Our endless search for ways you can get your hands on free books, continues.
This week we had a trawl through Spotify – the web/app-based music library.
While their audiobook selection isn’t exhaustive, there is A LOT on there – kids’ books, adult non-fiction, crime thrillers, romances, teen titles…
Our pick of Spotify audiobooks
Adult books
Ibram X. Kendi: Stamped from the Beginning
Ibram’s How to be an AntiRacist has become required for reading for anyone with an active interest in systemic change. His earlier book Stamped from Beginning is currently on Spotify for free.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
This is one of hundreds of classic fiction titles available, but has the distinction of being read by actor Michael Shannon, who you’ll recognise from Boardwalk Empire and The Current War.
Have a root around and you’ll find Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and lots more.
Crime and Thriller fiction
The Crime and Thriller Fiction podcast playlist takes a bit trawling, but we came up with Scottish author Denzil Meyrick, some Victorian crime fiction and Neil White’s Dan Grant trilogy.
Teen Books
Three brilliant teen series, in their entirety, that adults will love too.
The Hunger Games (complete series) by Suzanne Collins
The Raven Boys (complete series) by Maggie Stiefvater
Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve
Children’s fiction
Two titles guaranteed to have your youngsters howling. Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and Rachel Renée Russell’s Dork Diaries.
How to find audiobooks on Spotify
Spotify doesn’t have every author or book. The classics are always there and modern titles come and go – so don’t be disappointed if you look for author and can’t find them.
Spotify is easy enough to navigate if you’re looking for music, but audiobooks are a little bit trickier.
This Bookriot article provides a fairly comprehensive How To:
If you want to just browse what’s available the best thing to do is search for audiobooks and find and follow the audiobook profile. Take a scroll through the profile’s public playlists to see what’s on offer. It’s also worth listening their full-length audiobook guide to find out how to get started.
Let us know if you come across any more in the comments below or on social media.
N.B. All titles present at time of writing – these are subject to Spotify updates.
Falkirk Libraries have the pleasure of leading an audiobook group at Forth Valley Sensory Centre. The individuals who attend the group each experience some degree of sight loss, so audiobooks are a hugely important source of information and entertainment.
While we don’t always share the same opinion of a story, we all agree on one very crucial thing: The narrator plays a big role in your enjoyment of an audiobook.
So, for HiVIS fortnight, we’ve pulled together a small selection of audiobooks with great narration. All of the books listed can be found in Falkirk Libraries’ RB Digital audiobook service.
Audiobooks with a single (sometimes famous) reader
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Yearby Sue Townsend, read by Caroline Quentin Sue ‘Diary of Adrian Mole’ Townsend’s books are always emotional and funny. How do you make them even better? Add Caroline Quentin!
Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson, read by Adjoa Andoh Adjoa Andoh animates the funny, tragic and moving tale of Blessing, and her brother Ezikiel, who are forced to leave behind their comfortable, air-conditioned life in Lagos to live with their grandparents in the Niger Delta.
The Detainee by Peter Liney, read by Jeff Harding Reading group member, John, is a big fan of Jeff Harding, who reads most of the Lee Child and John Connolly novels. Here, he brings to life an elderly mafia enforcer who tries to save his fellow pensioners from a dystopian prison island.
Elizabeth is Missing read by Anna Bentick Anna Bentick does a lovely job bringing Maud’s struggle with dementia – and the whereabouts of her friend Elizabeth – to life.
Why READ a celeb biography when you can hear about their life in their own words?
Gillian Anderson reads We, which isn’t an autobiography, but a ‘Manifesto for Women Everywhere’. Cowritten with Jennifer Nadel.
Beastie Boys’Beastie Boys Book doesn’t just feature AD-Rock and Mike D, but a full cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Elvis Costello, Chuck D, Snoop Dogg, Will Ferrell, Bette Midler, Amy Poehler, Ben Stiller and many more.
Blondie’s Debbie Harry invites us to Face It. She’s had an incredible life and you’ll find it hard to tear yourself away.
Businesswoman Gina Miller successfully challenged the UK Government for triggering of Article 50 without parliamentary approval. She tells her story in Rise.
First LadyMichelle Obama‘s memoir Becoming has been enormously successful – and with good reason!
