Happy Thursday, audiobook lovers,
Whatchyall listening to?
There are so many audiobooks I can’t wait to listen to but I just started Vox by Christina Dalcher and narrated by Julia Whelan (who, as far as I can tell, narrates at least half of all audiobooks everywhere). Y’all, it is SO GOOD (at least so far, as I write this, I’m about two hours into the 9 and a half hour book). Out next Tuesday, Vox is set in a not-too-distant future in the United States and will undoubtedly be compared to The Handmaid’s Tale. When the novel begins, it’s been one year since every woman and girl has had a counter locked around their wrist. The device monitors how many words are spoken throughout the course of the day. Each woman and girl are permitted no more than 100 words per day. If they speak too much and the counter goes past 100, they receive an electric shock. The shock gets stronger for every word spoken over the limit.
Prior to the restrictions, Jean McClellan was Dr. Jean McClellan, a neurolinguistic at the top of her field. When the President’s brother gets into a skiing accident, Dr. McClellan is in a position to help. But should she? Will she? And what might she ask for in return?
Sponsored by I Know You Know by Gilly MacMillan.
Gilly Macmillan digs in deep and gets right to the heart of her characters in this rich and engrossing novel. Vivid, smart, and propulsive, I KNOW YOU KNOW transported me to Bristol and held me captive through every twisting street and dark alley. A thoroughly immersive thriller of the first order.”
— Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Under My Skin
From Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew, comes this original, chilling and twisty mystery about two shocking murder cases twenty years apart, and the threads that bind them.
Performed by Steven Brand, Steve West, and Imogen Church.
Book Riot Discussions
As always, Book Riot is chock-full of excellent audiobooks posts, and I wanted to highlight two recent posts. Rioter Mary Kay McBrayer talks about the qualities that make a good audiobook narrator. She says “there’s something about a well-acted audiobook that makes the writing jump off the page and onto the screen in your mind’s eye. Not every book adapts well into the audio format, but when you have voice actors like these audiobooks do, well, the odds are much more in our favor.”
She outlines the three traits she believed are the most important for excellent audiobook narration: 1) reads slowly 2) reads emphatically 3) reads with a tone reflective of the narrative itself.
I think breaking down what makes a good audiobook narrator is super interesting. Because it’s all a balance right? Mary Kay is completely right that those are super important. Of course, reading too slowly, or too emphatically would be annoying.
So it’s the third that I think is the most interesting. “Reads with a tone reflective of the narration itself.” My mind is blown with how on-point this description is. For example, one of my all-time favorite audiobook, which I’ve droned on about endlessly in this newsletter is The Good House. The narration is so excellent because Mary Beth Phelan conveys Hildy Good’s attitude just through her voice. It positively drips with all the judgment and world-weary disdain for everyone from psychiatrists to members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
So what does reading with a tone not reflective of one the narrative itself sound like? In my opinion, it’s best exemplified of the things that irritates me so much about the way Jim Dale does Hermione’s voice in the (otherwise excellently narrated) Harry Potter books. It’s so breathy, it makes her sound like an airhead–-very un-Hermione like.
I’m curious what y’all think, newsletter readers. Do you think those three qualities are the most important when it comes to audiobook narration? If not, what do you think is more important and which audiobooks have had the best narrators? Let me know at katie@riotnewmedia.com or on twitter at msmacb.
And don’t forget to check out Mary Kay’s 10 best narrators here.
Another thought-provoking post that went up recently is from Rioter Margaret is Rioter Margaret Kingsbury How Audiobooks Helped Me Through My Postpartum Depression. In this moving post, Margaret talks about the depression that set in after the birth of her child. She says, “With the depression, my reading didn’t just decrease, it almost stopped altogether. In the month of Marian’s birth, I read three tiny books. The same goes for January. And February. In my mind, any moment not spent on Marian—even when she was sleeping—made me a bad mother. I felt overwhelming guilt over every moment to myself.” Once she got on the proper medication, Margaret started to feel better and realized she missed reading. But, she says, “at the time, Marian was resisting naps except when I took her on walks. Only then would she sleep. I also started working two days a week. So when and how to read?”
The solution? Audiobooks! Which got me thinking about the ways audiobooks have helped with my mental health.
You try getting this fabulous tub o lard to move quickly.
Personally, audiobooks help me have patience when I take my dog out. Sally, who is small and fat and lazy (see the picture of my beautiful angel on the left), likes walking but she is a SLOW WALKER. She will sniff every blade of grass before slowly moseying to the next one. It’s hard enough to get me out of the house because my work is inside and I always have more work to do.
So when Sally takes nine hours to walk half a block, it’s easy for me to get stressed and frustrated about all the work I could be doing. But if I have an audiobook? Those nine hours are a pleasure. A luxurious break from work, an escape into a totally different world. What could be better? It’s not just about being entertained either. The thing is, I need those walks as much as Sally does (though, to be fair, I won’t pee on the carpet if I don’t get one). When I let myself go on a long walk with Sally, I come back more refreshed, happier, calmer. As someone who struggles with depression, this is invaluable.
Read Margaret’s full post here.
So, if you’re willing to share, how do audiobooks help with your mental health? Let me know (again, at katie@riotnewmedia.com or twitter) and make sure to say if I have permission to use it in a future newsletter. If I get enough responses, I’ll put together a fun little thing about all the unexpected ways audiobooks boost our mental health.
Until next week,
~Katie