July 17, 2015 
John 
As some readers might remember from past blog posts, my in-laws live in coastal Maine, which is about a 7-hour drive from NYC. Usually, we leave right after the boys wake up and arrive mid-afternoon. However, we’re going up next weekend, and to maximize our time, we’re attempting a night drive next Friday night. We’ve never done this before, but the boys are solid sleepers, and after a full week of camp they’re typically knocked out by Friday evening. So, I’m hopeful they’ll conk out before we hit Connecticut and stay that way!
Okay, what does this have to do with books? Well, typically when we drive up to Maine I get about a half-hour of radio in before the boys demand a DVD, and so most of the entertainment on the trip consists of me listening to the audio of their movie from the back seat. It’s a slightly surreal experience–I could probably recite the dialog of THE LEGO MOVIE and DESPICABLE ME before I’d even seen either movie.
But for the night drive, movies will be shut off by nightfall, and I figure the radio will be too noisy or distracting for the boys. And while they tend to snooze whenever we put on dub or reggae, I’m worried that might be a little sleep-inducing for the driver, too. So it dawned on me–here’s a perfect chance to listen to an audio book! And yet, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit, I’ve never done an audio book before. Whenever I’m alone in the car, I’m a music guy–either I tune in to the radio or load up the ipod with something new.
So, any suggestions for a good listen? Any readers that I should look for or avoid if I want to stay awake but keep the boys asleep? I was thinking of downloading GIRL ON A TRAIN, since I haven’t read it yet–has anyone listened to it and can recommend? Thanks in advance for the feedback!
I hope you don’t mind me suggesting my book Reign of Blood, which is now in audiobook. It’s perfect for fans of The Walking Dead, I Am Legend, or Resident Evil. It’ll keep you awake.
Remember that whatever you choose, the boys will hear it and may be affected by it. They may look asleep, but you don’t know for sure.
I’ve never used audio books — have always suspected they would take my mind off my driving. However, I have made many road trips with young kids. Our method was to get up before dawn and wake the kids just enough to get them into the car in their pajamas. They’d quickly fall back to sleep and we’d get 3-4 hours driving done before they woke. At that point, we’d stop. They’d get dressed and we’d all have breakfast before happily continuing. The kids were alert and interested to know where we were. The adults had covered half the journey and were not stuck being tired from an all-night drive with five youngsters who had just started their day.
Apart from a little rain, we’re having a lovely summer up here in Maine. I hope you have a great time!
Greetings, John! As an audiobook narrator, I’m thrilled that you want to start listening to books! I feel confident that you will enjoy the experience, and the authors you represent will benefit from it down the road (pardon the pun).
Some people say that they kind of had to “train” themselves to follow the story when they first began to listen to books. You can read more about that topic in this Goodreads thread.
For this reason, you might want to start with a funny book as your first listen. I heartily recommend Tina Fey’s BOSSYPANTS and 2 books by David Sedaris: DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROYS AND DENIM and ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY. All 3 of these books are narrated by their funny and talented authors.
Since you like historical non-fiction, you probably would be enthralled by Eric Larson’s DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA. This account is narrated by audiobook superstar Scott Brick, who makes you feel thrilled and anxious as though you are right there in the action.
Fiction also can keep you entertained and interested on long car trips. My husband and I listened to the mega best-seller THE HELP by Katherine Stockett (with 4 outstanding narrators) on a car trip. I believe that I read that THE HELP is the highest rated book on Audible.com, which is saying a lot! We also enjoyed Jess Walters’s BEAUTIFUL RUINS, wonderfully narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t share my own narrations with you!
If you see a book I’ve narrated in the Audible link below that you would like to have, I would be delighted to send you a gift copy of it!
Enjoy your trip to Maine, and more importantly, congrats on embarking on the audiobook journey!
Cordially,
Karen Commins
My audiobooks on Audible: http://j.mp/KarenComminsOnAudible
I\’ve listened to a lot of audio books while painting and working around the house, but never while driving. I think it\’s a point well taken the kids will hear some of it, so you might want to go for something lighter. One of my favourite audio books is a MG called FlIPPED. For adult stuff, I love TELEGRAPH DAYS by Larry McMurtry. It\’s been so long since I listened to it though I can\’t say if it\’s kid appropriate or not. I think it might be. It\’s a western. And of course, the audios of Harry Potter are all fantastic!We always did the leave at 4am when I was a kid, too.
I guess it’s an improvement that if you type the captcha wrong and have to retype a new one it just changes your apostrophes to /. It used to delete the post entirely!