# Recommend me some stuff from Audible.com
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 18, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467 "2011-07-18T17:46:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/1 "2011-07-18T17:46:40Z")
I listen to audio books on my way to and from work. I’d also be open to things like radio comedies or whatever. I’ll listen to anything from science fiction to mystery to biographies and autobiographies. I don’t like romances or westerns. What are some recommendations of good audio content that’s available at [audible.com](http://audible.com)? I have like 7 credits sitting there waiting to be used.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/2 "2011-07-18T17:48:37Z")
World War Z.
Hey, I got to be the first one to recommend that :D.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/3 "2011-07-18T17:51:03Z")
What’s it about? What’s good about it?
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/4 "2011-07-18T17:56:16Z")
We’ve also gotten (and enjoyed) The Golden Compass (I have the next one in the series as well, but haven’t listened to it). It’s a full cast recording for all the voices.
Anansi Boys was good to (Neil Gaiman, narrated by Lenny Henry of Chef! fame).
Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander etc. are good. I know you said you don’t like romance - but really, the romance isn’t anything like the Harlequin novel - it’s an underlying part of the story but more importantly is the adventure / historical tale being told. And at 30+ hours, you get a lot of bang for your Audible buck.
For a shorter listen: Tim Curry narrates A Christmas Carol and does a wonderful job.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is also fun - again, romance is underlying but the author did a great job of weaving in the zombie gore with the original tale.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/5 "2011-07-18T17:59:43Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> What’s it about? What’s good about it?
It’s told as a memoir of the Zombie War, which nearly destroyed humanity. The author / narrator interviews people who played various roles in the war, from the Chinese doctor who was present at the first outbreak, to people who devised strategies to try to save some of humanity at the expense of basically sacrificing large parts of the population, to soldiers who battled directly, to people who were refugees.
I will say, it was NOT what I was expecting. It was not funny-haha-zombies, it was pretty harrowing in places. I think it was done in imitation of memoirs of World War II veterans.
The recording is especially good. It’s told with different narrators representing the various interviewees, some quite famous (Alan Alda, Rob and Carl Reiner, Mark Hamill). Max Brooks is the author, you might have heard of his dad, Mel.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/6 "2011-07-18T18:01:46Z")
I am currently listening to Tina Fey’s _Bossypants_, which is laugh-out-loud funny, as well as being interesting and insightful.
(And, [speaking of radio comedies…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14032846&postcount=42))
There have been other “recommend an audiobook” threads in the past, which you could search for or we could link to.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/7 "2011-07-18T18:06:01Z")
Stephen Colbert’s _I Am America (And So Can You)_ is pretty good in audiobook form since he reads it himself.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/8 "2011-07-18T18:31:35Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> Anansi Boys was good to (Neil Gaiman, narrated by Lenny Henry of Chef! fame).
>
> Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander etc. are good. I know you said you don’t like romance - but really, the romance isn’t anything like the Harlequin novel - it’s an underlying part of the story but more importantly is the adventure / historical tale being told. And at 30+ hours, you get a lot of bang for your Audible buck.
I didn’t like Anansi Boys. It took me a year to get through the audio book. I just kept switching to something else because it was so unengaging for me.
I read the first of the Outlander books and enjoyed it, but couldn’t get into the second one. Maybe it’s worth another try?
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/9 "2011-07-18T19:10:25Z")
The Game of Thrones saga (except for book 4 which is read by another guy) has been excellent…I think Roy is the best reader out there, with perhaps the exception of the guy who read Harry Potter but who’s name escapes me atm.
I enjoyed Destroyermen from Audible as well, but more for the story than the specific reader. Same with Honor Harrington and Armageddon Reef and pretty much everything by John Ringo. I have literally hundreds of books from [audible.com](http://audible.com) and I have to say that the service is the key, not the specific book which is going to vary according to taste in books. What I love about it is that I can plug in my Zune or iPad touch, look through my library which they keep, and pull down a story for any occasion, or look through the new fiction or Sci-fi sections and bring down classics or new stories, or a new edition to one of the many series I listen too. Recently I’ve listened to the entire Lost Fleet series, Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War series, John Ringo’s new series, the last 2 books of the Eye of the World in preparation for the final book, the entire Game of Thrones series including the latest book (which is what I’m listening too right now), Destroyermen, and I have a bunch of books in the queue that I’ve either bought or are in my inbox to buy (I have Stainless Steel Rat, some new Zombie books that start with Ex-Heros, and a bunch of Timothy Zahn Star Wars books that I read years ago and decided to listen too). About the only think that I REALLY want but don’t have because [audible.com](http://audible.com) doesn’t have it is the Harry Potter series, which I was wanting to listen too again before the last movie came out.
-XT
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/10 "2011-07-18T19:18:55Z")
The problem I had with ASoIaF on audio book (I’ve read the series numerous times) is that the guy pronounced “Brienne” as “Bray-een” or some such and it just pulled me right out of the story.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/11 "2011-07-18T19:25:23Z")
_ **Team of Rivals** _ is great - it’s _more or less_ a biography of Lincoln, and you said you liked biographies.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/12 "2011-07-18T19:29:33Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> The problem I had with ASoIaF on audio book (I’ve read the series numerous times) is that the guy pronounced “Brienne” as “Bray-een” or some such and it just pulled me right out of the story.
