“Read for you by the author” is a six-word sentence that I dread hearing at the beginning of an audiobook. More times than not I listen to author-read books and am annoyed by their reading style. While they may be good writers, they are not professionally trained voice-actors and it shows. Unfortunately, their lack of skill is often a detriment to the audiobook and sometimes leads me to become disinterested and stop listening. In these cases, reading the book rather than listening to the audio would be beneficial.

There are exceptions to every rule though and some authors are great at reading their own work. Their vocal skills enhance their books so much that I vastly prefer picking up the audio rather than the print version. I was reminded of this when I heard that David Sedaris is coming to town to perform his work at Benaroya Hall. Sedaris is my favorite audiobook performer and I never read his work anymore in favor of the audio.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a hilarious read, but after listening to the audio, I’ve never looked back. I revisit about once a year. Hearing Sedaris read his story of French lessons makes me cry laugh-tears. When I read it to myself, I only LOL. His dry sense of humor is captured perfectly in his audiobooks and he is good at accents and does an impeccable Billie Holiday impression. Sedaris audiobooks are not to be missed.

Here are five other authors whose audiobooks are superior to reading the print book because of their voice-acting prowess.

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As I wrote back in August, I spent the entirety of that month as an artist-in-residence with Willapa Bay AiR in Oysterville, WA, on the Long Beach Peninsula. It was truly a special time, with extraordinarily special people, and I learned many things about, well, many things: art; process; community; shellfish… Here, then, are some of my findings, presented in internet-ready, Buzzfeed-y ‘arbitrary-number-of-things-in-list-form’ fashion (missing only the ‘#7 is Totally Crazy!’ teaser)—enjoy:

1. A Healthy, Encouraging Environment Matters

For one month I got to live in a world where what I do was as important and recognized as any career pursuit—to my artist-peers and the staff, certainly, but in the community as well.  With lovely grounds, comfortable quarters, on-site chef, and nearby ocean, everything was relaxed and easy, which in turn led to sustained productivity! Two of the five songs I finished, including one very much co-inspired by setting, even made their way into Read & Destroy’s October library sets.

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