Armchair Audies Best Female Narration ~~~And the Winner Is….

Armchair Audies Best Female Narration ~~~And the Winner Is….

The Armchair Audies is a group of listeners who get together every year, pick a category, listen to all the nominated titles and predict who they think will be the winner. I have been involved for a couple years and have really enjoyed listening to all these books. Female Narration is always a favorite category because the narrations are always great this one was a tough choice this year but I did decide on a winner. (see the end of the post.)

All the Stars in Heaven by, Adriana Trigiani narrated by, Blair Brown

I enjoyed this book; however I couldn’t help comparing this story to the book A Touch of Stardust which I also enjoyed. I am a fan of classic movies so to hear these stories was fun and I fell in love with David Niven all over again.

The Narration—Blair Brown did a nice job at the narration of this one, I was glad she didn’t try to imitate the way some of these real people talked, I thought she did well at characterizations and male and female voices.

The Boston Girl by, Anita Diamant narrated by, Linda Lavin

I’m so sorry but this book was boring, I kept waiting for something exciting to happen and it never did.

The Narration— Linda Lavin of Alice fame narrates this book and I’m just not sure if I liked it or not it almost sounded like a caricature of a Jewish woman from Boston, maybe they really sound like that I could be totally wrong here but for me it was over the top.  

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray, read by January LaVoy

I went back and listened to the 1^st book and went right into this one and really wish book 3 was out. I really enjoyed this book and the narration just added to that.

The Narration—January LaVoy’s narration is spot on her characters are great, everyone has their own voice and you knew who was talking all the time, I also thought her male voices were really well done.

The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age by, Joyce Carol Oates narrated by, Cassandra Campbell

I was confused is this a memoir about a person or a chicken? I will admit that I only listened to 3 hours of this book it just wasn’t for me I haven’t read anything from this author so I wasn’t invested in knowing about her life.

The Narration— Cassandra Campbell is a favorite and always does a superb job and this book was no exception, however this was kind of a straight read because it is a memoir.

The Nightingale By, Kristin Hannah narrated by, Polly Stone

This was a very powerful book and well written and I am left thinking of these sisters days after I have finished this book. I highly recommend it.

The Narration— Polly Stone’s narration took a little getting used to but I ended up really liking her, the accents and male and female voices were well done and I would listen to this narrator again.

Wild Rover No More: Being the Last Recorded Account of the Life & Times of Jacky Faber by L.A. Meyer narrated by, Katherine Kellgren

I don’t want to spoil this book for those of you that have read the entire series, so I will just say I enjoyed this book more than Boston Jacky and it was an excellent end to a fabulous series that will forever be a go-to book for me and I know I will listen to this series again and again. Well Played Mr. Meyer you made me laugh, you made me cry and gave Jacky the sendoff she deserved!

The Narration— Great narration by Katherine Kellgren, as always, but this time she had to do a Russian accent and sing in that accent, you are an amazing talent Ms. Kellgren!

This one was a harder choice than the YA category, the ladies are always hard to judge because they are all so great but I have to go with my gut.

So the winner is ….

January LaVoy’s narration of Lair of Dreams I loved everything about this narration every character had their own voice, all the voices were so well done and enjoyed the book.

Armchair Audies Young Adult Category~ And the winner is.....

Armchair Audies~~ Young Adult Category….And The Winner Is…..

The Armchair Audies is a group of listeners who get together every year, pick a category, listen to all the nominated titles and predict who they think will be the winner. I have been involved for a couple years and have really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone this year to try this new category this year. Although I didn’t love all the books I did enjoy all the narrations but there was a clear winner as you will see at the end of this post.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, read by Kirby Heyborne and Ariadne Meyers

I am in the minority here but I did not like this book at all. I will just leave it at that.

The Narration--- Kirby does his usual wonderful job and Ariadne did well too. However, I think the good narration couldn’t get me past how much I disliked this story.

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray, read by January LaVoy

I went back and listened to the 1^st book and went right into this one and really wish book 3 was out. I really enjoyed this book and the narration just added to that.

The Narration—January LaVoy’s narration is spot on her characters are great, everyone has their own voice and you knew who was talking all the time, I also thought her male voices were really well done.

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman , read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lara Pulver, Niamh Walsh, Adjoa Andoh, Peter Forbes, John Sessions, Michael Maloney, Sean Baker, Jane Collingwood, Clare Corbett, Allan Corduner, Katherine Kingsley, and Daniel Weyman

This was an interesting fairytale retelling and really does Neil Gaiman ever write anything subpar? I enjoyed the story.

The Narration— I must start with saying I think I would have enjoyed this better if Neil himself would have narrated this. The full cast production was good but honestly don’t think this should be in this category.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, read by Edward Herrmann

I think unless you’ve been living under a rock you know this is a great story.

The Narration—It is Edward Herrmann, he was wonderful and fabulous but should we vote for him just to honor his cherished memory? I’m sorry I can’t do that. Though I do love him!

 The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr, read by James Langton

 This was a very different story, I knew nothing about these horses and there were times you had to suspend disbelief.  But an interesting story .

The Narration— James Langton’s narration was good he had good characters even though a few times they were almost caricatures but I did enjoy his narration and thought this one came in a close second.

X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, read by Dion Graham

This book sure didn't make me like the man this book is his teenage/young adult years and he was just a selfish hoodlum and the book ended as soon as he converted to Islam and was still in prison, I would rather read about how he became the man he was not this unlikable teenager.  I would rather see a YA story of the man not the hoodlum he was before he became the man and the ending seemed an odd time to end the story. Just my humble opinion.

The Narration— Dion Graham's narration was like poetry and I wish he had read the authors notes too. But it was pretty much a straight read.

              For me there is a clear winner and that is January LaVoy’s narration of Lair of Dreams I loved everything about this narration every character had their own voice, all the voices were so well done and enjoyed the book.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly Narrated By Cassandra Campbell, Kathleen Gati, Kathrin Kana

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly Narrated By Cassandra Campbell, Kathleen Gati, Kathrin Kana

This book is fabulous and I highly recommend the audio version to truly bring these women to life!

I have read a lot of books on concentration camps and have even visited a few but this was a learning experience for me I had never heard of the Ravensbruck Rabbits, you hear so much about Mengele’s experiments on twins but I never knew about the experiments these women went through in Ravenbruck.

As with any book on concentration camps this one is heartbreaking; however there is so much hope in this book because a large part of the book is about the survivors and the after effects that there is hope and hope’s name is Caroline Ferriday.  She truly saved these women years of pain by getting them to the US and getting them surgery to fix the atrocious things that were done to them.

 I enjoyed the different storylines told by Caroline, Kasia one of the survivors and Herta one of the doctors at the camp which was an interesting storyline because you just couldn’t like her no matter if she felt bad for what she was doing or not. I also enjoyed the addition of Kasia’s sister Suzanna (sp audio) who is a doctor and also a survivor of Ravenbruck.

CAROLINE, read by Cassandra Campbell…KASIA, read by Kathleen Gati….HERTA, read by Kathrin Kana the narration on this book was so fantastic I can’t even come up with enough words to tell you to listen to the audio version of this book. These 3 narrators brought these women to life for me and I believe enhanced my enjoyment of this book.

I could go on and on about this book and I think this will be in my top books of the year this year. So I’ll just say if you enjoy historical fiction or WWII fiction you need to read this book!

5 Stars

The Authors website

A little background on Caroline Ferriday

Author Elizabeth Wein has a comprehensive page about theRavensbruck Rabbits