro Library on the last Saturday of each month." Or, "Storytime for Grownups meets the first Wednesday of each month at Los Griegos Library. Hear great short stories or excerpts from longer works read by Book Mark."

 

Get Caught Listening: Best Audiobooks You Might Have Missed

June was Audiobook Month! But we think audiobooks should be celebrated all summer long - we're nominating summer as "The Season of Audiobooks", due to the amount of customers looking for audiobooks for their vacation car trips.  We even know a customer who listens to audiobooks while gardening, and some like to listen while working on crafts and projects.

In case you were looking for some audiobooks, we've compiled a list of recommended titles from a variety of websites for your listening pleasure!

All audiobooks listed are books on CD, unless otherwise noted.

 Fiction

And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter [Playaway - a dedicated media audio player]

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

Midnight at Marble Arch by Anne Perry

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple [eAudiobook]

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson  [eAudiobook]

Norwood by Charles Portis  [eAudiobook]
  

Non-Fiction

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Daniel James Brown

My Beloved World: A Memoir by Sonia Sotomayor [eAudiobook]

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, with Christina Lamb

Frozen In Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff [eAudiobook]


Family-Friendly

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen [Playaway]

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle [eAudiobook]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Links

"Listening To Audiobooks While You Do Something Else Is TheUltimate In Multitasking" [Forbes]

"Dive Into a Summer Read" [Tullahoma News]

"Hooked on Audiobooks" [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

  

Poetry Month: Poetry Audio for Kids

Young Adult Poetry Display at Cherry Hills Library

Want to get your children interested in poetry? Why not try listening to a poetry audiobook? The library catalog has many poetry offerings for children - from the soothing tones of Julie Andrews to the whimsy of A.A. Milne to the raucous rhymes of Shel Silverstein.  A sports fan might enjoy Casey at the Bat, and the poems of Jack Prelutsky are kid favorites!  Some people feel poetry is best as a spoken art - now you and your kids can decide that for yourselves!

Titles are Audiobook on CD unless otherwise noted. Audiobooks and music CDs usually do not come with a print book, but Read-alongs indicate a book in combination with a CD.

Joyful Noise; I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes

Don't Take Your Elephant to School by Steve Turner

When We Were Very Young; Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

Flamingos on the Roof: Poems and Paintings by Calef Brown

Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies selected by Julie Andrews & Emma Walton Hamilton  [eAudiobook]

The Spider and the Fly: Based on the Poem by Mary Howitt [Read-along]

Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest L. Thayer   [Read-along]

A Child's Garden of Songs: The Poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson In Song by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]

Ferdinand the Bull and Friends; Carnival of the Animals & Mother Goose Suite by Nina Flyer, cello; Chie Nagatani, piano; stories and poems read by David Ogden Stiers [Music CD]

The Children's Suite: Inspired by the Verses of A.A. Milne by Phil Woods [Music CD]

The Best of Shel Silverstein: His Words, His Songs, His Friends chiefly by Shel Silverstein [Music CD]

A Pizza the Size of the Sun written and performed by Jack Prelutsky [Music CD]

The Days Gone By: Songs of the American Poets by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]


Happy National Poetry Month! Don't forget today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!

  

Playaways

You may have already noticed a new format in ABC Library's audiobook collection - Playaway.  If you haven't, you might want to check one out!

If you are a fan of audiobooks, but don't always have a CD player to hand (for instance, if you are exercising), Playaways are for you!  Each Playaway is an entire audiobook contained in one small, portable, easy-to-use device, which you check out with your library card. Playaways in the catalog are denoted by this symbol to the left of the item record:

You can also look them up in the system using an author search of  "Playaway Digital Audio". Try one out today and let us know what you think! The library does not provide headphones or batteries.

According to the Playaway website:

Playaway is the only format that makes audiobooks accessible for everyone—providing the portability of a digital audiobook with the grab-and-go convenience of a physical format. Unlike CDs, Audio Cassettes or downloads, Playaway does not need a separate player. Playaway comes preloaded and ready to use with High Definition Audio Content, earbuds, and a battery.

