The Book Vipers discussion

Does anyone know of any good audiobooks they'd recommend?

I've been listening to them in my car but find them a bit hit and miss - obviously the narrator has to be good as well as the story.

Ones I've enjoyed are The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper and The Secret of Happy Ever After by Lucy Dillon.

Just ditched The Patchwork Marriage by Jane Green and wasn't keen on Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and the narrator is very important. Although of course the story has to be good as well; a good narrator can only prolong the time spent on listening. The only requirement I have is that the narrator has to be English, Irish, Scottish...since I find it hard to understand American English.

When I type in the name of a narrator I sometimes come across interesting books.

I can give you names of narrators I like. And/or of audiobooks I enjoyed a lot.

If you include Australian, I thought The Light Between Oceans was very good.

- Matt Addis; The Mist in the Mirror
- Paul Ansdell; The Keeper of Secrets
- Nigel Anthony; No Man's Nightingale: An Inspector Wexford Novel - he also reads other books by Ruth Rendell
- Sean Barrett; the Wallander books by Henning Mankell
- Carole Boyd; The Franchise Affair and A Different Kind of Courage: Gretel's Story
- Jim Broadbent; The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- Hugh Fraser; the books by Agatha Christie - mostly the stories featuring Hercule Poirot
- Gordon Griffin
- Michael Jayston; books by John Le Carré and P.D.James
- Jonathan Keeble; The Woodcutter; really loved it
- Anton Lesser; mostly classics
- Colin Mace; books by Dan Waddell
- Michael Maloney; The Cleaner of Chartres
- Jeremy Northam; Dark Matter: A Ghost Story; absolutely loved this one
- Dan Stevens; War Horse this is an abridged version
- John Tefler
- Robert Whitfield; Greenmantle
- Daniel Weyman; Dominion

I have the paperback on The Light Between Oceans :)

oo thanks Danielle - I didn't know Jim Broadbent had done audiobooks! I'll have to try that one.

I really enjoyed listening to:

Midnight's Children -Salman Rushdie
Wilderness -Sam Harvey
Alone on a Wide Wide Sea - Michael Morpurgo
The Help - Kathryn Stockett ( beautifully read by the three voices)
Ghost Stories of M R James, read by Derek Jacobi
The Woman Who Went to Bed For A Year by Sue Townsend
Lolita by Nabokov (read by Jeremy Irons)

Non-fiction
The Fry Chronicles
Charles Dickens: A life by Clare Tomalin
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
Love Nina by Nina Stibbe

The reader's voice is really important. I can't listen to an American accent either.

I don't mind an American accent - the reader is more important to me than the accent, so there could be some English readers I don't like, or American readers.

I think, for me, it does depend on the book. If it's an American novel then I'd want it read authentically. I listened to Lionel Shriver's Big Brother recently and thought the narrator, who was American, read it beautifully.

I tried listening to an audio version of Norwegian Wood a while ago and couldn't get on with the voice of the narrator at all. He was American, and it just didn't sound right. I stopped listening after one chapter.

Actually, that's probably true for me. The Help was in Deep South accents and it was perfect.

I forgot to mention Wolf Hall. Hated reading it but listening was loads better.

I am quite new to audio books but have absolutely loved:

The Way We Live Now read by Timothy West - simply outstanding.

The Remains of the Day reads by Dominic West - actually stopped me in my tracks and made me cry!

Kensukes Kingdom read by Derek Jacobi. Wonderful for children and adults. Both my two young children were transfixed.

I am half way through the Luminaries.

I have several others, but am yet to listen.

Skellig, read by the author, David Almond. Really good.

Fillyjonk wrote: "Actually, that's probably true for me. The Help was in Deep South accents and it was perfect.

I forgot to mention Wolf Hall. Hated reading it but listening was loads better."

I had toyed with the idea of Wolf Hall on audio rather than reading... Or perhaps as well as in someway, to keep me going along with it!

I listened to Brideshead revisited read by Jeremy Irons and loved it. I don't think I would have liked the book so much if I had read it.

Christopher Timothy also does a great job in narrating the books by James Herriot.

Thank you for the recommendations everyone :)

I really enjoyed one narrated by Jilly Bond, so I've borrowed The Captive Queen of Scots, by Jean Plaidy, also ready by Jilly Bond, and I'm really enjoying it.

Can I ask how you all access audio books? I'm trying to get more into them and wondering about trying Audible, Anyone use that? I think I need a downloading route rather than CDs so am exploring that side of things and recommendations would be good.

