I have finally finished reading all of your entries in my June is Audiobooks Month giveaway contest. I love when we do these contests because I get to learn so much about my readers and their tastes and I always walk away with new suggested reading (or listening) material.
So many of you told me how listening to books on your iPod helps you get through your exercise routines. Like Diane P., the show-off, who says she listens on both her morning run and her evening walk. Lazy, that one. But I did love her comment that books “take me places where my feet can’t.” And for that reason, Diane is one of our four winners.
No surprise that there are lots of you out there who love to pass long car trips while listening to an audiobook. I heard from readers who said they listen to Sarah Addison Allen, Karen White, and Jill Conner Browne’s Sweet Potato Queens books while commuting; Jack Higgins, James Patterson, and Laura Hillenbrand on road trips; and Janet Evanovich, Harlan Coben, and Meg Cabot en route to the coast. It sounds like there is a lot of gas being wasted by those of us who get hooked on a story and keep driving around to find a good stopping point. By the way, if anyone is looking for Diane W., you can find her in the parking lot at her job listening to John Grisham novels.
Sharon F. is an artist who listens to Clive Cussler, Stuart Woods, Jim Butcher, John Sandford, Margaret Truman, Tess Gerristen, and Dick Francis while she paints in her studio. I picked her as another winner because I love the image of artists feeding off of one another’s creativity.
I heard several heartwarming stories about how audiobooks have helped those with health problems to pass the time while recovering from medical procedures and to while away trips to the hospital or stints at physical therapy. Joan G. is a perfect example of this and our third winner. When complications from glaucoma surgery limited her eyesight, her daughter suggested she try books on tape. With the help of a caring librarian, Joan selected some love stories, thrillers and classics to enjoy while lying on her bed propped up on fluffy pillows. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she found a new way to stay in the reading game.
Beth is the last of our four winners because her story made me laugh out loud. Her friend’s mom had a new car with a multi-disc changer. She loaded up the CD trays on a trip to visit the girls at college, but neglected to turn off shuffle. “It took a couple chapters to figure out why she thought the book wasn’t very good!”
Some heartfelt recommendations made me take note of books like Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, and Once Upon a Secret by Mimi Alford. It is no surprise that many of you loved The Help and the Harry Potter books on audio. They are fantastic and live up to the hype. Kathy C. says she has listened to Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at least half a dozen times. I may have to listen to that one (at least once) myself.
A special thanks to my friends at Macmillan Audio, Penguin Audio, and Harper Audio who all contributed prizing for this giveaway. The prizes are pretty amazing. Aside from copies of several of my books, the winners will get audios by writers as varied as John Sandford, Betty White, Clive Cussler, Lydia Netzer, Alex Berenson, and Beth Harbison.
Thanks for entering and congratulations to our winners. Happy reading and listening, y’all!
–MKA
Another recommendation for you would be the LADIES NO 1 DETECTIVE AGENCY series by Alexander McCall Smith. The reader is South African and has the most wonderful voice – I actually prefer listening to this series over reading the books which is not the norm for me. Usually I listen to books in the car only because I can’t read a book while driving! I loved meeting you at the luncheon in Decatur on June 19th and continue to hear enthusiastic comments from people who attended.