Audio books

[Moosferatu]

I recently accepted a new job in Seattle, and will be moving in a couple of weeks. I decided to drive out, and, since I'm coming from Michigan, have a substantial amount of car time I need to fill (~38 hours, according to Google). I was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations for audio books or audio productions? Besides The Lord of the Rings, I've never really listened to audio books. I've heard a fair number of radio plays (or whatever they call them) from BBC over the years, but I have a hard time recalling the names of most of them.

[Nappi]

This is probably the eleventh time I promote these, but the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks in Gutenberg are brilliant. The stories shouldn't distract you too much from driving and the reader is just perfect.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

[Takhea]

Will have a look at those Sherlock Holmes books later, have still only read the first one even though I really liked it. Otherwise I think that Roy Dotrice does an incredible job on the A Song of Ice and Fire books, that guy really knows how to portray a character.

[Gormongous]

The various Terry Pratchett audio books are quite good, being of that sort of British writing style that almost sounds better spoken than read.

[TheLastBaron]

The Douglas Adams books that are narrated by Douglas Adams are fantastic, as in imo better than just reading them normally. So is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman read by Lenny Henry.

[subbes]

There are over 5,000 LibriVox audiobooks available in English. Many of them are good, and some of them are rubbish. If only someone would review them!

[ThunderPeel2001]

I've always found it difficult to listen to Audiobooks, my mind tends to wander. However I've found that I don't seem to suffer from this when I'm listening to Memoirs read by the author. Essentually people just talking about their life.

Lately I've listened to:

Steve Martin: Born Standing Up - Great book about Martin's early stand-up career. Martin is a low key narrator, but it's worth sticking with. His voice cracks at various time, as if the book wasn't already emotional enough in places. Very enjoyable and revealing. Especially interesting if you'd like to learn more about how a comic's act is created. Highly recommended.

Ken Levine: The Me Generation by Me - Ken Levine's life in the 60s, before he became a writer on MASH, Cheers, Frasier, etc. Light and amusing account of a typical teenager's experiences in the 60s... which is to say, he wasn't a hippie or a revolutionary or a political activist. He was just a nerd. Funny, sweet and occassionally moving. Recommended.

Tina Fey: Bossy Pants - Fey is freaking hilarious and uses the Audiobook format creatively (she won a Grammy for it). It's a bit scattershot. It doesn't really have a narrative. Just lots of funny bits. It's not very revealing, it's mostly just a laugh. Recommended.

[Brodie]

I'll second the Terry Pratchett recommendation but only the books narrated by Stephen Briggs, as I feel he is much better at breathing life into the text than the other example that I've come across - Nigel Planer.

Stephen Brigg's narrations include:

Thief of Time

Making Money

Unseen Academicals

Snuff

Thud

Going Postal

The Truth

The Fifth Elephant

Night Watch

Enjoy!

[Brodie]

Also: Sum: Tales from the Afterlife by David Eagleman is a pretty sweet audiobook. Narrators include Stephen Fry, David Eagleman, Nick Cave, Emily Blunt and Gillian Anderson.

Its pretty good.

[lalilulelulz]

Dune

[dmarlett]

For audio books it really depends on the reader. I would go with something done by Frank Muller.

http://frankmullerhome.com/booklist.html

[Nonentity]

I wanna bump this thread, since I signed up for an Audible account to support the boys, but now I have no idea what to get.

 

Any newer suggestions?

[Nappi]

If anyone is still wondering what to do with their free audiobook download (http://www.audiblepodcast.com/wizard), I can heartily recommend Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Jeremy Irons' narration is quite incredible.

 

(Don't worry. The pompous voice at the beginning of sample is that of a fictional publisher and not of Humbert Humbert.)

[Ben X]

Newer than that, Nappi.

[Nappi]

Lolita is newer than some. (Actually I just missed that part of the post.)

 

I tried listening to The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón but had to give up. I couldn't get past how cheesy the first part was. But it's new!

