Now Hear This! Your Guide to Audiobooks at YPL

Now Hear This!

Hands holding headphones above an open book.

Being on the go doesn’t mean missing out on a good book. A large collection of audiobooks –including New York Times Best Sellers –are waiting for you at your Yorktown Public Library.

The Benefits of an Audiobook

The Journal of Neuroscience published an article in 2019 stating:

“Humans can comprehend the meaning of words from both spoken and written language. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between the brain representations of spoken or written text. The semantic representations evoked by listening versus reading are almost identical.”

Simply put, reading a book and listening to an audiobook have the same positive effects on the brain.

Other benefits include:

Person with headphones relaxing, surrounded by bookshelves.

Hearing the words spoken can increase vocabulary and comprehension.
People with different learning needs may benefit from hearing a story read aloud.
The human voice adds an emotional connection.
Audiobooks are an accessible way for patrons who are visually impaired consume literature.
Audiobooks and audiobook subscriptions are costly. You save both time and money when you check out an audiobook from your Yorktown Public Library.
Often audiobooks are read by the authors. You are spending time with your favorite author or celebrity, listening as stories are shared between the two of you.

Multitasking just got more “multi” when adding an audiobook to the mix.

Ways to Use Audiobooks:

Woman with headphones using smartphone in a car.

Road Trip- On a solo trip or with the family, actively listening to an audiobook makes your drive more enjoyable.
Working around the house- Imagine looking forward to laundry day! Now you can, when you lose yourself in a good audiobook.
Working in the yard- listen to an audiobook while mowing the yard, weeding the garden or while swaying in the hammock.
Working out- Reward yourself for hitting the treadmill by enjoying an audiobook while you walk.

Browse the collection at your Yorktown Public Library to find the perfect audiobook for you. Here are a few titles from the collection:

IN THE ADULT COLLECTION:

Aimless Love: a Selection of Poems by Billy Collins

From the two-term Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins comes his first compilation of new and selected poems in twelve years. Collins' unmistakable voice, which brings together plain speech with imaginative surprise, is clearly heard with every word, reminding us how he has managed to enrich the tapestry of contemporary poetry and greatly expand its audience.

Man with earphones lies among books, holding one open, smartphone beside him.

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. This is a richly textured story with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana. This book examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old.

Into the Water: A Novel by Paula Hawkins

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

IN THE YOUNG ADULT COLLECTION:

A surprised young person wearing headphones.

Twilight (Twilight Saga #1) by Stephenie Meyer

When seventeen-year-old Bella moves in with her father, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows-a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

IN THE CHILDREN’S COLLECTION:

Serafina and the Black Cloak (Serafina #1) by Robert Beatty

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of the Biltmore Estate. There's plenty to explore in her grand home, but she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists. She and her pa, the estate's maintenance man, have lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember. She has learned to sneak and hide.

A boy with headphones daydreaming at a table with a closed book in front of him.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 tales of extraordinary women (Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls #1) by Elena Favilli

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls reinvents fairy tales, inspiring listeners with the stories of 100 heroic women, from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams. Painters, scientists, dancers, chefs, astronauts, jazz singers, pharaohs, boxers, writers, political leaders...from every corner of the globe.

Niagara Falls, or Does It? (Hank Zipper, the World’s Greatest Underachiever #1) By Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver- Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, whose undiagnosed dyslexia made him a classic childhood underachiever, the Hank Zipper series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences.

ON THE LIBBY APP:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (#1 in a series)

Romantic, adventure-filled fantasy AND dragons! Twenty-year-old Violet was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general--also known as her tough-as-talons mother--has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you're smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away ... because dragons don't bond to "fragile" humans. They incinerate them!

Person with headphones sitting on a yoga mat outdoors at sunset.

Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett

In the spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

None of This is True: A Novel by Lisa Jewell

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

So, why audiobooks?

A young child wearing headphones and reading a book, with a serene expression on her face.

When researching the topic of audiobooks, I read several significant scientific studies (try saying that fast 3 times in a row!) that spotlighted the fact that reading a book and listening to an audiobook have the same positive effect on the brain.

Fascinating information, indeed, but when I asked a young patron to share with me why he enjoys audiobooks and he smiled and said, “Because I feel like I am in the story.” THAT is the best reason of all!

Happy listening!