Audio books - favorites?

[Xaviara]

I occasionally will take long drives to visit friends and enjoy listening to audio books since radio can get dicey and I get bored with the music on my iPhone. I'm always on the lookout for good audio books suitable for multi-tasking. I tried The Night Circus once and that was so confusing to listen to and drive at the same time, I gave up after 15 minutes. My most favorite audio book so far has been Neil Gaimon reading his book The Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Utterly delightful! And so perfect to listen and drive at the same time. Other books I have enjoyed were the Kevin Hearne books, Hounded, Hexed, Hammered as well as the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovitch.

I have another drive coming soon and would be interested in your favorites!

[deddinty]

My taste runs a bit more towards epic fantasy so my recommendations will reflect that.

 

Probably not surprising for this forum, but Way of Kings has always been a favorite for me. The two narrators give great performances.

 

I love the narrator of Michael Sullivan's Riyria books, the two newer ones a bit less than the original trilogy.  The whole series is delightful, especially for listening in a car as it's something of an easier series to get into, nothing terribly complex like many series can be.  

 

I love the Lies of Locke Lamora and it's sequel, but I do warn people there's a good deal of profanity in the books, so if you're not into that stay clear.

 

The dresdon files are a good listen as well, but I feel like I miss things if I listen in the car.

 

 

[Mysty she/her]

I second the vote on Riyria Revelations, the narrarator is great and the story is really good. Foreshadowing is excellent since michael sullivan did not publish the first book until finishing the sixth book.

Ender's game with stephen rudnicki and Ender's shadow with Scott Brick narrating are also great, although the female narrator for the female pov's can be a bit melodramatic, but she has limited mike time.

I like mary kowals performance of her glamourist histories.

I don't recommend anything from Graphic Audio in the car, audio levels often change so you constantly fiddle with the volume and sometimes the sound effects are louder than the narration, which is especially bad when competing with road noise.

[Xaviara]

I've read Michaels books so probably wouldn't want to listen to them as well. I'm not usually one to reread books although I may actually retread The Way of Kings now that the 2nd book is imminent since I really cannot remember enough of the story to make book 2 enjoyable. It's just been so long! Maybe listening to it might be the way to go......

[Mysty she/her]

Well if you just want an enjoyable listen with a plot simple enough to follow while driving, try YA audiobooks. I enjoy John Keeting's reading of the Ranger's Apprentince series. Also the Hero's of Olympus series read by Joshua Swanson (unfortunately the forth book has a different narrator whose performance is a total flop). If you like full cast productions, try Shannon Hale's Books of Bayern series.

[Galladon he/him]

I think the gentleman bastard series (lies of Locke Lamora,...)fitts the bill, it's the perfect kind of book to be narrated. This is largely because this series lives mainly on dialogue, jokes and yes such beautiful profanities, that "the goods are going to rust comets with glee".

[The Rooster he/him]

The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham has great audiobooks.  It starts with The Dragon's Path , really good character work and narration by Pete Bradbury.  He also does the Demon Cycle books, he's one of my favorites.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Kate Reading did the Codex Alera which is extremely well done. If anyone has read Dresden Files then this is by the same author. Also, Jim Butcher wrote this series based on a bet that he could not write a good fantasy series based on two "lame" topics. The two are Pokémon and a lost Roman legion. This is probably my second favorite completed fantasy series.

[Sart he/him]

A Long Way From Chicago, by Richard Peck, is a short YA book, good for short drives. I don't know his name, but the narrator makes the audio book hilarious. Definitely worth a listen.

[Jit he/him]

I'll second the Dresden File audiobooks read by James Masters I think and I really enjoyed Roy Dotrice on A Song of Ice and Fire.

If you get a chance you should listen the Alcatraz books by Brandon Sanderson read by Ramón de Ocampo

[ZoneZero]

If you are listening in german, I can recommend the Brent Weeks books read by Bodo Primus. David Nathan has also read quite a view quality books like some Stephen Kings, Abercrombies.

[Dysphoric Kitten she/her]

If you like WoK's narration, listen to the WoT. Those are the same narrators. Mistborn too, of course, but not because it's Sanderson, because Michael Kramer (who does Stormlight) is the narrator there, as well. Elantris has a nice narrator, too.

 

I would tell you not to listen to Graphic Audio, but only because I do not like them - I never tried them in a car. What disturbs me:

• Word/Name pronunciation is strange
• Bad voiceancting (imho) - very exaggurated and rough
• Both hearing things and having them told by the narrator (hearing is supposed to make it flow more like a film, narration breaks that, narration is supposed to give us the writing style, perspective and character voice well, hearing makes it hard to decipher and too obvious)
• Too large dynamic range
• Seems not as captivating. Evokes a much lesser amount of emotion and reaction from me, especially laughter.

 

I have two 30-min A.C. Clarke stories I love.

 

And sorry, I betrayed Brandon without knowing - Old Man's War is great.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Ookla the Tardy

[Dymphna]

I really enjoyed the Imager serious. It is fantisy.

[guess]

The Time Travelers Wife is the best audio book I ever listened to. The story has two characters in the first person and the audio book has a male and female actor voicing each. The quality of the audio book is outstanding. The movie is garbage. Its not just that its a good book, but the quality of the reading is terrific. I listen to alot of audio books. I like to listen to them in my car and when I take walks/ride my bike/workout, etc... It motivates me to move since I get to listen to a good book. I can tell the difference in the quality of the readings. 

 

This is the best one I have listened to. This is from a guy who does not like romance. 

[Dymphna]

Skaa, if you like audio books, check out Audible.com. I get them monthly for much less than the CD's.

[PeterAhlstrom he/him]

My favorite audiobooks are Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books starting with Master and Commander. Narrated by Patrick Tull. There are a few different versions of the audiobooks out there, but the Patrick Tull-narrated ones are the best.

[guess]

The Time Travellers Wife is the best audiobook I ever listened to. The movie sucked. The quality of the performances was outstanding. The audiobook of 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy was great too. The movie for that one was lousy also. 

 

I think those were the two best audio books I listened to based on quality of the presentation and the quality of the book combined. 

[guess]

delete my last post. I see I already posted this and for some reason the post was bad. Sorry. 

[Dymphna]

Is Mitosis going to be on audible?

[Shivertongue he/him]

I love audiobooks. Currently, my favorite narrators are Amanda Ronconi, who narrates paranormal and regular romance (Molly Harper's 'Nice Girls' series if just delightful. I highly recommend them. Warnings for light sex.) and Ray Porter, who narrates a lot of stuff, specifically the Joe Ledger series (violence and language warnings. Like, seriously. Lots of both.) by Jonathon Maberry, and Blackout, by Robison Wells. Both are fantastic narrators, and all the mentioned books are great as well.

 

And I would be doing a disservice if I did not bring up Codex Alera, by Jim Butcher and narrated by Kate Reading, who I am pretty certain is one of the narrators for the Stormlight books.

[Hood he/him]

I have read a few audio books. I liked Isaac Newton by James Gleick read by Allen Corduner.

 

But my favourite is Graphic Audio's Elantris. It is amazing.

[Snorkel]

Cary Elwes reading his book As You Wish about the filming of The Princess Bride.