Today in Behind the Audio, award-winning actor and narrator Robert Petkoff discusses narrating the audio edition of John Kenney’s Truth in Advertising from Simon & Schuster Audio.
Today in Audio Review Spotlight, we take a look at the nonfiction side and Peter Ames Carlin’s Springsteen biography, Bruce.
The audio edition is read by Bobby Cannavale and available from Simon & Schuster Audio.
Bruce
The ALA has named the Odyssey Award Audiobook and Honor Audiobooks for 2013. The winners are:
2013 Odyssey Award Audiobook
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, narrated by Kate Rudd for Brilliance Audio.
What the ALA said: The Fault in Our Stars perfectly captures the mercurial characters of Hazel Grace and Augustus, teens whose chance meeting in a cancer support group, surprises them both as they embark on an emotional roller coaster of a journey.
“Late in the Midwinter of our deliberations, this exquisitely understated performance by Kate Rudd, captured the magic of John Green’s words and our hearts,” said Odyssey Award Committee Chair Teri S. Lesesne.
2013 Honor Audiobooks
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer, narrated by Nathaniel Parker for Listening Library.
What the ALA said: Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian immerses listeners in a world populated with fairies, trolls, and Opal Koboi — Artemis Fowl’s archenemy. Nathaniel Parker’s energetic performance conveys the rollicking adventures listeners have come to expect from Artemis Fowl.
Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke, narrated by Elliot Hill for Listening Library.
What the ALA said: Ghost Knight gives voice to a pack of apparitions, who endanger the life of Jon Whitcroft, a boy miserably confined to a boarding school. As Jon and his new friend Ella seek to solve a century-old mystery, danger threatens their every move. Elliot Hill’s narration ably balances the real and ghostly worlds.
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, narrated by Katherine Kellgren for Macmillan Audio.
What the ALA said: Monstrous Beauty intertwines two stories set generations apart, as Hester learns about her ancestor, a mermaid named Syrenka, who left her sea family to pursue her true love on land. Katherine Kellgren brings to life the voice of mermaids, seagulls, ghosts, and contemporary teens in this romance with supernatural overtones.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Unsurprisingly, Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Macmillan Audio) reclaims the #1 spot this week on PW’s Audio Bestseller List.
In at #2 is John Grisham’s The Litigators (narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris for Random House Audio), while in the #3 spot is Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Near-Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife. The audiobook is narrated by the author, Eben M.D. Alexander, for Simon & Schuster Audio.
Grabbing the #4 spot is Stuart Woods’s Collateral Damage, narrated by Tony Roberts and available from Penguin Audio. And rounding out our Top 5 is Fern Michaels’s Return to Sender, which is read by Angela Dawe for Brilliance Audio.
For all of this week’s Audio Bestsellers from PW, CLICK HERE.
PW’s latest batch of audio reviews is online and in print, and today we’re taking a look at the Starred Review of Libba Bray’s The Diviners.
The audio edition is narrated by January LaVoy and available from Listening Library.
The Diviners
KHAAAAAN!
Here at Audio HQ in NYC, the temperature is hovering around 19°F — in fact, it’s so cold, the pond in our courtyard is frozen solid — so there’s only one thing to do: stay inside with a good audiobook.
My first impulse was to listen to something about the great Ernest Shackleton — perhaps the audio edition of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science.
But, I soon discovered a bevy of great audiobooks on Audible perfect for cold weather listening. Among some of the highlights are:
The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption – from South Central to Hollywood
The Last Lost World: Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene
Cold Is the Grave: An Inspector Banks Novel
And, believe me when I say: this is just the tip of the audio iceberg.
So, stay inside, stay warm, and curl up with a good audiobook.
Snatching the top spot on this week’s Audio Bestseller List from PW is Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s A Memory of Light. This final installment in the late Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for Macmillan Audio.
Dropping to the #2 spot (gasp!) is Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Macmillan Audio), while coming in at #3 is Stuart Woods’s Collateral Damage, narrated by Tony Roberts and available from Penguin Audio.
In the #4 spot is Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly’s The Husband List, which is read by Lorelei King for Macmillan Audio, and rounding out the Top 5 is Nora Roberts’s Mysterious, narrated by Ashley Adlon and Gayle Hendrix and available from Brilliance Audio.
For the rest of PW’s Audio Bestseller List, CLICK HERE.
The Good House reading at B&N.
Last week, Ann Leary, author of The Good House, held a book signing at the Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side in NYC.
And, her audiobook narrator, Mary Beth Hurt, read an excerpt from the book, giving the audience a preview of what the audio edition sounds like.
But, if you missed the event — which, a reliable source tells Listen Up, was attended by quite a few celebs — don’t despair.
You can check out an audio excerpt from the audiobook (available from Macmillan Audio) RIGHT HERE.
You guessed it: Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Macmillan Audio) is still sitting pretty on the top of PW’s Audio Bestseller List. And while this isn’t likely to change anytime soon, the rest of our Top 5 is new and improved.
Up 29 spots and coming in at #2 is Dean Koontz’s Odd Interlude, narrated by David Aaron Baker for Brilliance Audio, while jumping into the #3 position (and back into the Top 5) is Janet Evanovich’s latest Stephanie Plum novel, Notorious 19, which is read by longtime collaborator Lorelei King for Random House Audio.
In at #4 is another Brilliance title, Nora Roberts’s Mysterious, narrated by Ashley Adlon and Gayle Hendrix, and rounding out the Top 5 is I Am Wishes Fulfilled Meditation (Hay House) from Wayne W. Dyer and James F. Twyman.
For the rest of PW’s Audio Bestseller List, CLICK HERE.
AudioGO signed international bestselling author Karin Slaughter to an exclusive seven-figure deal for the North American audio rights to her next 10 thrillers.
Slaughter and AudioGO first worked together in 2008 on the audio adaptation of Martin Misunderstood, which won an Audie Award.
“I am very excited to be continuing my relationship with the AudioGO team and appreciate the huge commitment they are making to my work,” Slaughter said in a statement. “They are superb at what they do, and I am continually impressed by them with each publication.”
Subsequent Slaughter titles include her recent New York Times bestsellers Criminal and Fallen, and the collection The Unremarkable Heart and Other Stories.
“All of us at AudioGO are thrilled to embark on this decade-long exclusive audio publishing arrangement with Karin,” said Vikki Warner, acquisitions editor at AudioGO, in a statement. “Her genuine fondness for and support of the audiobook make her a dream to work with. We can’t wait to see where her next 10 novels take us.”
