How You Can Learn to Enjoy Audiobooks. And Where to Find Some for Free.
One way I enjoy a lazy weekend is to watch British TV. Every few months, I will subscribe to BritBox and Acorn TV to watch the new episodes of my favorite shows. Lately, however, I'm TV-ed out. I'm sure I'm at the end of Netflix. Nothing seems appealing. I can't watch any more baking shows or I will gain weight. So for now I'm in waiting mode for new seasons on my regular favorites.
Now that I have put down the TV remote, I can pick up more
books to read. I even joined a neighborhood
book club to push my reading out of my comfort zone.
It was interesting to learn that many women in this book club regularly choose to listen to
the audiobooks of our monthly selection. Unfortunately, audiobooks haven't been
much of a success for me. Three years ago, I tried listening to a couple of
titles while driving the car or making dinner. My failure may have resulted
from an uninteresting narrator or just the book itself.
After that experience, I decided that books are best enjoyed
and absorbed when read.
But this past July, when I was determining what to read next, I discovered a solution to my audiobook dilemma.
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| Photo by freestocks on Unsplash |
Agatha Christie
Like many who love mystery and suspense, I'm a fan of Agatha
Christie. I have watched the entire Hercule
Poirot series with David Suchet and the Amazon Prime Original movies of The
Pale Horse (2020), The ABC Murders (2019), Ordeal by Innocence (2018), and The
Witness for the Prosecution (2016). They are all excellent.
Yet, I have not read one Agatha Christie book.
Quite embarrassing, really.
Finding my audiobook solution happened when doing some Google
searching. I discovered many free Agatha Christie titles (and several other selected
books) on YouTube. How did I not know about this?
Looking at available titles, I was delighted to find many were
narrated by Hugh Fraser. He is the actor who portrayed Hercule Poirot's friend
Hastings on the PBS TV series. His accent and voice characterizations make each
book captivating.
The first audiobook I selected was "One, Two, Buckle My
Shoe," a Hercule Poirot mystery. This title was less than five and a half hours, so it did not seem intimidating or time-consuming. I began the book on a quiet evening when
it was just me, the dog, and a cross-stitch project (a craft I picked up again
to make designs for my handmade cards). Following along with the audio was effortless and relaxing as I stitched.
An hour went by, then two. It was delightful.
Book Narrators
Finding the right narrator makes a world of difference in
audiobooks, I discovered. It was lucky to find Hugh Fraser narrating many of
the Agatha Christie titles. Determining other enjoyable narrators may take
trial and error as I move on to other titles and genres. On her blog, Modern
Mrs. Darcy, Anne Bogel has many
posts about audiobooks and narrators if you are looking for direction
for your next audio read.
After ten Agatha Christie titles, my audiobook experiment has
been a success. (And I have a lot of cross-stitch finished for holiday cards!) I plan to listen to more Agatha Christie titles, but in the
meantime, I am exploring the Libby library app for other, shorter fiction books to keep
me going.
If you aren't into audiobooks, why not take on my experiment? Explore YouTube this week and see if any of your
favorite classics are available for a listen. Below I have added links to the audiobooks I've listened to. If you would like to save my entire playlist to your YouTube
account, click here à Favorite
Agatha Christie Audio Books - YouTube
The Miss Marple series:
The Thirteen Problems (narrated by Joan
Hickson, actress from the 80s TV series)
A Caribbean Mystery (narrated
by Roslyn Ayres)
At Bertram's Hotel (narrated by
Roslyn Leach)
Book narrated by David Suchet, lead actor of the Poirot TV
series, 1989-2013):
Poirot Investigates – Hercule Poirot,
#3
Books narrated by Hugh Fraser, actor on several episodes of
the Poirot TV series:
Cards on the Table –
Hercule Poirot, #15
Dumb Witness – Hercule Poirot, #17
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe – Hercule
Poirot, #23
Murder is Easy – Superintendent
Battle, #4
Stand Alone Mysteries, also narrated by Hugh Fraser:
The Unexpected Guest
Spider's Web
(These last two books are my favorites by far. With new characters, and a plot that twists and turns, both had different endings that I suspected. And that is the best part of a mystery – to find out in the end that "the butler did it," right?)
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I really like reading myself and honestly have not tried an audiobook. I will think about it though. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNeat idea! I have a very hard time with audiobooks. Same with podcasts sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI too love Agatha Christie -- I read almost all of her books before I graduated high school! I am not a fan of audiobooks -- I like having the book in my hands! Also, I zone out when it's only in audio and I miss things. My husband loves audiobooks though.
ReplyDeleteThat was me -- I would get distracted by something and miss a whole chapter! I still like a book in my hands, but this has helped.
DeleteShoot my first attempt at a comment seemed to go to comment heaven.
ReplyDeleteI'm an audio nut and love audio books! The narrator is sooo very important. Dull/monotone readers are not fun to listen to. I much prefer author read books which I find more of in non-fiction.
I am a late audio-book adopter and started enjoying them even more when I was driving from Bakerfield to Flagstaff over and over again to help caretake my mother after my father died last Spring. I even found I enjoy a different genre: copzy mysteries or better yet, cozy mysteries that involve a bookstore of some sort. :-) One of my theater friends is a narrator and I enjoy listening to her books a LOT but a not-so-great narrator can make or break a book and naturally, I have my own pet peeves. :-) Do you have a favorite specific genre, by the way?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog recommendation, too. I look forward to seeing what she has to say.