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What are the most well-narrated audiobooks to check out?

M

More_Badass

Member
Considering how much I enjoy podcasts, it took longer than likely for me to finally check out Audible and audiobooks.

I'm interested in books best recommended for exceptional narrations. Got the first volume of Wayne June's Lovecraft and World War Z with that insane cast so far. I saw Dune mentioned in another thread, so that's on my wishlist

I'm mainly into sci-fi, horror, historical non-fiction, crime thrillers

Any audiobook narrators as good as Dan Carlin doing Hardcore History?
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
Metro 2033
The Witcher Series
Dune
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Secret History of Twin Peaks
David Sedaris books
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland written and read by Patton Oswalt
Wigfield: The Can Do Town That Just May Not written and performed by Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello

When you hear ones you like be sure to note the reader and look at what else they've done.
 
Z

Zeyphersan

Banned
The only audiobook I've listened to is the one I'm in the middle of right now, and it's Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance. I think there's a lot to be said for comedic books being read by the original author, next one I'm going to grab is Tina Fey's Bossypants.

I know that doesn't help given your criteria
 
J

JCHandsom

Member
Doctor_Thomas said:
Hitchhiker's Guide with Stephen Fry.
Click to expand...

0tsVo2k.gif


That one is really good too.
 
C

Curt Baboon

Member
The Disaster Artist is THE funniest audiobook of all time. You have to get it for the Tommy Wiseau impression alone.

Also, I love the narration of 1984. It gives the narrative even more weight and Orwell's prose translates well to the format.

I've heard good things about the audiobook versions of American Gods and Blood Meridian, but I've listened to neither.
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
Auto-Reply said:
Recently I listened a lot of stuff from this guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBw81PNN5O6oqgkjqFksvng not sure if applicable to this thread though as it is mostly a lot of creepy pasta stuff.
Click to expand...

If you're going down the youtube channel route I highly recommend Horror Babble

Lots of great classic horror fiction read by multiple readers, but mostly one guy. They do a good job.

@OP if you like Wayne June's Lovecraft stuff you should search youtube for Clark Ashton Smith. Lots of good readings of his work on there. Some of the old vintage Lovecraft records from decades ago are on youtube, too, and there's some really good ones with creepy production.
 
S

Shauni

Member
I'm listening to Stephen King's It on audiobook now and it's narrated by Stephen Webber, and it's great. But King's writing doesn't lend itself well to audio, so I don't know if I'd recommend it exactly, and Christ is it long.
 
A

Auto-Reply

Member
Shauni said:
I'm listening to Stephen King's It on audiobook now and it's narrated by Stephen Webber, and it's great. But King's writing doesn't lend itself well to audio, so I don't know if I'd recommend it exactly, and Christ is it long.
Click to expand...

There are 3 short passages of the book narrated by a guy:

One
Two
Three

They are short and spoilery but I really like the way he reads them. I'd listen to an entire audiobook in that style if there was one.

-

HotHamBoy said:
If you're going down the youtube channel route I highly recommend Horror Babble

Lots of great classic horror fiction read by multiple readers, but mostly one guy. They do a good job.

@OP if you like Wayne June's Lovecraft stuff you should search youtube for Clark Ashton Smith. Lots of good readings of his work on there. Some of the old vintage Lovecraft records from decades ago are on youtube, too, and there's some really good ones with creepy production.
Click to expand...

I'll checkt that out later, thanks.
 
F

Froli

Member
Harry Potter series Narrated by Jim Dale
Mistborn series/adventures ,Stormlight Archive 1 and 2, Wheel of time series read by Michael Kramer
Joe Abercrombie - Red Country Narrated by Steven Pacey
 
M

Matrix XII

Member
Froli said:
Harry Potter series Narrated by Jim Dale
Mistborn series/adventures read by Michael Kramer
Stormlight Archive 1 and 2 read by Michael Kramer
Joe Abercrombie - Red Country Narrated by Steven Pacey
Click to expand...

Great choices, highly recommended. Listening to "The Way of Kings" right now and it's blowing my mind!

Michael Kramer is an excellent narrator. I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to him.
 
B

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities narrated by John Lee is amazing.

I'ved enjoyed The Snow Leopard narrated by the author Peter Matthiessen, too.
 
Z

Zushin

Member
For historical non-fiction - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I've only listened to about a third personally but very good narration imo.
 
L

Leeness

Member
I listen to a lot of audiobooks on transit... I really enjoy a lot of Stephen King's books. Seconding It (though it is very long) and Shining is great as well. The Mr. Mercedes trilogy.

Handmaid's Tale with Claire Danes.
Behind Her Eyes (though this is just for the amazing ending of the book...lol).
Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin has great narration.
Any Tamora Pierce books have great readings (a couple are full cast audio).
Speaking of full cast audio, the His Dark Materials books and cast are great.
Harry Potter.

Finally, I don't think anyone else in here will like it quite as much as I do but Santino Fontana reading You by Caroline Kepnes.

tumblr_nb8uq28gvt1tjpaueo1_500.gif


Even if you don't enjoy it quite as much as I do, Santino Fontana is a fantastic audiobook narrator.
 
W

Work of an Enemy Stand

Member
The Star Wars audio books have some amazing production values behind them, I especially enjoy those narrated by Jonathan Davis and Marc Thompson.

If you want a specific recommendation, go with the Thrawn Trilogy narrated by Marc Thompson.

Also, I'll echo the people saying The Disaster Artist.

There is just something special by having the person that lived through the events in the book narrating them, and Greg Sestero's impersonation of Tommy Wiseau is spot on, you can really tell he spent a lot of time hanging out with the guy.
 
T

TimmmV

Member
The only audiobooks I've listened to are the Harry Potter series (by Stephen Fry) and then also the first Strain book, which was narrated by Ron Perlman.

The Strain is ok as a book, but Perlmans voice is great, so listening to him read it was probably better than reading the book by itself

edit:
Any Questions said:
Right folks. I guarantee you will not find a better audiobook then this. This the BBCs version of the Lord of The Rings.

It's in 13 parts and it's on SoundCloud

https://m.soundcloud.com/inkmore/sets/lord-of-the-rings-radio

It's obviously abridged but it's going to be up there with the best audiobooks ever produced.

Go listen!
Click to expand...

Thanks for this! Will give it a listen at work
 
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