# What'r your favorite audiobooks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041 "2007-08-01T22:00:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/21 "2007-08-02T21:40:33Z")
John Cleese reading _The Screwtape Letters_. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/22 "2007-08-02T21:53:04Z")
I’m listening to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and enjoying it quite a bit. The all time best audio books I’ve heard are the Harry Potter books…the guy who does the various voices really makes the story come alive IMHO. I used to have the original Dark Tower unabridged audio productions done by S. King which were also very good. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Superfreaknduper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Superfreaknduper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfreaknduper)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/23 "2007-08-03T03:12:39Z")
My favorite audio book by FAR (we are talking light years for this) is America the Textbook by John Stewart. Its read by the cast of the Daily Show and other writers of the book and is fantastic. If you like the Daily Show or Colbert Report, give it a go! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/24 "2007-08-03T03:28:17Z")
The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brien, narrated by Patrick Tull. (There is someone else out there, and I don’t think he’s nearly as good.) I love these, listen to them again and again. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/25 "2007-08-03T04:06:05Z")
A quick word: Recorded Books has a Netflix-type program that lets you rent an unlimited number of audiobooks, which you send back in prepaid envelopes, for $29.95 a month. You get four at a time and when you send one (or more) back, they send you the next ones on your list, just like Netflix. If you read a lot of audiobooks, it’s pretty cool. As to what books are good … All of Carl Hiaasen’s books are great, as are all of Tim Dorsey’s books (but only the newer ones are out on audiobook – _Cadillac Beach_, _Torpedo Juice_, _The Big Bamboo_, and _Hurricane Punch_). Christopher Moore’s books that are out are great too – _The Stupidest Angel_ is best if you’ve read the others, because it uses a lot of characters from the others, and his newest _You Suck: A Love Story_ is a direct sequel to his previous vampire novel, _Bloodsucking Fiends_, which isn’t out on audiobook. But _Fluke_ is a great standalone book, as is _A Dirty Job_, and his classic novel _Lamb_ just came out on audio: it’s the tale of Jesus’s life from the viewpoint of his best friend, Levi Who Is Known As Biff, and tells of how Jesus learned to deal with being the Son of God and the Savior of All Mankind and whatnot. _Devil in the White City_ is a good book if you’re into true history; it’s the story of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the hideous serial killer ([H. H. Holmes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_455.html)) who lived right next door. Let’s see, what else. OH! One that I know Overdrive carries, although your own library may not, is _Creepers_ by David Morrell. It’s a very creepy story of a group of “urban explorers,” who go spelunking in abandoned old buildings, and how they go exploring in a soon-to-be-demolished giant old hotel building, and the horrors they find within. Let’s see … oh, Umberto Eco’s _The Name of the Rose_ is great too; a serial killer is stalking a medieval monastery, and brother William of Occam must use his newfangled powers of logic and rationality to solve the crimes before the Inquisition arrives. Unfortunately, the audio book is only available in an abridged format as far as I’ve been able to find, but it’s still decent. Max Brooks’s _World War Z_, the oral history of the Zombie Wars, and _The Zombie Survival Guide_ are both out on audio, if you’re into that kind of thing. I thought it was great, and WWZ is read by a full cast, but it’s abridged and apparently leaves a LOT out. Still, it’s a very fun thing to listen to. If you like Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey, Laurence Shames writes great books along the same lines, most of which I’ve been able to find on audio. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have two “Peter Pan prequel” novels that are really good. _Peter and the Starcatchers_ is the first, and _Peter and the Shadow Thieves_ is the second. They answer questions about where Peter and the Lost Boys came from, where Tinkerbell came from, why Peter can fly and never ages, how they got to a lost island with a bunch of pirates that hate them, etc. They’re really cool. And they’re read by Jim Dale, who does a great job just like he does with the Harry Potter books. Both of those are available at Overdrive too. A lot of Dave Barry’s other books are available there too, in fact. I don’t think his two standalone novels are (_Big Trouble_ and _Tricky Business_) but those are well worth listening to if you can find them – they’re out there somewhere. Oh, another interesting book from Overdrive: _Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing_, about Ted Conover, a journalist who took a year-long job as a guard at Sing Sing to find out what it was like. And _Saucer_, a book about an alien spacecraft found buried in rock in the Sahara desert, by Stephen Coonts, is one I’m currently listening to. I’m not sure how good it is yet, but it’s moving pretty fast so far. Um … that’s all I can think of at the moment. If you’re interested in more, I have a huge library I’ll gladly look through and pick out some more. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/26 "2007-08-03T04:12:28Z")
