Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Are there any of the list books that has been many into a specially good audiobook?

I have seen many mention Kenneth Branagh's Heart of Darkness as something extraordinary.

If for each ten books I read I may listen to one audiobook – then which one should it be that I listen to rather then read?

Life of Pi. The first audio book I listened to. It blew me away and I thought at the time it would be a hard act to follow. Indeed it has been, I've listened to about 6 after it and although they have all been good none of them has matched.

Then again I loved the story iteself so this probably added to my love of the audio.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Campbell Scott read For Whom the Bell Tolls. Excellent voice for audio.

The Poisonwood Bible was the first audiobook I listened to (narrated by Dean Robertson) and was great. A Prayer for Owen Meaney I found the text hard to read (the all caps of Owen's speech got me annoyed) but then I tried the audio and loved it.

The audiobook version of Lolita is narrated by Jeremy Irons and is amazing. Highly recommended.

Edwin wrote: "The audiobook version of Lolita is narrated by Jeremy Irons and is amazing. Highly recommended."

Edwin, boy do I agree with that! Superb.

Dreams from my Father, and The Audacity of Hope, both by Barack Obama. Narrated by the president himself!

I meant list books. I have edited the title to say so.

Thanks for the suggestion of Lolita by Jeremy Irons.

I enjoyed Lady Chatterley's Lover on audiobook. Its on the public domain here http://urbanartadventures.blogspot.co...

The Handmaid's Tale read by Claire Danes was amazing.

Lolita (Jeremy Irons) is in a class of its own. A few others I've enjoyed in audio format are:
Madame Bovary
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Père Goriot
Regeneration
Fifth Business
The End of the Affair (Colin Firth narrates - excellent)
A Clockwork Orange (Tom Hollander narrates - this is my second favourite after Lolita for narration)
1984

Thanks for starting this thread, I am always interested in recommendations of high quality audio productions.

Sounds like Lolita has high recommendations here! And Colin Firth narrating The End of the Affair sounds enticing.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is narrated by the wonderful Stephen Fry.
I also liked The Great Gatsby narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn come from the same edition as praised Heart of Darkness, this one is done by Elijah Wood and I found it uplifting and cheerful.

I enjoyed everything is illuminated narrated by Jeff woodland... good idea on the topic I'be been wondering the same thing!

Crime and Punishment - Narrated by Anthony Heald I think. First class.

Nicola, i couldn't agree more. Heals does a tremendous narration.

I've just published a list of audio books available at the public domain. This 2nd part refers mainly on the 19th century books. I am still working in the remains books. I hope you'll enjoy it.

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die That Are Available From Public Domain – Part II – audio books

Great list. Thank you. Any of the audiobooks you can especially recommend?

J wrote: "Great list. Thank you. Any of the audiobooks you can especially recommend?"

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Therese Raquin by Zola. The Hand of Ethelbert by Hardy. And Dickens' and the Brontes' are also great books. Enjoy it!!

Laura wrote: J wrote: "Great list. Thank you. Any of the audiobooks you can especially recommend?"

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Therese Raquin by Zola. The Hand of Ethelbert by Hardy. And Dickens' and the Brontes' are also great books. Enjoy it!! "

J might have meant, and I certainly also mean, are there any of these audio recordings that you've personally listened to and can recommend? I'm sure the 'books' are great but Librovox recordings often aren't. In fact I found them so bad that they actually put me off audiobooks for about 10 years until people encouraged me to have another go with professional ones (borrowed from the library).

I know some Librovox recordings are meant to be good. I haven't found any but I haven't listened to that many.

For those who are interested here is a thread in LibraryThing where specific readers are mentioned:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/162361

J- unrelated to the Librovox recordings, I recently read "Choke" narrated by the author, and found it to be fantastic. I really enjoy books read by the author, and this one was especially good. Kind of messed up book, but I'd recommend listening to this particular version if you wanted to read it.

Nicola wrote: "Laura wrote: J wrote: "Great list. Thank you. Any of the audiobooks you can especially recommend?"

