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Favorite Audiobooks of 2008
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The Bartimaeus Trilogy was brilliant fun, as was the Study Trilogy by Maria V Snyder
The books I most enjoyed listening to in 2008 were:The Ha-Ha by Dave King
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Allan Corduner (Narrator)
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
Traveler by Ron McLarty and read by author
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (I am a knitter)
The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Gate House by Nelson Demille (I love his main characters, John Sutter in this book, and John Corey in others--so much fun)
Swan Peak and Tin Roof Blowdown (Dave Robicheaux Novels) by James Lee Burke
Lori -- I'v e been pushing The Ha-Ha for a long time, thanks for putting it on your list! Hearing the words of a mute protagonist is a terrific experience; the narrator does a great job with Laurel's Texas twang as well.My top for 2008 were ...
The Lost Ark of the Covenant by Tudor Parfitt (audible) -- admittedly more for the reader and protagonist than the plot/story.
Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan (Netlibrary download) -- I disliked the protagonist at the outset, but she changes over the course of the memoir, as she herself notes.
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner (Overdrive download) -- got off to a slow start for me, but was glad I listened; I'm pretty certain reading the print version loses some of his self-deprecating humor.
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (Overdrive download) -- Dickens' style and plotting, set in 1990's Bombay.
Seconding Barbara's mention, Motherless Brooklyn (UNabridged, read by Frank Mueller) remains my top audiobook of all time; Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon coming in a close second.
Not the best year for me in terms of finding 5 star books. I made it through 64 this past year and rated only one 5 stars. Fortunately for the purposes of this group it was an audiobook and a Goodreads author.I loved Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, you could not help but cheer for him.
Grumpus wrote: "Not the best year for me in terms of finding 5 star books. I made it through 64 this past year and rated only one 5 stars. Fortunately for the purposes of this group it was an audiobook and a Goo..."Dang, I haven't counted how many I listened to! It might scare me if I did. I find it so interesting the books that people like and others detest. I hated the Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. I'll have to review my list and post that later.
Let me clarify that I did not listen to all 64 books. I actually listened to 30 and read 34 in total last year. Out of that combined total, there was only one 5 star book--that's only 1.5% of the total.
I can't remember all of the books I listened to in 2008!!! However, "The Forgotten Garden" is the best that I've listened to in the last couple of months.
I would have a hard time picking just one. These are the three that I tend to suggest the most though:Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen
Cat's Paw, Inc. by L. L. Thrasher
For a good laugh I re-listen to this one more than once this year. Peckham's Marbles.and this comes to mind,
The Long Rain
Strange that it is not always the 5 stars that stick in my mind.
Hands down, the best book I listened to last year was "The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson read by the author. It's hilarious, sweet, nostalgic, insightful and many other positive adjectives. It's the first and only time I listened to a book twice in a row. I also re-listened to Dave Barry's short story "The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog, " also read by the author. Thoroughly delightful. It's a new Christmas tradition for me.
Oh, Jenny, I loved The Thunderbolt Kid too. I could easily listen to that, A Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods again and again.
I'm reading 'I see her everywhere' by Julia Glass, and I'm really loving it. It works really well as an audiobook too -- the story is about two sisters, and it is told in the first person, with alternating voices (the sisters take turns narrating), and it is really wonderful to have two different women (the author and Mary Stuart Masterson) read!
Thanks for posting this, Savitha. I listened to The Three Junes in an audiobook production and loved it. This sounds like it might be even better.
Not that it was the best book of all time (cute though), but I really enjoyed Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar. The audiobook was produced by Full Cast Audio... (www.fullcastaudio.com) HOLY COW! It was like watching a movie! It had a FULL CAST of voices! My husband got in the car with me, and was like, "Are all books on tape like this??" I wish. It's so much easier to keep dialogue straight when the voice actually changes. It looks like they just do juvie and young adult books though. Sad! Also loved Airman by Eoin Colfer and The Host by Stephenie Meyer. (The Host was 23.5 hours long... and I listened to it in 2 days.)
Mine were:
Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson, read by Bryson
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, read by Frank Muller
Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones, read by Susan Lyons
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, read by Ruby Dee
Behind the Scenes of the Museum by Kate Atkinson, read by Susan Jameson