Audiobook Recs

[osprey_archer]

I'm starting my new job this week! My first shift is on Wednesday.

The one drawback of this job is that it has a half hour commute, so I've decided that obviously the best way to deal with this is - audiobooks! Which means that I am asking you to recommend to me your favorite audiobooks.

I'm looking particularly for books where you think the audio dimension adds something to the novel - a reading that is not just competent but makes the book even better than in book form. I really enjoyed the audiobook of Gail Carson Levine's Dave at Night, for instance, because the narrator did great accents for the characters - I probably would have liked the book anyway, but it wouldn't have made such an impression on me without the voices.

Comments

[landofnowhere]

As I recall you've been meaning to read The Woman in White? I thoroughly enjoyed the

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As I recall you've been meaning to read <i>The Woman in White</i>? I thoroughly enjoyed the <a href = "https://librivox.org/the-woman-in-white-by-wilkie-collins/>LibriVox</a> version, which has different readers for the sections with different narrators. Other Librivox audiobooks I've enjoyed have included <a href = "https://librivox.org/the-wrong-box-by-robert-louis-stevenson-and-lloyd-osbourne/">The Wrong Box</a> and <a href = "https://librivox.org/living-alone-by-stella-benson/">Living Alone</a>.

Also, I don't know if you're a Daniel Pinkwater fan, but most of his work is available as free audiobooks narrated by the author: <a href = "http://www.pinkwater.com/podcast/audioarchive.php">here</a>.

For non-free audiobooks that I've gotten through the library: I really liked the audiobooks of the <i>Temeraire</i> Series. I also enjoyed the full cast audiobooks of Tamora Pierce's <i>Wild Magic</i> series (which include the author). I've heard good things about some other Tamora Pierce audiobooks. The one Vorkosigan saga audiobook that I listened to I thought was quite good.

My partner spends more time listening to audiobooks than I have, and also is pickier, and he says that anything narrated by Kate Reading is good.

[osprey_archer]

The Woman in White is definitely on my list. I might feel I was cheating a bit if I used an audiobook to complete a reading challenge square, though... but on the other hand there are other 600+ page books out there, I could simply use a different book for that challenge.

I've heard that Tamora Pierce's new Numair book is out - both as a book and an audiobook. I may have to give that a try!

[ladyherenya]

Ooh, I feel much more capable of recommending audiobooks than I was six months ago! My favourite audiobooks last year were The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, read by Victoria Fox, and the Court of Fives trilogy by Kate Elliott, read by Georgia Dolenz. I'm on the look-out for other books read by both narrators, because I loved their voices and the accents they gave characters and the way they brought those characters to life. Presumably I would have loved those stories if I'd read them myself, but the audiobooks made them so much better.

Other audiobooks I thought were excellent: C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces, read by Nadia May, and Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, read by Nicholas Guy Smith.

(My least favourite audiobook narrator was Jennifer Ehle, reading L'Engle's A Wind in the Door. Often I had to really concentrate to keep track of who was talking.)

This year I've been listening to Terry Pratchett books narrated by Nigel Planer, and have enjoyed his narration a lot.

And my favourite audiobook of all time is Code Name Verity. I've listened to this one at least twice; the narrators are excellent.

[osprey_archer]

I've been meaning to reread Till We Have Faces! Maybe I should make it a listen instead. Lewis would be a good author to listen to, I think; he's such a fluid writer.

And I remembered you writing about how good the Terry Pratchett audiobooks are. My library has Making Money, which I've been meaning to read anyway, so clearly that's a go.

And I've long intended to read something by Kate Elliot, so perhaps this is finally my chance.

[asakiyume]

I have heard precious few audiobooks, but one that was very well done, in terms of appropriate accents at the right time, was The Ladies of Grace Adieu--short stories by Suzanna Clark in the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

[osprey_archer]

Oooooh. Would I need to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell first, do you think?

[asakiyume]

No, I'm sure not! You'd have the sense that these were parts of a larger world, but all the information you need, you get from the stories. (Some are better than others, but they're all interesting)

Audio books

[eileenlufkin]

The audio book of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is also excellent.

