The last book in the Harry Potter series was published back in 2007, over 15 years ago. That’s 15 years for the millions of fans around the world, including ourselves, to fully absorb the series and what it has to offer. We thought it would be a great time to have a deep dive discussion, giving our retrospective review of the series from a 2023 perspective. To help, we enlisted Grant Hardy, our colleague, producer on AMI's Kelly and Ramya and massive HP fan, to join us. We also get into the rollercoaster of reactions and comments the world has been expressing around the author of the Harry Potter universe, J.K. Rowling.

On today's episode: Being an author is typically thought of as a lonesome affair, but it doesn’t need to be. Enter the strange world of co-authoring. Karen McKay and Theresa Power of CELA join us to help break it down. Emily Wu Zeller is our featured narrator this week on Know Your Narrator and Sarah Hillis is here for the second half of the show. And, somewhere in there, we’ll of course find time for this week’s question to the book club: what books give you wintery vibes?

It’s a rapid-fire review bonanza and Ramya, Nisreen and Jacob are finally participating; Julie Martin, Community Reporter on AMI's Kelly and Ramya, joins us to get it all started.

On this week's episode: Sometimes, we need to take a step back from our busy lives and just appreciate the simple things. And what better way to do that than by immersing yourself in the living world of greenery and beautiful landscapes? If you’re not an outdoors person, the next best thing is reading books about the wild. We wanted a guest to help us with this topic and it only felt natural that that had to be none other than Lawrence Gunther of Outdoors with Lawrence Gunther. Plus, our very own audiobook curator, Aamer Khan, joins us with this month’s recommendations, with the theme, Magic, Mythology and Malaysia.

Red Széll, host of My Life in Books with Red Széll, is with us, all the way from some place called England. Drawing on his years of experience as host of My Life in Books on AMI-audio, interviewing countless authors, it’s safe to say he’s somewhat of an expert on what makes authors tick. Looking forward to getting into it with Red. Plus, we have more responses to our most recent question to the book club: What are books that left you with strong mixed feelings? (i.e., books that had you equally enthralled and frustrated.) That’s for later though.

Is our obsession with rigidly classifying every book into a set list of genres a bad habit that desperately needs breaking? That’s a loaded question. There are no doubt a whole lot of issues that come with our feverish compulsion to sort everything, and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. Later, we’ll be getting into some responses to our book club question: What are some books that left you with strong mixed feelings? (i.e., a book that left you equally enthralled and frustrated.)

We’re discussing the always-fascinating fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, who’s fully embraced the audiobook revolution despite using his massive platform to condemn what he calls, “Audible's unconscionable business practices,” and casually breaking the record for the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time in the process. And later, Sarah Hillis drops in for our Know Your Narrator segment; Edoardo Ballerini is our featured narrator this week.

Karen and Theresa of CELA, the Center for Equitable Library Access, join us for another book review, this time for the highly-anticipated memoir, The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears. And later, Aamer Khan shares with us three authors that have piqued his interest in the past month.

Dave Brown, of the world-famous NOW with Dave Brown, which airs live weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern on AMI-tv, joins us for an in-depth review of Success by Martin Amos (where our quote of the week is from), one of his very own book recommendations . Later on, Jacob and I continue our recommendations with more of our personal favourites.

This week, we finally take a moment to present our own book recommendations, in the thriller/mystery and non-fiction categories. On the second half of the show, Greg David, Communications Specialist at AMI, is subjected to the Rapid-Fire-Review segment. He also gives us his in-depth review of Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre.

Karen and Theresa make their monthly appearance on the show. This time, we discuss the many reasons why so many people read horror. Why do we willingly want to feel fear and discomfort? There’s a lot to unpack. Plus, Sarah Hillis presents/raves about one of our personal favourite narrators, Julia Whelan, as part of our Know Your Narrator segment

This week, Ramya and Jacob convene with the book club to have an in depth discussion on what specifically makes a book enjoyable. Everyone shares their ranking of the following 4 elements in order of personal importance to their enjoyment of a book; Plot, writing, characters and setting. Spoiler alert, opinions differ. We also wrap up banned books week, which ended on October 7th, with a few shocking statistics from the ALA, American Library Association as well as take a look back at the history of book bannings

We’ll actually make an effort to live up to this show’s name and review a book for once. The invisible Life of Addy Leroux, by V.E. Schwab, is what we’re reviewing today with the help of fellow book nerds Debby Giroux and Amer Khan.

On today’s episode, two avid readers are coming on to discuss their recent reading adventures. Karen Magee, Content Development Specialist at AMI is first, followed by Jennie Bovard of the Low Vision Moments podcast after the break.

The meat of this episode is our Know your Narrator chat with Sara Hillis, she features long time, legendary narrator, George Guidall. And we touch base on taboos in Literature including 50 Shades of Grey and Love Times Three. Plus, we talk to Bill Shackleton about the bookmobile.

We speak with Rod Michalko and Dan Goodley, authors of Letters with Smokie, a collection of letters providing a lively exploration of human-animal relationships and space to interrogate disability as disruption, disturbance, and art.

We introduce a new member to the Audiobook family and discuss books that are purposely provocative, edgy, and explore taboo topics. Also, we're back with our monthly CELA Talk with Karen McKay and Theresa Power, finally getting into our review of The Whispers by Ashley Audrain.

Aamer Khan features three Pulitzer Prize Winners, books focusing on important, melancholic times in history, where the main characters are on a journey to change the times.