BTW, I just tried to e-mail you, but your e-mail is private. I’ve got a huge database of audiobooks, most of which aren’t available on Overdrive, but I can let you know where to find any of them if they appeal to you. If you want to take a look, send me an e-mail to the address in my public profile and let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/27 "2007-08-03T05:14:40Z")
This reminded me that my library has a bunch of audiobooks also. So I went and downloaded a few and uploaded to my Zen. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/28 "2007-08-03T06:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] Same here. They’re both good, but Fry does a better Dumbledore, is easier to listen to (less frenetic?) and, as **winterhawk** pointed out, is _Harreeeee_ -less. [/QUOTE] I’ve been looking for an excuse to collect the Fry reading. One thing that bugs me about Dale’s version is how a few of the women have deep, bass voices. Luna is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/29 "2007-08-03T06:54:31Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] Worst audiobook, ever? _The Master Butchers Singing Club_ read horribly by the author, Louise Erdrich. Skip it and read the print version, it’s a good book, but Ms. Erdrich reads it like she’s in an undergraduate poetry seminar – random words accentuated, pauses in peculiar places, statements spoken as questions - ugh. [/QUOTE] I consciously avoid anything read by Flo Gibson. I heard a reading of _The Jungle Books_. Her godawful British accents made me break out in hives. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/30 "2007-08-03T07:07:18Z")
**A River Runs Through It** By Norman Maclean read by Joel Fabiani ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/31 "2007-08-03T11:09:57Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] I consciously avoid anything read by Flo Gibson. I heard a reading of _The Jungle Books_. Her godawful British accents made me break out in hives. [/QUOTE] Oh definitely. It’s not the accents for me, though, it’s that her voice is like a bandsaw. I see that she’s all over audiobook land, and I don’t get it at all. I downloaded \*The Lodger \*from Audible, and it’s unlistenable, between her voice and the fact that it’s boring as hell. Oh, and I got one of the _Nightmares on Congress Street_ productions by Rocky Coast Radio Theatre, and enjoyed it. Some of the stories are better than others, but overall very entertaining . . . have to get more of them, maybe as Halloween rolls around. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/32 "2007-08-03T12:08:05Z")
Right now I’m about 2/3 through **To Kill a Mockingbird** , read by Sissy Spacek and am thoroughly enjoying it. The changes she makes as each character speaks are subtle, not even enough to say she’s doing different voices for each one. Just the right amount to distinguish among them, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/33 "2007-08-03T12:25:34Z")
I find that the ones I listen to over and over tend to be nonfiction. Based on how often I’d listen to them, my faves are: **Connections** by James Burke \*\*The Day the Universe Changed \*\* by James Burke **Innumeracy** by Paulos **The Iliad** trans. Robert Fagles, read by Derek Jacobi **The Odyssey** trans. Fagles, red by Ian mcKellen A whole stack of Nero Wolde novels **Rumpole of the Bailey** Three different readers have done these, to my knowledge, but you have to get ones read by Leo mcKern, who did Rumpole on PBS and does a superb job of reading them. Three different audio books companies have his work. **Money with Menaces** and **A Careful man** by Frederic Forsythe **The Prince** by Machiavelli Penguin books edition **Mark Twain** by Ken Burns et al. **a Mark Twain Compendium** **Edgar Allen Poe** read by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone (!!! Great stuff!) (There are also good versions of Poe by Christopher Lee and Paul Scofield) **Wiseguy** by Nicholas Pileggi **Starship Troopers** by Robert Heinlein (I picked this up recently, and am re-listening to it for the fifth time or so.) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/34 "2007-08-03T14:10:19Z")
John Glover (“Lionel Luthor” on _Smallville_) reading Ray Bradbury’s _From the Dust Returned_. [Three-minute excerpt from Chapter 1](http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780694526284/From_the_Dust_Returned/index.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/35 "2007-08-03T14:32:08Z")
