Audiobook Café

A huge part of living the audio bookworm lifestyle is constantly seeking out your next read. That means taking tons of recommendations, be it from websites, close friends or coworkers. That said, not all recommendations are made equal. What is it that makes us take recommendations seriously? And how can we do better the next time we recommend an audiobook to our friends? Today we’re talking about...

Multi-Voice narration audiobooks offer a product that’s more like an engrossing old-school audio drama when done well. When done badly, though, they can be a disjointed mess of cringe, so say the haters. Sarah Hillis is here to help us break it down. Plus, Natasha Peters is our avid bookworm this week, and a rapid-fire review with Natasha is coming up in the 2nd half of the show. Audiobook Café is...

We’re so excited to have one of our favorite audiobook narrators, Julia Whelan, on the show. Julia Whelan is an author, audiobook narrator of over 500 books, screenwriter and actress. Check out the two fantastic novels she's authored. Both are available on Audible and CELA with Julia's narration: My Oxford Year: https://celalibrary.ca/node/24026776 Thank You for Listening: https://celalibrary.ca/n...

On today's episode: With 2023 behind us, Karen Mackay of CELA is here to help us break down the best and most notable audiobooks of the year. Plus, the voice of AMI-audio, Julia Bonett, is joining us as our avid audiobook listener this week. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café...

The last book in the Harry Potter series was published back in 2007, over 15 years ago. That’s 15 years for the millions of fans around the world, including ourselves, to fully absorb the series and what it has to offer. We thought it would be a great time to have a deep dive discussion, giving our retrospective review of the series from a 2023 perspective. To help, we enlisted Grant Hardy, our co...

On today's episode: Being an author is typically thought of as a lonesome affair, but it doesn’t need to be. Enter the strange world of co-authoring. Karen McKay and Theresa Power of CELA join us to help break it down. Emily Wu Zeller is our featured narrator this week on Know Your Narrator and Sarah Hillis is here for the second half of the show. And, somewhere in there, we’ll of course find time...

It’s a rapid-fire review bonanza and Ramya, Nisreen and Jacob are finally participating; Julie Martin, Community Reporter on AMI's Kelly and Ramya, joins us to get it all started. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Instagram @AMIAudiobookCafe  We want your feedback! Be tha...

On this week's episode: Sometimes, we need to take a step back from our busy lives and just appreciate the simple things. And what better way to do that than by immersing yourself in the living world of greenery and beautiful landscapes? If you’re not an outdoors person, the next best thing is reading books about the wild. We wanted a guest to help us with this topic and it only felt natural that...

Red Széll, host of My Life in Books with Red Széll, is with us, all the way from some place called England. Drawing on his years of experience as host of My Life in Books on AMI-audio, interviewing countless authors, it’s safe to say he’s somewhat of an expert on what makes authors tick. Looking forward to getting into it with Red. Plus, we have more responses to our most recent question to the bo...

Is our obsession with rigidly classifying every book into a set list of genres a bad habit that desperately needs breaking? That’s a loaded question. There are no doubt a whole lot of issues that come with our feverish compulsion to sort everything, and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. Later, we’ll be getting into some responses to our book club question: What are some books that left you...

We’re discussing the always-fascinating fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, who’s fully embraced the audiobook revolution despite using his massive platform to condemn what he calls, “Audible's unconscionable business practices,” and casually breaking the record for the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time in the process. And later, Sarah Hillis drops in for our Know Your Narrator segme...

Karen and Theresa of CELA, the Center for Equitable Library Access, join us for another book review, this time for the highly-anticipated memoir, The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears. And later, Aamer Khan shares with us three authors that have piqued his interest in the past month. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturd...

Dave Brown, of the world-famous NOW with Dave Brown, which airs live weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern on AMI-tv, joins us for an in-depth review of Success by Martin Amos (where our quote of the week is from), one of his very own book recommendations . Later on, Jacob and I continue our recommendations with more of our personal favourites. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes...

This week, we finally take a moment to present our own book recommendations, in the thriller/mystery and non-fiction categories. On the second half of the show, Greg David, Communications Specialist at AMI, is subjected to the Rapid-Fire-Review segment. He also gives us his in-depth review of Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new po...

Karen and Theresa make their monthly appearance on the show. This time, we discuss the many reasons why so many people read horror. Why do we willingly want to feel fear and discomfort? There’s a lot to unpack. Plus, Sarah Hillis presents/raves about one of our personal favourite narrators, Julia Whelan, as part of our Know Your Narrator segment Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada a...

This week, Ramya and Jacob convene with the book club to have an in depth discussion on what specifically makes a book enjoyable. Everyone shares their ranking of the following 4 elements in order of personal importance to their enjoyment of a book; Plot, writing, characters and setting. Spoiler alert, opinions differ. We also wrap up banned books week, which ended on October 7th, with a few shock...

We’ll actually make an effort to live up to this show’s name and review a book for once. The invisible Life of Addy Leroux, by V.E. Schwab, is what we’re reviewing today with the help of fellow book nerds Debby Giroux and Amer Khan. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Insta...

On today’s episode, two avid readers are coming on to discuss their recent reading adventures. Karen Magee, Content Development Specialist at AMI is first, followed by Jennie Bovard of the Low Vision Moments podcast after the break. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Insta...

The meat of this episode is our Know your Narrator chat with Sara Hillis, she features long time, legendary narrator, George Guidall. And we touch base on taboos in Literature including 50 Shades of Grey and Love Times Three. Plus, we talk to Bill Shackleton about the bookmobile. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturda...

We speak with Rod Michalko and Dan Goodley, authors of Letters with Smokie, a collection of letters providing a lively exploration of human-animal relationships and space to interrogate disability as disruption, disturbance, and art. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Inst...

We introduce a new member to the Audiobook family and discuss books that are purposely provocative, edgy, and explore taboo topics. Also, we're back with our monthly CELA Talk with Karen McKay and Theresa Power, finally getting into our review of The Whispers by Ashley Audrain. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays...

Aamer Khan features three Pulitzer Prize Winners, books focusing on important, melancholic times in history, where the main characters are on a journey to change the times. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Instagram @AMIAudiobookCafe  We want your feedback! Be that comme...

On today's episode: Bill Shackleton, a live reporter at AMI, brings us up to speed on cozy mysteries. This is a genre of light, dip your toes in, small town vibe mystery stores. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Instagram @AMIAudiobookCafe  We want your feedback! Be that...

On Know Your Narrator, Sara Hillis features the 2023 Audiofile Magazine Golden Voice, Kevin R. Free, whose voice is on over 450 fiction, non-fiction, children's, and adult books. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Instagram @AMIAudiobookCafe  We want your feedback! Be that...

We discuss Obama's Booklist with Karen McKay and Theresa Power from the Centre for Equitable Library Access, getting into why his booklists are unique, how they're curated, and why he continues to release them past his presidency. Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. ET.  Follow Audiobook Café on Instagr...