I borrow mine from the library's website and transfer into my iPod or listen direct on my Kindle Fire, via the Overdrive app.

I have got the Overdrive app, never used it yet!

I have used Audible and also have borrowed CD sets from the library to download and add to my iPod. I am always "on a deal" from Audible so have never paid full price for audiobooks from them. Currently I am on £1.99 a month, one credit per month for 3 months I think.

I have an Audible account. And due to the Audible Manager which you use on my laptop I transfer my audio to my Sansa mp3-Player. Or I listen on the laptop.

You have to see at the Audible website though which mp3-players can play the Audible format.

Since about half a year I suppose, the audio is also transfered into I-tunes as you now need to use I-tunes to burn audio on cd's. This is only so for my UK Audible account, as I can still use Nero for my German audio books which I purchase through Audible.de.

Both the books I purchase at Audible.co.uk and Audible.de (with the same account) can be downloaded from the Audible website to the Audible manager on the laptop/PC.

For Android there is also the Audible app which allows you to listen to books in your library.

The advance of Audible is - and I can only speak for the UK and the DE branch of Audible is that you can return audio books as the guarantee 100% audio satisfaction.

There is also Librivox. Here you can find audio books from books in the public domain, so there are for free.

You have different kinds of audio books. There are the abridged and unabridged. Unabridged is the complete book narrated, while with abridged the book is mostly adapted for audio.

And than you have the dramatised plays - mostly radio plays. I know that in Germany they have radio websites where you can stream or download free radio plays - so I suppose this maybe also exists in the UK.

I also like the BBC audio books which are mostly like or are radio plays with different characters played by different actors while with unbridged is it mostly (not always) one narrator doing the different characters.

Both abridged, unabridged and radio plays have their charm.

I can take out English audio books in my library in Antwerp so that is an option as well. Not every library in Antwerp has got audio books. I am unfamiliar with English libraries but as you can borrow them via the website, I suppose you will also be able to take them out.

An interesting site to check out is Naxos. Google for Naxos audio books. They have apps for Ipod/Ipad and Android and they have a download shop as well. The books they have - mostly classics and non fiction - have classical music at the beginning, the end and at intervals as well.

Thanks all for your tips, thats really helpful. I'll look into it! :-)

Hi, I'm new to the Book Vipers but have been inspired to pitch in here as a recent convert to audiobooks.

Due to having 2 very badly behaved dogs who can't be let off lead very much, I have to walk miles each day to get them enough exercise, so I decided it would be the perfect time to listen to some audiobooks.

The first one I downloaded was The Testament of Mary, by Colm Toibin, and the Audible version is read by Meryl Streep. It was absolutely amazing. She is such a talented actress and her skills transfer perfectly to reading books - it was like listening to my own personal play being performed. I was so hooked that even when I got home I carried on listening while I did a pile of ironing. Cannot recommend it enough.

Currently plodding along listening to Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell, arrayed by Dearbhla Molloy, who has the most beautifully soft Irish accent.

I do think it's critical that an audiobook has a narrator whose voice you like, otherwise it's excruciating!

Looking forward to listening to some of the great recommendations on here.

Welcome to the group Jackie.

Welcome Jackie :)
I agree, there's nothing worse than a bad narrator in an audiobook.

I listen to quite a lot but always listen to a sample first to make sure I like their voice, otherwise it could be an awful experience, especially for the longer books.

Jenny Agutter is a good narrator (The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield), Fiona Shaw and David Threlfall are good too.

I'm listening to Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, read by Ian McKellan. It's very good.

My first audiobook was only in January...I have long wanted to listen to Stephen Fry narrate Harry Potter, and it was fantastic. Since then I have listened to two more audio books which were the only formats I could find our monthly reads in in Vienna...The End of Magical Thinking, which was beautifully read (forgotten the name just now!) and The Master and Margarita (by Julian Rind Tutt), which I am struggling with. I can't tell if the problem is the story or the bizarre accents he uses for different characters....Scottish, cockney, squeaky....kinda unconvinced!

I very nearly bought The Master and Margarita last week, but was put off by the excerpt.

I am thinking of getting Chris Hadfield's autobiography next. He's the astronaut that sang and recorded the Space Oddity film in the shuttle. I can't remember the book title but it's something like Is There Life On Earth?

An Astronaut's Guide To Life on Earth.

Fave narrators include Alex Jennings; Juliet Stevenson; Neil Pearson ... many others but these are the ones that spring to mind. Recent disasters include The Haunting of Hill House. Great spooky tale, absolutely massacred by the narrator - one Bernadette Dunne. Avoid like the plague. Currently listening to the most recent Elly Griffiths, The Outcast. Easy listening, quite well read, with the exception of the main male character, whom she graces with a voice that sounds like a total buffoon.

