If you’re connected with me on Twitter or Facebook then you have probably already caught this piece of news. My first foray into audiobooks was Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and it is now available in bookstores such as Chapters and available online from retailers like Amazon, Audible and Allen and Unwin. Jasper Jones is published by the lovely folks at Random House Audio. I recorded with their Los Angeles studio, from mine here in Victoria.

It was a remarkable and challenging experience – I learned a lot from the whole process. This week I am finishing up my second audiobook project and I have to say that I’m glad that I dealt with the steep learning curve while recording Jasper Jones. I would have been crushed by the weight of this new project if didn’t have any previous exposure. Ok, that’s perhaps a tad dramatic, but I am glad I knew what I was up against.

I hope that you’ll check out Jasper Jones. It’s been described by critics as “An Australian To Kill A Mockingbird“. Here’s the synopsis from the publisher:

Charlie Bucktin, a bookish 13-year-old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie’s help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.

Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper’s horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion.
He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.