Audiobooks

Road trips have to be one of the best things about summer. One way to make your road trip even better is to listen to books on CD through your car's stereo system, or if not everyone is interested, you can listen to a book on your iPod. Timberline has a lot of books on CD. We also have a few on Playaways. Most of our selection focuses on our most popular fictional novels, but we have some classics, informational, and even audiobooks to help you learn another language.

My family recently took a trip to Seattle, which is 14 hours of driving each way. The time actually flew by because we were engrossed in listening to Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Of course, you need a great story with an interesting plot and sympathetic characters, however with an audiobook there is an added dimension. The reader must be able to do different voices and make you want to listen to them read an entire novel. I've often found that bad narrators turn me off to the story.

On the other hand a wonderful reader adds new dimension to a story you may already know. Many people have read Harry Potter, but have you listened to the stories on CD? Those who have listened to them rave about the reader Jim Dale. His voice seems perfect for J.K.Rowling's tales, and since he is English he can do all the interesting British accents.

Each year a selected committee chooses the best audiobooks produced for children and/or young adults called the Odyssey Awards. This year the winner was a book more for elementary children, but the runner-up is In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber, written by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren and produced by Listen & Live Audio. The name may be a little long, but you know a pirate story will be filled with adventure.

So do you have a road trip planned this summer? It may be time to find that perfect audiobook so that the miles will quickly roll by.