[Feb 2007]

I used to regard audiobooks as "cheating", for people who were too lazy to read. Or blind people. So I never had any interest in listening to them until a few months back when I was going to be driving a long distance, I decided that picking up Stephen King's The Mist would keep me entertained. And it sure enough did. It reminded me of one of those early radio programs where everyone would crowd around and listen. Even though it was an abridged version, it was highly entertaining and great fun.

After this, my opinions changed on the medium, even though I have only listened to one other audiobook - The Odyssey read by Ian McKellen. Given that the Odyssey was meant to be heard and not read, I had a much more enjoyable time listening to it than I would have reading it (the last time I tried to read it was in middle school).

Does anyone else have any audiobooks they can recommend?

[TheBigS]

I enjoyed listening to Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, and Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

[Hit-or-be-hit]

what about an ipod???

[crocoppertones]

I'd prolly say start w/ Dr Seuss and work your way up

[p0nda]

I find that with audio books, the narration rather than the story is the biggest issue. If someone grates on your nerves, it's difficult to enjoy the book, so:

Anything narrated by Jim Dale is good. The narrators for The Wheel of Time series are not bad. Roy Dotrice did the first 3 of the A Song of Ice and Fire, and he's good - the rest aren't as good but it's still a great story. Frank Muller was a great narrator and did a lot of Stephen King books. George Guidall is also good. I like the narration for Neil Gaiman books too.

Just some general advice: avoid any books with lots of names, it requires too much focus and you can't do anything else while you're listening (The Silmarillion is a prime example - great narration, too many bloody names to keep track of). I also try to avoid anything that requires too much thought in general - On The Origin of Species springs to mind as an example of something that you want to read rather than listen to.

[TheBigS]

Originally Posted by Hit-or-be-hit

what about an ipod???

Well, iTunes has a decent selection of audiobooks now, so you can download them to go.

[Ian Coe]

Originally Posted by p0nda

I find that with audio books, the narration rather than the story is the biggest issue. If someone grates on your nerves, it's difficult to enjoy the book, so:

Anything narrated by Jim Dale is good. The narrators for The Wheel of Time series are not bad. Roy Dotrice did the first 3 of the A Song of Ice and Fire, and he's good - the rest aren't as good but it's still a great story. Frank Muller was a great narrator and did a lot of Stephen King books. George Guidall is also good. I like the narration for Neil Gaiman books too.

Just some general advice: avoid any books with lots of names, it requires too much focus and you can't do anything else while you're listening (The Silmarillion is a prime example - great narration, too many bloody names to keep track of). I also try to avoid anything that requires too much thought in general - On The Origin of Species springs to mind as an example of something that you want to read rather than listen to.

Agreed 100%

The first audio books I listened to were the harry potter ones and that was because I had a long airflight. Jim Dale (the US version of the potter books) is brilliant and I highly recommend them for his story telling alone.
I have the terry pratchett neil gaiman collaboration but haven't listened to it yet.
I've seen the wheel of time series. There are a lot of books to it. Is it any good on the whole?


I downloaded the Odyssey ages ago but haven't listened to it yet. Sounds like when I'm finished with these mike resnick books I might have to start

Feb 2007- what kind of genre are you into. Some things like The Teaching Company are quite good if you find a good narator, but they are educational so it depends what you're after.

[p0nda]

Originally Posted by Ian Coe

Agreed 100%

I've seen the wheel of time series. There are a lot of books to it. Is it any good on the whole?

It's in my top 5 fantasy series of all time. Unfortunately the author, Robert Jordan, died while writing the 12th and final book, although it will be finished because he had fleshed out his notes enough so that it could have the ending he wanted.

[Ian Coe]

It does ring a bell for some reason, maybe that was why

[A-Lexasoarus]

I used to listen to audiobooks everyday atleast a few hours a day...i worked in manufacturing as a laser operator so i would sit for 8 hours making stuff... so i would listen to audiobooks to past the time. i really got into a cheesy series called DeathLands im pretty sure it was aimed towards truck drivers.

It was a post apocalyptic sci-fi serries, basicly its about a band of friends wondering a post apocalytic earth killing mutants and bad guys... sounds kind of dumb but its actually rather entertaining and you get caught up in the story becuase each book ends with a cliff hanger. my coworkers was really into them and bought a whole bunch of them so i got into them... they are actually pretty intertaining the audiobooks that i lsiten to actually had sound effects and all that stuff so i eventually listened to volume 1-70 and each book was 8 hours. it made my work day fly by really quick.

i have since been promoted and i now am a manager so i dont really have time to listen to books anymore.. but i buy books and put them in the audiobook library i started here at work for my employees and i actually encourage my workers to listen to audiobooks. i think it makes thier workday more enjoyable.