Chapter 1: What audiobook trends are expected for 2026?
Welcome to 2026, another year that I fully expect the popularity of audiobooks to continue to grow. And this show, Audiobook Cafe, will be ready to welcome any new listeners with open arms. Winter is kind of a weird time for readers and listeners because if you didn't know, the publishing industry kind of sees the winter season as a kind of a down season.
For them, it's all about summer and especially fall leading to the holidays. You know, a lot of people are buying gifts for their friends and family for Christmas and stuff like that. But for us, the readers and listeners, winter is prime listening season.
and january in particular for me is an audiobook listening month because of specifically january 2024 which was the weirdest month of my life let me explain around that time i had just moved to toronto in my apartment and at the time my partner and i were in essence of long distance so i was on my own for a while and it was wintry i didn't want to leave i think i only went into the office twice
For some reason, I didn't leave the apartment whatsoever for practically the entirety of January. I stayed at home and I listened to audiobooks. All day. All night. I've never listened to so many audiobooks.
Chapter 2: Why is winter considered prime audiobook listening season?
And it just so happened that the books that I was reading just happened to be very wintery. Mainly, I was reading a lot of Robin Hobb. And her books just tend to happen a lot in the winter. And there's a lot of drudging through the snow. That month was an absolute blur. And I realized that... It's like my social skills deteriorated. That's how bad it was. I didn't talk to anyone.
January 2024 will forever live up in my mind. As a mother, I didn't hate. It was actually really nice listening to audiobooks all the time. But you should also make an effort to leave the house. It's not just me that sees winter as the season for long audiobook listening sessions.
And by the way, I'm including the holiday season here because today, Red Sail and I are unwrapping our top 2025 holiday season listens. This is Audiobook Cafe. I'm Jacob Charmansky. Red Sale is the host of My Life in Books on AMI-audio. He's connecting from the UK. Red, welcome to 26. How was Christmas for you this year?
And how often did you run away from your family to go and listen to audiobooks?
Happy New Year to you as well, Jacob. Thank you very much for having me back on the show. Yeah, I had a fantastic Christmas. Thank you very much. I didn't actually have to run away from my family so much as wait for them to come back to the house.
Christmas television show for the BBC and one of my daughters had just started a new job in publishing and the other one lives up in the north of England and hadn't finished her studies. So I had the most fantastic week before Christmas, curled up a bit like you on the sofa with some books that I've been aching to read.
And absolutely top of my list, the first one that I grabbed on my iPod was The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. Now, anybody who doesn't know Stuart Turton, who is the author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil in the Deep Water, really needs to listen to one of the first episodes of
of my life in books that i recorded about four or five years ago where i interviewed him about the devil in the deep water and also just get into his books this third book just demonstrates why he is one of the twistiest, cleverest mystery writers you will ever come across.
It's set on a post-apocalyptic island, which is the last refuge for 122 villagers and three scientists, after a mystery fog has destroyed the world. And in case you don't think that's enough, there is a murder of one of the scientists. And the villagers have 107 hours to solve the case. Otherwise, the barrier preventing the fog will drop and they'll all be dead.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of 'The Last Murder at the End of the World'?
That's funny. I mean, I'm a massive fan of radio drama. I always have been. It is a radio drama, yeah. Even before I lost my sight. But I agree. I think as blind people, we're more used to being able to filter out you know, what's important from lots of sound going on around us without visual clues. And I know my wife isn't particularly fond of radio drama. She'd prefer to watch a movie.
And I... Yeah, I mean, I'll give them a listen. I... really enjoyed the original books, some of which I read in print, and then the longer ones of which I listened to as audiobooks. I can see why Audible's throwing the kitchen sink at this one and, you know, really going to town. These will stand the test of time, I think, probably better than the film.
It's even like it's also just the Harry Potter franchise, which sells itself. They did not need to go this hard on the production, but they did.
The kids who used to babysit my two daughters grew up with these books. They're now in their 30s. They've got purchasing power. They want to go back to the world that they discovered 20 odd years ago. And so, yeah, no, I think it's a wise thing for Audible to do. Look, anything that gets more people listening to audio books, anything that gets more people reading can't be bad.
They released the first one in November, book two in December, and now the third one, Prisoner of Azkaban, is coming out on January 13th. Red, let's hear your next book that you read over the holidays that you want to shout out.
Right. Well, this is also traveling back in time. This was suggested to me by my rock climbing partner. Obviously, we're not doing much climbing over Christmas. And it's a man called Ove, O-V-E, that is. by Frederick Bachman. Oh, I read that last year. I loved it. It's a beautiful book. It is a really life-affirming book.
Anybody who doesn't know the story, Over appears to be the grumpiest old man you will ever meet. He's obsessed by rules. He's always ticking people off the small infringements. He believes that his neighbours are all He despises people who can't control their dogs and stop them peeing outside his house.
He loathes the fact that people in electronic shops seem to speak in riddles and he has never forgiven his neighbour and former friend Runa for abusing. organising a coup to get him kicked out from being chair of the Residence Committee. And frankly, he's isolated himself and he's thinking of ending it all.
And his attempts to end it all are thwarted by his new neighbour, a woman who was brought up in Iran... I think, if I remember correctly, and her two young daughters, who is married to a fairly useless husband and recognises that Ove is actually rather good with his tools, his hands. You know, he can put up a shelf and open a window.
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