Saturday, April 27, 2013

Week 1, Assignment 4


I already use Goodreads and follow NPR Books pretty regularly, so I decided to add Salon into the mix. It looks like the reviews give you a little more insight into a book and its writer than a cover blurb can.

The genre links were so hard to choose from! I love the way Stop, You're Killing Me is organized (by job, location, and  historical period in addition to genre). I finally decided on Romance Times since that's a popular genre at North Point and I often feel out of my element when romance readers ask for recommendations. I like that they cover a mix of subgenres, including paranormal and young adult.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a great website or blog for audiobook reviews. Audiofile is okay, but they tend to review everything favorably, and some productions are better than others for sure.

5 comments:

steve said...

Anna,
You might try Just Audiobook Reviews at http://justaudiobookreviews.com/. Not a great number of reviews, but seem to be well thought out. The reviewer even states his/her criteria for reviewing, which are as follows:

As an audiobook reviewer, I have several key concerns when listening to an audiobook.

One: How well-suited for the given story is the narrator’s voice?

Two: Pacing–is the story read too quickly or too slowly?

Three: The narrator’s skill to perform the different voices in a distinctive and convincing way. For example, does the female character’s voice sound like a female when read by a male performer and vice-versa? If accents were called for, how well were they done?

Four: How easy or difficult is it for a listener to get engrossed in the story?

Hsaven't looked through it extensively, but thought you might like to take a peek.

Steve H.

steve said...

Also try Audiobook Heaven. Lots of reviews here of many genres, including nonfiction about things like Marvel comics heroes.

Steve H.

steve said...

http://www.audiobook-heaven.com/. Probably good to have the URL! Oops!

PaulaG said...

Sounds good, Anna! I'm your assignment-checker from the readers' services committee. I look forward to following your posts.

Libraryanna said...

Hi, Steve!

Thank you. I will definitely check those sites out. I always have to have at least a couple ready to recommend to our truck driver lady!