Audiobook Epiphany

Recently, my cousin let me in on her Audible account. I was pretty damned skeptical about audiobooks. I enjoy reading. I am not a book snob in the sense that e-readers are an abomination. I don’t care how you read, just that you do READ. I love books and I have a room in my house that I have dubbed ‘the library’ because I’m not a formal dining room sort of girl. I hit up the real library frequently. Bear and I want to work together to put a Little Library in our community. That being said, I love the convenience of an e-reader. I never have to flip through to find my spot. I turn on my Kindle and there I am. My story is always ready where I left off. For some reason though, audiobooks just seemed so wrong.

 

I am a big girl. I am not too good to not admit when I am wrong. I was wrong. Audiobooks are amazing! No longer am I missing out on mundane boring housework while I am entertained by being lost in a good story. No longer am I stuck behind the wheel of the car longing to be reading. I am now able to listen to the books that I have been missing out because I have Very Important Things To Do.

 

I listened to the Lunar Chronicles this summer. I am a total sucker for an original take on classic fairy tales. This was a perfect balance of Young Adult dystopian world building, cyberpunk fantasy, and awesome fairy tale nods. It had strong capable female leads and powerful, believable male counter-parts. Even Bear enjoyed listening to this with me.

 

I am currently into the Dark Hunter series. Ugh. This is a long, long series…. I think there are over 20 books total in it so far. I don’t know if I have what it takes to listen or even read them all. But I will go until Acheron which I believe is book 15ish. I’m almost there. One of the reasons I don’t get into long series is because after a while I just don’t see how so much can happen to the same person/group. There are a few parallels to the Black Dagger Brotherhood with the Dark Hunter series. I am not sure which one came first. I read BDB first a few years ago and dropped it around book 12….. maybe. I was finding it to become tedious. I’m finding the Dark Hunter series is a bit more palatable. There is a few tedious parts, but it is nice that though all the stories connect to each other there are very real divides in the groups of creatures that it makes the story overall more believable than BDB.

 

After reading (or listening) to a certain author long enough I find their writing style to become distracting. It doesn’t matter how much I like them. I just find little phrases, words, or behaviors they tend to use too much. I don’t know if it is how I read that makes these nuances stick out like a sore thumb to me, or if it is the writer in me. When I find an author I like I tend to read their entire published works as fast as I possibly can. I will check out all their books at once at the library. I will buy what I can afford in my budget. I will scour the internet to find reading order. I have to read every last word. Only…. at some point I will start seeing the same phrases and words. Suddenly I’m only seeing those and not seeing the plot.

 

Once I find the flaws in a beloved author it becomes distracting and the reading become tedious. If I have to hear “a droll look” one more blasted time in the Dark Hunter series I may tear out my hair. I had to skip over *ahem* romance scenes in Jane Feather’s books because “shelf of his hands” was growing annoying. I stopped reading Mary Higgins Clark altogether because I knew her plot formula so well I knew the killer too early in the books. The Black Dagger Brotherhood, everyone started sounding the same with their inner voices. Please know, that I am not nit-picking on these authors. They are all wonderful and if you are into their respective genres please do read them. I aspire to be as good as they are. Flaws and all. I know that it is a far cry before I’m anywhere close to how good they are. I am very self-conscience in trying not to over-use words in my own writing.

 

Anyways, that being said, I’m in desperate need of finding a new series to listen to soon.