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The 2010 Audie Nominees

The nominations for the 2010 Audies have just been announced. The Audies recognise excellence in audio book production and this list is a fantastic place to look for the best books to listen to.

There are 27 different categories, so I recommend that you spend time browsing the lists of all the 2010 Audie nominees, but I have listed the categories I am most interested in here: 

FICTION


Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl and April Henry, narrated by Pam Turlow
Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup, narrated by Christopher Simpson
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, narrated by Joe Barrett
The Help by Kathryn Stockett, narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell
The Pigman by Paul Zindel, narrated by Eden Riegel and Charlie McWade

LITERARY FICTION

Come Sunday by Isla Morley, narrated by Jennifer Wiltsie
Good-Bye and Amen by Beth Gutcheon, narrated by Joyce Bean
The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott, narrated by Simon Prebble
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, narrated by Simon Slater
 

I have heard wonderful things about The Help on audio, but I’m not aware of anyone who has listened to any of the other nominees.

Have you listened to any of the above books?

Which of the books appeals to you most?

31 replies on “The 2010 Audie Nominees”

I have listened to The Help and it was wonderful. They used different narrators for each character. All of them were excellent. I haven’t listened to any other the others. I kind of wonder how Wolf Hall would read in audio. It was a book I really had to concentrate to keep all of the “he”s straight. I’m not sure that one would work well for me. I would be interested to know what others think about that.

Literate Housewife, Wolf Hall on audio intrigues me too. I really struggled with the text, so might keep an eye out for the audio version. Hopefully my library will get a copy one day.

Oh yay! I’m happy to hear about The Elegance of the Hedgehog being on the list. I’m starting it today. It’s the audio book of the month on itunes right now so it’s only 6.95!

Tammy, Thank you for commenting on my blog for the first time! Thanks for letting us know about the special offer – that is great advise for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. I hope you enjoy it!

I’ve listened to both Simon Prebble and Barbara Rosenblatt, and they are both absolutely amazing narrators! However, I haven’t listened to any of these books! I’ve written them all down, and when I run out of audio ideas, this is where I’m going to turn!

Sandy, The audies is always my first port of call if I need audio book recommendations. I haven’t had a bad one yet! I look forward to seeing what you think of these, as I’m sure you’ll get round to them before me!

anothercookiecrumbles, Yes, I’d love to know if it makes more sense on audio, or whether I’d get just as frustrated with it. I hope someone who has listened to it will let us know soon.

Bellezza, I haven’t heard of The Bonfire of Vanities before, so am interested that you called it out. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the audies – so many wonderful suggestions!

The Help is the only one I’ve listened to but, as I’ve said before, it was my favorite last year. I’m looking forward to browsing the nominees is the rest of the categories….Audie nominees rarely disappoint!

I have only recently started to listen to audio books so this award and its list of nominations will now be a good source for recommendations. I wonder how many hours it takes to listen to Wolf Hall – it is such a doorstopper!

I listened to Wolf Hall and thought it was great! It was a little tough keeping all the “he” references straight, but I don’t think I had much more difficulty than it seems people reading the physical book did. The reader was great!

Samantha ~ It was 23 hours long, and great for a couple weeks of a long commute. 🙂

Lezlie

Lezlie, Sorry to hear that all the ‘he’ references are still confusing in the audio version. I had hoped it would make it a bit clearer. I’m tempted to get a copy as soon as my library gets it in.

I would listen to anything read by Barbara Rosenblatt!

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, narrated by Jeannie Stith
(Brilliance Audio) is up and it was one of top listens for the year last year. So worth your time.

Beth, Wintergirls is on my audio wishlist, but it hasn’t made it to my library collection yet. One day I’m going to have to spend lots of money on audio books.

Jackie, love all the information available on your site (like the posts for beginner bloggers etc.), in addition to the book recommendations. I’m going to keep coming back to add some of those to my to-read list. Looks like we have some common themes in the books we read. Feel free to visit my blog (and the “Books-For-Young-At-Heart” page in the site).

I have tried audio books in the past and they just haven’t worked for me. I’m too much of a visual learner as opposed to an auditory one, I guess. In any case I have a long (1 hour) commute into my office each day/one way so I have been thinking it is time for me to try them once again in the hope that this time they will work for me. I suppose starting with some of these would be good since they are the “best”!

Kathleen, 90%+ books don’t work on audio. It is very hard to find ones that are enjoyable without personal recommendations or lists like this. The Audies are a great place to search for fantastic audio books (look in the archives for previous years too) with such a long commute you are the ideal audio book listener. I hope you find an enjoyable one soon.

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