Listen Along Audiobook Club discussion

Hello, fellow audiobook listeners!

Firstly, let me thank you for joining the Listen Along Audiobook Club. Your virtual presence is definitely appreciated :)

As I stated in the invites, I have never run a Goodreads group before, so your input and feedback is always welcome.

Feel free to introduce yourself below and make audiobook suggestions (specific or genre-related). Is there something you've been dying to hear? Suggestions may be included in the February selection poll.

-Jess

Thanks for the invite! :)

I haven't really taken part in Goodreads groups before so it'll be trial and error for me too!

As for what to listen to, I'm always on the look out for simpler books that I can listen to while I work and don't need to put a whole lot of effort in terms of keeping up with the plot.

I listened to the first book in the Selection series and that was perfect, but I think listening to something like Game of Thrones may be too involved for me.

I couldn't agree more, Dana! I generally separate audiobooks into two categories: Daytime Listens & Nighttime Listens for those exact reasons. I recently had to make Truthwitch a strict Nighttime Listen. In fact, I think most High Fantasy are Nighttime Listens because they demand so much concentration. I find that the contemporary fiction genre has great Daytime Listens. For example, I'm listening to Jenny Han's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" right now and it's such a light and easy listen!

PS: Welcome aboard! -Jess

Thanks for the invite!

I do most of my listening on my way to and from work which is only about an hour a day. I borrow audiobooks from the library as well as an audiobook a month from Audible.

I prefer to listen to long books on audio and a lot of the ones I have queued up are fantasy or sci-fi.

I am currently listening to Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare on loan from the library.

That's a great categorization! Maybe Rainbow Rowell books would be good for the Daytime category?

Oooh maybe we can have two polls - one for Daytime and one for Nighttime?

Good to know about Truthwitch! Though I just bought it on Kobo so I won't be listening to it :)

That sounds awesome, Amanda! I really need to look into borrowing from my local library. If you like Audible, check out Scribd. They don't have quite as many titles as Audible, but are about $6 cheaper each month ($8.99, I think?). I alternate between them and Audible.

Hello all! Just wanted to say hi really. I get most of my audio reading done during the day ( I drive A LOT) so I am ok with whatever. I tend to lean towards sci-fi/fantasy. I also really enjoy YA for the most part.

Hi, Jordan & Ariel!

I can comfortably listen to 8-10 audiobooks per month. That probably seems like a lot to people that have a full-time job (I'm a grad student) and those that generally have a life (I don't). So I am completely willing to take on several books a month. I do, however, find that I tend to "burnout" if I consecutively listen to too much of the same genre, so I usually try to balance the heavier Fantasy/SciFi stuff out with fluffier contemporary listens, like my current Truthwitch+Jenny Han combo.

So, how does this sound? We'll start off the month with two polls: A selection for light listening (something quick and easy to hear) and a more involved audiobook for times when you can devote more concentration (High Fantasy, SciFi). You can choose to participate in one or both of these listen-alongs (or none, if you ever want to take some time off). We individually check in when we're finished with each audiobook and when the entire group has completed it, we can make a new selection. What do you think? Is the pace too rigorous?

I am not a level 99 audiophile like you, but that's a pretty good pace

Haha! Label accepted

Sounds great! I think maybe we shouldn't make it a requirement for everybody to finish. I probably won't read all the selections or may take a reeeally long time or just want to read it a later date haha.

Maybe we can put a new poll up when everyone is finished OR by a certain date, whichever comes first?

Hi Jess! I invited myself to your group, I hope you don't mind. I love listening to audiobooks, but I don't do it often enough, so hopefully this inspires me to pick up more of them, because I think I have the time.

Hey there, Therese! Of course I don't mind. I thought it would have automatically invited you with the others since I selected the "invite all" option or whatever. But I'm glad you found us, anyway XD

Dana wrote: "Sounds great! I think maybe we shouldn't make it a requirement for everybody to finish. I probably won't read all the selections or may take a reeeally long time or just want to read it a later dat..."
Awesome thought. I'll be sure to do that. We can try it out for a month or two to see how everyone does with it.

➜Is anyone ready to start making audiobook nominations for February? Let's try dividing them into the two categories explained above (light/contemporary & heavy/fantasy). I'm still going to do the polls, but I'd like to get a feel for what do you want included in them.

I'll get it rolling:
•Has anyone read The Siren that was just released?
•What about Anna and the French Kiss?
•I know John Green can be polarizing, but I enjoyed everything I've heard of his. Thoughts?
•I'm a big theme person. Should we maybe try to [loosely] stick to a theme for February because of Valentine's Day? Maybe something with a romantic storyline? Or books with red covers? We don't have to, of course.
• Has anyone read The Grisha Trilogy? The Bone Season? The Accident Season? The Bone Gap?
• Opinions on Stephen King?