[isis]

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith is fabulous in audiobook - there are a couple of versions, actually, but the one I listened to and loved is by Lisette Lecat, who is South African. She does the various accents beautifully, and it always makes me feel as though I am sitting under an acacia tree, watching the cows graze under the hot sun.

The Bloody Jack Adventures series by L.A. Meyer is also excellent in audiobook, read by Katharine Kellgren. This is the series that is basically Horatio Hornblower as a girl, really a lot of ridiculous fun.

I also recommend Libba Bray's series The Diviners, read by January Lavoy. It's set in an alternate 1920s, and it's really nicely read.

I am currently listening to Shadowshaper, by Daniel José Older and read by Anika Noni Rose, and the very strongly Puerto Rican and AAVE flavored dialect definitely enhances the text, though so far this is a little too YA and the plot too telegraphed for my taste.

[osprey_archer]

Ha, I've meant to read the Bloody Jack books for ages, clearly this is the universe telling me that Now Is The Time. Fingers crossed that the library has them all!

[thisbluespirit]

I'm not good at audiobooks, but if full cast radio/audio plays might be of use as well, I know some good ones. :-)

(I find audiobooks a bit much, but I did enjoy David Collings's readings of MR James, and while I got it because of David Collings, they're ghost stories in the first person and probably about the right length for a story per journey, and he does have a wonderful voice. But I don't have much for comparison!)

[osprey_archer]

I do like ghost stories! I shall see if I can find this audiobook anywhere.

[thisbluespirit]

It's actually two audiobooks - I only have the first one, but as David Collings and MR James seem like a good match, I expect the second one is also as good!

[just_ann_now]

*Waves from Lurkdom*

The Scorpio Races audiobook - the voice actors absolutely nail those characters. It's perfection.

[osprey_archer]

I've actually already listened to that one! It is indeed delightful. I've heard people who read the book complain that they didn't think the writing style seemed British enough, but having voice actors with actual British accents completely obviates that problem, so there's nothing to do but enjoy the island and the man-eating waterhorses and the mouth-watering November cakes.

[missroserose]

Currently my gold standard for audiobooks is Steven Pacey's rendition of Joe Abercrombie's The FIrst Law series - it's an epic high-fantasy setting with roughly a bajillionty characters, and he manages to give every single one of them a distinctive voice. I actually usually avoid epic high fantasy settings because I have trouble keeping track of the characters, but I managed in no small part thanks to his amazing rendition. That said, it's a profoundly dark and crapsack-world fantasy story with a lot of unlikable characters, so I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it to you unless you were having a really bad month, heh.

On the flipside, We Have Always Lived In The Castle is definitely a tale I think you'd like (or at least would love to hear your thoughts on), and the version on Audible is beautifully read. Symphony for the City of the Dead is also excellent and makes use of the format to add in occasional audio clips, which was super neat and I only wish they'd done more of it.

[osprey_archer]

I may regain an interest in fictional dark & crapsack worlds if the real world ever stops roller-coastering to hell in a handbasket, but that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon, sadly.

Oh, I remember when you wrote about Symphony for the City of the Dead! That sounds like absolutely the best kind of book for an audiobook: the format is absolutely perfect for a book about music.

Plus, I'm always a sucker for Soviets.

Another lurker with audiobook opinions

[eileenlufkin]

Thank you for asking about this; I have added many things to my "for later" list at the library.

Among the audiobooks I think are enhanced by their readers: Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners, and The Privilege of the Sword, both by Ellen Kushner and read by Ellen Kushner,

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith,

and Provenance by Ann Leckie read by Adjoa Andoh.

Re: Another lurker with audiobook opinions

[osprey_archer]

I've seen a lot of praise of Rivers of London floating around: I may have to give that one a try.

Re: Another lurker with audiobook opinions

[brigdh]

(Coming in very late here, I realize!)

I really second the rec for the Rivers of London books. The voice actor so perfectly captures the essence of the main character (the books are in first-person POV) that the author actually brings him around on interviews now!

Re: Another lurker with audiobook opinions

[eileenlufkin]

Cool! I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. I will take this opportunity to recommend an audiobook I've listened to since my previous comment; The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater read by Will Patton. I tried to read this a couple of years ago when the series was all over my dashboard, but it just didn't click. Quietnight recommended Will Patton as a reader and for me it made so much difference listening to someone who could do different southern accents.