# absolute best books on CD?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 20, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874 "2014-10-20T01:30:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/1 "2014-10-20T01:30:24Z")
I only like listening to books when I am driving long distances alone, which I’m about to do (700 miles). But almost all the books I have listened to have been less than stellar. The one exception was Ian McKellan reading the entire Odyssey. That kicked butt from Alberta to Idaho.
Does anybody have any suggestions for incredibly wonderful books on tape? Sorry I can’t be specific about genres, but I didn’t care for Mark Twain or Agatha Christie.
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### Author:  [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/2 "2014-10-20T02:29:10Z")
If you don’t mind mysteries (of the slightly hard-boiled type) then James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books, as read by Will Patton are pretty good.
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### Author:  [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/3 "2014-10-20T03:59:00Z")
Sissy Spacek reading \*\*To Kill a Mockingbird \*\*stands out in my mind as an excellent audio book.
I don’t know how fast you drive but for me it also was exactly the right length to cover a round trip to my mom’s house - 730 miles.
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### Author:  [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/4 "2014-10-21T00:20:31Z")
I loved John Lee narrating Ken Follett’s _The Pillars of the Earth_. Forty hours and fifty-seven minutes.
John Lee also narrated _Empires of the Sea_, which is one of my favorite historical books of all time.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/5 "2014-10-21T00:41:30Z")
John Lee is a wonderful narrator! If you like adventure fiction with a historical componant, you might enjoy Dan Simmons’ _The Terror_ (also brilliantly narrated by Mr. Lee) loosely based on the Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage.
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### Author:  [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/6 "2014-10-21T01:55:04Z")
My favorite is probably [Rob Inglis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Inglis)’ unabridged readings of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Clearly a labor of lover, he worked hard at getting the pronunciations of the various languages right and even sings the songs.
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> [@](#):
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> “Inglis strikes precisely the right note in his narration. It is an old-fashioned audiobook narration, one that feels more read than performed, although the voices of the many characters are all well-developed. It’s ever so slightly prosy, and the sensation conveyed is exactly like listening to a favourite relative read to a beloved child the same book he (beautifully) read to you when you were a child.”[[13]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Inglis#cite_note-miller-13)
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At sixty-five hours total length it’s good for a very, very long trip. 🙂
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/7 "2014-10-21T02:04:20Z")
I really enjoyed Matt Dillion reading _On The Road_.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/8 "2014-10-21T05:39:17Z")
Technically this isn’t a book-on-tape, its a radio play on tape (which was made into a series of books later on). But if you like Monty Python I highly recommend Douglas Adams’ [\*\*\*Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy \*\*\*original radio shows](http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Primary-Collection/dp/0563477881/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413869502&sr=1-3&keywords=hitchhikers+guide+to+the+galaxy). Superbly written, performed, and produced, they have so much in them they require multiple listenings. Remember you want the original radio plays, not an audiobook of the later novels (though they may be ok too, I’ve just never listened to them). The radio plays are full audio productions, multiple actors, sound effects, etc.
They eventually made a BBC miniseries of them, and a full Hollywood film. Neither was even as remotely as good as the original radio shows though. Also don’t bother with the later Tertiary Phase radio plays, it’s just not that funny…
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/9 "2014-10-21T09:46:14Z")
I love McKellan reading _The Odyssey_, too. Before that came out, Penguin had already released Derek Jacobi reading Robert Fagles’ translation of the _Iliad_, which I also rtecommend. But foir some reason, it’s not the whole poem, but a severely abridged version.
If you’re into classics, there’s FRitz Weaver reading the Penguin translation of Machiavelli’s **The Prince**.
I also love the audio companion volume to Ken Burns’ **Mark Twain** , which is actually a lot longer than the TV show it’s nominally based on, with much more material.
I’ve got a huge collection of this stuff, and also borrow heavily from the area libraries. My other recommendations:
**The Lord of the Rings** – the version that’s read from the books, not the dramatized version. The guy does the entire book, including singin every song. (This may not be a selling point for you. But you can always skip it)
A Heinlein trio (the only books of his I’ve seen on CD):
\*\*Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
Rocket Ship Galileo\*\* – I hadn’t cared for the book in print so much, but the audio akes me appreciate it again. Read by Spider Robinson!
**Lies my Teacher Told Me**
Several Nero Wolfe mysteries
**Gambit
Champagne for One
Please Pass the Guilt
The Black Mountain
The Mother Hunt
The Father Hunt**
**The Lion of Comarre and other Stories by Arthur C. Clarke**
I’ve been taking a lot of Clive Cussler books out of the local libraries. They’re wonderfully ludicrous audio comic books, and they’re long.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/10 "2014-10-21T13:35:36Z")
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/11 "2014-10-21T15:13:03Z")
If you don’t get enough recommendations here, we’ve had other “recommend an audiobook” threads in the past, which a search should turn up.
Tip: Even if you plan to buy or borrow the audiobook on physical media (like CDs), you can go to a site that sells downloadable audiobooks (e.g. [audible.com](http://audible.com)) and listen to a short sample first. You won’t be able to tell if the story is any good, but you’ll at least get an idea of whether the narration is something you’d want to listen to for hours on end.
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### Author:  [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/12 "2014-10-21T15:59:09Z")
The full cast production of Neil Gaiman’s **American Gods** is one of my favorites. Eighteen hours or so.
Neil Gaiman’s reading of **The Graveyard Book** was also good.
Another recommendation for the **Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** radio show. Definitely the Primary and Secondary phases, which were done in the 70s and are unqualified awesomeness. Tertiary and beyond are decent, and probably worth listening to, but they’re a pale shadow of the first two; consider them optional.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/13 "2014-10-21T16:01:56Z")
George Guidall’s reading of _ **Crime and Punishment** _.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/14 "2014-10-21T16:04:31Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> George Guidall’s reading of _ **Crime and Punishment** _.
Yep, that would last awhile.
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### Author:  [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-books-on-cd/701874/15 "2014-10-21T18:21:12Z")
Another vote for the BBC dramatization of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I also have an unabridged reading of the book but, in this case, the original BBC radio play trumps everything, even the TV series and movies.
A couple more audiobooks I’ve enjoyed over the years:
[Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage](http://www.amazon.com/Undaunted-Courage/dp/B00005MLQI): Lewis and Clark brought to life. Gripping adventure. Makes you feel like you’re right there with the Corps of Discovery.
[A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd](http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/A-Christmas-Story-Audiobook/B002V57PEQ?mkwid=DSATitle&pmt=b&pkw=_cat:fiction/kids&source_code=GO1GB909GSH102413&gclid=Cj0KEQjwiJiiBRDh3Z-ctPfS5MgBEiQAAlkbQmn6aH--K-PxE9XnEK1V7Kl5cOZC8_qPJb66wb5GX9AaAjGp8P8HAQ). For me, the best part of the film was the narration anyway. At three and a half hours, it greatly expands on the film version.
And, while not quite an audiobook, the [Hardcore History podcast by Dan Carlin](http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/) has been expanding to the length of audiobooks, particularly his recent coverage of WWI.