New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion

Adult Summer Reading ends in a week! Come help wrap it up at a party at NPML next Tuesday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m. You'll get to select a book donated by Random House to take home and enjoy light refreshments. We'll have some fun taking bookface photos if you like. Plus, the grand prize drawing for a NP Fuel gift certificate will take place at the party. The winner will be drawn from all of this summer's weekly entries.

What's the last book you read that with a memorable narrator or something remarkable about the narration in general? Was the narrator a character/ characters, or a non-personal voice? What point of view was it from? If it was from the third person (they, not I), could you hear the characters' thoughts? Was the narrator unreliable?

If you comment by the evening of Sunday, July 29, you will be entered in the drawing on Monday, July 30, for a gift certificate donated by Prestige Diner, one of NPML's Adult Summer Reading Sponsors.

Last book I listened to was CIRCE and narrator was very good. However the best narrator was Jim Dale who did such great job with the Harry Potter books.

The narrator really makes or breaks an audiobook, doesn't it? Do you know of any audiobooks that were better than the book?

The best narrator I've encountered was an audio book... The Book Thief.

the narrator was "3rd person" Death (!) Not as creepy as it sounds.

He, the narrator, was excellent... many voices, accents, emotions. Sometimes I would sit in my driveway , just so I could hear some more of it before i had to go inside.

I’m really starting to like audiobooks. I listened to The Diary of Anne Frank with my children, and it was deeply moving. Right now I’m listening to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and I’m honestly not sure I would enjoy reading it as much.

I did not love that book and feel like I’m missing something as it was so popular.

Although I didn't listen to The Book Thief on audio, no matter how you enjoyed it, having Death as a narrator is not the norm! It's the first book that came to mind when I read this week's question.

Like Karen, I am starting to get into audiobooks. I listened to a couple of good ones, most recently ' Orgin, by Dan Brown'. On the other hand, I have also been very disappointed. I expected a lot from ' I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', written by Maya Angelou. The book is an autobiography and was read by the author herself. Her reading was very monotone and I never could stay concentrated on her reading to get any of the story.

I loved the book but have to admit that I recognized many of the people in it from my family members! (this is Lisa, not Ellen..;-) )

i read and loved maya angelou's "caged bird" many years ago.

i listened to her book "letter to my daughter" (narrated by angelou) and actually really liked her voice; it's deep and resonant, but i can understand what you're saying , Helena, about it sounding monotone.

Helene - I read Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird" many years ago but I have had experiences with authors reading their own books and generally speaking, I felt it took away from the book.
However, recent experience was very different - pleasantly. I listened to "A Higher Loyalty" by James Comey and felt the author did a really good job with the narration of the book.