Audiobooks discussion
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Name your top 3 favorite AudioBooks---GO!
The three that leap to mind...The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay/read by Humphrey Bower Great book, comes to life with narrator switching between accents.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larson/read by Simon Vance is fantastic! This book retrained my ears to listen to audiobooks without zoning out! It's an excellent story, but I credit Simon Vance for bringing it to life.
Ready Player One - Earnest Cline/read by Wil Wheaton, super job on a really fun book. I've read it and audio booked it, and definitely prefer the read-aloud version!
Loved The Goldfinch!We are Water - Wally Lamb
The Enchanted life of Adam Hope...
Too many too pick!
Cloud AtlasThe Help
The Good House
All three were given such eloquent, dramatic narrations that the author's written word was greatly enhanced.
This is difficult , there are so many that I have loved.But here are some that i extra enjoyed the audio version
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Me before you by Jo jo Moyles
The Search by Nora Roberts ( this was brilliant book for me , dogs and dog training , combined with romance and suspense )
Audio series
Harry Potter , ...read by Steven Fry
Outlander read by Davina Porter
Michael Robotham's Joseph O' Loughlin series , brilliantly read by Sean Barret his voice just suits this series so well.
plus the Twighlight series , just loved the Narration , I don't think i would have been quite as captivated reading the book.
Hi everyone,I'm pretty new here. My top 3 audiobooks are all written by Stephen King. I have three short stories that are my favorites because of the readers, so I made that one. I have read all of these books many times.
1. Black House by S. King & P. Straub. Read by Frank Mueller (RIP)
2. "Everything's Eventual" from EVERYTHING's EVENTUAL read by Justin Long; "The Man in the Black Suit" from EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL read by John Collum ; "N" from JUST AFTER SUNSET read by Ben Shenkman, Denis O'Hare, Karen Ziemba, and Holter Graham.
3. From A Buick 8 read by James Rebhorn, Becky Ann Baker, Bruce Davison, Stephen Tobolowski, Peter Gerety, and Fred Sanders
4. On Writing read by Stephen King
Divergent. (All three), leading with honor, Fearless.
Loved the Book Thief and The Help as everyone else. A few that I haven't seen mentioned that were particularly good audio versions:-The Ocean at the End of the Lane
-Cutting for Stone
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
I never thought I could answer this because I've listened to so many over the years. But I'm going to try. 1. The Prince of Tides
2. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
3. Intensity
Three of my all time favorites: The Help; Pillars of the Earth; In the Garden of the Beasts.Ask me again tomorrow....I'll probably have 3 others. Too many great books out there.
To Kill a Mockingbird is coming out in July from Audible! Narrated by Sissy Spacek.
I listened to it from the library several years ago, Pam, and it is great. Sissy Spacek does a great job.
It makes my heart happy to see so many people loving The Book Thief, which is one of my favorite books, and was written by a hell of a nice guy.I'm also glad to see several recommendations for Burial Rites, which has been on my radar for awhile. I think that will be my next download.
*ETA: It looks like Audible has 2 different versions of this - same narrator, both unabridged, but one is $2 more and 3 minutes longer. Any idea what the differences are?
I've recently listened to several good ones in a row.
The Son
A Land More Kind Than Home
The Invention of Wings
My most recent favourites:The Poisonwood Bible - I was pinched for time and "read" this for my bookclub on audio. I loved it.
The Amber Fury - the reader (whose name I don't know) did a different accent for the chapters by different people and it was fabulous.
The Last Dragonslayer - picked this up at the library when browsing to listen to in the car with my kids and we all loved it and are now Japer Fforde fans.
I'll have to go with the more recent top 3. I just finished The Signature of All Things (great and wonderful narrators), Cutting for Stone and The Lowland.Question: How can I search out books with multiple moderators, I enjoy those more often than the single narrator books.
