Category: Audiobooks

Audiobook Review: To All the Boys I Loved Before (Book #1) by Jenny Han, narrated by Laura Knight Keating

Saturday Nite Reader29 Comments

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Published: April 16, 2014 by Recorded Books, Inc.
Narrated by: Laura Knight Keating
Length: 8 hours 22 minutes
Category: Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age
Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award Nominee for Young Adults (2016), Lincoln Award Nominee (2018), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2014)

Author Jenny Han is brilliant! She delivered a story reminiscent of Pretty in Pink. She’s the modern day John Hughes.

What a delight: a great read/listen for all ages. It made me want to relive my high school days and that is no small feat. Who wants to be a teenager again? Certainly not me; no way, no how. I don’t even want to remember the teenager I was – I like myself much more now – BUT, this book brought me back to that time and I can feel the butterflies in my stomach for youthful crushes as if it were yesterday. I found myself thinking who my fifteen year-old self would write letters to, and what I would have said. It would probably look a little like this: Read More »

Audiobook Review: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, narrated by Julia Whelan

Saturday Nite Reader17 Comments

img_1848Overall Story:

2_DiscoBalls

2 disco balls

Narration:

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Published: July 10, 2018 by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Length: 7 hours 14 minutes
Category: Literary Fiction, Contemporary

What did I just listen to? If it weren’t for narrator Julia Whelan I probably would have canned this one. (She was brilliant!) Well actually who am I kidding, no I wouldn’t. It was a book club pick and I don’t like showing up to book club unprepared so I would have suffered reading this one (thank goodness it was an audio instead).Read More »

Audiobook Review: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, narrated by Ann Richardson

Saturday Nite Reader11 Comments


Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin
Narrator: Ann Richardson
Length: 8 hours and 11 minutes
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Released: Dec. 8, 2017
Genre: Classics

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm has delighted readers for over 100 years. Published in 1903, when girls were inevitably depicted as pretty, gentle and proper, Rebecca Rowena Randall burst onto the scene of children’s literature. Sent to live with her prim and proper Aunt Miranda, who is expecting her much more demure sister, Rebecca is a “bird of a very different feather”. She has “a small, plain face illuminated by a pair of eyes carrying such messages, such suggestions, such hints of sleeping power and insight, that one never tired of looking into their shining depths….” To her Aunt Miranda’s continual dismay, Rebecca is exuberant, irrepressible, and spirited – not at all “proper” or “demure”. She wins over her aunt soon enough, and the whole town, and thousands of readers and listeners everywhere.

In 1904, author Jack London wrote Kate Douglas Wiggin: “May I thank you for Rebecca?…. I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday…. Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn’t it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?” And Mark Twain called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm “beautiful and warm and satisfying”. This recording, narrated by Ann Richardson, whose sweet voice has a facility for accents and character voices, is a satisfying listening experience you’ll want to revisit. Upcoming from Post Hypnotic Press is a new annotated print/eBook edition of this book, with illustrations from the original publication and a new introduction, as well as a work-book for children.

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Audiobook Review: Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala

Saturday Nite Reader10 Comments

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Published: March 6, 2018 by HarperAudio
Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi & Julia Whelan
Length: 6 hours 21 minutes
Category: Literary Fiction, LGBT

I have been on an audiobook roll lately and hope to keep up the momentum. I am one who prefers to read an actual book, but likes to listen to audiobooks during my drives (or to make doing chores more bearable). There have been a few times where I felt that I had a better experience listening rather than reading and this here is one of them!

Narrator Prentice Onayemi starts the first part of this book and he was absolute perfection. I felt as though I was listening to Prentice – as Niru – tell me his story; as if I was grabbing coffee with him and we were engaged in a conversation. He made Niru real, lent a voice to his story and his family. My goodness was this story beautifully written: there is no doubt that author Iweala is extremely talented. 
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Audiobook Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Saturday Nite Reader19 Comments

4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Published: August 9, 2016 by HarperAudio
Narrator: Katie Schorr
Length: 11 hours, 29 minutes
Category: Women’s Fiction, Chick-lit, Romance
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance, 2016

I absolutely loved this audiobook. Narrator Katie Schorr was perfection. I couldn’t wait for my drive to and from the Path train in order to be able to continue listening to the back-and-forth banter between Lucy and Josh. It made folding laundry enjoyable too: and if you don’t know, I detest folding and putting away laundry. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl, but here I was doing multiple loads because I needed to keep the story going.Read More »

Audiobook Review: Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

Saturday Nite Reader14 Comments

3_DiscoBalls

3 disco balls

Published: June 5, 2018 by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing
Narrator: Phoebe Strole (whom I just discovered was Penny on Glee)
Length: 8 hours, 46 minutes
Category: Young Adult, Supernatural, Mystery, Thriller

Plot:  2.5 disco balls
Narrator:  4 disco balls

I recently downloaded Penguin Random House’s Volumes app on my iPhone and registered as an audiobook reviewer. I like to listen to at least 1 – 2 audiobooks a month during my short drive to the Path train, and especially while doing laundry. I hate folding laundry but audiobooks somehow make it more doable. But I digress.

