Best books on audio

I posted this earlier and was redirected to this group. I just finished listening to The Help on my Ipod. It was such a great book to listen to! Anyone have any ideas on books that are just as good to listen to? Nothing I've downloaded since seems to compare.

Of course it depends on what sort of book you like, but I thought So Cold the River by Michael Kortya was a great production, and I second the suggestion you got on the other thread of looking into other books that have won an Audie.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society it is also multi-voiced its good!

If I could recommend only one audiobook, just one ... ever, it'd be the unabridged recording of Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, narrated by the late Frank Mueller.

My favorite is Shelby Foote's three volume The Civil War: a narrative. The books are excellent and so is the narration. It is so massive I can listen to it over and over and still learn something every time.

I think of all the audios I've listened to over the years, one of the all time favorites is Short History of Nearly Everything narrated by Bill Bryson the author. The book covers the most obscure information about the sciences in such interesting and lyrical detail that even people like myself with no background in any of this stuff, learns and enjoys the experience. I keep it on my iPod and often just click it on to any disc or any section for the fun of it. It like my scientific bible.

I see you have Outlander in your library that series is fantastic on audio Davina Porter brings the characters to life so well that when your done your thinking in a scottish brogue.

The Bloody Jack series is a rollicking good time. Katherine Kellgrin (sp?) does a super superb job.

I'm halfway through Three Bags Full, a mystery wherein most of the dialogue is among a flock of sheep- the narrator is terrific, and I'm certain the book wouldn't be nearly as much fun in print!

It really depends on why you liked The Help so much. Was it the story, the writing, the setting, the reader, what? Identify what you liked about that one and then try to find another that is similar in that regard.

Personally, I've found that I like a different style of books for audio versus print, and that I have favorite readers (for example, I'll listen to anything read by Scott Brick) and some that I avoid at all costs (Anna Fields is one).

One of the best book/narrator match-ups I've found is James Marsters with the Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. These books are written in first person. The most recent in the series is Changes; I think it's book 11 and Jim doesn't show any sign of slowing down. These are modern day fantasy told in that lovely '40s noir style.

I really like Anton Lesser. He does a wonderful job with the audiobook The Christmas Carol from Naxos Audio.

I'm also an Anton Lesser fan. I've listened to his version of The Christmas Carol and just recently to The Ruby in the Smoke which was wonderfully read.

I'm currently listening to Parrot and Olivier in America and I'm enjoying the audio production very much. The chapters by Olivier are spoken with just the right French accent. Some reviewers have complained that this character frustrates them, but I think that perhaps his pompous silliness is not coming through for them in print, whereas it's very clear in audio. The Parrot character has just the right English accent too.

Another one I really liked was Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, read by the author. The book has many Somali and Dutch names that are very unusual to me, so it's great to hear them pronounced properly. Also, it's very personal and immediate to hear the author tell of the harrowing things that happened to her.

Lastly, I really liked The Accidental. It too used different voices. My book club discussed this book, and I was the only one who had listened to it. Because of the audio, some things were made very plain to me but were confusing in print.

But of course you have to first like the story . . .

I have to say I find it odd to listen to non-fiction book written in the first person and then read by someone other than the author. Which of course is very common. But I still have a bit of a disconnect each time.

The Crocodile on the Sandbank series by Elizabeth Peters narrated by Barbara Rosenblat is fantastic, funny, clever Victorian mysteries set in Egypt. Amelia Peabody is a riot and the books are great, I love them!