Look at the audiobook awards. This year for multiple cast the winner is...WORLD WAR Z: THE COMPLETE EDITION - An Oral History of the Zombie War
You can see the other finalist here:
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/audies/
There was a really good Whispersync deal on Dracula narrated by Tim Curry and others. It was $1 for the kindle and $1 for the audible book.
http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Annotat...
Dorie wrote: "I'll have to go with the more recent top 3. I just finished The Signature of All Things (great and wonderful narrators), Cutting for Stone and The Lowland.Question: How can I search out books with multiple moderators, I enjoy those more often than the single narrator books. .."
I don't know of a way, but I'd like to for the opposite reason. I almost always enjoy one narrator more so I'd know which ones to avoid! When there are multiple narrators you can't sample them all ahead of time.
Dorie wrote: "...Question: How can I search out books with multiple moderators, I enjoy those more often than the single narrator books. .."..."I don't know of a way to search for multiple-voiced books either, but I want to second the recommendation of the Tim Curry-and-friends version of Dracula. It's great, really worth listening, and not nearly as spooky as you might think from the many movie versions.
Frances wrote: "This is difficult , there are so many that I have loved.... Me before you by Jo jo Moyles ..."
Frances, due to your posting this I moved Me Before You up on my list and am listening to it now. I'm over half way now and find it really excellent! I've not read any by Moyes before but this is so good I'm sure I'll seek out some of her others. Thanks!
The Wind Up Bird Cronicle by Haruki MurakamiShutter Island By Dennis LeHane
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
I have tons more, but picks safe favorites.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra FullerHome: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews and read by Julie Andrews
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Really like the variety of these choices!
I listen to everything on Librivox because it's free. Only books prior to 1920's are available there. But it's a good way to hear the classics!1. I like the Jane Austen books read by Karen Savage a lot.
2. Tess of the d'Urbevilles read by Adrian Praetzellis
The others I've listened to there don't really have stand out readers, but most are tolerable.
3. Not on Librivox, but I had a really good Chronicles of Narnia set at one point that was very good. Wish I could remember the reader...
Sorry, cheating. But there's no way I can narrow it down to 3. ;)Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Ask and the Answer
Monsters of Men
Listening as supposed to reading these books actually adds depth to this particular story imo. People who have read these books will know what I mean.
Joe Ledger Series by Jonathan Maberry
My personal favorite is Assassin's Code but they're all good. Ray Porter is an amazing narrator.
The Host by Stephenie Meyer.
I'm fairly new to listening to audiobooks and this was the first one I listened to so there's some sentimental value. And yes, she's the author of the Twilight books but this book is pretty amazing. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
This books speaks for itself I think. I was an emotional wreck when this book was over, hehe.
Robin wrote: "I don't know of a way, but I'd like to for the opposite reason. I almost always enjoy one narrator more so I'd know which ones to avoid! When there are multiple narrators you can't sample them all ahead of time. Avoid at all costs the David Baldacci books when they have a second, female reader. The woman has a serious bitch-voice that just irritates me to no end.
1) Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale2) The Cuckoo's Calling
3) Divergent (sorry.. but the girl's voice just made me want to float....)
Adding The Goldfinch to my must-haves even though I own the book. So many recommendations here.
Also check out Elizabeth Klett's Jane Austen narrations on Librivox. She does a fantastic job. http://elizabethklettaudio.com/
Colleen wrote: "I listen to everything on Librivox because it's free. Only books prior to 1920's are available there. But it's a good way to hear the classics!
1. I like the Jane Austen books read by Karen Savage ..."
RebeccaTo Kill A Mockingbird
The Secret Life of Bees
I really like multiple narrators, but that's true for print books, too. I like different points of view. Most of the audiobooks I've been listening to lately - and certainly the ones I've liked best - have had multiple narrators.
Like so many others, the three best would have to be:Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale
Pillars of the Earth & World Without End by Ken Follett
Anything by Isabel Allende read by Blair Brown, particularly Ines Of My Soul and Zorro.
