With this post we are launching our new joint effort -Three Heads Are Better Than One (or Two) - a regular feature where we will present our opinions and recommendations on many, many (mostly book-related) subjects. Three opinions, naturally, are much better than one (or two), right?
Today we are talking about our favorite and/or memorable audio books. The three of us are dedicated consumers, fans and self-proclaimed connoisseurs of books on audio. We have sampled a lot of them; we loved many of them. It was hard to choose, but we managed to narrow down our favorites to two books each - one adult and one YA/children's. If you still have not yet explored the wonderful world of audio pleasures, these books are a great place to start. Samples included.
Today we are talking about our favorite and/or memorable audio books. The three of us are dedicated consumers, fans and self-proclaimed connoisseurs of books on audio. We have sampled a lot of them; we loved many of them. It was hard to choose, but we managed to narrow down our favorites to two books each - one adult and one YA/children's. If you still have not yet explored the wonderful world of audio pleasures, these books are a great place to start. Samples included.
The Year of the Floood
Author: Margaret Atwood
Narrators: Bernadette Dunn, Katie MacNichol, Mark Bramhall
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
The Year of the Flood was written as a companion to Atwood’s disturbing dystopian release, Oryx and Crake. In this world, the environment has been polluted and perverted by human carelessness and arrogance. The lucky few live in pharmaceutical company owned compounds while the unlucky masses survive on the outside. It isn’t really necessary to read Oryx and Crake first, but I’d recommend it – these two books together are brilliant. Oryx and Crake centers around two boys growing up in the compounds, numbing themselves with a steady diet of violence, sex, and pharmaceuticals as they become more and more disaffected. It’s a cold, disconnected book, which only serves to make its climax even more disturbing.
Author: Margaret Atwood
Narrators: Bernadette Dunn, Katie MacNichol, Mark Bramhall
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
The Year of the Flood was written as a companion to Atwood’s disturbing dystopian release, Oryx and Crake. In this world, the environment has been polluted and perverted by human carelessness and arrogance. The lucky few live in pharmaceutical company owned compounds while the unlucky masses survive on the outside. It isn’t really necessary to read Oryx and Crake first, but I’d recommend it – these two books together are brilliant. Oryx and Crake centers around two boys growing up in the compounds, numbing themselves with a steady diet of violence, sex, and pharmaceuticals as they become more and more disaffected. It’s a cold, disconnected book, which only serves to make its climax even more disturbing.
The Year of the Flood is the very different story of two women on the outside. Both are members of the God’s Gardeners, a sort of environmentalist religious cult. This book feels much more emotional and intense to me, and it made me love Oryx and Crake even more in retrospect. This audiobook is really special, because it’s one of those that completely transports you into the world of the novel. The book contains the hymns of the God’s Gardeners in between chapters, and here they are performed with musical accompaniment. They are very crunchy granola and a bit cheesy, which only makes them feel more realistic to me. Bernadette Dunn is practical and introspective as Toby and Katie MacNichol is vulnerable but persevering as Ren. I’ve heard that Margaret Atwood plans to continue this series with a third book and I’m very excited to read (or listen) to it.
The True Meaning of Smekday
Author: Adam Rex
Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Publisher: Listening Library
An Excerpt of the Book
Okay, so this is actually a middle grade book, but I’m going to fudge “the rules” here because this audiobook is so spectacular! I can say with complete certainty that this is the most clever and hilarious alien invasion/road trip/commentary on human ethics story featuring a sarcastic eleven year old girl and a quirky alien called “J.Lo” that I’ve ever read. And not only that – it’s also illustrated.
Author: Adam Rex
Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Publisher: Listening Library
An Excerpt of the Book
Okay, so this is actually a middle grade book, but I’m going to fudge “the rules” here because this audiobook is so spectacular! I can say with complete certainty that this is the most clever and hilarious alien invasion/road trip/commentary on human ethics story featuring a sarcastic eleven year old girl and a quirky alien called “J.Lo” that I’ve ever read. And not only that – it’s also illustrated.
J. Lo
Now, I know what you’re going to say: Why on Earth would I listen to the audiobook when I’d miss the illustrations? True. But here’s what makes the audiobook absolutely worth getting: Bahni Turpin. She’s a genius. She’s one of my favorite narrators (you may have also heard her in The Help, The Downside Ghosts series, or Push). Her delivery of Tip’s dry, cynical comebacks is spot on. And her take on J.Lo – squeaky, wavering, and silly – is so perfect. This is a great audiobook for families to listen to together (I’d say it’s for ages eight and up) and you can always buy a copy (or a few copies) of the print version for the illustrations. I’ve already given this book to several people!