I'm not trying to overwhelm, just putting out feelers!

Love all your suggestions! I was going to look up the Siren; this could be a good opportunity to read it :) Also have never read a John Green novel or the Grisha series so yes!

Also, just read my first Stephen King novel recently and was looking to read more of his, so definitely open to listening to his books!

Dana, I just started a new thread specifically so that we can discuss Stephen King and other books/audiobooks we've already finished. I want to hear what you thought about King!

Ariel, I would recommend the Raven Cycle and Game of Thrones over the Throne of Glass series. But that's just me. I can post more recommendations for you in the other thread, if you want. It seems like I may have already heard a lot of what you have you on your TBR. I haven't heard of Vince Flynn, Jim Butcher, or Jeffrey Deaver though. I'll check them out!

I'm also tempted to start another thread (I may be getting carried away) where we can list our pet peeves and preferences (like what you dislike about YA Contemps) so I can get a really good idea of which types of things to include in the polls.

➜I want to have the polls ready today, so we can start listening on Monday. The selection process for this month will be a little rushed, so I apologize in advance. Just be on the lookout for the polls and try to vote in both of them by the end of tomorrow and we can get this thing rolling by Monday, February 1!

PS: Y'all can invite people to join this group too, if you want. :)

I read the first Throne of Glass book and wasn't too fond of it, but I was actually thinking of listening to the audiobooks for the rest of the series to see if that made a difference for me!

Yes, all the threads!

Yess I'm up for starting ASAP :)

I'll be honest with y'all, this thing is going to be very "trial and error". Especially in the first couple of months. I've already created the polls for this month so let's try it that way first and see how it goes. If it's a flub, we'll try something new.

Alright, I'll publish the polls and we'll see how things turn out!
They'll have six options each (because I'm a glutton) and the runner-up options can rollover into our next February listens or into following months (or not at all). Which ever is preferred!

The polls have been created, but will open until 12:01am tonight and will close at 11:59pm tomorrow night.

In case you don't want to wait and since there are only a few of us, I'll go ahead and list the options here:

Daytime Listen:
1) I'll Give You the Sun
2) Anna and the French Kiss
3) Looking for Alaska
4) Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
5) Bone Gap
6) Landline

Nighttime Listen:
1) The Siren
2) Bone Season
3) Shadow and Bone (Grisha #1)
4) Reawakened
5) Ink and Bone
6) The Young Elites

I pulled some of these out of a hat, based on our discussion. If I was really off base with any of them or if you have already read any of these, please comment below.

You can vote here or in the poll! -Jess

Daytime:
1 darker shade of magic
2 legend
3 snow like ashes
4 sea of shadows

Nighttime:
1 grace of kings
2 queen of the tearling
3 golem and the jinni
4 uprooted

Oh hey Jordan, I posted the February options a couple hours ago (in the post above yours). But I will make a note of yours for March, if that's okay.

I have already read #1-3 on your daytime list, but ADSOM is still a really good idea because the sequel comes out in the end of February and would be a perfect contender for March, if everyone was caught up. The same goes for Snow Like Ashes. I've been wanting to listen to the sequel, but I could totally wait for those of you who haven't listened to Snow Like Ashes yet.

For daytime suggestions, I think we were wanting to keep it a little lighter, like contemporary fiction (or something that doesn't take place in a fantasy world or require a ton of focus to listen to). Does that make sense? Check out the February list above for examples of what I mean (and go ahead and vote, if you want). I don't want anyone to wreck while commuting because they were concentrating so hard on an audiobook!

Hey! Thank you for the invite :D I love the idea of this group because I absolutely LOVE audiobooks :D. I look forward to books are decided because I've only read Shadow and Bone and I am open to reading anything! :)

Hi, Ashley! You're totally welcome.

Remember to vote in the polls before they close tonight. We start listening tomorrow!

I just changed my vote to the Young Elites since I'm next on the hold list at my library :)

I've only read Legend by Marie Lu, will it be an issue that I haven't finished the first trilogy? Or is the Young Elites separate enough?

I finished the Legend series last month and immediately wanted to start The Young Elites, so I listened to maybe 10 minutes of it and, as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to be related to the Legend series much at all. I don't know why I thought they were related. So I think you'll be okay!

Good to know, thanks! Hopefully the hold isn't too long at the library! I actually bought the ebook version so I guess I'll read that if I don't get it in time