I quite enjoyed _Crocodile on the Sandbank_, too! I also really liked listening to Augusten Burroughs’ books. It’s first person, autobiographican quasi-non-fiction comedy writing, and it’s read by the author which makes it awesome. I’ve listened to _Possible Side Effects_ and _Dry_ and enjoyed them both. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/36 "2007-08-03T15:06:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hodge] My favourite is Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys” as read by Lenny Henry. It’s a perfect match between voice actor and material. If ever a movie is made of this book, I want Henry to play Fat Charlie (and a bunch of other characters as well). [/QUOTE] Thanks again for mentioning this. I happened to have one credit still with [Audible.com](http://Audible.com) (from a membership earlier this year; canceled as I don’t usually purchase audiobooks) and I went online and spent it on Anansi Boys. Told Typo Knig about it and he was delighted - big Lenny Henry fan and big Gaiman fan also. 🙂 ---
**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:** [August 3, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/37 "2007-08-03T15:13:45Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa] Thanks again for mentioning this. I happened to have one credit still with [Audible.com](http://Audible.com) (from a membership earlier this year; canceled as I don’t usually purchase audiobooks) and I went online and spent it on Anansi Boys. Told Typo Knig about it and he was delighted - big Lenny Henry fan and big Gaiman fan also. 🙂 [/QUOTE] It’s a great audiobook, you will enjoy it. Also, anything by David Sedaris as read by David Sedaris. When he reads his own material it is just so much better than when it is read without his voice. (and it is amazingly good then.) Plus you get to hear his Billy Holliday impression which is astoundingly good. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/38 "2007-08-03T18:20:03Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] …Also, anything by David Sedaris as read by David Sedaris. When he reads his own material it is just so much better than when it is read without his voice. (and it is amazingly good then.) Plus you get to hear his Billy Holliday impression which is astoundingly good. [/QUOTE] That would be “The SantaLand Diaries.” Abso-fuckin’-lutely! I hardly even read his stuff anymore; it’s so much more fun to get the audiobook and hear _him_ read it. Robin Williams does a great job reading the Russian folk story _The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship_, in his persona as an argumentative little old Jewish guy, and David Brinkley’s self-narrated _Washington Goes to War_ is an interesting, funny, well-written look at how Washington, D.C. was transformed by WW2. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/39 "2007-08-04T00:00:51Z")
**Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency** - Written and read by Douglas Adams. Best audiobook ever IMHO. I used to listen to it every night as I went to sleep. It’s my bedtime story (though I’ve lost most of the CDs. I need to get it again and rip it onto my PC). I also love **Snow Crash** , which I downloaded from iTunes & is an [audible.com](http://audible.com) reading. Dunno who the reader is, but he’s good (and I’m annoyed he didn’t do the reading for **The Diamond Age** , because the woman who does that bugged me on the preview, and I want it but I think she’d piss me off). I just recently downloaded **The Last Continent** from [audible.com](http://audible.com), but the guy who’s reading it does really overblown voices and it’s starting to grate on me. I’ll see how it goes, though, because I’m only about half an hour in. I’d love to get more of the Pratchett stuff as read by Tony Robinson, but he only seems to do the abridged versions, and I can’t abide abridged audiobooks. Especially if it’s books I’ve read before, because then I know what’s missing and it annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041/40 "2007-08-04T00:50:34Z")
[QUOTE=Sierra Indigo] **Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency** - Written and read by Douglas Adams. [/QUOTE] I agree, that’s a good one. > [@](#): > > I just recently downloaded **The Last Continent** from [audible.com](http://audible.com), but the guy who’s reading it does really overblown voices and it’s starting to grate on me. I’ll see how it goes, though, because I’m only about half an hour in. That would be Nigel Planer (better known to some as Neil, from _The Young Ones_). I haven’t heard that particular book, but I’ve liked his reading of a couple of others I’ve heard, especially his voice for Death. I also like what I’ve heard by Stephen Briggs, who’s been doing the more recent Discworld audio books. To the OP: We’ve had threads on audiobooks before, so just in case you don’t get enough suggestions in this thread, a little searching will come up with more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatr-your-favorite-audiobooks/414041.md?page=3)