Glad I found this thread. I started reading and read "cassette player in your car" and then noticed the date. Yikes!
I find them indispensable on my commutes. I used to listen to Dan Lebatard then I moved into podcasts ANd I still do both of those, but I also started Audiobooks via audible and the library and I LOVE it. I drive into Toronto each day - 45 mins-1 hr - and I can chew through books. This is what I have read so far
Two years worth:
1. The Fellowship of the Ring - The production I listened to was amazing - phenomenal quality. Love the story and the narrator did an amazing job.
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King
4. Rebecca - Never read the book, but decided to give it a shot because of the Netflix series. It was amazing! The writing was actually incredible.
5. The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged so like 55 hours!) - this was so much FUN! I was riveted the entire time. It's a master class in Serialized Writing (as opposed to Crime and Punishment which... is not). The narrator also pronounced the names in French and it made a huge difference. I would not have pronounced them correctly. Loved it!
6. The Grapes of Wrath - I mean, solid. Not as good as East of Eden, but there is something about driving while listening to John Steinbeck
7. Indian Horse - moving story about an Indigenous kid growing up, learning hockey while learning how to navigate a world that discriminates against him and abuses him. We thought about teaching it this year.
8. The Color Purple - amazing voice acting!
9. In Cold Blood - This. Was. Sublime! The writing is some of the best writing I have ever read - the structure built in parallel form in a way that I had never quite come across. It simmered the entire time without ever really boiling over. I will listen to this again.
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Stephen Fry narrates and he's wonderful. But I didn't like the book nearly as much as I remembered liking it when I was younger
11. Matrix (Lauren Groff - not the Wachowski Bros) - do not recommend. I LOVED Wonder (by Emma Donoghue - who wrote Room) and thought The Wonder was one of the best books I've read the last five years. This was recommended to me because I liked that one so much. It was not good.
12. The Sandman Act I - Listen. To. This. NOW! I know others have mentioned it. Ensemble cast. Phenomenal production. Neil Gaiman narrates and he's better at that than writing. I will listen to it again - the story comes alive in a way the graphic novel doesn't (which I also love)
13. The Sandman Act II
14. The Sandman Act III
15. The Handmaid's Tale - I was very snobby about this book. Thought it was trite and reductive so I didn't read it. Finally needed to read it for a class and listened to the Clare Danes version. Writing is amazing. Story incredible. Narration was quality.
16. Sapiens - meh.
17. East of Eden - Wonderful story with the richest cast of characters I have ever read. I love good characters and this covered the scope of human emotion and complexity (specifically of good vs. bad polemics) in a way that only Shakespeare has done for me. Sooooo good.
18. Shadow of the Wind - terrific book. Engrossing story. Narration was very strong - it really helps with books that have accents, foreign words, etc
19. Crime and Punishment - oh god. Oh God. OH GOD! WHY?!?! WHY LORD WHY?!?!?! Dude got paid by the word and you can tell. Is it genius? Yes. But it really didn't need to be this long. I thought East of Eden actually explored this better.
20. The Bluest Eye - narrated by the author and I love it when I get the chance to hear the author read their story when I also love the book so much.
21. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - Meh. Excellent sources and bibliography and notes. Writing was pretty bad. Figurative language was strained. Narrative voice was nothing to write home about.
22. Vox - futuristic dystopia in the US when a theofascist autocrat takes over and puts word limits on women, enforced by an electrified bracelet - 100 words per day. Very Handmaid's Tale. But not really very good. Interesting story but it's entirely plot.
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God - I love this book. I listened to the version with Ruby Dee and she was amazing. She made every character come to life. My Canadian students really struggle with the dialect and listening really helps. But this one is genuinely a pleasure to listen to.
There are a few others I am forgetting at the moment.
Currently listening to:
24. Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr) - I am about 15% into it, and enjoying it. Like All the Light We Cannot See, this has multiple character perspectives that I assume will converge into a single timeline or moment. But right now, it's pretty chaotic as it bounces past through present to the future from diff character perspectives and places in the world.
I think that's enough for now. I guess.