Audiobooks featured throughout June

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month!

If you’ve never listened to an audiobook, this is the month to try one out! June is the month to not only listen to audiobooks but also to tell others how cool they are. The Sweetwater County Library has a great selection of books on CD, playaways, and electronic audiobook services.

The term “audiobook” may be new to you, and if this is the case, don’t feel bad. You may know them as books on tape – as was their name when they were first popularized. Books on tape became popular in the 1970s and 80s, with the invention of the cassette tape, but audiobooks (in their most basic form) existed long before then. You could trace their beginnings back to Thomas Edison and the invention of the phonograph in 1877, but their less primitive form came in the 1930s when the American Foundation for the Blind partnered with the Library of Congress Books for the Adult Blind Program and developed the “Talking Books Program.” This program was designed with injured WWI veterans and blind adults in mind. Under this program, some of the first book recordings included the Bible, The Declaration of Independence, and a selection of William Shakespeare’s works.

Now you can find a much, much larger variety of literature on audiobook. The Sweetwater County Library works very hard to provide not only the most popular best-sellers but also a selection of classics and less well-known titles. If you are unable to find a title you’d like to listen to, please let your librarians know so they can find it for you!

Many people gravitate toward audiobooks due to the very nature of them – you only need to have ears to use them. You don’t need to look at any book pages when listening to an audiobook. This means that you can drive, walk, clean your house, bake a cake, or change your oil all while listening to a book. I, personally, love to listen to audiobooks in the car. They are absolutely essential for road trips.

I just recently returned from a road trip to Minnesota, and I was able to finish one and make some serious headway in another.

Audiobooks also have a great educational component. Kids, or adults, learning how to read for the first time, or learning a second language, might want to try listening to an audiobook while following along in the print version of the book. This method is a great way to both see how a word is spelled and to hear its correct pronunciation.

I listened to Harry Potter on audiobook. I hadn’t read the print version, so the audio version was my first glimpse into Harry’s world. It was amazing. If anyone has listened to Harry Potter on audio, you know what I’m talking about. The narrator’s name is Jim Dale, and he is simply fantastic. He holds a Guinness World Record for creating 134 different voices for each character in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” All in all, he’s voiced over 200 different characters throughout the Harry Potter series. That’s pretty amazing stuff!

The narrator can really make or break an audiobook. Generally, authors themselves don’t make great narrators (Neil Gaiman is an exception to that rule, in my opinion). Most books are voiced by actors – who can alter their voices and are trained to exude a variety of emotions. Look for these narrators when searching for your first audiobook: Jim Dale (of course), Alan Cumming, Jeremy Irons, Johanna Parker, or Simon Preble. Sometimes it’s just fun to check out an audiobook because you recognize the narrator.

Other than Harry Potter, here are a few of my favorite audiobooks: Running Like A Girl by Alexandra Heminsley, The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Remember, the Sweetwater County Library not only provides access to audiobooks on the shelves of the library but also to e-audiobooks on its virtual shelves through Hoopla and OneClick Digital. Find both of these services at sweetwaterlibraries.com.

Stop by the library and check out our audiobook selection, and soon you’ll be telling us about your own favorite titles and narrators!