The County Library discussion

As a librarian with a commute, you can imagine I listen to a lot of audiobooks. Right now, I'm just finishing up The Ocean at the End of the Lane, written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, and I think it may be just about a perfect audiobook experience. There are not a lot of authors that are also good narrators, but Gaiman's the complete package.

How about you? Do you have any really great audiobooks to suggest?

Outlander series, Cynster series by Stephanie Laurens, Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. A ton more.. I listen to audiobooks all the time

I love audio books, too! American Gods is another Neil Gaiman that's amazing.
Some of my other favorites...
11/22/63
The Fault in Our Stars
20th Century Ghosts
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
These Things Hidden
And the entire Game of Thrones series...I got those as an audio book and in print so I could switch off between reading and listening. They are so long I was afraid it would take me forever to finish them if I could listen while driving, cooking, cleaning, etc!

Also, I have The Ocean at the End of the Lane on hold as an audio book - I'm glad to hear it was so great to listen to!

I listened to several books that I enjoyed and, had audio not been available, I could not have read. Don Quixote, Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice (hated reading it, enjoyed listening to it) Currently I'm listening to the 14 book series Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. When that series is done, I'll be doing the Smiley series by John le Carre. There was one book I started and, being so bored, I quit -- Les Miserables. However, you may enjoy it if you take a listen.

Mandy wrote: "I love audio books, too! American Gods is another Neil Gaiman that's amazing.
Some of my other favorites..."

I already read The Fault in Our Stars, but I'm tempted to listen to the audio. It either won an Audie Award this year, and the winners and finalists are pretty much sure bets. Here's the link to this year's list:
http://www.theaudies.com/

I just finished the Cold Dish by Craig Johnson. It was wonderful, kept me on the edge of my seat (as it were). Got to see the author when he was here a couple of weeks back and he was very entertaining. If you love great characters, funny banter and dialog in a great mystery, this one is for you. One warning, one character does have a bit of a potty mouth yet funny.

I listen to audio books when I walk, so I always have an audio book going as well as reading one

I also listened to The Ocean at the End of the Lane and truly enjoyed it. I have also enjoyed many Charles Dickens titles via audio, especially The Old Curiosity Shop.
Joe Abercrombie's Red Country is fantastically narrated, but has some extreme language and violence, but I really enjoyed it. Steven Pacey is on the top of my list for narrators.
I travel a lot so I've listened a lot of audio books, a few others I could quickly suggest are:
The Three Musketeers
Watership Down
The Golem and the Jinni
The Lies of Locke Lamora
and Brandon Sanderson'sMistborn Trilogy Boxed Set

All good books and well narrated.

I loved Watership Down as an audio book!

My recent favorites on BCD are YF fantacy Seraphina by Rachel Green and YF Fault in our Stars by John Green.

My recent favorite audiobook narrators include(sorry too many good books they've done to narrow it down):

Anything by Jim Dale (sorry this one never goes away)
Lorelei King (she does mysteries, some paranormal)
Elizabeth Michaels
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (narrator is awesome)

Anything read by Kate Reading and/or Michael Kramer is worth listening to imo.

I have listened to all of the Bloody Jack audiobooks written by L.A. Meyer and narrated by Katherine Kellgren. They are SO fun! It is a YA adventure series about an orphan girl who pretends to be a boy and the adventure never ends. There are 10 books in the series as of right now. The narrator is phenomenal....she rivals Jim Dale.

I don't often pay attention to narrators unless they are bad. I'm very cautious when authors read their own works -- too many burns. BUT THE ONE exception is Jim Dale. Wonderful at his craft.

Debbie wrote: "I don't often pay attention to narrators unless they are bad. I'm very cautious when authors read their own works -- too many burns. BUT THE ONE exception is Jim Dale. Wonderful at his craft."

Oh yes, I have to say I hate listening to Stephen King. He has a nasally voice that I just don't like, no matter how much I love his books.

Cristy wrote: "Debbie wrote: "I don't often pay attention to narrators unless they are bad. I'm very cautious when authors read their own works -- too many burns. BUT THE ONE exception is Jim Dale. Wonderful at..."

I tried to listen to William Gibson read Necromancer, but his Southern accent was a total disconnect. To me, a South Carolina accent and cyberpunk just don't fit.

Yes, the right narrator does make all the difference. One of my favorites is Simon Vance, I love his voice and have listened to him narrate the His Majesty's Dragon series, Fionavar Trilogy to name a few. Can't go wrong with him.

I just tried to listen to Windup Girl- couldn't do it, I suspect because of the narrator. I will try reading it before giving it up as a bad book.

