Listening to books: Doing the 2016 Audiobook Challenge

In library school, I took coursework on readers' advisory. One of the classes I took required us to read books in various genres and formats so we could learn appeal factors and thus learn how to provide better readers' advisory to our patrons. One of the formats I had to read was an audiobook. Though some readers look down on audiobooks as "not really reading," way I see it audiobooks are just books that someone reads to you. I do enjoy having someone read to me once in a while. Back then, I read on audio Stephen King's On Reading. For a while, I did not pick up an audiobook again, until two years ago when I saw my library had Rachel Maddow's Drift. It was a book I had wanted to read for a while, and since that was the only format they had available, I took it. In addition to the content, I enjoyed that Rachel Maddow herself read the book. I enjoyed the experience. Sadly, I have not checked out too many audiobooks from my local public library because the selection to be honest is a bit meager, especially when it comes to nonfiction; I could comment further on how some of the selections reflect local demographics, but that is really another post for another day perhaps. However, the library does offer a better selection via their Overdrive subscription, so I am hoping to try that out this year. I have read books via Overdrive, but I have not tried out their audiobook options. I am hoping to give them a good test. So, let's get on with it.

The 2016 Audiobook Challenge.

You can visit the link above for further details on the challenge and if you wish to sign up. Here are some rule highlights:

• Runs January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016. You can join at anytime.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2016 than you did in 2015. (That is easy for me. I did not listen to a single one in 2015, so if I do just one, I would outdo myself. However, I will try to get more than one in). 
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.).</li> </ul> <br /> 

Nice thing about this challenge is that any genre counts, and crossovers are good too. So I will try to cross selections here to other challenges. Given my preference for nonfiction in audio, I will probably cross titles from here to the nonfiction challenge I am also doing. Since I am just giving this a try, I am going to commit to the lowest level. Naturally, if I manage to read more, I will upgrade.

Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5 books.

As usual, I will add books to the list of books read as I get to them. I already picked up one from my local  public library today. It is a reread for me; I read it in print a while back, but since I enjoy Mr. Black's comedy, I figured listening to him read it should be fun.

List of books listened to/read for this challenge:

1. Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith.
2. Elizabeth Warren, A Fighting Chance. 
3. Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously...I'm Kidding. 
4. Denis Leary, Why We Suck.
5. Bill Maher, New Rules.