The month of June is National Audiobook Month and Jen at Devourer of Books is hosting daily discussions of audiobooks all this week. I’m a huge audiobook addict and you might have noticed that many of the book reviews Jose and I do are of audiobooks. We started listening to them a few years ago to make our respective commutes to work go by faster. Since then, I’ve also started listening to them on the treadmill or while doing chores. I love them because they allow you to do two things at once and they make boring tasks a lot more fun.

In honor of Audiobook Week, I thought I’d share some of my all-time favorites:

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
I consider David Sedaris’ audiobooks to be some of the best out there, and I think they are a great starting point for a newbie. Sedaris narrates them himself with perfect comedic timing and delivery. I picked Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim because just thinking about the southern accent he does when imitating his brother Paul (aka “The Rooster”) makes me giggle, but all his audiobooks are awesome. Check out my review of Live For Your Listening Pleasure here.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of my favorite books in general, but it works particularly well as an audiobook. William Hope (Henry) and Laurel Lefkow (Clare) narrate the unabridged version. Since the book switches back and forth between Henry and Clare’s perspectives, having a male and a female narrator works perfectly. It has been awhile since I listened to this one, but I can still hear the longing in Clare’s voice as she waits for Henry.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Help audiobook was my favorite book of 2009. It’s narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell. Minny, who is sassy and speaks with a thick dialect, is brought to life by Bahni Turpin. Octavia Spencer (who will actually play Minny in the movie version) is the calm, thoughtful Aibileen, and I really connected to her character. These ladies deliver wonderful performances with authentic southern accents (to my Yankee ears) that made me feel like I was actually in the South during the 1960s. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. (Read my full review here.)

Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers
When I started listening to the Twilight audiobook, I was instantly captivated by Ilyana Kadushin’s rich, textured voice. She narrated Bella so perfectly that, to me, she IS Bella. If I go back and read a passage from one of the Twilight books, it’s her voice I hear in my head.

Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
I know a lot of people list the Harry Potter audiobooks among their favorites, but there’s a reason for this—they are GOOD. I’ve listened to the US version of the audiobooks, which are narrated by talented English actor Jim Dale. He created a different voice for each character, which is just amazing considered how many characters are in the series. His Hermione is a little whiny, but he captures most of the other characters perfectly. He really gets into it and delivers a performance, rather than a narration.

So have you listened to any of my picks? What are some of your favorite audiobooks?

Mr. Rochester, from Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, has been voted the most romantic hero in literature in a new poll by Mills and Boon. I guess some women like their romantic heroes dark and brooding with an insane wife locked up in the attic. Crazy wife aside, Mr. Rochester is just too moody and arrogant for my taste. My top pick would be Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. I’m really surprised that he was third in the poll, behind Richard Sharpe of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series. Here’s a list of the top ten:

1. Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte

2.Richard Sharpe, Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

3. Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

5. Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

6. Mark Darcy, Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding

7. Captain Corelli, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Berniere

8. Henry DeTamble, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

9. Gabriel Oak, Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

10. Rupert Campbell Black, The Rutshire Chronicles by Jilly Cooper

I like that Henry from The Time Traveler’s Wife made the list because the time traveling librarian is one of my favorite characters. I’ve written about my disdain for Heathcliff before, so I’m just going to leave that one alone. So what do you think of the list? Who’s your favorite literary romantic hero?

Once in a while I read a book that is so original, touching, or thought-provoking that it stays with me long after I’ve finished reading. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is the perfect example of a book like this because it is all of these things and more. It tells the love story of Henry and Clare and how they maintain a relationship while Henry is spontaneously traveling to different points in time. The book begins with Henry meeting Clare for the first time when he is twenty-eight and she is twenty, but she first met him when she was six years old and he was in his thirties. This may seem impossible, but, due to a genetic disorder, Henry randomly travels through time. During one of his early visits, Henry tells Clare that in the future they are married, and thus begins Clare’s life of waiting for Henry to visit, waiting to meet him in real time, waiting for him to return from time traveling. Clare struggles with feeling trapped by knowing what happens in the future, like she can’t make her own choices because it’s all pre-determined. Clare and Henry face many interesting obstacles because of their very unique situation.

Even though the book is called The Time Traveler’s Wife, to me, it’s all about Henry. Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, which means during times of stress he will uncontrollably travel to a different time, usually to a meaningful point in his own life. He can’t take anything with him, so he ends up in his new location naked and disoriented. Henry is a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, although I don’t understand how he keeps his job when he is always disappearing and leaving a puddle of clothing behind. He’s well read, into punk rock, and has learned how to pick locks, fight, and do anything to survive.

I love science fiction, love stories, time travel, interesting characters, punk rock, libraries, and Lake Michigan, and The Time Traveler’s Wife combines all these things into one awesome book. When Clare is a child, she and Henry always meet in a meadow outside her house on Lake Michigan, and I just loved reading about this idyllic setting (full disclosure: I’m from Michigan and a sucker for anything set in our beautiful state). I really loved everything about this book, but the time travel aspect particularly fascinated me. Yes, at times all the jumping around in time is confusing, but you just have to go with it. You might think it all sounds very implausible, but the author just makes it all seem so real and believable that you really become invested in the story.

The Time Traveler’s Wife movie is coming out later this summer and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be half as good as the book (you can watch the trailer here). I think this story has the potential to be a great movie, but I’m not getting my hopes up too much. This book is hard to classify because it’s part science fiction, part romance, and part literary fiction. So basically, if you are a fan of fiction and like a good love story, this book should be in your library.

Buy The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on Amazon by clicking here.