Jennifer wrote: "I tried to listen to William Gibson read Necromancer, but his Southern accent was a total disconnect. To me, a South Carolina accent and cyberpunk just don't fit. ..."

I listened to Madeline L'Engle read A Wrinkle in Time. There were no variations in the sounds of characters voices and I often got confused about who was speaking. I almost got the book out to keep it straight -- which fully defeats the purpose of having it as audio!

I listened to several of the Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging series, and the first few were great because the actress that narrated had a perfect teenager voice. But then the author started reading them, and I couldn't continue. There's something a little creepy about listening to a gravelly middle-aged voice talk about hot teenaged boys.

I listened to the whole Gemma Doyle Series (The Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing) by Libba Bray read by Josephine Bailey. It was a great experience. She had such distinct voices for all of the characterS that she didn't even need to say "she/he said" because just by the voice you could tell who was speaking. AWESOME!

I listen both during my commute and while I exercise, so I do a lot of my "reading" via my ears. A couple of my recent favorites are Ready Player One , read by Wil Wheaton, and Beauty Queens , read by author Libba Bray. I also loved listening to Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series, read by Jeff Woodman.

Jennifer wrote: "I already read The Fault in Our Stars, but I'm tempted to listen to the a..."

I really enjoyed the audio version of The Fault in Our Stars ! As a bonus, there is a great interview with John Green.

Mandy wrote: "Also, I have The Ocean at the End of the Lane on hold as an audio book - I'm glad to hear it was so great to listen to!"

I've just added my name to the hold list for this one!

alisonwonderland wrote: "I listen both during my commute and while I exercise, so I do a lot of my "reading" via my ears. A couple of my recent favorites are
Ready Player One
, read by Wil Wheaton, and
Beauty Queens..."
Wil Wheaton's narration of Ready Player One is one of my all-time favorites! I just listened to him doing Redshirts, which, let's face it, nobody else has any business narrating. It was excellent!

Jennifer wrote: "Wil Wheaton's narration of Ready Player One is one of my all-time favorites! I just listened to him doing Redshirts, which, let's face it, nobody else has any business narrating. It was excellent!"

I didn't realize Wil Wheaton narrates Redshirts . I will have to check it out!

alisonwonderland wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Wil Wheaton's narration of Ready Player One is one of my all-time favorites! I just listened to him doing Redshirts, which, let's face it, nobody else has any business narrating. I..."

Yes, it's very fun and he's perfect. It is a very unusual book, though, just so you know.

Jennifer wrote: "Yes, it's very fun and he's perfect. It is a very unusual book, though, just so you know."

I checked Redshirts out for my minimal-reader husband a while ago, and he loved it. I didn't get a chance to read it myself then, but listening to it sounds great!

One of my favorites is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, read by Lenny Henry. I also love any of the Terry Pratchett books read by Stephen Briggs or Nigel Planer.

Stephanie wrote: "One of my favorites is Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, read by Lenny Henry. I also love any of the Terry Pratchett books read by Stephen Briggs or Nigel Planer."

OMG- yes! I loved the Anansi Boys recording. I actually tried to read that book in print, and couldn't get into it (blasphemy, I know!) However, I saw the recording on an Audie Award list and decided to give it a try, and now it's one of my all-time favorites. Also, it turned me on to the Audie lists as a great place to go for titles.

Love the Discworld books, too. Also, I know I've said it in other threads, but I adore the narrations of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. In fact, I am seriously considering naming my next dog Flavia. Good thing I don't have kids, right?

I love listening to books during my commute as well... The Harry Potter series for sure... all the "Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series - each book has a different reader, but they are all great. Ender's game is a great listen... Just finished listening to "Room" hard topic - and it's a cast reading, which I usually steer away from, but they did a great job. Loved listening to the Mitford series... A lot of the jv fiction is fun to listen too... So many... Thanks for your suggestions...

Where did everyone go? Well I will put in a plug for the Percy Jackson series on audio, they are a lot of fun. I am currently re-listening to the Heroes of Olympus series to catch up to #5 which just came out. I only listened to the first 3 in this one, they changed the narrator on 4 and now 5 so I skipped the audio on it and just read the 4th one and will read #5...narrator really makes or breaks the audio.

Lol- thanks, Karen! Maybe we can get this thread to revive a little. My recent favorite audios have been Orange is the New Black, all the Malcolm Gladwell books, and The Signature of All Things. And in teens- loving the Maggie Steifvater Raven Boys series. Excellent recording and great stories!

I also have been listening to the Longmire series this year, I really love George Guidall's narration, he also read the Tony Hillerman books. Love those mysteries set in the West. I just finished As the Crow Flies a couple of weeks ago.