Romance Audiobooks discussion

Thought I'd post this after reading the awesome AAR/SOA interview with Anne Stuart and she mentioned her husband being an audiobook fan as well.

When my husband and I were getting adjusted to living together about 6 years ago, he'd get so frustrated with me if I were listening to an audiobook in the house. He'd start talking to me and get frustrated when I didn't understand what he was saying and went to pause audio. I'd get frustrated by him being frustrated (and sometimes because he was interrupting me during good part of new book). He didn't really understand how I could really get into listening to a book. He used to read but in the last 10 years he'd only get through about 5 - 10 pages before he was comatose.

I then started plotting on getting him hooked. At first he didn't even want an iPod. *insert eyeroll* I got him an iPod for Christmas one year and loaded him up on music. He's an HVAC technician and so is in the car a lot getting to and fro and is by himself a lot at customer's house installing new equipment, etc. He really enjoyed having his whole music library with him and got comfortable with his iPod.

Then, I plotted putting some audiobooks on his iPod to TRY. I put lots of different books so he'd have options. He likes fantasy, thriller, mystery types books so I tried to focus on those with GREAT narrators. I think one of the first he was hooked with was Furies of Calderon (Fantasy - read by Kate Reading). I didn't hook him until book 5 was already out so he was able to fly through that series.

After that I no longer had to work to get him to appreciate the desire to listen to an audiobook. He was totally loving getting back into books even though he wasn't reading them. He was finding the same thing we already know - getting stuck in traffic means more time with the book so, not such a big deal! The next challenge was finding more and more books to feed him.

When someone is first getting into audiobooks, the narrator is even MORE important. The slightest thing that is annoying prevents a book from being listenable. Since he enjoyed Jim Butcher, it wasn't so hard getting him going on Dresden Files.

Over time, books I tried to get him to listen to but he rejected because of narrator, he's enjoyed after re-trying. I think once someone is accustomed to listening to a book with a GREAT narrator, it gets easier to adjust to an OK narrator. We now know the joys of getting lost in a story and are used to listening to a book.

He hasn't changed his stand on romance or sex in the books - he's mostly not interested and too much and that's the end of that series for him.

Some of the series I've gotten him to listen to:

Jack Reacher by Lee Child
Virgil Flowers by John Sandford
Prey Series by John Sandford (example of books he initially rejected)
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews
Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson
Girl series by Stieg Larsson
Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris (he's stopped in this one - can't remember how far he got)
Kitty Norville by Carrie Vaughn
Elemental Assasin by Jennifer Estep
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Mitch Rapp by Vince Flynn

... and there are more.

We both can listen to audiobooks occasionally in the house and it's no big deal for us to get the other's attention and wait for book to be paused. Most of the time, we only have 1 earbud in if we're both home so we can hear the other. We discuss the books when we're done listening and it's like a private book club of 2. And the audiobook budget is viewed as joint entertainment fund. I can usually get like 2 audiobooks for cost of seeing 1 movie at the theater!

To quote Martha, "It's a good thing."

Thanks for the list of audiobooks that caught your husband's interest, Vic. I'll have to pimp some of them to the men in my family.

I completely agree with your comment about starting someone off with a great narrator to get them hooked on the audiobook experience. I read more books in a month than my closest brother has read in his entire life (and I'm pretty sure that isn't even an exaggeration). For some reason that drives me crazy so I finally gave him an old iPod of mine and loaded it with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. I figured an exiting storyline and Davina Porter's narration could capture anyone's attention and he could ignore the sexxoring. ;D Somewhat to my surprise, he loved it and has listened to the entire series at least twice.

I still hesitate to suggest some of my favorite series to him but have had good luck dealing him Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series, and Patricia Cornwell's books. I'm about ready to try some UF or Paranormal on him.

Richie's a sucker for Bill Bryson, plus he listens to mine. He also loves Carl Hiassen (SKINNY DIP would hook anyone).

My husband recently enjoyed the "Kitty" books I just bought off audible. He has a 20-30 minute commute so it's a good time for him to listen. Other than car rides, though, he generally prefers to sit and read quietly.

The cool thing for me is that Richie was never a reader. He's very creative, but a little ADD as many creatives are, and he never used to sit still to read. But now he reads on the treadmill, and it's opened a whole new world for him, which thrills me, since books are my life. We've been married for 36 years and I really love that he's loving books.