Take 5 with Candace: 5 Questions with Robert Fass

Five audiobooks and five questions with narrator Robert Fass

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Robert Fass

Today I welcome the versatile Robert Fass to the 5 Audios / 5 Questions hot seat. I say versatile not only because Robert’s audiobook catalog covers a wide range of genres but also because he’s dipped his toe into the audiobook publishing pool as well (IT HAPPENED IN BOSTON?).

Robert Fass

5 Audiobooks

One of Robert’s strengths as a narrator is creating a strong link between listeners and author, especially for nonfiction. For example, his performance of the personal essays in THE FLY TRAP highlights entomologist Fredrik Sjöberg’s personality, enthusiasm, and wry humor, making us feel as if we had just made a new friend. Robert’s delivery of Henry Fountain’s THE GREAT QUAKE, about the 9.2-magnitude 1964 Alaskan earthquake, helps us absorb the unthinkable devastation as described by eyewitnesses but wisely backs off the melodrama. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: 5 Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners

Awarding outstanding African American authors of middle grade and young adult fiction

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All American Boys

As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday this week, we are reminded not only of the reverend’s work for the civil rights movement but also that his dream has not yet been realized in full. In 1970, the American Library Association introduced the Coretta Scott King Book Awards to remember Martin Luther King and to “honor his wife, Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.”

All American BoysThe ALA presents the awards to middle grade and young adult books that are written or illustrated by African Americans and that feature black culture and history as well as general contemporary issues facing our youth.

Many of the Coretta Scott King Book Award winners and honorees are available as audiobooks and are perfect for family listening. The five titles featured in today’s Take 5 offer a mix of tween and teen audiobooks. All were honored by the ALA for their excellence, and our reviewers praised the narrators for their sensitive and engaging performances. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: 5 Audiobooks for a New Year

Using audiobooks to make — and keep — your resolutions

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Good Health, Good Life

Last year, about 40% of Americans surveyed reported that they usually make New Year’s resolutions. The most common resolutions, according to several sources, have to do with health and fitness. But many people also hope to make smarter financial decisions, find more happiness, be more organized, and have new experiences.

Good Health, Good Life

Regardless of whether we make formal resolutions, most of us consider the new year as a chance for fresh starts. Yet, no matter how optimistic or determined we seem, few of us manage to follow through and accomplish our goals. What can we do to better our chances of success?

According to Psychology Today, “the most important factor in predicting success [is] the belief in one’s ability to get the job done.” One great way to gain self-assurance and chart a path to victory is to take time to learn from the experts.

Here’s where audiobooks come to the rescue. There’s an audiobook for helping you succeed at almost every New Year’s resolution, from improving health or finances to getting a handle on time management. The audiobooks I recommend in today’s Take 5 focus on popular self-improvement goals; if your 2018 goals are different, be sure to search our Personal Growth review database to find the perfect audiobook for your own needs. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: Audiobooks for the Winter Solstice

Candace has found the perfect remedy for finding hygge on long winter nights

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In the Kingdom of Ice

In the Kingdom of IceTomorrow is the first day of winter and the promise of cold weather ahead for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. But there’s no need to fret: Remember that the solstice also marks the point when the days start to get longer.

Here’s some more good news: Winter is the perfect time to indulge in your favorite indoor hobby, whether that’s baking, knitting, woodcarving, painting, or crafting. And while you’re enjoying your creative endeavors, you can pretend you’re out in the elements by listening to a good audiobook.

Grab a cup of hot chocolate, settle in by the fireplace, and get ready to experience winter the easy way.

Even armchair travelers may feel the chill after listening to IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE by Hampton Sides, about an 1879 expedition to find the North Pole. Narrator Arthur Morey “maintains our rapt attention” as he places the explorers’ emotional and physical challenges front and center. This audiobook is history and true-life adventure at their best. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: Five Fiery Listens

Discovering a red-hot trend in audiobooks

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A Column of Fire

A Column of FireHave you noticed that this year’s books have been on fire? It seems every time I turn around, there’s another audiobook with the word fire in the title; in fact, there are LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE (Celeste Ng). From kids’ stories to fantasy and politics, 2017 has been the year of the red-hot audio. Want to share in a little of the heat? Here are 5 audiobooks across the genres to get you started.

Historical fiction listeners should put A COLUMN OF FIRE at the top of their audiobook list. The combination of author Ken Follett’s complex storytelling with narrator John Lee’s believable characterizations and “crisp, rich” delivery can’t be beat. The audiobook is the third in a series about the people of Kingsbridge, England, but can easily be enjoyed as a standalone journey back to the 1500s. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: 5 Questions with Karen White

Five audiobooks and five questions for narrator Karen White

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Karen White

Karen WhiteSay hello to Karen White, the first guest in my 5 Audios / 5 Questions series. Karen is not only one of the queens of romantic fiction narrators but is also known for compelling performances in literary fiction, memoir, mystery, and more.

5 Audiobooks

Audiobook fans live for those magic pairings between author and narrator, especially for ongoing series. Karen has performed many of Jill Shalvis’s novels and is the voice of her Heartbreaker Bay Series, including this fall’s CHASING CHRISTMAS EVE. Her delivery emphasizes the romantic tension between the characters and brings out the Shalvis’s sense of humor. Karen’s believable characterizations and spot-on pacing for Julie James’s FBI-US Attorney romantic fiction series won her an Earphones Award for SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Take 5 with Candace: An Introduction

Introducing our newest voice on AudioFile’s blog, Candace!

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Candace Levy

Candace LevyMost people think audiobooks are a 21st-century way to read, so when I’m asked how long I’ve been listening to audiobooks, I like to answer, “I was listening to books on tape when they really were on tape.” I’ve gone through the gamut of technology, from portable cassette and CD players to boom boxes to mp3 devices to my current favorite: my smartphone.

I started reading with my ears to give my eyes a break after hours at my day job as a full-time freelance book editor. Over the decades, I’ve listened to thousands of audiobooks, taking advantage of every free moment to hear just a little bit more of the story. Read more…

Candace Levy
Candace Levy
Candace is a full-time freelance book editor as well as a book reviewer and journalist. When she’s not working, you'll inevitably find her listening to an audiobook while cooking, walking, making lace, or taking photographs. She was honored to be the 2016 Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook Blogger of the Year.
http://www.bethfishreads.com/