Well, like I said, it’s going to vary from person to person, same as the stories go. I enjoyed Stephen King’s Dark Tower series on audible, though it’s read by 2 different people that vary from book to book (I actually liked best the first 4 on old cassette tape that were read by King himself, but they did a different adaptation for audible).
As for Roy Dotrice reading the first 3 and book 5 of ASoIaF, I thought he did great and his voice alone fully immersed me in the story. How he pronounced ‘Brienne’ didn’t really matter to me, since it didn’t seem stilted or affected. But different strokes.
I haven’t tried them yet, but the Conan series is on [audible.com](http://audible.com)…that might be good if you are a fan. Oh, and I have the entire Sharpe’s Rifles series which was good too, though there are a few books missing for some odd reason. I wish they had the Hornblower series, but they do have the Aubrey/Master and Commander series which was pretty good as well.
-XT
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### Author:  [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/13 "2011-07-18T20:32:13Z")
I just finished Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. It’s performed by a full cast with a main narrator and everyone was very good. The Irish accents in the book were subtle in some parts and hilariously over-the-top in others.
I also loved Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan Howard and The Fool by Christopher Moore. Both got five star ratings on the performances from me.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/14 "2011-07-18T20:34:18Z")
> [@xtisme](#):
>
> Well, like I said, it’s going to vary from person to person, same as the stories go. I enjoyed Stephen King’s Dark Tower series on audible, though it’s read by 2 different people that vary from book to book (I actually liked best the first 4 on old cassette tape that were read by King himself, but they did a different adaptation for audible).
Frank Mueller is a god. I wept when he couldn’t do any more books.
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### Author:  [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/15 "2011-07-18T21:50:21Z")
Here are some recent listens that I really liked.
I have a weakness for tales of Arctic/Antarctic exploration. I found Endurance: [Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage](http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V9ZA6C) really enthralling. It’s kind of like watching the Apollo 13 movie: you know what’s going to happen, but listening to it really just pulled me along. I really, really enjoyed it. And it’s read by Simon Prebble, which is almost always a plus in my world.
I also really enjoyed [A Town Like Alice](http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V0TLFW) by Nevil Shute. It was written in 1950, and that shows a little in attitudes and speech. But the slow unfolding of the story really held my attention, and I liked it a lot. I was surprised, because it’s not the kind of book I usually read.
If you like dog stories, [One Good Dog](http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B0037Z1X0Q) is a good one. I’m a sucker for dog stories.
And in my world, pretty much anything by Terry Pratchett, read by Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs, is wonderful to listen to. I listen to them over and over again. But I’m a Pterry fangirl bigtime.
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### Author:  [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/16 "2011-07-18T21:55:09Z")
> [@xtisme](#):
>
> I wish they had the Hornblower series, but they do have the Aubrey/Master and Commander series which was pretty good as well.
>
> -XT
They have 6 Hornblower books on Audible now!
Lord Hornblower
Hornblower and the Crisis
Lt. Hornblower (abridged :()
Hornblower and the Atropos (available both abridged and unabridged)
Hornblower and the “Hotspur” (abridged :()
ETA: They also have A Ship of the Line. I missed it because I looked under keyword “Hornblower.” ::facepalm::
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/17 "2011-07-18T21:58:45Z")
Ooooo…that’s new! Too bad some of the early ones are abridged, but still, might have to pick that one up.
Oh, forgot…if anyone is a Harry Turtledove fan, his alternative history of WWII complete with alien invasion is in the process of being adapted to Audible…I think there are like 2 or 3 of the original series and the same number of the follow on Colonization series as well.
-XT
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### Author:  [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/18 "2011-07-18T22:51:27Z")
> [@xtisme](#):
>
> Ooooo…that’s new! Too bad some of the early ones are abridged, but still, might have to pick that one up.
>
> -XT
I know! I’ve been looking for these for ages, and one of them showed up on the current Sale list at Audible. So I snatched that one up.
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### Author:  [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-stuff-from-audible-com/589467/19 "2011-07-20T06:05:07Z")
I just saw this thread, and I want to suggest to you the absolute best book I’ve listened to from Audible. [The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber](http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B0036N24X4&qid=1311139847&sr=1-1).
I also listen to books while commuting to tune out the yammering of the radio.
Its about a Romanian refugee in Hungary in the 90’s as communism is collapsing who becomes the most celebrated hockey goalie (as in the worst goalie in history) in Hungary as well as the world’s most prolific bank robber since Jessie James. The guy was famous for a while. It’s performed “cabaret style” with multiple voices for the parts, every part being read perfectly, and a judicious use of Hungarian (gypsy) music. It’s funny, and gives an interesting view of Eastern Europe at that time. Plus,for seven or eight years this guy guy robs every bank in Budapest, some two or three times. It’s a story. A good one.
It’s also a book that really is better listened to than read, but that’s another thread. But check out the comments and reviews. This is on my list of books I wish I had never read so I could hear it again for the first time.