Month: May 2020

I decided to finally suck it up and listen to an audiobook for the first time. I know. It’s a shame that it took me this long to give in to the audiobook craze, but I’m stubborn so here we are. I’m a bit of a print snob and expected myself to hate audiobooks, so I simply ignored that they exist. As I dove more into the world of books online, it seemed that readers everywhere were hooked on audiobooks. So I downloaded audible to see if it’s worth the hype.

I want to focus on three main things in this post. First, I’ll be going over what I expected listening to an audiobook would be like and how much I expected to enjoy the experience. Second, I’ll cover how I feel about audiobooks now. Last, I’ll be giving my thoughts about the Audible platform specifically and whether I think it’s worth a try.

1. My Audiobook Expectations

I’m going to be frank. My expectations for this were low. I’m a hoe for a good print book, and I really didn’t expect to feel satisfied by audiobooks. Auditory learning is not my strong suit, so I really expected that I would have a more difficult time processing the more minute details of the book and lose some of the complexity along the way. I was also concerned about audiobook length. Have ya’ll ever looked at the total length of the average audiobook? The average is around 10 hours long. Others are over 24 hours of listening time. I assumed that I would be extremely annoyed with the amount of time required to listen to the entirety of each book. On a lighter note, multiple friends stressed just how important a great narrator is to the audiobook experience, so I was looking forward to finding a really well-narrated book to listen to.

2. Actual Thoughts on Audiobooks

I chose two different books to listen to for my Audible trial. The first was Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I’m a huge fan of Trevor Noah and have been meaning to read this book in print for a really long time. After finding out that Trevor Noah narrates his own book and hearing rave reviews from friends I figured it would be the perfect choice to dip my toes in the audiobook world. It’s a fairly short comedic autobiography with a total listening time of 8h 44m. The second book that I chose was an audible original that was available for free this month called How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe. This short fantasy had a total listening time of 5h 28m.

I have three main takeaways from listening to these two books.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed actually listening to the text of each book read aloud as they were supposed to be read. There are so many moments, especially in fantasy, when it’s unclear how a word/words should be pronounced. And while I’m a firm believer that imagining the characters and settings while reading is one of the best parts of the book, understanding the author’s intentions with words from other languages or even the tune of a written-out song can seriously increase the overall reading experience!
Listening to books while I was working gives me mixed feelings. I did most of my listening while completing other tasks. Some home-related others work-related. Unlike with a print book, I felt too restless simply sitting on my couch and listening, so I had to keep myself occupied with other things simultaneously. On one hand, it was super great to be able to listen to books while I was at work. I usually spend my work hours listening to music and podcasts and often wish I had more hours that I could dedicate to reading. It was super awesome to be able to continue reading at work especially once I got to the last chapter of Born a Crime #iykyk. On the other hand, trying to work and listen to books at the same time was a challenge for me. If I focused too much on the book, I ended up making careless mistakes in my work tasks. Other times I would be focusing heavily on work and forget I was listening to a book in the first place.
Last, listening to an audiobook doesn’t feel quite as special as sitting down with a physical copy. I love the feeling of being so engrossed with a book that the world around me disappears and I didn’t feel like I could do that with an audiobook. Again, feelings of restlessness kept me from focusing solely on the audiobook. Overall they felt too passive when compared with reading a print book.

3. My Thoughts on Audible

I think Audible is a great deal if you really enjoy listening to your books. The monthly rate after the free trial is only $14.95 and includes one book credit and free access to a select number of Audible Original books. So so many of the books that you can choose will cost you way more than $14.95 in the bookstore, so you’re saving money. Plus, I was super excited to find out that books you buy are yours forever even if you cancel the membership. I was under the impression that this was structured like a library service, so this was a huge deal. I probably won’t keep my subscription, but I will be able to listen to Born A Crime or any Originals I’ve selected at any time in the future which is awesome!

Let’s talk about Audible Originals. Audible Originals are audiobooks that were written and recorded just for the Audible platform. Think Netflix original tv shows, but the audiobook version. I was super stoked to try these out in the beginning because a friend recommended an original that she really loved. I quickly found out that you can’t choose from just any audible original as your “free” choice. It has to be from a select number of “free” titles for that month, and they seem to rotate. This was a bit annoying if you’re paying for the service every month, but would be good for getting out of your comfort zone in terms of genre. The Audible Original title I ended up listening to (How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps) turned out to be in the Literary RPG genre. I definitely wouldn’t have picked that for myself, but it was nice to try out something new. Another thing I noticed is that most Audible Originals books (or at least the ones available for free with membership this month) were shorter than average. How to Defeat a Demon King was under six hours of listening time, and I wish they had longer options available in their original content.

