# Newer Stephen King audiobook recommendations please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469 "2016-04-17T16:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/1 "2016-04-17T16:30:28Z")
I’m not keen on revisiting the ‘classic’ earlier books that I’ve read, (maybe IT if it’s well read) but would like to hear dopers rec’s for more recent stuff - by which I probably mean 20-odd years. I recently heard 11.23.63 and liked it well enough - so what would you say is well written and told well? I won’t be doing the Dark Tower though. I’m asking for audiobooks recommendations specifically as I have two-hour daily commute. Thanks MiM ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/2 "2016-04-17T16:35:41Z")
**Duma Key** was fun despite its ridiculous ending. Absolutely perfect narrator. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/3 "2016-04-17T17:33:29Z")
It’s a weird one, but Stephen King On Writing was one of my favorite things he has written and I have no interest in becoming a writer. King himself reads the audio book. Its good. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/4 "2016-04-17T17:42:35Z")
Have you listened to Blaze (“by Richard Bachman”) yet? I really enjoyed it as an audiobook. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/5 "2016-04-17T20:47:09Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > I won’t be doing the Dark Tower though. I gotta ask. If you like King so much, why are you avoiding what he considers his opus? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/6 "2016-04-17T21:00:03Z")
I have really enjoyed the Bill Hodges trilogy (only two out so far), especially Finders Keepers. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/7 "2016-04-18T02:15:00Z")
Over the past year, I’ve read Dr. Sleep and Joyland. Didn’t much like the former. Joyland seemed to be a bit of a fluff but not really scary. Sort of like a King primer for new readers to ease you into his style. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/8 "2016-04-18T07:39:36Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I gotta ask. If you like King so much, why are you avoiding what he considers his opus? I’m guessing you meant ‘magnum opus’? I didn’t say I liked him so much, I said I liked the JFK book ‘well enough’. I’m really looking for an enjoyable waste of time and hoped someone could point me to a newer book that I would not otherwise try. 11.22.63 was way too long and given i think he has a propensity to bloat, I wondered if his writing has become leaner or fatter with time. So a multi-book series stretching over n years won’t inform me of that. Also my understanding is it’s an enjoyable trip with an unsatisfactory ending. (Just what I’ve picked up) I have tried the 1st book of the Dark Tower series twice and just didn’t enjoy it so stopped. Thanks for the recommendations everyone. MiM ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/9 "2016-04-18T07:42:28Z")
I really liked the audiobook for Bag of Bones. It helps that I liked the book itself–but I enjoyed King’s narration more than I expected to. He doesn’t have the normal ‘audiobook narrator’ sort of voice–he’s a bit nasal–but it works. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/10 "2016-04-18T15:11:33Z")
I don’t usually listen to fiction in my audio book choices. But I did listen to _The Colorado Kid_. It wasn’t outstanding but if you like King, I’d recommend it. If you’ve seen the book but haven’t read it, you’ve probably misjudged it by its cover. It’s not a crime thriller or even really a mystery; it’s more of a character study. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/11 "2016-04-18T16:12:00Z")
> [@tavalla](#): > > I really liked the audiobook for Bag of Bones. It helps that I liked the book itself–but I enjoyed King’s narration more than I expected to. He doesn’t have the normal ‘audiobook narrator’ sort of voice–he’s a bit nasal–but it works. 🆒 The scene where Jo tells Mike to “give me back my dust cover” is still the only thing in an audiobook to make me jump. The old ones are still the best, I’ve loved _It, Needful Things, The Stand and Hearts in Atlantis_. The newest ones that I could recommend would be _11/22/63_ and _Duma Key_ I never finished _Dr. Sleep_ but I am going back to it soon. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/12 "2016-04-18T18:41:39Z")
Lisey’s story Read by Mare Winningham is my favorite King audio-book. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/13 "2016-05-16T15:14:18Z")
_Misery, 'Salem’s Lot, The Stand, The Dead Zone_ and _11/22/63_ are my favorite Kings. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/14 "2016-05-16T15:23:08Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > I’m guessing you meant ‘magnum opus’? I didn’t say I liked him so much, I said I liked the JFK book ‘well enough’. I’m really looking for an enjoyable waste of time and hoped someone could point me to a newer book that I would not otherwise try. 11.22.63 was way too long and given i think he has a propensity to bloat, I wondered if his writing has become leaner or fatter with time. So a multi-book series stretching over n years won’t inform me of that. Also my understanding is it’s an enjoyable trip with an unsatisfactory ending. (Just what I’ve picked up) > I have tried the 1st book of the Dark Tower series twice and just didn’t enjoy it so stopped. > > Thanks for the recommendations everyone. > > MiM Have you checked out any of the recommendations yet? I really do think that you would dig On Writing based on what you just posted. If you didn’t like the first book of The Dark Tower move on. It’s not the best book in the series (that would probably be Book 2, but that’s me) but it’s pretty high up there. With years of retrospect, I actually think the ending works. It’s the last two books prior to the ending that don’t. The thing is they are good books, but they take the series away from the inevitable conclusion which is why the ending feels so out of left field. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/15 "2016-05-16T18:59:50Z")
May I suggest **Full Dark, No Stars**? Four short stories all unified by a theme of strong women in extenuating or extraordinary circumstances. I thought all four stores were great, no bloat (And I do agree that King stories find themselves more bloated than they need to be) and a good pace of thrilling with great character development. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newer-stephen-king-audiobook-recommendations-please/752469/16 "2016-05-17T18:10:13Z")
> [@tavalla](#): > > I really liked the audiobook for Bag of Bones. It helps that I liked the book itself–but I enjoyed King’s narration more than I expected to. He doesn’t have the normal ‘audiobook narrator’ sort of voice–he’s a bit nasal–but it works. Different strokes for me. I couldn’t finish listening to Bag of Bones _because_ of his voice. Between the nasal delivery and all the mouth noises (smacking, etc.), it got to where the recording was so distracting it took me out of the story.