[Alastair]

I know there's a lot of love around these parts for The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. I can confirm audio version is up to the task.

The book's strength is in its ability to quietly switch between four very different perspectives, showing the would through four sets of eyes while remaining in the stylistically consistent third person. The narrator brings each of these four voices, well, a voice. It's every bit as warm and heartfelt as the source.

[Tiemachine]

I just downloaded Russell Brand's podcast with Noel Gallagher (which sounds amazing. I'm not really fussed about his telly, standup, or film work, soz, but he's a riveting, consistently entertaining radio presence) which turns out to be an Audible thing. Just looking at a sub but I've two questions I'd be really interested in thoughts on...

 

1. Is $15.00 a month considered reasonable then? I'm stuck thinking I could buy a real book for that.

2. I'm concerned. Like, really worried, about when I'd actually listen to audio books. When do you?

[Alastair]

It comes down to how much "dead time" you have; points where the part of your brain that can process a story are free, but the parts that are able to hold and read a book are not.  Driving, walking, jogging, cleaning, shopping.  Any mindless, habitual activity that leaves your ears and brain to their own devices.  If it's a very, very good book, you may even find yourself catching an extra minute or two while brushing your teeth or getting ready in the morning.

 

It's not practical for everyone, of course.  Personally, I drive about 90 minutes per day, so I quite enjoy using it to push forward with novels I am also physically reading.   Having the actual text on hand can help counter the feeling that you're somehow "cheating", if that's ever an issue.  Either way, it's an absolute godsend if you ever feel you've stalled with your usual reading habits.

[Lu]

I used my Idle Thumbs free audio book token! I used it to get The Devil in the White City, based on real people and events, it's about both the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and Dr. H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who was active in that period of time. Both fascinating (the Fair part) and terrifying (the Holmes part). I wasn't actually familiar with Holmes, but he murdered at least 27 people and had an entire building block, which you could say functioned as a disguise for his activities. The guy had a secret chute in his office that he used to drop his victim's bodies down to the basement. Trapping people in the basement, floors covered with acid, or in an incinerator. Fucked. Up. All that said, the book luckily doesn't try to shock you with gory imagery. It kind of doesn't have to, as a description of the events is more than enough to creep you the hell out.

 

The Chicago's World's Fair part was just fascinating. The vision behind that event; I don't think anything like that would ever come to fruition in the modern day. The book does an excellent job of weaving known facts (it frequently uses writing and correspondence from the characters) with flourishes that make the period come to life. I thought it was a good book to listen to!

[Nappi]

2. I'm concerned. Like, really worried, about when I'd actually listen to audio books. When do you?

 

I listened through a lot of audiobooks a couple of years ago when I was sitting in a pitch black room, performing measurements that required user input every 15 minutes or so. I do that kind of work less often now, and it is difficult for me to find time for audiobooks anymore. Listening to Lolita while playing SimCity worked surprisingly well, though, because the game is so tranquil. 

 

Whenever possible, I prefer to read the books myself. That way I have to concentrate on the story, and not on the internet or my emails. 

[melmer]

This may be of interest to you guys

 

Listen to the BBC radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman's subterranean fantasy, 'Neverwhere'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r522y/episodes/guide

 

Although i think you have to listen to it streamed through the site and probably only for the UK

 

I wonder if i can do a cheeky rip of the sound files... nah its a flash player

[Nappi]

Seems to work fine in Finland as well. I assume that "4 days left to listen" for the final episode is a glitch?

[melmer]

Neverwhere begins with an hour-long episode at 2:30pm on Saturday 16 March on Radio 4 and continues with five 30-minute instalments stripped across the week on Radio 4 Extra from Monday 18 March.

All episodes will be available to catch up on demand until 29 March 2013.

 

Looks like they're all getting turned off in 4 days they probably want to sell it as an audio book

 

i'm about 30mins into the first episode. McAvoy is losing his shit

[Nappi]

Hmm.. confusing.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I loved that book. How's the radio adaptation? Seems like a good cast.