My first audiobook through this program was Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl, which my friend recently read and recommended. I am not sure if I would have had a different experience with the story had I chose to read it versus listen to it; there was too much going on. I found myself losing interest and it was almost a DNF had I not wanted to figure out what the heck was going on.

I will preface my review with: I typically do not read supernatural and found myself feeling the story was a bit farfetched, but still with a rather interesting concept so I was intrigued. I know I need to make up my mind.Read More »

Audiobook Review: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Saturday Nite Reader25 Comments

Yes, an audiobook you can sink your ears into – since teeth obviously do not make sense.

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Published: November 15, 2016 by Audible Studios
Audiobook runs 8 hours 50 minutes, narrated by Trevor Noah himself (love that accent!)
Category: Memoir, Autobiography, Nonfiction,  Coming of Age

#8 Most Read on Amazon Charts
Highest-rated new book of 2016 by Audible customers
Winner: Audible’s Best of 2016 – Celebrity Memoirs

I prefer reading books versus listening, but do enjoy an audiobook while driving or doing chores. But, for an audiobook to keep my attention the narrator has to be on point. To me, this book is better as an audiobook since the author is the one reading his story. Trevor Noah knows how he wants his story to come across, and delivers his message with a tone and authenticity that makes it hard to push pause…plus, hello that accent – swoon!Read More »

Audiobook Review: My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich

Saturday Nite Reader15 Comments

4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Publish date: April 12, 2016 by Simon & Schuster
Audiobook by Tantor Media, 7 hours 29 minutes, narrator Angela Brazil
Category: Fiction

Looking for a quick, lighthearted audiobook just in time for your weekend drives to the beach?

While I certainly don’t wish for anyone to get stuck in beach traffic, it may be inevitable…so get your audiobooks ready!

My Mrs. Brown, by William Norwich, was a charming story of a hardworking, simple woman who comes across an Oscar de la Renta dress and is determined to buy one of her own. She wants to work for it, earn it: it/this is very important to her.

The people in her life do not understand how this one frivolous, extravagant purchase could be so important, but support Emilia Brown in her quest to save for it. When you finally find out the reason you will not be able to hold back the tears. Read More »

Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Saturday Nite Reader41 Comments

I’ve never had an experience with a book the way I did with ‘A Little Life’. Ever. I will never forget how I felt reading it. The characters will stay with me. Oh how they’ll stay with me.

“And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.”
– Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

5_DiscoBalls

5 disco balls

Publish Date: March 10, 2015 by Doubleday, reprint January 26, 2016 by Anchor
The audiobook on Amazon is only $4.95. The narrator Oliver Wyman beautifully brings the characters to life.
Category: Literary Fiction, Contemporary

This book has become one of my top books of all time. It is not an easy read. It is heartbreaking, it’s a gut punch, it steam rolls right over your heart over and over and over. Cue the ugly cries and heavy emotions. It knocks the wind right out of you. Read More »

Review Swap with Megan @ Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest

Saturday Nite Reader13 Comments

Meet Megan from Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest blog. She’s taking over Saturday Nite Reader today while I take over Ginger Mom and the Kindle Quest!

We chose to swap reviews of our current favorite reads of 2018 (so far). Enjoy!

Before we start, get to know a bit about Megan:

ginger-momsMegan is a 30-something (like me…age ain’t nothing but a #!) Christian author-in-training who is married to her very own Prince Charming and mama to two spunky, adorable, fun-loving, hyper, hilarious, strangely frustrating, beautiful kids who regularly keep her on her toes. Megan (again, like me!) is a #coffeeaddict and a lover of good chocolate. You can usually find her either chasing her kidlets or with her nose buried in a good book, trying to shrink her Tardis-sized TBR pile.

IMG_20180313_005945_048000.pngRead More »

Audiobook Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Saturday Nite Reader21 Comments

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4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Published: August 16, 2011 by Random House Audio
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BOTM $9.99 add on
Category: Science Fiction, YA, Fantasy, Dystopia
Prometheus Award for Best Novel (2012), ALA Alex Award (2012), Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work (2016)

Eureka! I finally found one: an audiobook that I loved. I mean what 80’s baby wouldn’t appreciate an audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton loaded with 80’s pop culture references to boot? Fun Fact: my favorite Wil Wheaton movie is Toy Soldiers.

I will admit that when I first read the synopsis of this book I didn’t think it was my jam. My best friend convinced me otherwise and boy was she right! I loved it! Like really loved it. I am not sure if I would have felt the same way reading the book versus listening; I think since I enjoyed the narration that I was more engaged. Either way I now can’t wait for the movie coming out in March.Read More »