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[jon bones]

The GOAT: Misborn with a great full cast, music and sound effects. AAA production values, unparalleled in the audiobook space.

http://www.graphicaudio.net/mistborn-1-the-final-empire-1-of-3.html

 

[TwntyOneTwlv]

Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology is wonderful, and it's read by Neil himself.

 

[Hawk Fan]

Agree on the Will Patton Stephen King books. Listening to End of Watch now.

One of my favorites is Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Full voice cast and great book.

 

[Necrovex]

The GOAT: Misborn with a great full cast, music and sound effects. AAA production values, unparalleled in the audiobook space.

http://www.graphicaudio.net/mistborn-1-the-final-empire-1-of-3.html

I'll give this one a go after I complete It. Now that narrator's voice for a woman can be cringy at times. But I'm loving his narration thus far.

 

[ThLunarian]

Game of Thrones books 1-3 and 5. Book 4 has a different guy who is terrible, but the other ones are excellent

 

[kmob]

I listen to audio books on my (long) commute, and lots of the top ones have already been mentioned.

But let me give a shout out to the "Iron age" trilogy written by Angus Watson, and narrated by Sean Barrett. Not only are the books really entertaining, but Sean Barrett's narration is really good and he even does Scottish accents well (a rare talent).

The books are set in iron age Britain and cover an under explored setting for "fantasy" books.

Anyway check them out, the first one is called "Age of Iron".

In different genre altogether is another audio book I'd recommend, which is "The Wicked Girls" by Alex Marwood narrated by Anna Bentinck . This is contemporary novel about two ex-criminals (very obtuse description there). Best to go into this one as unspoiled as possible.

 

[SoldierIce64]

So far the audiobooks I have enjoyed the most have been Ready Player One (Wil Wheaton), The Odyssey (Ian McKellen), The Martian (R. C. Bray) and right now I'm working through Children of Hurin (Christopher Lee), which is fantastic so far.

 

[rackham]

The Enders Game series by Orson Scott Card is pretty fantastic. Love those audiobooks.


The drizzt series by R.a. Salvatore is another great Audiobook series

 

[tonysidaway]

Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities narrated by John Lee is amazing.

He also narrates China Miéville's The City and The City, which I find peculiarly apposite.

My favourite voice actor is Peter Kenny. He has produced unabridged readings of most of Iain Banks' novels, and if I had to choose a single one I'd go for Surface Detail.

 

[More_Badass]

Why are audiobooks so expensive? I was expecting like ebook or paperback prices

 

[CHC]

Blood Meridian was probably one of the best I've ever listened to. The narrator is Richard Poe. It works well because it's a dark western that's largely from a top-down, meditative, and almost cold narration that doesn't assume characters intentions or rely heavily on their dialogue. The writing really just comes to life when you hear it.

It's also one of my favorite books in general. I made a thread about how much I like it.

 

[jambo]

Why are audiobooks so expensive? I was expecting like ebook or paperback prices

Gotta pay a voice actor to record in a booth for 5-50 hours. Then production, editing and re-recording on top. Mastering too.

I ended up getting an Audible membership, $15 a month, but if you say you're going to leave they will often give you 50% off for a few months.

You get a free credit a month to get an Audiobook of any price. I recently used a credit to get The Magician, which is 36 hours long.

 

[Dynomutt]

American Gods
Locke and Key

 

[Avalanche]

Dreams From My Father read by Barack Obama.

Slaughterhouse Five read by Ethan Hawke.

The Tipping Point read by Malcolm Gladwell.

Lolita read by Jeremy Irons aka Humbert in the 1997 film.

For Whom The Bell Tolls read by John Slattery aka Mad Men's Roger Sterling.

World War Z read by everyone you can think of.

Lincoln in the Bardo also read by everyone.

 

[mstevens]

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials trilogy) is really good. It's narrated by Philip Pullman the trilogy's author, and it has a full cast.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, a different narrator for each of the six stories, all very good.

Both of these are really good.

Hmm I tried reading this a year ago and couldn't get into it. I wonder if I'd like the audiobook more.

 

[Any Questions]

I like the BBC version too, it's more of a proper radio play than a straight reading. The one I posted was up on youtube for a couple of years before it got taken down too. It's a shame cos both are excellent.

As someone who saw the films before reading (or listening) to the books, the Phil Dragesh version really helped me visualise the story in my mind as the voices, sound effects, and music help give you those mental cues. I think that really helped in what people refer to as the slower sections of the books cos I felt more invested in the story. (if that makes sense)

Yup. Movies are fantastic. If an honest the books are fairly old fashioned when it comes to explaining the story, IE focusing on one section in full from a to b, then doing that same a to b with another set of characters. It's great as they don't write then like this anymore which makes the story so special. Mixing this unabridged version with the film is something am keen to try.

So thanks for the top tip

 

[Ratrat]

Why are audiobooks so expensive? I was expecting like ebook or paperback prices

Get an Audible subscription. Get the free 1-month trial. Cancel to get 50% off for the next 3 months. Take advantage of daily deals(Every day they have a different book for around $5.)
Sometimes they have sales where you can get 2 books for 1 credit. Recently they just gave me a credit for free.

