We have become audio book junkies. We always had a small habit but now it's a huge habit. It partly stems from the fact that sometime last fall, I got thoroughly sick of reading out loud to the kids. I don't know what the problem was but I just couldn't do it anymore. I had been doing it daily, on average probably 1-2 hours daily, for over 9 years and all of a sudden, I just had enough.
And so now, we have audio books. Amelia also reads by herself. Roo reads to Hugo in the evenings for a bit. And I only read to myself. Heaven.
Here are just a few of the audio books (all unabridged) making themselves heard around here:
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
I hated the guy reading this book. He maintains almost the same monotonous rhythm throughout. He almost put me to sleep. Hugo missed large parts of the plot, and I'm sure it was because of the dull reading. Good story though.
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne.
This was a brilliant reading by Jim Dale. We all loved it and listened to it 3 times.
Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson
Kids enjoyed this story. Harriet is new to us so we didn't have any expectations based on the original books.
The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh
I tuned out for most of this one. I think the kids didn't like it as much as Harriet Spies Again.
Dead Man's Mirror by Agatha Christie
The kids' first taste of the great Hercule Poirot. Amelia loved it. Hugo was bored.
The Boxcar Children
This was a hit. I need to find more of these audiobooks.
Peter Pan (OK, I lied - they weren't all unabridged) by J.M. Barrie
None of us knew this story and we all enjoyed it. A good production.
And we are currently 2 hours into:
The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Murder, mayhem and mummies - with romance and laughter thrown in. I have loved these books for years and I'm so glad Amelia is old enough to begin to appreciate them. If you get this, make sure you're getting the reading by Barbara Rosenblat, who is British and does a brilliant job. There are other version read by a yank and those are not good at all. Amelia Peabody is very British. (and yes, my Amelia's blog name comes from this Amelia)
4 comments:
Yes! to readings by Barbara Rosenblat. Her range of voices is amazing -- I don't know how the good readers remember how each character sounds, but I'm glad that they do. I'm always in awe of how she skips back and forth between Amelia and Emerson, and Ramses and Nefret.
Hornblower,
I can't remember if I've written previously. If not, I'm delighted to have found this blog!
Our audio book fixation has grown recently too, after discovering all the lovely offerings -- many of them from Naxos, especially Naxos Junior Classics -- through interlibrary loan.
We started off with Jim Weiss and the Story of the World cd's, and took off from there. I'm delighted, because after several hours of reading aloud a day, I'm done, but the kids are ready for more. They play while listening, and my 7.5yod likes to fall asleep while listening. And since we live out in the country on a farm, we spend a fair amount of time in the truck, and having audiobooks along is terrific.
Right now we're listening to Naxos' "History of Classical Music" on 4 cd's and Dame Edna Everage narrating Peter and the Wolf -- lovely, possums!
Hi,
I just read your comments about audio books. Where did you get them? Are you finding them at the library, online, or buying them. We live on Vancouver Island and have a very low budget. I would like to get/borrow some good books for my kids to listen to.
Hi Zerena,
I'm getting almost all of them through the library system. All the libraries in the Lower Mainland are linked now & with one card I can borrow from any library, & return the item to any library. I can also have items brought over for free.
Some items I buy. I finally broke down to buy the Harry Potter from the UK. Stephen Fry reads them; Jim Dale is good but I love Stephen Fry.
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