Scott Brick and Susan Bennett can read anything and make it much better. And it appears that David Pittu will be joining that club after The Marriage Plot (only okay book) and The Goldfinch (terrific book, very well narrated).
I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to audiobooks, but these are ones I've loved recently: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - read by the author and just fantastic
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larsen
Room by Emma Donaghue
I'm happy to get so many great suggestions here!
Sarah wrote: "I really like multiple narrators, but that's true for print books, too. I like different points of view. Most of the audiobooks I've been listening to lately - and certainly the ones I've liked bes..."Sarah wrote: "I really like multiple narrators, but that's true for print books, too. I like different points of view. Most of the audiobooks I've been listening to lately - and certainly the ones I've liked bes..."
Sarah, may I ask what some of those books are? I need to build my list thanks
The "Devil in the White City" was really good. I had forgot about that.
Dorie wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I really like multiple narrators, but that's true for print books, too. I like different points of view. Most of the audiobooks I've been listening to lately - and certainly the ones ..."The Son
A Land More Kind Than Home
This Dark Road to Mercy
The Invention of Wings
(1) Deborah Harkness: the All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night) third one due out this year sometime. (narrated by Jennifer Ikeda) (2)Georgette Heyer: Venetia (narrated by Richard Armitage)
(3)Barbara Taylor Bradford: A Woman of Substance (narrated by Diana Quick)
The bride and I like Harkness as well. Audible has the 3rd book scheduled July 15th. I went ahead and pre-purchased it because of the current use 4 credits promotion.
Brizo wrote: "(2)Georgette Heyer: Venetia (narrated by Richard Armitage)"I loved his recordings of Venetia. And Sylvester. (Ooh, just seeing he did The Convenient Marriage as well.) It's a shame they are all abridged.
All Stephanie Plum books narrated by Lorelei King- I enjoy her character's voices, so fun, I think I know them.Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani, love the dialect.
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy, wonderful English accent makes listening interesting.
Kelly wrote: "Brizo wrote: "(2)Georgette Heyer: Venetia (narrated by Richard Armitage)"I loved his recordings of Venetia. And Sylvester. (Ooh, just seeing he did The Convenient Marriage as well.) It's a sha..."
Yes, I just love his voice reading any book. I'm trying to get the ones you mentioned as well.
He also just released an adaption of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark which I gathered is a modern adaption of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'm looking for it now.
If you have children he reads children bedtime stories on the BBC Channel "CBeebies Bedtime Stories" which I found on YouTube. They were so charming for the kids, I just loved them.
He really has such a great voice.
Just got into audiobooks at the end of 2013 when I had a long commute to work. Commute is a little less now but still keeping up with an Audible subscription. I haven't listened to a lot but enough to have 3 favorites so far (in no particular order):1. Reamde by Neal Stephenson (read by Malcolm Hillgartner) - Amazing writer, fascinating and action-packed (and massive) story, read/performed exceptionally well.
2. Tough Shit: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith (read by author) - Funny, profane, and endearing and manages to be somewhat inspirational (either in spite of or because of the dick jokes, I haven't figured out yet.)
3. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (read by author) - Mr. Gaiman is one of the greatest living writers. He reads his own words very well.
Not including my own books of course =-)My favorite would have to be:
A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant
Simply Love by Mary Balogh
Tales of Alvin the Maker Series by Orson Scott Card
Brizo wrote: "He also just released an adaption of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark which I gathered is a modern adaption of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'm looking for it now. If you have children he reads children bedtime stories on the BBC Channel "CBeebies Bedtime Stories" which I found on YouTube. They were so charming for the kids, I just loved them."
I will probably get his Hamlet at some point, thanks for mentioning it. And I do have kids so I'll have to check out these bedtime stories as well, how cool!
Stacy wrote: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn narrated by Anna Fields is my favorite book on CD. Blackstone Library had Anna as one of their narrators and she was so talented. She died a few years ago in..."If you like Anna & you like suspenseful books make sure you listen to her read Lisa Gardner's books from the Quincy & Rainy series. I really enjoyed all of those. They are full of twists & turns & Anna really brought the characters to life.
