I’m so sorry mods if this isn’t the correct sub for audiobooks!
I usually like to have on an audiobook while I do chores around my home. I want to make a list of some audiobooks that add to a book rather than just verbally telling the book. Not that it adds actually to the story, but just something about the production makes the story pop. What are some of the best audiobooks that you’ve listened to?
by NearbyAd5557
28 Comments
I think all of Andy Weir’s work, but especially _Project Hail Mary_ are way better as audiobooks. The reader is great, and the writing has a conversational style that really benefits from being read aloud.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – Jeff Hayes does an incredible job
A lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid books make great audiobooks. The one that comes to mind is Daisy Jones and the Six.
World War Z, Max Brooks. Just not the movie tie-in version, the one with a cast.
Humble Pi
If you’re interested in maths anyway, this book is fascinating. But the authors narration just elevates this so much because he is just SO fucking excited by this stuff and the enthusiasm shines through.
*The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi* has a brilliant narrator who brought the main character to life from the first sentence on. (To be fair, it is a great first sentence in its own right.)
*Pet* by Akwaeke Emezi has a voice for the titular character that will stay with me forever. There is no way I could have read it like that in my head.
Are you only looking for fiction books? Because most books that come to my mind are nonfiction books that are really enhanced by the audio format.
* *How to Speak Whale* (on a project trying to translate the language of whales) has recordings of whale song. I also like the narration, and the topic is fascinating.
* In *Wordslut – A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language*, Amanda Montell talks about intonation and other ways of speaking and demonstrates them while narrating the audiobook. The book is very funny and entertaining and the narration definitely adds to that.
* Autobiographies read by the author are always special. My all-time favourites are Maya Angelou’s. I could listen to her all day. In *The Heart of a Woman*, she occasionally sings! There is no way a printed book could convey that.
I really loved the audiobook for You by Caroline Kepnes. The narrator got really into his character and it made the story feel so much more real.
City of Stardust by Georgia Summers. Love the book but the audiobook is divine.
The Dutch House read by Tom Hanks.
*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*, performed by Kate Burton.
Devolution by Max Brooks
Lincoln in the Bardo – hands down best audiobook I’ve ever listened to!
*Pet Sematary* narrated by Michael C. Hall.
How to Murder Your Employer. I couldn’t get into the humor in the written book, but the audiobook was so much fun!
The First Law books. Steven Pacey is truly something else
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Tom Lake read by Meryl Streep. It’s the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. It’s a tour de force performance that one couldn’t duplicate in their head while merely reading.
I loved 11/22/63 by Stephen King on audiobook! My favorite audiobook experience so far.
Fairy tale by king was great too.
Currently listening to The Passage and really loving that.
The Dresden Files
A cross between Detective Noir and Urban Fantasy.
The writting of Jim Butcher is fantastic all on it’s own but the series trully comes to life when it’s narrated by James Marsters. You may know him as Spike from Buffy.
Gideon the Ninth. I don’t know that reading it would have been as good as listening to it. The narrator does an excellent job at making the dialogue entertaining.
Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, read by Ariel Blake.
The Ball Jar (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “The Goldfinch”, by Donna Tarrt. I read it some years ago and liked it but listened to the audiobook this year and enjoyed it a lot more.
Planet Of The Apes.
I read it when I was a kid but very recently listened to it free on audiobook.
Great listen and well read.
Beastie Boys Book. Some chapters are read by the guys, others are read by various celebrities. It’s awesome. I would also say As You Wish by Cary Elwes, because he does some amazing imitations.