Kaetrin and Melinda, I was so disappointed with Born to Darkness because I went into it prepared to love it. This is one that would probably be better in print for me with so many passages that NEED skipping over, especially the shouting out of integration levels. 52! 68! 72! Joker, joker! It was so annoying that I really had a hard time forgiving it. I may some day try Lawlor paired with my Raudman. In the distant future.

er… NOT written in 1st person.

Absolutely spot on advice. That’s how I started. One caveat though- you might not want to start with a beloved, read-it-a-hundred-times book because no narrator, no matter how talented, will ever match up to the… er… voices in your head. ;-p The flip side of that is that you will often find yourself understanding characters/scenes in new ways, particularly historical romances (love me some Brit and Scots accents!)

Also, I have to disagree with the rec for the “In Death” series, particularly for beginners. I tried it early on and found Susan Ericksen’s narrator voice too close to Eve’s voice. Since the series is NOT written in 3rd person, I found myself constantly backtracking to figure out whose thoughts she was narrating.

Other than that, you’ve nailed many of my “Better than Print” selections!

Also, check with library systems from a large city in your state. I’m a member of my local library, but as an Ohio resident, I also qualify for Clevenet membership. They have an extensive downloadable audio book section. Oh, and here’s a sooper sekret tip: know someone who already downloads audio books from their library or whose library offers a better selection of dowloadable audio book? Ask them if you can share their membership. Hypothetically speaking (ahem), I MIGHT know a small group of people from different states that do just that all the time.