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Therese Raquin by Zola. The Hand of Ethelbert by Hardy. And..."

Nicola, I've added the LibriVox version with a "dramatic reading" any time is available.

Nicola wrote: "... I'm sure the 'books' are great but Librovox recordings often aren't..."

Yes, precisely. My question really is: If for each ten books I read I may listen to one audiobook – then which one should it be that I listen to rather then read?

J wrote: "Nicola wrote: "... I'm sure the 'books' are great but Librovox recordings often aren't..."

Yes, precisely. My question really is: If for each ten books I read I may listen to one audiobook – then ..."

J, I use to listen some audio books while I'm driving, either if I'm stuck in traffic jam or travelling.

"Too many books, so little time."

:O)

Wow, just realised that The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is has been made to an audiobook with Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White in Breaking Bad. That goes directly to wish-list.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

J wrote: "Wow, just realised that The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is has been made to an audiobook with Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White in Breaking Bad. That goes directly to wi..."

I just bought this one yesterday. It's currently on sale at Audible for $6.95 for members - sale ends tonight at 11:59 ET. Or, if you happen to own the Kindle edition (or can download it from your library) you can buy the audio from Audible for $3.99.

Michael wrote: "Dreams from my Father, and The Audacity of Hope, both by Barack Obama. Narrated by the president himself!"

I listened to that and it sounded great and hear-felt but not sentimental. Especially for a European very, very interesting.

Gisela wrote: "Michael wrote: "Dreams from my Father, and The Audacity of Hope, both by Barack Obama. Narrated by the president himself!"

I listened to that and it sounded great and hear-felt but not sentimental..."

As the OP I would like to point out that the tread was meant to be about books on the 1001 list. None of these are.

American Pastoral narrated by Ron Silver. I'm not quite through this but he's done a fantastic job with it. It's a long rambling book and Ron's done very well to continue to engage my interest throughout.

I'm adding it to the LibraryThings thread (link at the start of this thread) along with the other books I've thought were really very well narrated.

One of my favorite audiobook narrators of all time is Simon Vance. Lucky for me, he has a lot of classic books available for the listen! He's done a lot of Dickens and Hardy, and I really liked his reading of Robinson Crusoe.

I also like Anthony Heald, and second the suggestion of his Crime and Punishment. I think he also narrated the version of Moby Dick I listened to. Very good.

For lady narrators, I liked Lorna Raver's reading of The Age of Innocence. And when it comes to Jane Austen, none but Juliet Stevenson will do!!

With regard to Librivox, I dabble in there sometimes, but I'm very picky with my narrators. I can't stand the versions that change narrator with every chapter, or that have a different reader for every character's voice. That said, I did like my Librivox version of The Vicar of Wakefield--the narrator had a pleasing Irish lilt. After Vicar I looked up other books he had read, and also listened to his narration of Michael Kohlhaas. (I think his handle is Tadhg?)

I also have a Librivox version of Uncle Silas (different, single narrator) waiting in the wings. The narrator sounds quite good in the sample.

Bonus suggestion: Journey to the Center of the Earth read by the one and only Tim Curry. "How delicious!" (He actually says this in the book. In his smarmy Tim Curry voice. What's not to love?)

P.S. I find that the old classics, particularly 19th century plot-heavy doorstops, are fantastic as audiobooks. They are usually follow a straightforward chronology that is easy to follow, they are "voicey" and story-centered enought to keep one's attention, and the consistent pace of an audiobook pulls one through. (Plus, I feel less daunted by a large book if I don't have to actually hold it in my hands!)

I find that I tend to struggle with more modern books, plots that jump around, a lack of plot, or anything too experimental that if I were actually reading it on paper, I would be flipping around to remind myself who is who, where we are and so on. For example, I got about 2 hours into the audiobook of The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin and it was just not working for me. I kept missing the massive jumps in time and point-of-view to the point where I had no idea what was going on. I also, unwisely, purchased the audio version of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle without knowing what I was getting into. Now that I know a bit more about the experimental nature of the book, I'm leery to listen--I'll find a print version instead.