• Holds up to 60 hours of audio content
• Equipped with a universal jack; works with almost
  any type of headphone or mobile accessory
• 5 narration speeds; listen at your own pace
• Automatic bookmarking remembers where you stopped listening
• Lockable keypad for on-the-go usability
• Weighs only 2 ounces

Discovering Digital Media for Kids

As the checkout statistics prove, eBooks and eAudiobooks are overwhelmingly popular.  However, many people don't realize that we have a large selection of children's and young adult eBooks and eAudiobooks.  To get to any of the resources detailed below, look for the eBooks and eAudiobooks links on the library homepage.

eAudiobooks from One Click Digital
One Click Digital makes it possible to search by target audience, limiting search results by Beginning Reader (17 titles), Children's (347 titles), or Yound Adult (501 titles).  These titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to a device or you can use the new Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch apps to checkout and download to a mobile device.  The best thing about One Click Digital is that most titles can be checked out by multiple people at the same time, meaning there is never a waitlist!
Titles of note in One Click Digital are American Girl books, the Ranger's Apprentice series, the Sisters Grimm series, Meg Cabot books, titles from Anthony Horowitz, and student guides for many of Shakespeare's plays.

eBooks from Ebrary
Ebrary provides mostly non-fiction titles, with many academic sources and study guides available.  This resource is best suited for high school students and titles can be downloaded to a home computer or to an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.  Most of these resources can be checked out by multiple people at the same time.

eBooks and eAudiobooks from Overdrive
Overdrive provides both eBooks and eAudiobooks for children and young adults, though finding them is a little tricky.  The best way to access children's titles is to do an advanced search.  In the advanced search mode, using the subject dropdown menu, results can be restricted to Juvenile Fiction (2075 titles), Juvenile Literature (100 titles), Young Adult Fiction (1761 titles), Young Adult Literature (32 titles), and Young Adult Non-fiction (83 titles).  Also in the advanced search is the option to restrict results to particular award winners, including Caldecott and Newbury Medal and Honor books, Michael L. Printz Award and Honors books for teens, and several other children's and YA awards.  Overdrive titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to many devices or checked out and downloaded via an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.

Listening to Voices: Audiobook Recommendations

"Audiobook fans tend to be more adventurous because we can listen while we do something else."
~Joyce Saricks, "At Leisure: Unexpected Pleasures", Booklist magazine Vol. 107

I'm a little behind the times-June was Audiobook Month-but I thought I would share with you some audiobook recommendations I've gleaned from various resources, including staff favorites.

First, did you know that Katherine Kellgren won the Booklist Voice of Choice award? We have quite a few audiobooks narrated by Ms. Kellgren in the library catalog if you'd like to give her a listen.

Now, off to the races-I mean the recommendations! Some of these will be books on CD & some will be eAudio. downloadable from our Digital Library.


Fiction Recommendations

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee mysteries

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

The Last Girls by Lee Smith

Love You More by Lisa Gardner

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

David Sedaris (humorous stories)

Harry Potter series

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

Rick Yancey's Monstrumologist series

Agatha H. & the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio



Non-Fiction Recommendations

At Home by Bill Bryson
(all Bill Bryson audiobooks were recommended by Joyce Saricks, but this is is latest)

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman by Lisa Scottoline

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester

Hallelujah!  The Welcome Table by Maya Angelou

Also, did you know there are audiobooks produced locally by Siren Audio Studios? Visit their website to see a list of available titles-unfortunately you can't search by publisher in the catalog.

The Teaching Company

"A lot of people ask me what I’m reading and how I learn about new topics that interest me. I am fortunate to have time to read a lot and I also like to view courses online from MIT’s OpenCourseware, Academic Earth, and others. These courses have ignited a passion of mine, which is to think about how to harness this approach so students who otherwise wouldn’t have access can experience these great courses and learn from these great teachers. One of my favorite sources for great lectures is The Teaching Company. Most of their courses are available as audio downloads and on DVD. I had a chance to meet with The Teaching Company team, and the way they find the very best professors and best courseware is impressive and it shows in the overall quality of the teaching. "

~Bill Gates, from a post on his GatesNotes blog

We were delighted to find that Bill Gates is a fan of The Teaching Company materials, because so are we! You'll find many of The Teaching Company's materials in the library catalog, from Superstring Theory to the Life & Work of Mark Twain; Alexander the Great & the Hellenistic Age to the String Quartets of Beethoven; Nutrition Made Clear to Museum Masterpieces...explore them all! (You can also search under The Great Courses-some of these will be DVDs, some audiobooks.) Each disc usually contains several lectures of about 30 minutes each taught by university professors from around the United States. The Teaching Company materials are geared towards lifetime learners, but may be helpful or of interest to teenagers as well.