Let me know in the comments how you feel about audiobooks/audible and if you have any favorites! I’m always open to good recommendations!

If you want to hear my specific thoughts on the two audiobooks I listened to, keep an eye out for my May Reading Wrap Up in a few weeks!

Follow along with all of the different books I’m reading, or hoping to read, by checking out my Goodreads page!

Much Love,

Taylor

April 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

By Taylor

On May 1, 2020

In Monthly Wrap-Ups

It’s May 1st, so that means it’s time for my FIRST EVER monthly wrap up. I can’t wait to share all of my April reads with y’all. There are definitely a few old loves, and possibly a new love? Before I get into how I felt about each read, I want to preface this by saying that these are NOT full reviews (don’t worry, those are coming eventually)! What you can expect to learn about is: how much I read this month, what I rated each book that I read, my feelings on each one, and which was my favorite book I read during April.

I made it through five books for April. I read literally zero books in March so I’m SUPER proud of myself for making it through so many this month! You can check out my last post for tips I used to help myself enjoy reading more this month!

Since this is my first wrap-up I’m going to start with an overview of how my rating system works:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟: Five stars is God tier. A book that gets five stars is perfect in every possible way, and I’m obsessed enough that I would literally lay down my life for an inanimate object. These are the books that you try to pester your friends into reading so much that they get annoyed with you.

🌟🌟🌟🌟: Four stars is a really great book. I enjoyed it a ton, and may potentially re-read it later. If it’s in a series, I’ll definitely be reading the remaining books ASAP and would recommend them to anyone!

🌟🌟🌟: Three stars is the sign of a pretty good book. I enjoyed reading it, but was it super profound? Probably not. I’d still recommend this book to other people.

🌟🌟: Two stars means that this book was just “meh”. It didn’t wow me, but it didn’t completely suck. I probably wouldn’t recommend this book to a friend unless I knew that it fit their reading preferences.

🌟: One star means that I really didn’t enjoy this book, but I didn’t hate it enough to stop reading. I wouldn’t recommend this book to a friend.

DNF: I did not finish this book, and have decided that I never want to finish this book. This could be from lack of interest or because I found it to be really problematic and didn’t want to feel the misery of continuing. I rarely choose to not finish a book, so I’ll always give a reason why. Also, just because I didn’t enjoy a book enough to finish it doesn’t mean that it can’t be your next favorite read!

Total Pages Read: 1845

Average Rating: 3.4 stars

April Favorite: 🌟Caraval by Stephanie Garber 🌟

The Lightning Thief/The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan: 🌟 🌟🌟 (5 stars for nostalgia though)

If you haven’t heard of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, you should definitely pick up the first book (The Lightning Thief) as soon as you possibly can. They’re great middle-grade reads and definitely one of the foundational series of my childhood. The books focus on the titular character, Percy Jackson. Percy has had a rough childhood. He’s dyslexic, has ADHD, and gets expelled from every school he attends. It turns out that all of these things are because he’s a demi-god (half-human half-god). He learns there’s a summer camp for demi-gods (Camp Half-Blood). Here he makes new friends and enemies. Hi-jinks and dangerous quests ensue. I don’t often re-read books, but I’ve been feeling really nostalgic during quarantine so I decided to make my way through this series again.

I want to address three main things about these books:

I grouped these together because they’re brief books and I don’t have a ton to say about either of them individually. Plus, they’re in the same series and it felt the most natural to talk about them together!
My rating. Let’s chat about it. I’ve rated both of them three stars. I honestly shocked myself with this decision. Percy Jackson and the Olympians books is one of my favorite books series OF ALL TIME. Based purely on nostalgia and knowing how obsessed I was the first time I read the book series in middle school, they’re five stars. But reading them again as a 23-yr old, it’s gotta be three stars. Reading the books you can definitely tell that the characters are 12 years old. Also, the pace of the books is VERY quick. They aren’t super long reads, but there are so many events packed into it that each scene doesn’t get as much development as I like now that I’m older. But, again, very suitable for a younger audience. Regardless. I love the characters. I love mythology. I love these books, and I will be re-reading the rest of the series (and probably the Heroes of Olympus series) ASAP.
If you don’t follow Rick Riordan on twitter, do so immediately. The man is super funny and loves engaging with his readers ESPECIALLY about half-blood related topics. (@rickriordan)

Circe by Madeline Miller: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Circe kept coming across my Goodreads suggested books for at least a year before I decided to pick it up. I am so glad that I did. If my love for Percy Jackson didn’t make it apparent enough that I love all things mythology, I love all things mythology.

