Just as the title says. I have a subscription to Audible.com and get 2 books a month. that time has come again for me to choose some new listening material for my commute and I am stumped. I have eclectic taste and am wiling to try anything once, but I find Audible’s ratings system to be all but useless when it comes to finding new stuff. So this is a call for your favorite UNABRIDGED audio books and/or Audible downloads. What do you guys like, what should I try next?
Check out Kerouac’s On the Road–read by Matt Dillon.
well, I’ll throw out some of my favorite audible picks.
Diane Duane’s wizard books
Ursula leguin’s earthsea
anything by isaac asimov
the BBC hitchhiker’s radio dramas.
I’d suggest the unabridged hitchiker’s and dirk gently books read by douglas adams, but audible has taken them off the ‘for sale’ shelf it appears. 
The copy of ‘hitchhikers unabridged’ that they have now, narrated by stephen fry, looks like it would be pretty good though.
I enjoyed Tom Robbins’s novel Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, although it wouldn’t be for everybody. Sort of a semi-comedic spy novel with a bunch of adult situations and mysterious stuff thrown in.
I’ve also enjoyed:
Under the Banner of Heaven: nonfiction, Jon Krakauer’s latest book, mostly about the fundamentalist Mormon brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty and their murder of their sister-in-law and her 15-month-old daughter.
The Worthing Saga: science fiction, Orson Scott Card’s future history of his somec society.
Ender’s Game: science fiction, Orson Scott Card’s classic kids-in-space novel. I also enjoyed all of the sequels, including…
Ender’s Shadow: Orson Scott Card’s parallel novel to Ender’s Game, but from the viewpoint of a different character. The unabridged version just came out a couple months ago. I also enjoyed the sequels to this book.
The Devil’s Teeth: nonfiction, about great white sharks living off the coast of San Francisco. I’m listening to this one now, and so far it’s quite fascinating.
Freakonomics: nonfiction, describes the relevant-to-daily-life economic ideas of Steven Levitt. Quite interesting.
The Stupidest Angel: Fantasy, the semi-sequel to several of Christopher Moore’s older Pine Cove books. Subtitled “A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror,” which describes it very well.
Fluke: Science fiction, Christopher Moore’s previous book, which is one of my favorites by him. About whale researchers who discover some unusual goings on in the humpback whales off the coast of Maui.
The Darkest Jungle: nonfiction, the story of the first expedition across the harrowing Darien area of Central America, and of the author’s own treks across the Darien Gap. Really cool.
The Artemis Fowl books: fantasy, sort of young adult books that I still find interesting. Artemis Fowl, a teenage villain, attempts to find his missing father and make money off of the supernatural creatures that live under the ground (fairies, leprechauns, etc.) by kidnapping one of their law enforcement officers and holding her for ransom in the first book. Things get more and more interesting from there.
Scourge: nonfiction, the story of smallpox. Scary.
Charlie Wilson’s War: nonfiction, the story of how the US helped some nice folks in Afghanistan repel the Soviet invasion and how those folks turned into al Qaeda and the like. Quite an interesting story.
Various Dave Barry books: classic humor by the famous humor columnist. I also listened to Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, but I think that was from my library’s e-audiobook site, rather than from Audible, as I can’t find it there. I also can’t find his two solo novels, Big Trouble and Tricky Business, which I read in text form and then checked out in audiobook form from my local library’s e-audiobook site as well, and which in my opinion are even funnier than his regular books. If you can find them, snatch 'em up.
Ringworld’s Children, Saturn’s Race, and Protector: all science fiction by Larry Niven. Ringworld’s Children is the latest in his Ringworld series, and Protector is an earlier book from the same universe (“Known Space”) that is well worth listening to if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Saturn’s Race is set in a completely different universe and is a standalone novel, and I haven’t listened to it yet, so I can’t say if it’s any good or not, but I assume it will be.
I have 11 more books in my wishlist that I haven’t listened to yet, but that sounded good to me. I’ll go over them if you want.
Oh, wait, Fluke wasn’t from Audible. The others are all available from them, though, except the Dave Barry books I noted.
oh, and the larry niven picks are pretty good too, especially ringworld. 
Oh, and I second the recommendation about the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio dramas. Those, and the book readings, are really good. Just different enough from each other to make each worth listening to, as well. And Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently books are really great too. As is his nonfiction book Last Chance to See, about his visits to see various endangered species like mountain gorillas and white rhinos in different places around the world. I’m not sure if Audible still has that one, but if so, it’s worth a listen. I haven’t finished listening to it myself because I know that once I do, I’ll have listened to everything Douglas Adams wrote, and there won’t be anything more from him.
Oh, the other Douglas Adams-related books Starship Titanic and The Salmon of Doubt, though not actually by Douglas Adams, are also worth listening to, if you like Douglas Adams’s stuff. Starship Titanic for science fiction humor in the same style as Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy, and The Salmon of Doubt because it is a collection of essays by and about Douglas Adams, and also part of a third Dirk Gently book.
Oh, oh, oh, I have a recommendation!!! I just finished listening to Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, read by Lenny Henry. The story is very good, but Lenny Henry as the narrator was wonderful. His reading of the story added a LOT to my enjoyment of the book. It’s probaby my favorite Audible selection to date.
Also, lots of the Terry Pratchett books on Audible are very good too, especially Hogfather. But Anansi Boys is better.
I liked the Jasper ffolkes books about Thursday Next. I also recently listened to Spider Robinson’s “Very Bad Death”. Quite good. I also listed to Eragon and am looking forward to the sequel as well as the History of Salt, comfort me with Apples and Orson Scott cards new book. Idid not particularly like the histroy of nearly everything.
Question: is Anansi Boys a sequel to American Gods, which is also available in audiobook format (although I don’t know if Audible has it or not … ah, yes, they do), or is it a standalone book?
Anansi Boys and American Gods are completely unrelated. Both are very enjoyable IMHO.
Saw this back on the front page and wanted to just give a word of thanks to all who participated in the thread. I have added every recommendation I was able to track down to my audible wish list. If you got any more favorites shout em out. I am always looking for new books, and go though about 10-15 hours a week.
In fairness I will add a couple of my favorites to the list. I just George RR Martins Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings in their audiobook forms (great interpretation of the books IMHO). And will soon be listening to Storm of Swords as a brush up before a Feast of Crows comes out. I also just finished listening to the new multi reader 20th anniversary recording of Enders Game (one of my favorite books), and though I don’t usually like group readings, this one worked really well.
Thanks again.
Since I posted the above, I heard that Anansi Boys involves characters who are children of Anansi, one of the gods in American Gods, and that’s how the books are related. Not exactly a sequel, but in the same universe.
Yep, it’s been a while since I read American Gods, and I woke up this morning to remember that Anansi did play a sizable role in it. :smack:
Anansi Boys does stand alone though, as far as story elements go, so you won’t be missing anything (or spoiling anything) if you read it without having first read American Gods.