Multiple narrators
Audiobooks that use multiple narrators often really bring a story to life. Here’s some of our favourites
Love from Paddington by Michael Bond, read by Jim Broadbent Is there a lovelier audiobook than a Paddington story that features Jim Broadbent’s grandfatherly tones?
The Big Mog Collectionby Judith Kerr Charming stories of our favourite storybook cat, read by different people, including Andrew Sachs.
Julian Clary’s Bolds series/David Walliams’ books Julian Clary and David Walliams both read their own stories, to obvious great comic effect.
All of the above titles are available from our RB Digital audiobook service. The easiest way to access is by downloading the app from your app store. You’ll find ebooks, audiobooks and popular magazines all in the one place.
HiVIS Fortnight champions accessible library services, alternative formats, and service providers that deliver reading to those for whom standard print is not an option. The campaign is promoted by Share the Vision. You can find out more on their Reading Sight website.
There seems to be a week for everything nowadays, but here’s one we can really get behind! It’s #LoveAudio week, which gives us an excuse to talk about all the great ways you can access audiobooks from the library. Are you listening?
Falkirk Libraries card? Check! Email address? Check! Mobile device, tablet or laptop? Check! You’re good to go: Download the app or head over to the RB Digital website right now to register and begin downloading top reads by popular authors right away.
Listen to our podcast
Not dropped in on one of our LibraryLove chats yet? Every episode we explore a different theme, talk new books, tackle a reading dilemma and have a few giggles along the way. You can listen directly on this very blog, find us on Spotify, Sticher, iTunes and most places you’d find podcast.
Our audiobook reading group meets at Forth Valley Sensory on the third Tuesday of the month at 10am. We listen to books on Mp3. Contactus if you’re interested.
Hello, fantastic pod folk, we (Vikki and Tanya) enjoyed ourselves today talking about all the books and DVDs we fancy reading and watching during 2018. As always we started with a look back at what we read over the festive period.
• Tanya read the first 4 Harry Potters , plus she’d been watching the dvds
• Tanya also really enjoying Witch Please!, a podcast series about Harry Potter by 2 female Canadian academics
• Vikki had read Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet as well as Shakespeare’s Landlord & Shakespeare’s Champion (Lily Bard series) by Charlaine Harris
• (picture book) 15 Things Not To Do With A Puppy by Margaret McAllister, illustrated by Holly Sterling
• (5 – 7 years) Mummy Fairy and Me by Sophie Kinsella
• (7 – 9 years) Kid Normal and the Rogue Heroes by Greg James and Chris Smith
• (9 – 11 years) Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky
• (9 – 11 years) Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different by Ben Brooks
• (Teen) The Fandom by Anna Day
DVD recommendations:
• Dunkirk 12A
• Baby Driver (15)
• It (15)
• The Highway Rat (U)
• Goodbye Christopher Robin (PG)
Our Reading Agony this week: ‘I got a book token for Xmas – any recommendations for a good book you’ve read that I should buy?’ (this is from a woman in Falkirk who has liked Charlaine Harris, Girl on a Train and Gone Girl) Suggestions included:
• Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
• The Other Mrs Walker by Mary Paulson-Ellis
• Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre
• I Let you Go & I See You Clare Mackintosh
Staff quote of the day ‘I have dragons in the house and we put them along the staircase when my nieces and nephews come’
Our Discussion was all about Books and DVDs we are looking forward to in 2018. Our eclectic wish list included:
• Blade Runner 2049, DVD out in February
• Teen Titans go to the movies , UK cinemas August, no date for dvd yet
• Paper Girls Volume 4 by Brian K Vaughan, published April
• An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris, published October
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Paperback out March, hardback already out
• A Country Escape by Katie Fforde, published February
• Pandora’s Boy (Flavia Albia 6 ,Falco: The New Generation) by
Lindsey Davis, published April
• Scourged (final in the Druid Chronicles series) by Kevin Hearne published April
• Competence (The Custard Protocol 3) by Gail Carriger published July
Did you know? All about our e audiobook service (picture above is of Tanya knitting and listening to an e audiobook in her shed)
Coming Soon: Harry Potter Night Thursday 1st February and
The Hurricane Book Thursday February 22nd 6pm Falkirk Library. For information see our website
Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then please give us a review on itunes so more people get to hear about us – we’ve heard that 5 star reviews are the most fashionable this year. We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to librarylovefalkirk.com, Falkirk Libraries on Facebook, or @LibFalkirk on Twitter