Susan wrote: "Fave narrators include Alex Jennings; Juliet Stevenson; Neil Pearson ... many others but these are the ones that spring to mind. Recent disasters include The Haunting of Hill House. Great spooky ..."

So, for those that love Audiobooks, is your book choice led by author or narrator, out of interest? e.g., Susan, if you avoid Bernadette Dunne, do you also deliberately seek out, say, Juliet Stevenson, which would inevitably lead you to new book ideas.

Yes, definitely seek out narrators - good ones have the ability to make a really very average book into something quite exceptional.

Audible rocks! The production on Room by Emma Donoghue is very well done. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is phenomenal!! I also enjoyed the following: David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly, Liberty & Tyranny by Mark Levin, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

I don't think I have ever listened to an audio book other than a rendition of Lord of the Rings. I recently bought my mom some audiobooks, maybe I start with those.

A good narrator can make a mediocre book very good. A great book can be destroyed by poor narration.

I'm driven by both, but the narrator is of paramount importance to me. Dominic West is very good. So is Timothy West. Alex jennings as well. And I was very pleasantly surprised by Elizabeth McGovern who I thought might drive me mad, but was actually very good.

Reviving this thread as I have a couple of credits to use at Audible before i suspend my membership again and wait for the next special offer!!

I tend to do better with lighter subject matter for my audio books, or at least ones without huge long intricate descriptive passages and details. I have absolutely loved a couple of cracking autobiographies (Michael McIntyre and Clare Balding) and also some shorter "classics" eg. Remains of the Day, the Colour Purple, 1984.

A great narrator is absolutely key - humour or relative shortness (is that a word - if it is I don't think I have used it correctly?) preferred, so please let me know if you can think of anything that fits this bill.

Night by Elie Wiesel is a brilliant audiobook. It includes his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

Just wanted to revive this.

Recent winners for me on audio are:

Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life

How Did All This Happen?

My Animals and Other Family

And part way through

Americanah.

Please keep posting your recommendations, I am always on the look out for new audiobooks.

Yes to Love Nina! Very amusing. I started listening to it again on a long car journey recently, forgetting that there is a fair bit of swearing. Had to quickly stop it as I had my little ones with me.

I'm listening to The Paris Wife now - very good indeed.

One click is used by Cornwall libraries. It's free so I don't mind. I wouldn't pay for it as it is always going wrong it drives me nuts. That said, I have listened to some great books on way to work, when one click wants to play ball.

I'm in Cornwall and use One Click but agree that it's a pain. You can only listen with an internet connection and have to bookmark regularly or you end up listening to the same bit several times.

Just remembered that the last thing I borrowed through One Click was Keep The Aspidistra Flying by Orwell, read by Richard E Grant. I liked it very much.

I get a credit a month through Audible as well. I choose books much more carefully here.

Essex also use one digital and after some trial and error I now have sussed getting them safely onto my iPod. Thx for pointing out the Orwell recording.

Thanks for recommendation too. Just doing Wolf Hall. That's a few journeys worth I think. You can listen without Internet as long as you download first. If you aren't careful you end up doing chapter by chapter, actually even if you are careful. It can be done. Just not easily. I listen in the car on iPad. I only have wifi, not 3G so know it's possible. Hello, Cornish peeps. A wave to you.

:)

I can never get it to play in the car unless I open the app and start it playing at home, then pause it. But I usually forget!

I put Diary of a Wimpy Kid on for my kids to listen to on a long car journey and we couldn't get it to play even though I'd made sure it was all downloaded.

Almost finished The Secret Scripture and can recommend it.

The Silver Dark Sea by Susan Fletcher. Wonderful.

Sometimes works if you switch it off and then I'm again....I love the IT crowd

My library now do audiobooks for free using an app called overdrive, tempting but I like to read and not listen. The wife listened to Romeo and Juliet in the garden yesterday, said it was very good, had Michael sheen and other celeb reading it.

That's one I use. Called 1click, for Cornwall. It is truly awful, full of errors. However books, when you can get it to work properly, are great.

Audio book for John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" was great. I also recommend "The Invention of Wings" and anything by David Baldacci is enhanced with sound effects. He uses the same narrators (Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy) and they are good in my opinion.

Thanks for that Kim

Can also recommend the audio book versions of A Cupboard Full of Coats and The Thing Around Your Neck. Both read by Adjoa Andoh