Audiobooks (4 Viewers)

[MLU]

My daughter likes audiobooks, but for me if I don't actually read it then I just don't process it. I might as well be paying for white noise to be piped in.

 

[Sandman]

My daughter likes audiobooks, but for me if I don't actually read it then I just don't process it. I might as well be paying for white noise to be piped in.

I was the same way when I first started them. Now, I process them very well during my commutes.

I did the Dark Tower series this year on Audio book. I just finished the second book of His Dark Materials Series (first book was better). Looking for something new.

Other books I did audiobook on this year that I would recommend:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Catch-22
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
Circe
The Color Purple.

 

[superchuck500]

This is so freakin good. It’s a history piece, not sensationalist - it’s hardly necessary given what went down. The depth is perfect, the narrator outstandingly dispassionate.

It’s a newer work, came out last year. I’m halfway through and it’s all I want to do. I was well aware of the main developments and timeline but the detail here, all in one place, is excellent.

https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=179...ORAP0511160006&share_location=player_overflow

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

This is so freakin good. It’s a history piece, not sensationalist - it’s hardly necessary given what went down. The depth is perfect, the narrator outstandingly dispassionate.

It’s a newer work, came out last year. I’m halfway through and it’s all I want to do. I was well aware of the main developments and timeline but the detail here, all in one place, is excellent.

https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=179...ORAP0511160006&share_location=player_overflow

Just in time for the White House Plumbers

 

[superchuck500]

All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

The narrator is excellent. If you’ve never read this and like themes from westerns, AtPH is outstanding. The movie was garbage but the novel won the US national book award. McCarthy’s style is so easy to get lost in and the narrator delivers it here.

All the Pretty Horses

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Cormac McCarthy is a quiet, unassuming presence in American fiction today, but like the slow, measured voices of many of his characters, he speaks with an authority and conviction that demands an audience. All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy's sixth novel...

www.audible.com

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

The narrator is excellent. If you’ve never read this and like themes from westerns, AtPH is outstanding. The movie was garbage but the novel won the US national book award. McCarthy’s style is so easy to get lost in and the narrator delivers it here.

All the Pretty Horses

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Cormac McCarthy is a quiet, unassuming presence in American fiction today, but like the slow, measured voices of many of his characters, he speaks with an authority and conviction that demands an audience. All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy's sixth novel...

www.audible.com

I wouldn’t have thought to put McCarthy in audio format
His writing is so idiosyncratic with sparse punctuation esp quotation marks- and that’s part of the beauty of it
A narrator would have to make choices that aren’t really on the page

But you’re saying it works?

 

[Optimus Prime]

All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

The narrator is excellent. If you’ve never read this and like themes from westerns, AtPH is outstanding. The movie was garbage but the novel won the US national book award. McCarthy’s style is so easy to get lost in and the narrator delivers it here.

All the Pretty Horses

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Cormac McCarthy is a quiet, unassuming presence in American fiction today, but like the slow, measured voices of many of his characters, he speaks with an authority and conviction that demands an audience. All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy's sixth novel...

www.audible.com

Frank muller was one of the best

It was his reading on Stephen kings Green Mile that really got me into audiobooks even I had been listening to them for years

He was one of the first narrators who really performed the book, each character was distinct, he captured the mood, the tensions, the emotions

I know who McCarthy is but never read any of his books

 

[superchuck500]

I wouldn’t have thought to put McCarthy in audio format
His writing is so idiosyncratic with sparse punctuation esp quotation marks- and that’s part of the beauty of it
A narrator would have to make choices that aren’t really on the page

But you’re saying it works?

With the right narrator it does

 

[superchuck500]

McCarthy has the idiosyncratic style at times but it’s also generally allegory which requires story-telling and he’s a brilliant story teller. So that part translates easily to audio and a good narrator can try to convey the nuance in the writing.

 

[urzombiefood]

ok I'll contribute.

His Dark Materials (full cast).... HBO series is pretty close to the book.

We're Alive (full cast)... highly recommend

end of all hope (full cast)

The White Vault (full cast)

 

[Optimus Prime]

ok I'll contribute.

His Dark Materials (full cast).... HBO series is pretty close to the book.

We're Alive (full cast)... highly recommend

end of all hope (full cast)

The White Vault (full cast)

I’ll give another vote for we’re alive

Was fantastic

Full sound effects too so more like old time radio than audiobook

If you like zombie books and are going for a long drive it’s perfect

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

We must have another audiobook thread bc I can’t see comments made before…:

Anyway best mix of books/narrator is The Expanse series
Some of the best sci-fi out there with Jefferson Mays’s incredible narration

But Steven Pacey narrating for The First Law trilogy is beyond amazing- the series is somewhere between good and pulpy- but the subtlety Pacey brings is incredible

 

[Optimus Prime]

Oh my god, if you haven't listened to the Dark Tower audiobooks read by Frank Muller and George Guidall then that should be your next listen. Muller reads some of the earlier books in the series and then Guidall reads the rest. This saga is some of their finest work.

If you don't feel like embarking on an epic journey with the Dark Tower Saga then I'd suggest listening to short stories on Youtube. I recently listened to H.P. Lovecraft's best works on a channel called "Intellectual Exercise". A man named Conrad Feininger reads most of the stories and his voice is perfect for Lovecraft. It's some of the creepiest stuff you'll ever hear.

There's also a channel called "Horror Babble" that is pretty decent when it comes to short stories.

Do you have a preference between Muller and Guidall?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Famous A list actors are usually bad. (Charater actors are usally great, Will Patton gets really high marks for the dave Robicheaux series)

Steven Weber (from Wings) is a very good narrator as well

He reads a lot of Harlan Coben’s books

 

[RazorOye]

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.