I have some Audible credits that I want/need to use. Any suggestions on books that you enjoyed listening to instead of reading?
If you like non-fiction, I enjoyed the audible versions of Bad Blood (about the Theranos scandal – not about the trial) and Empire of Pain (about the Sacklers and the opiod crisis). Both are written by journalists who investigated those issues. Empire of Pain was particularly interesting because it describes a lot of the history including how Arthur Sackler pioneered the whole idea of advertising pharmaceuticals to doctors.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Run Rose Run
Both great in audiobook
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Not knowing what kind of book you’re looking for, a good place to look for good audio books and narrators is audipub.org and their Audie award winners.
I’ve not finished many a book because I loathed the narrator.
I like reading fiction, and listening to nonfiction.
In A Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson. Or any of his books that he reads himself. He’s hilarious!
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Someone on CC recommended The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to me and I loved it.
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I listened to Remains of the Day on Audible a few years ago and that narrator’s voice still rings in my head as Stevens the butler.
A great audiobook for anyone with even a passing interest in college admissions (which is to say, most of us here on CC!) is Lacy Crawford’s novel, Early Decision. The audiobook narrator, Erin Moon, does a phenomenal job of creating distinct voices for all of the adults and teens in the book. The author worked as a private admissions counselor for a number of years and drew from her own experiences in crafting the novel.
The Warmth of Other Suns is an amazing book - quite long, but I listened to it on a car trip and found it fascinating throughout. The amount of research that went into the book is mind-boggling, but it’s all told through the personal stories of specific individuals and families, so it reads like a novel.
Over the last year, I have listened to a number of books. The absolute best was A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. But, I also listened to two wonderful books by Anthony Horowitz: Moriarty and The House of Silk. I also really enjoyed Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce. A friend’s daughter wrote Making Americans, which is a really interesting take on how we should be educating immigrants.
@aMacMom - my favorite audio books so far have been autobiographies read by the author - various celebrities - a few favorites I recommend: Carlos Santana The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light; Pete Townshend Who I Am; Betty White If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t); Michelle Obama The Light We Carry; to name a few. I love hearing their voices tell their stories. For me it’s like sitting at the kitchen table listening to them.
I am like others and can only listen to audio books if the narrator is excellent.
On a road trip to Death Valley, we listened to The Martian, which was perfect.
I loved the wonderful narration of Circe, and her version of the Odyssey.
Elijah Wood is a fabulous narrator in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We still quote funny lines from it.
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Another book that I loved, which had a brilliant narrator, was The Peacemaker’s Code by Deepak Malhotra.
WINNER OF THE “NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD” FOR BEST SCIENCE FICTION (2021)
From Amazon, a synopsis: “Professor Kilmer, a renowned historian of war and diplomacy, is collected from his home and whisked off to Washington. Thrust into the highest levels of government as an adviser to the President, the young historian must come to terms with the seemingly impossible, figure out how to navigate a world where not everything is as it appears, and use all the skills and knowledge he has acquired in his life to help save humanity from a conflict of truly epic proportions. A genre-breaking novel that re-examines the human condition and masterfully blends some of the most compelling themes in literature: war & peace, strategy & serendipity, love & friendship, courage & fear, the bounds of possibility, and the limits of imagination. Replete with mysteries that will compel you to keep turning the pages, powerful moments that will stop you dead in your tracks, and insights that will change the way you understand and navigate the world. Most of all… a journey you will not forget.”
Have you done Daisy Jones and the Six? I highly recommend it as an audio experience. Made my DD return the book to the library and try the audio. She was very glad for the suggestion in the end. Done with a full cast you forget it’s a book and start thinking it’s a documentary. It was really fantastic!
I recently listened to The Heart’s Invisible Furies which must be one of the best books I ever “read.”
The Dutch House also great, bread by Tom Hanks.
I usually enjoy anything read by Julia Whelan.
Fredrik Backman’s Beartown and sequels.
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Selingo’s Who Gets in and Why worked very well as audio.
Also, The Price You Pay for College, by Ron Leiber was eye-opening and listen-worthy.
I love Bill Bryson books. Think I’ve listened to almost all of them but make sure he is the narrator. My most fav is “A Walk in the Woods” but it’s totally different if he’s not the one speaking. Amazing how his humor is communicated through his voice.
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