Also there are times when its cheaper to buy the kindle version and pay like $5 to upgrade to an audiobook.

If you want to be a real cheapskate, you can even alternate between audible.com and audible.uk. They also accept refunds pretty liberally.


Overall its not expensive at all.

 

[jon bones]

I'll give this one a go after I complete It. Now that narrator's voice for a woman can be cringy at times. But I'm loving his narration thus far.

when does the narrator do a woman's voice? i feel like every female character has her own voice actor

 

[RoadHazard]

Related: What's the best legit way to actually get these? Audible? Seems expensive to me compared to all the all-you-can-eat video streaming services. $15/month, and you get ONE book each month? I don't really want to buy audiobooks, I want to "rent" them Netflix-style.

 

[RdN]

The Harry Potter series narrated by Stephen Fry is fantastic.

 

[eLGee]

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King might not be his strongest novel, but Bronson Pinchot's reading elevates it to a masterpiece. I'm not even exaggerating a little bit, it's really amazing.

 

[g11]

Game of Thrones books 1-3 and 5. Book 4 has a different guy who is terrible, but the other ones are excellent

Yeah, Roy Dotrice is the good one. They went back and recorded book 4 with Roy after the new guy didn't go over very well.

Related: What's the best legit way to actually get these? Audible? Seems expensive to me compared to all the all-you-can-eat video streaming services. $15/month, and you get ONE book each month? I don't really want to buy audiobooks, I want to "rent" them Netflix-style.

If you really want to, Audible lets you "return" books you've bought if you are "unhappy" with them. That said, you have to be an active subscriber to do so and if you cancel, you lose any unused credits.

 

[jiggles]

The Harry Potter series narrated by Stephen Fry is fantastic.

He's also done the Sherlock Homes series, but Audible's structuring of the episodes is a bit bleh.

For something a little different, you should check out some of Audible's Originals. I liked Alien: Out of the Shadows and Alien: River of Pain.

They're not so much books as radio plays based on books, but the production values on these dramas are incredible. The actress playing Ripley in particular is so close to Sigourney Weaver I'm still not convinced it isn't actually her.

They've put out an X-Files drama with the actual TV cast this week, but I haven't given it a listen yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGBVu_VVC4

 

[bomma_man]

Catch 22

 

[RowdyReverb]

Late to the thread, but if you love authentic narration, please check out Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. It's the memoir of a man who grew up destitute in Ireland and its narrated by the author himself. Listening to a man read his own memoir with his accent is truly impactful

 

[shira]

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.

Witcher? Might check that out ty

 

[RoadHazard]

Yeah, Roy Dotrice is the good one. They went back and recorded book 4 with Roy after the new guy didn't go over very well.



If you really want to, Audible lets you "return" books you've bought if you are "unhappy" with them. That said, you have to be an active subscriber to do so and if you cancel, you lose any unused credits.

But can you do that if you've listened to the entire book? You're obviously not supposed to.

 

[TwntyOneTwlv]

Related: What's the best legit way to actually get these? Audible? Seems expensive to me compared to all the all-you-can-eat video streaming services. $15/month, and you get ONE book each month? I don't really want to buy audiobooks, I want to "rent" them Netflix-style.

Overdrive. It's an app that most local libraries are connected to. As long as you have a library card, you should be able to rent audiobooks right from the app. Super convienent, and it's free.

 

[TheGameshark]

The disaster artist. Greg sestero does an incredible Wiseau impression and it's hilarious.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K40IToeN51Y

 

[g11]

But can you do that if you've listened to the entire book? You're obviously not supposed to.

Absolutely. It's like a "satisfaction guaranteed" thing. I only have ever done it with one book myself and that's because I was genuinely disappointed in it. If you really wanted to though, it's pretty easy to abuse it seems.

 

[More_Badass]

Does the Audible "please don't cancel, 50% off deal" only work if you actually paying? Currently in the midst of a free trial

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Ready Player One by Wil Weaton


Also the Dresden Files series by James "Spike" Marsden.

 

[Saya]

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian narrated by Richard Poe. The perfect voice for this book. Check out the first few pages here.

 

[Man God]

Does the Audible "please don't cancel, 50% off deal" only work if you actually paying? Currently in the midst of a free trial

Is this your first time? If so, then yes, it should work.

More suggestions from someone who spends far too much time listening to books.

The Dresden Files. Wonderfully narrated by James Marsters. I probably would have stopped reading these years ago if it wasn't for the narrator.

Anything done by Rob Inglis. This includes the Recorded Books versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He's a fantastic narrator. I know someone mentioned the BBC version of TLOTR but those are abridged and honestly I prefer single/dual narrators over full cast productions.

Both English versions of Harry Potter are really good. I prefer the Jim Dale one.

The Roy Dotrice versions of the A Song of Ice and Fire books.

