Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the award for Best Audiobook Experience:
The 7-book Harry Potter series, as read by Jim Dale. I was blown away by the reader, and the experience of listening to (and re-reading, as I re-read two of them in hardcover) the entire series all in one go was really wonderful.
I’d read the first three books a couple of times, but hadn’t re-read Books 4-7 since my first reading of them (which was usually about six months after they came out). To my surprise, the last four books stood up to the test of time for me. Sometimes in series, the books get worse as time goes on. However, the story was better and richer than I’d remembered, and I was completely enthralled again in the entire Harry Potter world. I listened to the books on my commute and then, when I couldn’t get enough, I got the hardcover book from the library so I could continue reading at home once I got out of the car.
I credit Harry Potter with breaking my post-breakup reading slump. I could not get enough, and now I seem to have my reading mojo back enough that I feel able to read for a few hours at a time again.
If you haven’t read the Harry Potter books yet, well, you must. I’m not going to go over the plot here. However, as a re-read, the books held up wonderfully, and as I said, the narrator was so fabulous. He did really convincing voices and maintained them all throughout the entire 7-book span, and it added immeasureably to the experience. The sad parts were even sadder; I cried multiple times throughout the listening. The funny parts were funnier. I laughed out loud. It really felt like a completely viable way to experience the story. Usually I feel that the audio version is just someone reading me the book so I can absorb the book when I can’t actually hold the paper book in my hands. However, this felt like a true performance in its own right. I loved listening to these. I of course liked the books way better than the movies, but the audiobook experience was almost as good as reading them myself, and sometimes moreso.
Perfect, comforting, exciting, dangerous, touching, and oh-so-much fun. I really really loved re-reading and listening to the whole series in one go. I think Book Seven was my favorite this time. I also will always love the charming and simply perfect Book One.
So that’s what I’ve been doing all this time; listening to and re-reading Harry Potter. I think I’ve got just one more book to review and then I’ll be all caught up. I am holding off on starting another novel on the Kindle because I want to save them for the trip, but I might have to start Emma before I go.
wherethereisjoy 
Isn’t Dale a fantastic reader? I don’t listen to audiobooks much but after James and I discovered what a marvelous job Dale does on them we’d read the book and then listen to the audio together in the evenings. So fun. I am glad you have your reading mojo back!
I really need to find out what else he’s read — he’s the best reader I’ve heard!
I remember we couldn’t find the hard cover of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix anywhere. I had preordered it, but there’d been a mistake and my package was delayed. Of course, being the fanatic that I was, I just couldn’t wait. I was devastated. So my dad offered to buy me the audio CD. I had never listened to a book on CD, but my dad, also a fan, and I listened to the first 6 hours together on our drive to my grandparents house. Then I kept my headphones in my ears for the next, oh, 21 hours. I’m sure I took some breaks, maybe for a nap here and there, but I was determined to listen to everything! Since then, my dad, who spends a lot of time driving for his business, has bought all the books on CD and we have listened to them all multiple times. Sometimes we’ll just pull out a CD and start in the middle of a random book. My sisters grew up listening to it. It’s definitely a family tradition!
I know what you mean about your reading mojo, I am in a bit of a slump myself and need to get back on track! I just bought The Night Circus which is on my bedside table as we speak. I read the first HP book but never got around to the others…. Must find them….
i really need to read this series. i initially read the first three books when they came out but somewhere along the way, i lost interest. but now i feel like im missing something. maybe an audio book is in order.
btw: are you able to access jodi over at The Jolly Bee? im catching up with all the blog reading i havent done in the past few weeks and now i realize i dont have permission to read her. so then i looked for her ono FB and i cant find her. did she go underground?