Book Haven discussion

Which books made the best audiobooks?

For me, it's fantasy, especially when the narrator is really good - or in some cases, where there's a cast of narrators, as in Brian Jacques' Redwall and Mossflower. And I probably would have given up on George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series if I'd been reading instead of listening.

I do listen to various genre: cozy-mystery, historical books & biographies, classics, etc. Strangely, I prefer to read romance books rather than listen to them.

My husband is currently listening to The Name of the Wind, and he says that it is an amazing audiobook! :)

The inheritance series by Paolini, Christopher made great audiobooks!

I like to listen to books that are narrated from a first person point of view, like LKH's Anita Blake series, Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer series and Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.

Then it just sounds like a friend narrating to you about her life.

Honestly, I feel that the reader makes the audio book. If I get hold of a bad reader, it makes me not like the book.

My all time favorite audio books are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The reader is Davina Porter and she is awesome.

If I find a reader that I like, I will look up all the stuff they have done and sometimes pick books like that.

I personally love any of the Shakespeare audiobooks. The readers are usually very intriguing.

Artemis Fowl made a good audiobook. It's a young adult book, but the narrator was good!

The whole "Sookie Stackhouse" series make GREAT audiobooks! :)

I got into audiobooks after a few people raved about them here on GR. At first I had a hard time but I think it was because of the narrators. Their voices weren't appealing.

I've since listened to Neil Gaiman read Coraline and The Graveyard Book and I loved listening to his voice. I'm currently listening to the Harry Potter series. I am on book 5. I love Jim Dale's voice! It's true that a good narrator makes a huge difference.

I remembered a few others:

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The 19th Wife A Novel

Yeah, if you get a bad narrator the book is going to be torture to listen to...
Have you tried listening to any Full Cast audiobooks? Those are great!

I'm a HUGE audiobook listener because I work so much that I wouldn't have time to enjoy as many books (I only have enough time to read about 4-5 physical books a month, but probably listen to 5 or 7 audiobooks a month).

Since I'm a "romance" devotee, my favorite audiobooks (a LOT because of the readers) are:

~The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (Davina Porter was wonderful);
~All of Judith Ivory's audiobooks (historical romance) (with a few different readers) are not only great books (she's one of my favorite authors), but the readers (Barbara Rosenblat, Violet Primm, and Steven Crossley - All just made the novels into "movies." I know some of you know exactly what I mean! :)
~And my lastest favorite is by Megan Hart, "Deeper" (an erotic romance so well written -- hard to find! The reader is Savannah Richards and she also did a fabulous job; I bawled my eyes out on this one, as it's a real tearjerker! It's "haunted" me since I listened to a few weeks ago and even had wonderful music at the beginning and end that added so much to the drama of it.)
~I also loved all the Karen Marie Moning (time travel/historical highlander/paranormal mix romance) Highlander series narrated by Phil Gigante (*sigh!* ;)

Those are my favorites!

Joy -- I really enjoyed the couple of Sookie Stackhouse books on audio I've listened to so far (the narrator has a great accent).

I totally agree that a reader can make a decent book sound awful (i.e. Lisa Kleypas "Smooth Talking Stranger" which I cringed the whole way through. The reader seemed like they had a bit of a "lisp," and they were a "sloooowwww talker." LOL! Consequently, every character ended up sounding the same. I think the story would have been better if I had read the book myself.)
K.

I listened to that book, Smooth Talking Stranger, and you are right, she spoke so slow. I kept thinking hurry it up already.

K. wrote: "I'm a HUGE audiobook listener because I work so much that I wouldn't have time to enjoy as many books (I only have enough time to read about 4-5 physical books a month, but probably listen to 5 or ..."

I haven't listened to any historical romances on audio books yet. I've been hesitant to. It's my favorite genre... :) I'll have to try some of the ones that you suggested! :)

I drive way too much for work, listen to about 1000 pages a month though on cd and tape as I pretty much gave up the radio several years ago.

In my opinion, the best combination voice for a book goes to, hands down, Charleton Heston reading Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea and the Snows of Kilimanjaro. If you like Hem, no matter how you feel about the crazy ole coot Heston, he nails it.

Da Vinci Code is the book that got me into books on cd though... Great motivator to get into the car!

Ender's Game, Life of Pi, and Power of One all great on cd too.

Joy wrote: "Which books made the best audiobooks?"

The best part about audiobooks is that it makes every kind of book great... as long as it has a good reader! The reader is everything!

The Dresden Files Series is great on audiobook. James Marsters is probably one of the best narrators I've ever listened to.

Listed in alphabetical order by author, not by preference.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Album. Narrated by Eric Singer. (5 hours listening time.)

Flight Lessons by Patricia Gaffney. Narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck. (6 hours listening time.)

Angel Light by Andrew M. Greeley. Narrated by David Dukes. (3 hours listening time.)

Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Narrated by Debra Monk with Leland Gantt, Enid Graham, Michael McGlone, Liam Norton, Anne Pitoniak, Sharon Quinn and Gordon Weiss. (4 hours listening time.)

Nothing but the Truth by John Lescroart. Narrated by Dylan Baker. (6 hours listening time.)

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Narrated by Dana Ivey. (3 hours listening time.)

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Narrated by Richard Thomas. (3 hours listening time.)

Levels by Jim Vuksic. Narrated by Stephen Rozzell. (8 hours listening time.)