Every year, the Audio Publishers Association nominates outstanding audiobooks for The Audies. Last year, Jennifer from The Literate Housewife and Bob from The Guilded Earlobe started the Armchair Audies. (They are joined in this year's hosting by Tanya from Dog Eared Copy) Participating blogs listen to the nominees in one or more of the Audies categories, review them, and predict who they think will take the award in May. Last year, we listened to the Mystery category and predicted a winner. Well, we each predicted a winner and all three of us were wrong. This year, REDEMPTION YEAR, we have a different category and a new chance to make a prediction. For the 2013 Armchair Audies, we are listening to the Solo Narration by a Female category. Catie is excited because two of her favorite narrators, Katherine Kellgren and Cassandra Campbell, make appearances in three of the nominated productions. Here are the nominees for our category:
| THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis Read by Katherine Kellgren (AudioGO) [Amazon | Goodreads | Audible] THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ L. Frank Baum Read by Anne Hathaway (Audible, Inc.) [Amazon | Goodreads | Audible] CALL THE MIDWIFE Jennifer Worth Read by Nicola Barber (HighBridge Audio) [Amazon | Goodreads | Audible] JULIET IN AUGUST Dianne Warren Read by Cassandra Campbell (Tantor Media) [Amazon | Goodreads | Audible] THE UNSEEN GUEST Maryrose Wood Read by Katherine Kellgren (Harper Audio) [Amazon | Goodreads | Audible] |      |
One of the issues we had last year was that several of the mystery nominees were later installments in series. This year, when looking at the categories, I tried to pick a category where that would be less of an issue because it can be hard to jump into a series later on. The only series book in this year's batch of nominees is The Unseen Guest, which is the third installment in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series. We are not so concerned about that specific one as it is middle grade and it should be an easy jump in and catch-up. Solo Narration is an interesting category because the nominees are all over the board; the only common thread is that the narration is "awesome," according to the APA. Of course, a narration is nothing unless the story is engaging.
So far, we've been able to collect most of the nominees from our libraries. The only one we will probably have to buy is the Audible version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as it is not readily available to us. We're excited to get started so look forward to a report back on our prediction and hopefully for reviews of each of them! Also, two of our blogging buddies are participating in the 2013 Armchair Audies: Heidi at Bunbury in the Stacks is listening to the children's 8-12 category, and Lucy at The Reading Date is listening to the Teens category. There are still a bunch of categories that have no one to listen to them yet, so go to the main site if you'd like to participate. (I'm (Flann) thinking of listening to Humor as they are on the short side and I've already listened to one of the nominees--Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened)
So far, we've been able to collect most of the nominees from our libraries. The only one we will probably have to buy is the Audible version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as it is not readily available to us. We're excited to get started so look forward to a report back on our prediction and hopefully for reviews of each of them! Also, two of our blogging buddies are participating in the 2013 Armchair Audies: Heidi at Bunbury in the Stacks is listening to the children's 8-12 category, and Lucy at The Reading Date is listening to the Teens category. There are still a bunch of categories that have no one to listen to them yet, so go to the main site if you'd like to participate. (I'm (Flann) thinking of listening to Humor as they are on the short side and I've already listened to one of the nominees--Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened)
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