Welcome to the first day of summer. While temperatures around here have been rather mild for the start of summer, you may be ready to hit the road for warmer climates and a well-earned vacation.

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month, which means it’s the perfect time for a reminder that audiobooks make road trips infinitely better. And before it’s asked – yes, audiobooks do count as reading! In fact, I find listening to audiobooks a much more immersive reading experience. Audiobook readers transform stories in a variety of ways, from their carefully crafted character dialects to their storytelling pacing and much more in between.

Since the Delaware County District Library’s Summer Reading Club is for all ages, when you go on a family road trip and turn the audiobook on in the car, it counts for everyone! Kids track by the minutes listened, and adults track by books completed. Don’t forget to download your tracking sheets at www.delawarelibrary.org/summerreading or pick up a log from your nearby branch in Delaware, Liberty Township, Powell, Orange Township, or Ostrander.

The Library has lots of easy ways to take a book on the road with you. Any branch will have the ability to check out books on CD when you look for “Audiobook CD” in the online catalog at www.delawarelibrary.org. You can also use our Digital Collections, located at www.delawarelibrary.org/digital, to search Libby or Hoopla for downloadable audiobooks. Use the associated app to download and play these titles from your favorite mobile device, whether it is a phone, a tablet, or another streaming device.

If this is your first jump into the world of audiobook listening, listen to an award winner! Every year the Audio Publishers Association presents the Audie Awards, the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Visit www.audiopub.org/2023audieawards-winners to see the titles that stole the show this year. Books are reviewed by category (memoir, business, faith-based fiction, fantasy, etc.) and narrator (best female narrator, best male narrator, etc.).

The Delaware Library also offers a digital newsletter with a handful of the newest releases in audiobooks each month. This week’s titles were found in the May 2023 Audiobook recent releases newsletter.

“The Last Tale of the Flower Bride” by Roshani Chokshi; narrated by Steve West and Sura Siu. The unnamed narrator weds mysterious heiress Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada and accompanies his new bride to her family’s estate, the House of Dreams, where he ignores her instructions not to delve into her past. Narration: Steve West and Sura Siu trade narrative duties in this atmospheric gothic fantasy.

“VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline; narrated by Michelle St. John. Meet Lucky St. James, a young Métis woman who lives with her grandmother in Toronto, and has no idea she’s a witch – until her chance discovery of a silver spoon in a secret passageway leads her to VenCo, a corporate entity that serves as a front for a coven. Narration: Wampanoag narrator Michelle St. John expertly juggles multiple characters’ perspectives in this world-building urban fantasy.

“Independence” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; narrated by Sneha Mathan. Sisters Deepa, Priya, and Jamini’s sheltered lives are shattered when their Hindu family is displaced in the traumatic upheaval of the Partition of India. Narration: Sneha Mathan’s measured narration captures the tension of a tumultuous era in India’s history.

“Liar, Dreamer, Thief” by Maria Dong; narrated by Hannah Choi. Mentally and financially struggling Katrina Kim increasingly relies on rigid, maladaptive coping mechanisms to deal with her isolation and soul-sucking job. Narration: Hannah Choi’s fast-paced present-tense narration captures the urgency of unreliable narrator Katrina’s mental health decline.

“Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone” by Benjamin Stevenson; narrated by Barton Welch. Ernie, a self-published author of crime writing guidebooks, ponders mystery writing and promises to be a “reliable narrator.” Narration: Barton Welch’s lively and comedic tone complements this Australian mystery’s farcical, fourth-wall-breaking narrative.

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!