Audiobooks with Don

During the Fall months my husband Don and I spend a lot of time together driving up and down the freeway to attend football games in Eugene, Oregon (Go Ducks!). The trip takes four to five hours each way -- depending on traffic -- so we have ample time to immerse ourselves in a good audiobook (or two) per weekend trip.

I really enjoy listening to books with Don and the deep sense of camaraderie we experience doing something together that we both enjoy. Often, we will pause the book for a few minutes to discuss the plot or a new thought or learning spurred by the story. Other times we find ourselves laughing together over a joke or clever turn of phrase. We question each other over points we find confusing and we may need to backup a few minutes to relisten to the narration again with a keener focus so we can continue on. After the end of each book we spend time discussing what we liked or didn't like and often will assign our individual ratings on a 5-point scale.

Before each trip I make sure to have several options downloaded for our listening experience. Sometimes we will listen to five minutes or so of each audiobook before Don makes his selection. I'm good with any of the options and usually will listen to the others not selected on my own time. I'm just happy he is willing to join me in my book obsession for a few hours. Don's favorites are narrative nonfiction, historical fiction, or mystery/thrillers. He appreciates books which give him new perspectives. Of our last five books, four were from the perspectives other than his own: Black lives in the U.S., Native American life on the reservation, women's rights (or lack thereof) during the 16th Century, and the story of an immigrant woman from the Dominican Republic. 

Each week I hope to review at least one of the audiobooks that Don and I have listened to together. So far we have finished three and are on our fourth audiobook -- and we've only made the trip to two home games this month. They are:

• Isola by Allegra Goodman (Historical fiction based on a real person)
• There's Always this Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib (Narrative nonfiction. Essays and poems about basketball and life as a Black man.)
• How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz (An immigrant from D.R. tells her story to a career counselor.)
• Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden. (A Mystery set on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.) [Currently listening.]

Watch for my reviews of these books in the next few weeks.

If you'd like to start listening to audiobooks with your spouse/partner, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

1. Beware of male narrators who drop their voices when speaking quietly on the audiobooks. Their voices will get lost with all the road noise. I'm not sure if it is just male voices (lower register) which have this problem but if you find yourself adjusting the volume up and down several times, perhaps that is not the best book for a road trip.
2. Let the pickiest person select the book, at least in the beginning. My husband has figured out he really doesn't like long fantasy-type books in the audio format. He is also very aware of repeated phrases or too many cliches ("lazy writing" in his opinion) and gets irritated by them. I don't want to torture him by insisting we continue with these books when other options are available.
3. Some narrators are better than others. If you get an hour or so into the audiobook and you are still irritated by the narrator. Stop and pick one of the other options to try. It doesn't mean that the book is bad, it is just a bad fit for you in that format. Once you find a narrator you really like, check out other audiobooks they've read.  Here is a list of ten of my favorite audiobook narrators.
4. Get your audiobooks from your public library whenever possible. Your library will tell you what format they use for their audiobooks and you'll need to download that app, but once you do everything should be seamless. My libraries (I use three) all use the LIBBY app, but I've also used Overdrive. Place holds on books which aren't readily available. Usually you will have three weeks before the due date once you check them out and you don't even need to leave home to do it. I always keep my eyes on due dates because I don't want to be in the middle of a good book and have it suddenly disappear off my device.
5. Here are a few of Don's and my favorites: (Books marked with * have a high quality production.)
1. *Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, read by Ray Porter
2. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, read my Stephen Fry
3. *James by Percival Everett, read by Dominic Hoffman
4. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, read by the author
5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, read by David Colacci
6. *Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, read by 160+ narrators
7. *How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz, read by Kimberly Wetherell and Rossmery Almonte
8. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, read by Edward Herrmann
9. The Soul of America by Jon Meacham, read by Fred Sanders and Jon Meacham
10.  Anything by and read by authors Bill Bryson or David McCullough.

-Anne (& Don)