Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Challenge 2024 discussion

Many of us are on the hunt to establish favorite narrators and even to find what books are now on audio.
Thank you to Kasia for the idea to have a place here in our group to discuss great audiobooks and narrators for Austenesque Lovers.

Feel free to announce new JAFF/Austenesque audiobook releases, favorite narrators or books on audio or audiobook giveaways here under the topic.

UPDATE: Thank you, Julieta for reminding me that we have the wonderful world of podcasts that are out there to add to our store of audiobook recs. Talk those up here as well.

Ooh, podcasts. Tell me more!

Always looking for JA audio opps..

Anji wrote: "Ooh, podcasts. Tell me more!"

I meant to drop this Feedspot directory of Austen podcasts here for you earlier, Anji. Sorry about that! There are oodles more on other podcast platforms, too.

https://podcasts.feedspot.com/jane_au...

The only one I've listened to is Ents & Sensibility, but have fun exploring. :)

Sophia wrote: "Anji wrote: "Ooh, podcasts. Tell me more!"

I meant to drop this Feedspot directory of Austen podcasts here for you earlier, Anji. Sorry about that! There are oodles more on other podcast platforms..."

Thanks, Sophia!

Just posted this on the AI thread but thought I’d do the “belt and braces” thing and post it here, too. It’s actually the total opposite of “Audiobook Awesomeness”.

“A word of warning to my fellow audiobook fans.

I’ve just seen a post in the Pride and Prejudice Variations Audiobook Group on Facebook. It was by Jeanna Ellsworth to say that she’s publishing her books on Audible using AI narration and that therefore they’re going to be free if you have any sort of membership or subscription. The only one with a living, breathing human performance is Pride and Persistence. The other eight (on Audible.com, thankfully not yet on Audible UK) are all by the phantom “Virtual Voice”.

The admins for the group have taken the post down extremely quickly as the group, quite rightly, does NOT support authors who use AI narration.”

I’m noticing a disturbing trend of this! I tried AI narration a few months ago on a hilarious JAFF novel and it was awful!

I haven’t tried lately. I’m a refusenik.

I listen to stories on the FF app using the AI narration sometimes. For the most part it sounds fine I think, and you can fiddle with the speech speed and the voice settings. There is the occasional mispronounced homonym and when the story uses the styling "Mr. Darcy" instead of "Mr Darcy" there are unnatural pauses because presumably the AI thought the period signalled a sentence ending.

I guess this is an unpopular opinion but sometimes I prefer a neutral AI narration to a human narrator who does a lot of theatrics and funny voices or breathy sounds and lisping or has an accent that is hard for me to decipher (I am an ESL speaker)

I just listened to a few minutes of Hope for Fitzwilliam. If I listened to audiobooks while doing something else, I wouldn't mind the neutral narration, though I prefer a human narrator. The narrator often brings a book to life for me. Perhaps I need to engage my imagination more when reading.

As the AI narrations are only available to Audible subscribers, some narrators are still getting paid.

As someone who uses a screen reader often, both for work and for personal reasons, I don't mind the AI narration, but it does take getting used to. For people with vision issues or dyslexia, it is an amazing technology.

I love listening to books while I work or do house chores.
Professional ABs are great, but I don't mind screen reading either.
I modified the voice to be an English, male baritone. and if you listen to it really fast, the story zips so I don't (much) miss the dramatization.

Popped in to give a shout out for my most recent completed audiobook. Far From The Tree: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Jeannie Peneaux. The author is a relatively recent discovery for me and is entirely due to the Pride and Prejudice Variation Audiobooks Facebook group. Her novella Dear Nameless Stranger: A Pride and Prejudice Variation was one of the Audiobooks of the Month last year which was an amazing listen. The narrator for Far From the Tree is different to the other and she is also a new one to me; Liz May Brice. She did a fantastic job! According to Audible UK, she’s only done one other Austenesque work, also written by Jeannie Peneux. That’s already gone on my Wish List.

I know a lot of folk here don’t listen to audiobooks or do social media but for those that do, please consider joining the Facebook group. The Tropes lists are an amazing resource if you’re looking for something different or outside your comfort zone even if you’re wanting to read with your eyes and not your ears. However, they’re only available to members of the group and we’re not allowed to share them elsewhere. We can vote for an Audiobook of the Month from a given trope if we want to join in the discussion of that book. We also have occasional author/narrator/character features. A lot of folk, myself included, post about what we’re currently listening to. Finally, as I’ve mentioned in my Challenge posts here, we have a year long Tropes Challenge going on. The admins have chosen 42 tropes from the tropes lists and we’re trying to tick off as many as we can during 2024. I’m nearly halfway right now.

One final comment. The group does not support AI or Virtual Voice narrated books, thank goodness.

Sophia wrote: "Anji wrote: "Ooh, podcasts. Tell me more!"

I meant to drop this Feedspot directory of Austen podcasts here for you earlier, Anji. Sorry about that! There are oodles more on other podcast platforms..."

Sophia wrote: "Anji wrote: "Ooh, podcasts. Tell me more!"

I meant to drop this Feedspot directory of Austen podcasts here for you earlier, Anji. Sorry about that! There are oodles more on other podcast platforms..."


I enjoy Manners & Madness and First impressions. Not on this list is Excessively Diverted - one of the hosts is Beau North, author of Longbourn's Songbird, they comment on modern film adaptations of classic novels including Jane Austen. Another not on the list is Hot & Bothered, one of their seasons was called Live from Pemberley and each episode of that season had the host discuss and few chapters of the book and usually had an interview with an expert on some topic.