On today's episode: Bill Shackleton, a live reporter at AMI, brings us up to speed on cozy mysteries. This is a genre of light, dip your toes in, small town vibe mystery stores.

On Know Your Narrator, Sara Hillis features the 2023 Audiofile Magazine Golden Voice, Kevin R. Free, whose voice is on over 450 fiction, non-fiction, children's, and adult books.

We discuss Obama's Booklist with Karen McKay and Theresa Power from the Centre for Equitable Library Access, getting into why his booklists are unique, how they're curated, and why he continues to release them past his presidency.

Aamer Khan brings us his book reviews of July, including My Oxford year by Julia Whelan, a title he’s giving a standing ovation to

Ryan Hooey is back to recommend one of his favourite listens this year, The Nameless Restaurant: A Cozy Cooking Fantasy, by Tao Wong.

We welcome Meagan Gillmore, Host of the Connecting Disability podcast on AMI, to discuss her favourite children's author, Jean LIttle. Plus, we hit Pause or Play on the title Snow Road Station, By Elizabeth Hay.

Sara Hillis introduces us to this month's Know Your Narrator, Marin Ireland, one of the 2023 Audiofile Magazine Golden Voices.

Let's continue understanding why we choose summer reads as summer reads, with Karen McKay and Theresa Power from the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

Aamer Khan breaks down our book preferences into what's Comfortable, what's expected, and what's still to come. We chat through our own nostalgic reads, go-to series, and the books we’re willing to pick up next.

We welcome Ali Moosa, Host of the podcast All Over The Map, with his book recommendation, Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich, released in 2023.

Nicholas Boulton is one of three new Golden Voices named this year by Audiofile Magazine. This designation is given to narrators who have made a definite impact on the industry over several years. We profile his work on Know Your Narrator with Sara Hillis.

Celebrating Pride! Let's flip through titles in recognition of Pride Month, with Karen McKay from the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

Aamer Khan has reached into the classic literature archives and pulled out Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. He reviews the read, and discusses how a classic piece like this one stands in today's book world.

We discuss modern Western stories with Kelly MacDonald, who picked up Westerns after years of avoiding the genre. He highlights one of his favourite authors, Author William W. Johnstone, and several of his series.

We dive into this month's Know Your Narrator feature with Sara Hillis. Let's highlight Rosamund Pike: the 2023 Audie winner for Best Female Narrator, awarded for her work on The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

Let’s get into recent book club picks with Theresa Power and Karen McKay from the Centre for Equitable Library Access. We highlight three hot new titles climbing the charts through the influence of well-known book clubs; - Hold My Girl: A Novel By Charlene Carr. 2023 - Hello beautiful: A novel By Ann Napolitano. 2023 (Oprah 100th book club pick) - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers Kindle Edition by Jesse Q. Sutanto

What makes for a satisfying book? We ponder through Aamer Khan's three latest listens, The Ninja, The Crowd Pleasers, and Mad Honey.

Jeffrey Rainey, Producer of the Living Blind podcast, is back to examine memoires by competitive athletes who've penned the truth behind their experiences after leaving the game. Plus, Let's press Pause or Play on Cobalt red: How the blood of the congo powers our lives, by Siddharth Kara.

On March 15, 2023, Leonardo Audio produced a multi-cast production of James Fox’s space opera, “Revolution”, the first book in his “The Sol Saga” series. As a first-time treat on Audiobook Review, we invite an author to talk about their work.

Today, we have Know Your Narrator with Sara Hillis. The 2023 Audie award winner for Best Male Narrator was Seth Numrich for his performance in Fairytale by Stephen King. We discuss his work, style, and approach to the process.

We dissect the transformation of literature to the big screen. Karen McKay and Theresa Power from the Centre for Equitable Library Access share their thoughts on what makes a book adaptation successful, whether watching the adapted movie would drive people to read the book, and why or why not we would choose to hit the box office to experience a movie based on the books we love.

This week with Aamer Khan, let's get into Aliens, Jaguars, and the Pandemic, as he reviews his latest audiobook highlights.

We welcome back Jeffrey Rainey, Producer of the Living Blind podcast, Hosted by Balance for Blind Adults. We examine memoires by competitive athletes who've penned the truth behind their experiences after leaving the game. Plus, Let's press Pause or Play on The house in the pines By Ana Reyes, a thriller being featured on the homepage of the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

Sara Hillis features the voice work of Lorelei King, Co-author of Storyteller: How to be an Audiobook Narrator.

We check in with Karen McKay and Theresa Power of the Centre for Equitable Library Access. Off the heals of Freedom to Read week 2023, we consider the reasons and perspectives around why books are banned and challenged around the world.

Let's highlight titles of Romance, Fantasy and Mystery with Aamer Khan. Plus, what weighs more to you, the reader, production or narration? We discuss.

Let's celebrate Black writers, recognize Black stories, and explore Black identities. Sehdeen Lowe shares her love and joy of picking up books by Black authors, hearing Black stories, and through these pages finding the threads of similar realities she faces as a Black woman.

Robin Miles is a narrator with a passion for reading, voicing, and training others to voice. We get to know her work on Know Your Narrator, with Sara Hillis. Plus, we hit Pause or Play on the fantasy title, Into the Broken Lands, By Tanya Huff.

How do last year's reading goals affect our goals of 2023? Let's get into setting book goals with Karen McKay and Theresa Power from the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

Inspiration is everything. Aamer Khan highlights three authors, their popular works, and the related background experiences that seep into the authors' writing of these works.