"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

YA Audiobook Challenge wrap-up


At the beginning of 2013 I joined the YA Audiobook Challenge hosted by  book and a latte.com. I like to listen to books-on-CD so thought this challenge would be a good fit. Part of the challenge was to also complete a review of the audiobook. How did I do? I listened to 26 YA audiobooks, my goal was 24, and wrote reviews for all but three of the them. Not bad. I was pretty terrible about posting those reviews over at my host's site, however.

Below is the list of YA audiobooks with hyperlinks that I listened to in 2013. The highlighted books were my top books based not only on the storyline but also on the work of the voice actor who read the book.
  1. Dodger by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
  2. The Girl Who Fell Below Fairyland and Led the Revel There by Catherynne Valente, read by the author
  3. Railsea by China Mieville, read by Jonathan Cowley
  4. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, read by David Kelly
  5. Impossible Rescue by Martin Sandler, read by Malcolm Hillgartner
  6. The First Test by Tamora Pierce, read by Bernadette Dunn
  7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, read by Kate Rudd
  8. Dead to You by Lisa McMann, read by Aaron Tveidt
  9. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, read by Rebecca Lowman and Sunil Malhotra
  10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, read by Tim Burton
  11. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, read by Ari Fliakos
  12. Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh, read by Paul Michael Garcia
  13. The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr, read by the author
  14. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, read by Kevin T. Collins
  15. Etiquette and Espionage, Finishing School, Book the First by Gail Carriger, read by Moira Quirk
  16. The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd, read by Lucy Raynor
  17. What We Saw at Night by Jacqueline Mitchard, read by Rebecca Gibel
  18. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, read by Barrett Whitener
  19. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan, read by Nick Chamian and Jesse Bernstein
  20. Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, read by Katherine Kellgren
  21. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, read by Brandon Espinoza and Phoebe Strohl
  22. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, read by Carolyn McCormick
  23. Far Far Away by Tom McNeal, read by W. Morgan Sheppard
  24. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin
  25. The Lord of Opium by Nancy Farmer, read by Raul Esparza
  26. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton
I really enjoy reading books in this format and can recommend just about all these books without a moment of hesitation.


4 comments:

  1. I am always impressed with people who can do audio books well; I am such a visual learner that I find them a bit difficult to follow. I do so much driving down to Westlake, an hour away, that I really should get on the audio book bandwagon!

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  2. Nice list. But is Confederacy of Dunces really a young adult book? I read it long ago and thought it was more adult hmm. but perhaps younger readers could read it too. cheers.

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    1. Correct. A Confederacy of Dunces wasn't written as a YA book but it has cross-over appeal for teens, as does Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore. If COD were published this year it would likely win an Alex Award, in addition to all its other accolades.

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  3. Thanks for participating in the 2013 YAAC, Anne! Your list is impressive. I loved The Dream Thieves as well. I hope you join us for this year's challenge as well, sign ups are finally open: http://bookandlatte.com/ya-audiobook-challenge.

    ~ Jen @ A Book and a Latte - Sign up for the 2014 YA Audiobook Challenge!

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