There have been numerous discussions about whether listening to books is the same as reading books. Although the process may be different, it seems to me that either way you are learning and gathering information. There have been some books that I have listened to that have blown me away and there are some that I wish I would have read instead. Book Riot recently published an article that listed some audio books that they would recommend. The following are audio book titles that I would recommend, because the narrators are amazing and really give life to the characters.

(I wrote a previous post about how I was trying to finish some book series that I had started. In attempting to complete the list, I found that I downloaded many audio books from Overdrive to help scale down the list—I currently have 180 books left to read out of more than 230).

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray is my top-rated audio book. The narrator does such a great job of giving voices to all the characters. There are times when I’m reading that I forget which character is which or don’t quite give the character the full attention they may deserve. This audio book helped me avoid doing that but it was also a genuinely amazing and funny book.

I’ve listened to the entire Lockwood & Co. series on audio, and it’s fabulous. The narrator does a great job of giving voices to the young characters without making them sound too young. This has been an issue for me in previous audio books: The narrator makes their voice whispery (it’s a word) and light, and it sounds nothing at all like any kid/teen/young adult I know, which makes the book unenjoyable. That is not the case in this series, and the books themselves are fun tales.

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox was great because of the accents. I know that seems like a silly reason, but there have been so many times where I’m reading a book and the character is Irish/Scottish/British and I cannot hear the accent in my head while I’m reading. This narration with the accents gave the book a life.

Do you have any audio book recommendations? What was your favorite?

-Abbey

Abbey is the Teen Librarian at the West End. She tends to read anything that someone hands her, but truly enjoys reading history and young adult novels.