Madeline Miller does a terrific job weaving the tales of the witch/goddess Circe. Circe is often depicted as a self-serving, vengeful villain, but Miller does a great job of showcasing her life in a new light. In this book, Miller gives new complexity to Circe’s story, the lives of the Gods, and the idea of immortality. Circe struggles with finding comfort in her own identity as she has spent her entire life as a disappointment/after-thought to her family. Her story is a heart-warming portrayal of self-acceptance and shows that value is not only found in those that are deemed “great”.

So… I’m giving this book four stars. I thought that the story was great, and the ending provides the right amount of satisfaction for a stand-alone book. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, it didn’t hit me in a profound enough way to give five stars.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of greek mythology and seeking a more in-depth look into the tale of a traditionally minor character!

Caraval by Stephanie Garber: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

First of all, if you love a good plot twist, you are going to LOVE this book. This book is filled with magic and mystery centered around Scarlett and her sister Tella. Scarlett is your classic overprotective sister, while Tella often gets into mischief from her carefree personality. Scarlett dreams of attending the magical game/competition, Caraval, that is run by the mysterious Legend. When Tella is kidnapped and becomes the central figure in this year’s Caraval competition, Scarlett will do whatever it takes to rescue her.

The main focus of this book is Scarlett’s transformation from passive bystander to active participant/decision-maker in her own life, propelled by the trials she faces to rescue her sister.

Towards the beginning of the book, I found Scarlett a tad bit insufferable. She has a really strong selfless streak that felt a little “woe-is-me”, but I was very satisfied with how her character developed throughout the story. Plus, there was definitely some juicy romance to spice things up a bit. The main love interest was really complex and I was very much invested in him as a person rather than as an accessory. Also, for being out of the picture for most of the book, Tella was a shockingly interesting character. I think that Garber did a really great job from a character development/worldbuilding perspective

As far as how I felt while reading, my heart was racing for the entire last third of this book in anticipation of what would happen next. I was definitely in a post-book depression for a little bit after finishing it, so I would absolutely recommend this book. The best news is that it’s a trilogy! So if you enjoy this, check out Legendary(#2) and Finale(#3) to round out the series. I know I will be.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates: 🌟🌟🌟

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a beautiful writer, and I was originally very excited about reading his debut novel. The book focuses on the story of Hiram Walker. A slave fathered by the owner of Lockless plantation where he lives. His mother was sold when he was only nine, and despite his perfect memory for everything else, he has no remaining memories of her, not even her name. Faced with a near-death experience, Hiram discovers this bizarre ability that he cannot name or control. We later learn this is Conduction. His time at Lockless is tumultuous and confusing; his identity pulled between the world of the Tasked and the Quality which they serve. Eventually, Hiram is swept up into the world of the Underground. He wrestles with his own feelings about his conflicting identities, those he left behind, and the realities of freedom compared with what he previously thought.

I think the ideas this story is based on are beautiful. Coates dives into the nuances of freedom, identity, and the collective memory of a tortured people. Unfortunately, the characters themselves weren’t quite as strong as those messages. The first half of the book breezed by. I was sucked in by the high stakes of the plot and the weavings of magical realism into the darkest moments of American history. Eventually, I found myself struggling to continue with the book. I found it difficult to root for the main character. I didn’t love his personality and often felt frustrated by his heightened sense of self even though I recognize that his behavior was an important part of his character’s journey. This was compounded by the flatness in some of the side characters. Hiram completely objectified Sophia with his feelings for her for 90% of the book, and I found myself quickly annoyed. While Hiram’s journey felt resolved enough at the end, I wasn’t nearly as satisfied with the endings for the other characters in the novel.

I had hoped for more, but I can’t give this book more than three stars.

If you want to follow along with all of the different books I’m reading, or hoping to read, check out my Goodreads page!

Let me know what you read this month, and which was your favorite in the comments below!

Much love,

Taylor

Month: May 2020

Listening to an Audiobook for the First Time || First Times #1

April 2020 Reading Wrap-Up