It's hard to pick just 3! I love all of Lisa Gardner's books so I can't pick just one of hers. Right this second my top 3 non-Lisa Gardner books are:The Help by Kathryn Sockett
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Innocent in Death by JD Robb
Brizo wrote: "[Richard Armitage] really has such a great voice. "You HAVE seen North and South, right? If not, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!!!! (It's on Netflix!!)
Jayme wrote: "Airman"
Airman!!!!!!!! I LOVE that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOO GREAT! Such a fantastic book! (It's a YA book written by, narrated by, and about a boy, and it's full of action and adventure!)
......................................
I don't know if I can pick just 3! I have 405 titles on my audiobook shelf! I'll list a few that haven't been mentioned, since obviously The Help, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Book Thief, some of my favorites, have been sufficiently covered. Okay, I SORTA put these in order, but I love them all!
(1) The ENTIRE In Death series by J.D. Robb, read by the amazing, fantastic, uber-talented, can't-say-enough-great-things-about-her Susan Ericksen. (Book 1: Naked in Death)
(2) The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. LOVE THEM ALL. Read by Jesse Bernstein (Book 1: The Lightning Thief)
(3) Cinder (and Scarlet and Cress) by Marissa Meyer, read by Rebecca Soler. Retelling of Cinderella (and Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel).... where Cinderella is a cyborg in the Eastern Commonwealth (Asia), post World War IV. I picked it up randomly off the YA audiobook shelf at the library thinking I had to find out if it was as cheesy as it sounded. It's FANTASTIC. Like, seriously, I love it. I can't wait for the 4th (and final) book to come out next March!(Winter - Snow White)
(4) The Soulless series (5 books) by Gail Carriger, read by Emily Gray. I like to classify them as paranormal steampunk romantic comedies. Good times. Lots of laughs. And lots of vampires and werewolves, but in a way that seems fresh. It tells the story of what it would be like if everyone knew about werewolves and vampires (and ghosts) and decided to integrate them into polite Victorian England society... :)
(5) The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, read by Michael Kramer. Epic fantasy that my husband "got" me to read. Don't tell him it made this list or he'll keep bugging me to read more books! Hahaha... (He's a huge Brandon Sanderson fan since before he finished The Wheel of Time.)
(6) The Goose Girl and Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, read by a full cast. (Also, Princess Academy). There are sequels to The Goose Girl and Princess Academy, but all three can be read as stand-alones.
(7) I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, read by Marc Aden Gray (in the BEST Australian accent). Do NOT go into this book expecting another Book Thief. They're so different, you wouldn't even know they were by the same author. Different settings, genres, tones, etc. But it's a really fun feel-good book that I've listened to 4 or 5 times.
(8) When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James, read by Susan Duerden. This is essentially a historical romance version of House M.D. In case you like that show and historical romances. It was SO GOOD.
and finally, to round out my 3x3 instead of just 3...
(9) The Dairy Queen trilogy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, read by Natalie Moore. I REALLY loved this series about a girl in Wisconsin who decides to play football on the high school boy's team. The narrator was PERFECT and it was just a really REAL story.
(And don't forget Airman!!! It would have made the list if I hadn't already mentioned loving it!)
The audio version of Gone With the Wind is Excellent. Songs are sung with the original tunes, accents are given appropriate differentiation.You MUST listen to David Suchet's version of Agatha Christie mysteries. Suchet played Poirot, but he is an actor with a BROAD range of talent. ANYthing narrated by him is a must have.
If you like fantasy, Roy Dotrice does an excellent narration of Game of Thrones. He's the narrator for most of the series and is unstoppable.
Neil Gaiman also is an excellent narrator of his own books.
I thought the narration for Girl With a Dragon Tattoo was also quite good.
Off the top of my head, those are some of my favorites.
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Audiobooks
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Burial Rites (other topics)
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The Cuckoo's Calling