AMI Audiobook Review

On today's episode: Listening to an audiobook, as opposed to reading it in print, is a different experience. Not better or worse, just different. But how exactly does it differ? And how does that change the way we appreciate the story? Yes, we’re not done talking about this. Plus, later, Ted Cooper is here for Rapid-Fire review.

On today's episode: Did you read a book if you listened to the audiobook version? If you research this question online, you’ll find all sorts of opinion pieces, message boards, and social media posts that make it clear that people have strong feelings on both sides. Why is this such a contentious issue? Why is this seemingly innocuous question always striking such a nerve? There’s a lot at play here and we’re here to talk about it. Plus, later Ammer Khan, our very own audiobook curator is with us with this month’s batch of specially curated titles, just for you. That’s in the second half of the show.

On today's episode: First impressions matter, and the title of an audiobook is more than likely going to be the first thing you’ll react to when coming across a potential next read. Sometimes that title is intriguing. Sometimes it’s confusing. Sometimes it sounds dumb as hell. The point is, that titles matter, and we’re prepared to break it down for you. We also have a list of silly, ridiculous, and cringy book titles. Plus, in the second half of the episode, we ask ourselves: is listening to a book the same as reading print?

On today's episode: The Romantasy genre has blown up in the past few years and Booktok is responsible. What is it about this genre that’s made it so irresistible to its ravenous fanbase? What’s the appeal? Why is it blowing up now? And how does Booktok wield so much influence? Karen McKay and Theresa Power of CELA are here to help us answer these questions. Plus, in the second half of the show, Sarah Hillis joins us to discuss the merits and pitfalls of celebrity narrators.

On today's episode: We’ve spoken in the past about the huge role audiobook producers have over the final product of a project. So many small decisions on their part come together to shape what we end up spending hours eagerly consuming. Our guest this week, Caleb Stoll, is the technical director of the audiobook program at Penguin Random House Canada. He’s involved in many of the stages of production for the audiobooks they produce out of their studios in Toronto. From the technical aspects of sound recording, engineering sessions and directing narrators, Caleb is well placed to shine some light on the behind the scenes of the audio book world.

A huge part of living the audio bookworm lifestyle is constantly seeking out your next read. That means taking tons of recommendations, be it from websites, close friends or coworkers. That said, not all recommendations are made equal. What is it that makes us take recommendations seriously? And how can we do better the next time we recommend an audiobook to our friends? Today we’re talking about the art of the book recommendation, and what better person to have for this discussion than our very own Audiobook curator, Aamer Khan? A little later, we’ll also get to the book club’s input on this topic.

Multi-Voice narration audiobooks offer a product that’s more like an engrossing old-school audio drama when done well. When done badly, though, they can be a disjointed mess of cringe, so say the haters. Sarah Hillis is here to help us break it down. Plus, Natasha Peters is our avid bookworm this week, and a rapid-fire review with Natasha is coming up in the 2nd half of the show.

We’re so excited to have one of our favorite audiobook narrators, Julia Whelan, on the show. Julia Whelan is an author, audiobook narrator of over 500 books, screenwriter and actress. Check out the two fantastic novels she's authored. Both are available on Audible and CELA with Julia's narration: My Oxford Year: https://celalibrary.ca/node/24026776 Thank You for Listening: https://celalibrary.ca/node/23968710 Here is an extensive list of her narration work available on Audible: https://www.audible.ca/search?searchNarrator=Julia+Whelan Her website: https://jmwhelan.com/

On today's episode: With 2023 behind us, Karen Mackay of CELA is here to help us break down the best and most notable audiobooks of the year. Plus, the voice of AMI-audio, Julia Bonett, is joining us as our avid audiobook listener this week.

The last book in the Harry Potter series was published back in 2007, over 15 years ago. That’s 15 years for the millions of fans around the world, including ourselves, to fully absorb the series and what it has to offer. We thought it would be a great time to have a deep dive discussion, giving our retrospective review of the series from a 2023 perspective. To help, we enlisted Grant Hardy, our colleague, producer on AMI's Kelly and Ramya and massive HP fan, to join us. We also get into the rollercoaster of reactions and comments the world has been expressing around the author of the Harry Potter universe, J.K. Rowling.

On today's episode: Being an author is typically thought of as a lonesome affair, but it doesn’t need to be. Enter the strange world of co-authoring. Karen McKay and Theresa Power of CELA join us to help break it down. Emily Wu Zeller is our featured narrator this week on Know Your Narrator and Sarah Hillis is here for the second half of the show. And, somewhere in there, we’ll of course find time for this week’s question to the book club: what books give you wintery vibes?

It’s a rapid-fire review bonanza and Ramya, Nisreen and Jacob are finally participating; Julie Martin, Community Reporter on AMI's Kelly and Ramya, joins us to get it all started.

On this week's episode: Sometimes, we need to take a step back from our busy lives and just appreciate the simple things. And what better way to do that than by immersing yourself in the living world of greenery and beautiful landscapes? If you’re not an outdoors person, the next best thing is reading books about the wild. We wanted a guest to help us with this topic and it only felt natural that that had to be none other than Lawrence Gunther of Outdoors with Lawrence Gunther. Plus, our very own audiobook curator, Aamer Khan, joins us with this month’s recommendations, with the theme, Magic, Mythology and Malaysia.

Red Széll, host of My Life in Books with Red Széll, is with us, all the way from some place called England. Drawing on his years of experience as host of My Life in Books on AMI-audio, interviewing countless authors, it’s safe to say he’s somewhat of an expert on what makes authors tick. Looking forward to getting into it with Red. Plus, we have more responses to our most recent question to the book club: What are books that left you with strong mixed feelings? (i.e., books that had you equally enthralled and frustrated.) That’s for later though.

Is our obsession with rigidly classifying every book into a set list of genres a bad habit that desperately needs breaking? That’s a loaded question. There are no doubt a whole lot of issues that come with our feverish compulsion to sort everything, and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. Later, we’ll be getting into some responses to our book club question: What are some books that left you with strong mixed feelings? (i.e., a book that left you equally enthralled and frustrated.)

We’re discussing the always-fascinating fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, who’s fully embraced the audiobook revolution despite using his massive platform to condemn what he calls, “Audible's unconscionable business practices,” and casually breaking the record for the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time in the process. And later, Sarah Hillis drops in for our Know Your Narrator segment; Edoardo Ballerini is our featured narrator this week.

Karen and Theresa of CELA, the Center for Equitable Library Access, join us for another book review, this time for the highly-anticipated memoir, The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears. And later, Aamer Khan shares with us three authors that have piqued his interest in the past month.

Dave Brown, of the world-famous NOW with Dave Brown, which airs live weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern on AMI-tv, joins us for an in-depth review of Success by Martin Amos (where our quote of the week is from), one of his very own book recommendations . Later on, Jacob and I continue our recommendations with more of our personal favourites.

This week, we finally take a moment to present our own book recommendations, in the thriller/mystery and non-fiction categories. On the second half of the show, Greg David, Communications Specialist at AMI, is subjected to the Rapid-Fire-Review segment. He also gives us his in-depth review of Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre.

Karen and Theresa make their monthly appearance on the show. This time, we discuss the many reasons why so many people read horror. Why do we willingly want to feel fear and discomfort? There’s a lot to unpack. Plus, Sarah Hillis presents/raves about one of our personal favourite narrators, Julia Whelan, as part of our Know Your Narrator segment