I love audiobooks. I listen to them to while i'm working, or driving, or playing video games (not all three of those at once of course), and they are a great way to consume stories. Some of these are of course higher quality than others. What's been the best one you've listened to? This can include what you thought of the story, but not just that. How was the voice acting, and editing, and maybe even sound effects?
For me, the best one I have listened to is called The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. It's a powerful about a true crime podcast host reporting on a rape trial. During the parts of the story where she is hosting her show, they actually make it sound like you're listening to a news podcast. There is even this one scene where she is playing a recording of someone she got off of her phone, and it sounds like it's sounds like a real recording, complete with the background noise. The whole thing felt more like a radio drama than a normal audio book.
by TheAres1999
45 Comments
Piranesi – it’s a short listen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor has such a soothing storytelling voice.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy read by Stephen Fry! Quintessential British humor is my favorite! Mr. Fry nails it.
I loved the Audible version of David Copperfield narrated by Richard Armitage!
Born a Crime and Good Omens
I loved how Janette read her book “I’m glad my mom died”. I don’t know if I would enjoy the printed copy of this book as much as the audiobook.
“Black Cake” was also good – the descriptions were sometimes too long for me but I enjoyed how the dialogues were read in different voices and accents.
The Glass Castle. It’s a memoir read by the author. I still have her beautiful voice in my head.
The Martian works great as an audio book.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Not only is his story incredible but he is an amazing voice actor.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy read by Douglas Adams. And Dirk Gently the Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, read by Douglas Adams are my two favorites. I have listened to them easily a hundred times each.
On the non-Douglas Adams side, i absolutely adored Samuel West reading The Day of the Triffids. Listened to it probably 15 times. Indira Varma did an amazing job of reading the Witches books of Terry Pratchett. And Kristin Atherton did an amazing job of reading Howl’s Moving Castle!
The Sandman was more of an audio play complete with large cast, sound effects, and score. It was probably the most amazing audiobook production I’ve listened to, so immersive and I loved James McAvoy as Morpheus.
In terms of just audiobook, James Marsters did a fantastic job with the Dresden Files books. He IS Harry Dresden to me. He couldn’t record one book due to other obligations and they got a fill-in – the contrast was so jarring fans demanded a re-recording with Marsters, and got one.
Discworld audiobooks are very good and very funny.
World War Z is also a great audiobook. Lots of different actors doing the narration.
It was a long time ago, but Tuesdays with Morrie was great. It was sad at times.
A Life on Air: Memoirs of a BroadcasterBy Sir David AttenboroughRead by the Author
Theres just something about it. Between his voice, the adventures he went on to film his documentaries, his descriptions of the natural world, to the history of television from someone who worked in it from the very early days its a story of 90 years of a life well lived.
The first law series by Joe abercrombie read by Steven Pacey. The books are great fantasy novels and Pacey really gives each character a distinctive voice.
There is a character that is missing teeth and speaks with a lisp because of it but when he is thinking he has no lisp. Little things like that make it fantastic
I really enjoyed the Bossypants audiobook by Tina Fey, read by her.
I’m about 55 hours into Andy Serkis reading *The Lord of the Rings*. Terrific so far, but we’ll see how the final 10 hours go. 🙂
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, read by Moira Quirk. Absolutely first-rate narration of a series that isn’t entirely straightforward in it’s presentation.
11.22.63 by Stephen King. Craig Wasson’s narration is excellent.
Edit: I also loved Shantaram read by Humphrey Bower, his voice is perfect for the book.
Huckleberry Fin narrated by Elijah Wood was pretty good. He did all the different accents really well.
Project Hail Mary also very entertaining.
Lincoln in the Bardo. It’s more of an audio play than a traditional audiobook and has about around 100 voice actors in it, but it’s amazing. I’ve listened to it about 5 times and always hear something new.
I really enjoy listening to David Sedaris reading any of his books. He’s great with imitation. I loved Colin Jost’s A Very Punchable Face too.
I recently listened to Mel Brooks’ “All About Me!”. If you’re a fan of his work, it’s worth a listen. I liked hearing his stories in his voice.
Project Hail Mary is so good. I loved the Martian and was unsure about this book but it’s damn awesome.
Also, the three body problem.
Atomic Habits by James Clear (Best self-improvement book I’ve read)
The Guest List was great as an audiobook. Each chapter has a different POV character and each character has its own dedicated narrator. It made it easy to feel like you were in each character’s individual mind
Dungeon crawler Carl is the only one I’ve come across that is a must listen. Prefer reading over listening but the story truly comes to life.
Surprised that I haven’t seen anyone say Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. One of the first audiobooks I listened to and it’s just amazing. Full cast too!
One I haven’t seen mentioned:
Pet Semetary read by Michael C Hall
I’m currently listening the Andy Serkis narration of the hobbit, it’s excellent
Lee Horsley’s narration of Lonesome Dove. I consider it the greatest audiobook of all time.
David Sedaris *Me Talk Pretty One Day*
Harry Dresden series read by James (?) Masters… takes his time I think very well done
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeymoon as narrated by Cathleen McCarron. Her accent paired with this novel is perfect.
The Storyteller, Dave Grohl’s memoir was my favorite listen this year
The Murderbot novellas … Excellent books read by the perfect reader
City of Thieves by David Benioff is a great book, and the audiobook version read by Ron Perlman is outstanding.
The Help.
Any book at all narrated by George Guidall.
Any book at all narrated by Frank Muller. Right now, I’m listening to Great Expectations.
What I like about Guidall and Muller so much is that they don’t act out the book, and they don’t just read it, they are somewhere in between. I think that they are fabulous! I dislike it when the narrator fully acts out the book – I don’t want the narrator’s performance, I want the author’s work. Anyway, Guidall and Muller (to me) hit the perfect pitch when reading.
The Discovery of Witches trilogy was really good.
There are sooooooooooo many audio books now, it’s really hard to list my faves! I always have a book going.
Fairy Tale by Stephen king
i quite liked listening to Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe. Lin Manuel Miranda narrated it, and it was overall and enjoyable experience 🙂
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series is so perfectly done I have to give it a shoutout.
*Into Thin Air* read by Krakauer
Outlander. I listen to a lot of books and there is nobody better than Davina Porter. She is just amazing.
I have now done the first eight books three times and the entire nine twice.
I am old and consumed a ton of content in my lifetime and the best for anything including movies, TV shows, books, video games, etc has been the Audiobook version of Outlander.
Circe and The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Both the narrators for these books were fantastic and so pleasant to listen to. I literally sat for hours in the dark just listening. With other audiobooks I like to do other activities while I listen. Not with these. They demanded my full attention.
DEAMON COPPERHEAD! Not sure who read it but the narration could not have been better, Great listen. Also just got done with Hello Beautiful. Excellent story and since at no point in time did the narrator irritate me I give it two thumbs up.
Harry Potter read by Jim Dale. I have listened to a lot of audiobooks and he is by far my favorite narrator of all time.