my top 3 audiobooks of 2023

hi everyone so in 2023 I read at least 23 audiobooks and I say at least because I often switch between formats however when it comes to formats audiobooks were my dominant format of 2023 so I thought I'd share my top three Audi books with you now when it comes to the best audiobooks at least for me it's a combination of great writing and great narration great narration can bring stories to life in a whole new way and I know people who often reread their favorite book as an audiobook and get some

thing completely new out of it in this video I'm going to focus Less on the writing because I talk about that in my monthly reading wrap-ups and instead I'm going to focus on giving the narrators of these books some extra love so if you're curious let's just get into it first up we have light from uncommon stars coming in at 13 hours and 13 minutes it's written by Reika Aoki and narrated by Cindy K this book is an epic mixed genre Work featuring sci-fi fan dilemas and donuts now when it comes to

the Nar narration Cindy K did an amazing job and she's quite prolific according to her audible profile she's narrated over 270 books now in this book there were three main female protagonists that occupied some type of Asian identity there were also a whole host of other characters with different backgrounds and Cindy K did a great job of making all those characters feel distinct she slid open her bedroom window outside there was noise from a police helicopter noise from some family next door t

here was noise from the highway from nice cars leaving and less nice cars coming home yet Katrina moved steadily almost gracefully as she gathered what she needed in 2021 she won an audio ear files award for this narration and this is what they said Kay's melodic voice draws the characters's passions and fears to the Forefront and her spot-on pacing and respectful authentic accents further strengthen listeners empathy I completely agree with this as she was narrating all these different characte

rs and their different backgrounds they never once felt like a caricature she used her voice in such an Artful way in this book and I highly recommend listening to it next up we have healer of the water monster coming in at 9 hours it's written by Brian Young and narrated by Shawn Taylor Corbett this book follows the young navajoa boy who makes the promise to a water monster all the while navigating complex family Dynamics Shan Taylor Corbett did an amazing job with this narration he's narrated

over 70 Audi books and many of the audio books he narrates features indigenous character and authors he's also part indigenous to the US specifically black feet hi there editing Smitty here I realized I forgot to mention one part of the narration that I just really enjoyed and that was the way sha Taylor Corbett narrated the protagonist one by one they scaled the Reed as quickly as they could at the ceiling the beings discovered a small hole through which they could escape the livid Waters benea

th them before they could leave first man and first woman had to make sure to carry as many seeds as possible even though I am not a middle schooler I just felt so connected to his plight and his journey and where he was at in that moment and I really attribute a lot of that to both the writing as well as the narration also there were so many characters whose plates could have been easily judged and again the writing was so Artful but the narration on top of that you just really felt for these c

haracters and connected with them now this book featured the Navajo language and while I don't personally speak Navajo I thought he did an amazing job of speaking the language which really brought the book to life for me and it was just super powerful now given the level of care and conscientiousness that I felt went into writing this book I'm assuming that's the same level that went into approving the quality of the Navajo language narration so I'm assuming it's good anyway it was so powerful t

o hear the Navajo language while listening to this Audi book and it's a fantastic Audi book overall so I highly recommend it finally we have braiding sweet grass coming in at 16 hours and 44 minutes this book is written by Robin wal kimmerer and also narrated by Robin Wal kimmerer now Audi books narrated by the author are a mix bag however this one absolutely worked basically it follows Robin wal kimmer's Journey as an indigenous Woman as a scientist and as a single mom this is a mixed genre wor

k there's science writing poetry and menoir and given the fact that Memoir is entangled in it hearing Robin wal kimmerer narrate this herself makes it just so much more intimate and quite powerful her narration is very calm and matches the slow pace of this book in a way I was raised by strawberries fields of them not to exclude the maples hemlocks White Pine Golden Rod asers violets and mosses of Upstate New York but it was a wild strawberry beneath dewy leaves on an almost summer morning who g

ave me my sense of the world my place in it now the chapters are around 30 minutes some are longer and some are shorter and I feel like you can finish a chapter set it down or pause it and then come back to it later without feeling like you've missed anything kimmer's narration exudes humility care conscientiousness humility um so many themes that are very prevalent in her book honestly even if I were ever to write at this level I don't think I could narrate a book like this so I am just an awe

here so yeah those are my top three audio books for 2023 let me know what was your favorite or top three audiobooks if you're an Audi book listener yourself that's all for this video and I'll catch you in the next one [Music] bye [Music] [Music]