 

[yLEFTy]

Why are audiobooks so expensive? I was expecting like ebook or paperback prices

Check out the overdrive app. I login with my library card and can check out most of the audiobooks I'm interested in listening to for free. There are waiting lists for the more popular books.

 

[Aexact]

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

Similarly listened to Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and while it's not heavy on comedy, it sketches a vivid picture of post apartheid South Africa, of race and youth and how these shaped his and the people around him. Deeply personal and narrated by Noah.

 

[Empty Space]

dune is fantastic.. even the interlude music is dope

Dune never gets enough love in these threads. It's by far my favorite audiobook. It's a book I may have never actually finished reading, but the audiobook version elevated the whole thing.

 

[Man God]

Why are audiobooks so expensive? I was expecting like ebook or paperback prices

Want to know the funny thing about Audiobooks? They've gone down in price about 300% since I started getting into it.

Some of these big bastards used to be 20+ cassettes or 30 CDs. I think Way of Kings is 38.

Digital distribution has brought the price way down. You can get boutique audiobooks with really shitty recordings for under ten. Audible routinely has sales that get books into the 2-4 dollar range. I just picked up The Two Towers for 3.50. The tape version I donated to the library years ago cost almost 80.

 

[Paertan]

Related: What's the best legit way to actually get these? Audible? Seems expensive to me compared to all the all-you-can-eat video streaming services. $15/month, and you get ONE book each month? I don't really want to buy audiobooks, I want to "rent" them Netflix-style.

Storytel in Sweden has a decent library.

 

[More_Badass]

Want to know the funny thing about Audiobooks? They've gone down in price about 300% since I started getting into it.

Some of these big bastards used to be 20+ cassettes or 30 CDs. I think Way of Kings is 38.

Digital distribution has brought the price way down. You can get boutique audiobooks with really shitty recordings for under ten. Audible routinely has sales that get books into the 2-4 dollar range. I just picked up The Two Towers for 3.50. The tape version I donated to the library years ago cost almost 80.

To be fair, my frame of reference is podcasts and audio dramas, and ebooks and whatnot, so to go from "free" and "usually cheaper than physical" to these prices was surprising. Actually haven't bought any yet, only used the credits I got from the free trial

 

[Zen_Arcade]

If you like Norm MacDonald his audio book is amazing. Definitely better in audio form. It helps his stories flow in that unique Norm MacDonald cadence.

 

[Man God]

To be fair, my frame of reference is podcasts and audio dramas, and ebooks and whatnot, so to go from "free" and "usually cheaper than physical" to these prices was surprising. Actually haven't bought any yet, only used the credits I got from the free trial

Yeah, look online for free ways to game audible. Just recently they did six months at half off for new subscribers.

They refresh the stuff for quitting every year or two as well. Late last year I got the three months at half off+one month free+20 dollars in credit again.

Also if you get big into it the savings from doing the 2 a month plan are real.

That and sales. Why spend a credit on a book when Audible might one day have it for half that? Another fun one is that sometimes the kindle version goes on sale for a buck or two and it might only cost 3-5 bucks to add "audible narration" to it, which just gives you the full audiobook to use on your audible account. I got a ton of books that way for 3-10 dollars.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

The Witcher Series narrated by Peter Kenny. His voices and accents are excellent, as are the books.

Totally agreed

 

[Christine]

David Suchet and Hugh Fraser from the BBC Poirot series have both narrated quite a few audiobook versions of Christie's Poirot stories, which is a job that they are singularly well qualified to do. Worth it just for Suchet's performance of Fraser's Hastings and Fraser's performance of Suchet's Poirot.

 

[Otaku Coder]

I found myself impressed by Kizumonogatari: Wound Tale, to the point where I was legitimately bummed out by the Monogatari anime not having any English dubs.

I'm currently listening to the tenth anniversary edition of American Gods, and that's good too.

 

[JustAnotherMike]

James Marsters does the Dresden books, I really enjoyed them.

I had like 6 audible credits so I spent them all on Dresden for the past month or so. Marsters is good, but the sound quality can be all over the place. Some chapters it sounds like he may have a cold or he is recording in a coat closet. Luckily, those instances happen during non action portions of the story.

Like others have said anything Cosmere related is pretty damn good. American Gods has a great cast as well.

 

[More_Badass]

Got Dune, Blood Meridian, and Gaiman's Norse Mythology

Thanks for the suggestions. Gaiman is one hell of a storyteller

 

[More_Badass]

Any thoughts on the Hyperion audiobook (on Audible)?

 

[Blubikins]

Alien : Out of the Shadows.

Seriously I was blown away by this. The cast that narrates it is amazing and it's like watching a movie.

 

[tonysidaway]

Any thoughts on the Hyperion audiobook (on Audible)?

I've got that and the Fall of Hyperion. Aside from Brawne Lamia/Allyson Johnson's painful efforts to give Johnny an English accent, they're both very good. The first book is a full-cast job, which I tend to find distracting because it fragments the narrative, but it still works. For the second volume they went for a single narrator, and in that role Victor Bevine is very good.