iBooks isn't crashing on mine but it forgets the last position in the book also. Additionally, the counter seems to work fine the first time I open the book but after it forgets, the counter stays at 0:00 and forwarding ahead doesnt work. Very frustrating!! It is not fun re-listening to an hour of a book you already heard 😟 even if I can figure out the last chapter I was on, which I usually can't, lol.
I'm going to go back to using my iPhone 4 (disabled as a phone, which I basically use as an iPod) which still has audiobooks under the Music app...its too old for iOS8....and hope for a fix soon!