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Heard Any Good Books Lately?

As a lover of books, I am doubly blessed because I always have two books in my life at a time: one resting on my nightstand and another loaded in my MP3 player. Audiobooks have been a special part of my life for a decade, not only as the soundtrack for my (almost) daily walks but as the living voice of some of the books I treasure most.

Among my favorites are Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, read by Alyssa Bresnahan; Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, narrated by Jenna Lamia; John Grisham's The Last Juror, read by Michael Beck; Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, read by Barbara Caruso; and Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, with narration by Laurel Lefkow and William Hope. And who can resist this year's Audiobook of the Year, The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller written by Jeffrey Deaver, Lisa Scottoline and other popular mystery writers and narrated by Alfred Molina?

Abridged or unabridged, fiction or non, CD/cassette or download, there's something for everyone in audiobooks. According to The Audio Publishers Association, nearly one in four Americans has given audiobooks a try. People are listening on treadmills, in their cars, while cleaning house or walking the dog. For those who have little time to curl up with an actual book, audiobooks can expand available "reading" time dramatically. The APA estimates total annual audiobook sales at more than $920 million.

Literary purists insist that the intimate experience of reading words on the page is the only way to absorb a book and all its nuances. I've even been accused of cheating because I allow others to do the reading for me. Surely these skeptics have never experienced the way a skilled narrator can elevate a so-so book or take a great book to even greater heights. What could be more intimate than hearing an author read his or her own words, as done so effectively in Toni Morrison's Beloved, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, Jane Fonda's My Life So Far and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain?

As the voice of Harry, Hermione, Ron and company in the U.S. audiobooks of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Jim Dale brings each of hundreds of characters uniquely to life. His voice became so integral to my enjoyment of the books that I couldn't imagine simply reading one of them. Fortunately for me and other audiobook devotees, the audiobook release typically coincides with the hardback release of a book.

Among my most profound hours with audiobooks were those

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