The Things They Carried read by Bryan Cranston is a great audiobook. The story is not complicated and easy to follow when doing other things.

(From my review:) I have read that other people felt it was spooky to have the book read by Walter White (from Breaking Bad) from the grave. I fast stopped thinking about Walter White. And maybe the voice is not quite the same: In one of the last chapters 9 year old Linda has number of lines. It is very impressive how he can soften the voice to a 9 year old girl's (well, almost).

The audiobooks that Audible creates can be great

Kevin Branagh - The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Tim Curry and Alan Cumming - Dracula by Bram Stoker
Tim Curry - A Christmas Carol

I listen to the audiobook of Their Eyes Were Watching God recently. I though it was very good.

Recorded Audiobook for Charles Dickens Great Expectations

The Moonstone narrated by Peter Jeffrey. A fantastic job.

Mekki wrote: "I listen to the audiobook of Their Eyes Were Watching God recently. I though it was very good."

I totally agree with Their Eyes Were Watching God--the audio got me to appreciate the different voices so much more than reading the text did. They sounded more real and less caricature. (I believe that's because of my own lack of imagination, not Hurston's use of dialect.)

I wish some of the 1001 books were narrated by Will Patton. He is my favorite narrator (check out his work on James Lee Burke's books)

Just finished Jane Eyre I partly read the book and partly listened to the librivox audiobook. The audiobook is the first good Librivox I have come across:
https://librivox.org/jane-eyre-versio...
read by Elizabeth Klett

The narrator of Fingersmith does an excellent job with the various "class" accents, male/female, etc. You can always tell who's talking. Just a really well-done recording.

Janet wrote: "Two great offerings from audible for help in getting through a couple of thickies:

War and Peace - the narrator deserves an Oscar for his amazing range of voices from old men to young girls. There..."

Janet, I also read Moby Dick and War and Peace as audiobooks. I can't remember which narrators I had, but they were fantastic! I'd highly recommend audio for anyone who is daunted by these books.

Currently I'm listening to the Neville Jason narration of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin. It's a novel in verse, and I find it very pleasant to listen to. However, it does take a certain amount of concentration so I keep it for times when I'm not too distracted (driving is out!)

Janet wrote: "Two great offerings from audible for help in getting through a couple of thickies:

War and Peace - the narrator deserves an Oscar for his amazing range of voices from old men to young girls. There..."

Which narrator for Moby Dick did you listen to? There have been a lot of them. I listened to Anthony Heald and he was fantastic.

Good question! I'm curious myself. *pulls up Audible*

Yes, it looks like I also listened to Anthony Heald. He was really fantastic. And my W&P narrator was...oh hey! Neville Jason again! I do like him :)

And you can't go wrong with anything narrated by Simon Vance. Even the phonebook.

I just finished listening to Beloved read by the author. She is very quiet, so you have to be able to listen to it without other noises, but I found it to be completely worth it.

The Collector is really worth listening to on audiobook. This book is just creepy and the narrator really captures the feelings and different moods of the two main characters well. I read a chapter in hardbook about half way through and I changed back and relistened to it on the audio as it was so much better.

I'm enjoying Robinson Crusoe on librivox.

Larissa - will Patton narrates On the Road on Audible. I hated the story, but his narration is better than the three times I tried to read it.

Wendy - I couldn't agree more about Simon Vance. Sooooo good!!!

I would also recommend anything by John Lee (especially Dumas - great French pronunciation), Simon Prebble, Juliet Stevenson, or Josephine Bailey. All super pros with great accent work and wonderful pacing. If the pacing isn't right, it just doesn't work for me.

I finished audiobook version The White Tiger last month: a great book with amazingly well done narration.

I'm listening to Rebecca narrated by Anna Massey which has been very good.

I'm currently enjoying The Mill on the Floss read by Wanda McCaddon. She has a distinguished "older" voice, but she can really nail the varied British local/class dialects, too.