SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I'm on a legacy program from Audible and I need to get two audiobooks per month on a use-it-or-lose-it system. Sometimes, I'm really busy when the deadline comes and I just need to pick two books in a hurry. I'd love to have a list of good suggestions where I can just pick the next two down the line if I don't have a book I'm burning to buy. Anyone have suggestions?

Here are some of the ones I can recommend on audio:

World War Z
Dark Tower series
Ice and Fire series
Sandman Slim
Jayne Slayre
Hunger Games series
Patricia Briggs' werewolf series
The Monstrumologist
Unwind
The Maze Runner
The Lost Fleet
Odd Thomas series
Neil Gaiman's short stories
Neverwhere
I am Legend
Skin Trade
Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Shadow of the Hegemon
The Green Mile
Oryx and Crake
Snow Glass Apples
Time Traveler's Wife
His Dark Materials series
Edenborn
Angles and Other Stories
The Traveler
Cell
The Water Mirror
The Stolen Child
Nightlife

China Mieville's Kraken is excellent. I had some trouble getting into the hard copy when I was reading it, so I switched to the audio and suddenly the book came alive.

Thanks for so many recomendations! I love audio books, they are fabulous for entertainment while knitting or other hand-occupying activites. I would reccomend anything at all by Neil Gaiman - you can even listen to him read the entirety of The Graveyard Book online for free! I also really like Jasper Fforde's books - any of them - on audio.

Definetly the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher narrated by James Marsters, I am enjoying them a lot !

If you're so inclined, Stephen King narrates On Writing, and it's really quite good. I think most of it would appeal to more than just writers.

Brad - Kraken sounds great! I know what you mean about having trouble getting into Mieville's hard copy sometimes. :-) Didn't realize Kraken was on audio. Thanks!

Marissa - I totally agree that Gaiman has great audio books. Haven't tried Jasper Fforde's books. Will check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!

Darky - James Marsters! He's so awesome. I just finished the first one and will be downloading book 2. :-)

Peggy - Yes, I am a writer. My first novel, Angelfall, just came out! Very exciting! And I read Stephen King's On Writing when it first published. It's funny--when I first read it, I didn't get that much out of it. Later, as my writing skills matured, I started to really understand what the heck he was talking about. All that "boys in the basement" talk (I'm pulling that up from memory so it's probably not completely accurate)--not what I was looking for at the time. I wanted a step-by-step tutorial that I could put into use. It took me a very long time to understand that letting the "boys in the basement" do what they do, however they want to do it, is the most important step in my writing process. So yeah, I now think his book is really quite good, too. Just didn't realize it when I first read it. :-) Would love to hear what you're getting out of it.

Oh, speaking of Stephen King and good narrators, I highly recommend the Stephen King audiobooks narrated by Frank Muller. He may be the only audiobook reader's name I know. He was so perfect for the King books--really great reader.

I'm listening to the Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. I've listened to the first two and really loved them.

Great, thanks, Sandi! I'll check out Vatta's War.

I think you would enjoy both The Curse of Chalion & Paladin of Souls. Great fantasy literature, Lois McMaster Bujold's writing style and character development is excellent and both narrators nail it.


For something a little more light-hearted, and steering into steampunk, try Soulless... narrator Emily Grey does a wonderful job with this one.

Ive also listen to the entire Mistborn: The Final Empire trilogy, and The Way of Kings, very excellent books... I think for a while there I feel in love with Michael Kramer (Narrator)'s voice. *smile*


Ah... and then, if you like classic high fantasy, and beautiful prose, try The Summer Tree, narrated by the illustrious Simon Vance. If you like it, you can continue on...

Anyways, those are ones I've listened to and enjoyed.

Great list, Kara. Thanks! I’ve never heard of The Summer Tree. I’ll definitely check that out.

I read Soulless on the Kindle after I met the author at her launch party at World Fantasy. Great party—the author and her friends dressed up in Victorian costumes and served petite fours. Yum! :-)

I really enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, narrated by Simon Prebble
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...
The Ladies of Grace Adieu was pretty good as well

Ya gotta have the Vorkosigan series, written by Lois McMaster Bujold and narrated by Grover Gardner; and ya gotta have the Dresden Files series, written by Jim Butcher and narrated by James Marsters. Those two series will use up your credits for a good while. :)

Duma Key and Lisey's Story and Fragile Things are all excellent audiobooks. Duma Key is read by John Slattery, and it is quite possibly the best audiobook I've ever heard. I absolutely loved it. :)

Speaking of audio books - audiobooksync.com is giving away two free audio books per week for the next few weeks. There is some setup involved if you don't already have Overdrive Media software installed, but this software is also free. It's one YA title and one classic per week. Since some of the YA titles are SF or fantasy, I thought I'd mention it here. (Info available here.) Today is the last day of the first week, and tomorrow is the first day of the second.

I have only listened to one full book on audio and am listening to the sequel now. The book is The Knife of Never Letting Go and it's sequel The Ask and the Answer which are narrated by Humphrey Bower. Most of the editions seem to be narrated by another person so I don't know what that would be like. These are brilliant.

City of fallen angels- CC

Ad the best part is that Ed Westwick is reading it! Love it!<3

Susan wrote: "I’ve never heard of The Summer Tree. I’ll definitely check that out."

You're kidding, right? It was the fantasy read for June for the club...right on the front page.

Back on topic, I second Michael Kramer and also Kate Reading for deftly handling the reading of both the Wheel of Time and Sanderson's new Way of Kings series. I also particularly like Scott Brick for his reading of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels.

Paula wrote: "The book is The Knife of Never Letting Go and it's sequel The Ask and the Answer which are narrated by Humphrey Bower. Most of the editions seem to be narrated by another person so I don't know what that would be like. These are brilliant. "

As it turns out, I am currently listening to
The Knife of Never Letting Go, narrated by Nick Podehl, and it's excellent. I actually commented elsewhere that the book didn't grab me, but the audio did. They even do the noise well.

Nick Podehl also does The Name of the Wind& The Wise Man's Fear, both excellent fantasy novels by Patrick Rothfuss that I would most highly recommend!

I have only heard good things about Dresden Files, both as audio and as written word, and have been saving them for a very rainy year. Would also agree that the Vorkosigan saga is worth checking out, but I didn't like the narrator as much as some others.

=)

Susan wrote: "I read Soulless on the Kindle after I met the author at her launch party at World Fantasy. Great party—the author and her friends dressed up in Victorian costumes and served petite fours. Yum! :-) "

They definitely seem like fun cats! ...and Emily Grey's narration really sells these stories. I'm listening to Blameless right now, and she can even manage to do drunk Conall Macoon.