(Slightly) Worried

Okay, call me paranoid, but am I the only one worried by the fact that audible was just purchased by amazon? I adore audible to the tune of two subscriptions a month. I am concerned it will change, or become more expensive. Please, convince me I'm wrong!

The Best Book I've Read in 2007 and an Industry Question

Yesterday I finally got the chance to read Christian Jungersen's The Exception. This book has been on my adult TBR for months. Part mediation on the nature of evil, part psychological thriller, The Exception is a fast-paced philosophical read that kept me up all night.

Here's the thing, though: The entire time I was reading--an eight-hour period during which I ignored family and friends--I was thinking how much I would have loved The Exception as an audio download. First of all, the Danish names would have been pronounced better than they were in my head. Second, I wouldn't have raced through it as I did. In my mad rush to figure out what happened, I'm sure I missed a lot. I really was sad I wasn't listening instead of reading.

So here's my industry question: Why do some publishing houses (Random House) have their audio up and ready when the book is released?* And, why do others wait and wait and wait. The Exception has been out for about six months (Doubleday) and still no audio. Because I read and listen to two different titles at any given time, I like the freedom to choose which books I'd like to listen to and which I'd like in hard copy. (Then We Came to the End, another book I've enjoyed over the past week, was definitely more suited to book format.)

Does anyone know which questions are at play here in deciding which books will have audio and which will not?
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* And here's the other thing: I borrowed my copy of The Exception from my parents. I would have purchased the audio in September had it been available. That's $30 gone.

Free audio: Wolf Brother

Don't miss the free audio of Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother made available by the Guardian. You can listen to it on the Guardian site or find it via i-tunes. The last episode is available (and the book is read by Ian McKellen!) now, so catch it before it's gone.

Felled by audio

I had every intention of posting a review of this fabulous book to the right today. It's going to have to wait until tomorrow, however, as not just one, but two audio books had me glued to the ipod.

First up was John Banville's Christine Falls. This is a mystery he wrote under the pen name Benjamin Black. I loved Banville's The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. Loved it. But I have to say that Christine Falls--a mystery, no less--may have even been better. Hands down, Banville's use of POV in Christine Falls was the most skillful I've seen in years. It's a slow read (or listen), because it's fairly dense, but immensely rewarding.

Next up was Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. I purchased this one before the Virginia Tech atrocities, so was reluctant to read another school shooting novel. But...it gripped me from the first moment. Unlike Christine Falls, in which multiple POVs conflict and contradict one another, there is only one point of view in We Need to Talk About Kevin. A one-sided epistolary novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin is compelling from start to finish. And, there's a reason almost every critic used the world "unflinching" in regards to this novel. Narrator Eva is not perfect--she's arrogant, yet critical of herself. She's impatient, yet tries as best she can as a mother. She's almost a genetic copy of her son, but can barely tolerate him from birth. 15 hours and I listened to it all--including the interview at the end. ** And, while I had imagined the ending as one of possible outcomes, it didn't bother me in the least.

Tomorrow I'll be back, I promise. I lost a day to stories.
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**I will mention here that the audio of We Need to Talk About Kevin was, in some ways, a trial. I could hear the narrator's every swallow, every intake of breath, every drink of water. The narrator herself was quite good, but the editing, obviously, left something to be desired. Read this one instead if extraneous noises between sentences bother you :)

Okay, never mind

The Harry Potter books ARE available on digital audiobook format. Why didn't I know this? Because they're an i-tunes exclusive.

Amended commentary on my part:

AP reports (link via USA Today) that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be available AS AN E-BOOK via download.

Here's what the AP has to say about the matter:

• "Rowling has cited two reasons over the years: concern about online piracy (which has never been a major problem for the Potter books), and the desire for readers to experience the books on paper."

The first issue is not true. I know that the books are translated illegally in at least 3 different languages on the internet. But the second issue, I have a question about. Are enough people actually using e-books to make such an enterprise viable in the Potter case?

Thanks to Liz B. and Stephanie for reading more closely than I did. I merely panicked.