The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Narrator: Simon Vance
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
Oh, how I lamented not having a paper version of this book when I was listening to this Simon Vance's reading of it! He made me fall in love with this story. I enjoyed Vance's narration because his voice transported me into the cold and snowy world of contemporary Sweden. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought Simon Vance's voice had a very discerning Swedishness to it, that firmness and terseness. And I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to pronounce all these Swedish names with weird letters in them so smoothly - Hans-Erik Wennerström, Nils Bjurman, Hedestad. Tell me some more Swedish words, Mr. Vance!
Author: Stieg Larsson
Narrator: Simon Vance
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
Oh, how I lamented not having a paper version of this book when I was listening to this Simon Vance's reading of it! He made me fall in love with this story. I enjoyed Vance's narration because his voice transported me into the cold and snowy world of contemporary Sweden. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought Simon Vance's voice had a very discerning Swedishness to it, that firmness and terseness. And I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to pronounce all these Swedish names with weird letters in them so smoothly - Hans-Erik Wennerström, Nils Bjurman, Hedestad. Tell me some more Swedish words, Mr. Vance!
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Narrator: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Recorded Books
An Excerpt of the Book
Generally, I am not very fond of audio books narrated by writers. Even though I understand that they know their characters and their voices better than anyone else, they often do not posses the necessary acting skills.
Sherman Alexie is not a professional actor and reader and, frankly, he is not even a good amateur reader, BUT his voice is just the absolutely perfect fit for his narrator - 14-year old Junior, poor, handicapped, bullied, stuttering and at times foul-mouthed Native American boy. Everything is just so organic in this audio version of the novel - the accents, the stuttering, the rhythm of the humor. A seamless melding of the story and the narrator.
Author: Sherman Alexie
Narrator: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Recorded Books
An Excerpt of the Book
Generally, I am not very fond of audio books narrated by writers. Even though I understand that they know their characters and their voices better than anyone else, they often do not posses the necessary acting skills.
Sherman Alexie is not a professional actor and reader and, frankly, he is not even a good amateur reader, BUT his voice is just the absolutely perfect fit for his narrator - 14-year old Junior, poor, handicapped, bullied, stuttering and at times foul-mouthed Native American boy. Everything is just so organic in this audio version of the novel - the accents, the stuttering, the rhythm of the humor. A seamless melding of the story and the narrator.
Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Narrator: Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
I think my absolute favorite part about audiobooks is that I am able to do things while I'm listening. This whopper of an audiobook is over 21 hours long. While listening to it, I commuted back and forth to school a few times and then drove from Boston to Philadelphia and back again. I'd heard over and over that every sci-fi fan had to read Dune but frankly, the length was intimidating. It won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for best novel and when I was researching this audiobook, I also found that it won the Audie Award for Science Fiction in 2008. Very deservedly, if you ask me, because I found this cast and overall production to be superb. The world, the number of characters, their names, the plotlines--it is a huge undertaking. The audiobook has a few bizarre touches that make it unique. For example, each narrator takes turns with chapters rather than having the narrators voice specific characters. Also, there are a lot of background musical touches interspersed in the production. Both of these features would normally turn me off in an audio production but the former didn't bother me and the latter added to my absolute immersion in the world. The 21 hours just flew by and I plan to listen to it again before I go forward with the series. It makes me happy that even while no proper movie has been made to capture the amazingness of this novel (This is arguable. Certainly the Kyle McLachlan/Sting in a diaper version is no one's perfect movie version. The miniseries one was pretty good.), this audiobook does it right. If you ever plan to give Dune a try, or want to read it again, I recommend listening to this production.
Author: Frank Herbert
Narrator: Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
An Excerpt of the Book
I think my absolute favorite part about audiobooks is that I am able to do things while I'm listening. This whopper of an audiobook is over 21 hours long. While listening to it, I commuted back and forth to school a few times and then drove from Boston to Philadelphia and back again. I'd heard over and over that every sci-fi fan had to read Dune but frankly, the length was intimidating. It won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for best novel and when I was researching this audiobook, I also found that it won the Audie Award for Science Fiction in 2008. Very deservedly, if you ask me, because I found this cast and overall production to be superb. The world, the number of characters, their names, the plotlines--it is a huge undertaking. The audiobook has a few bizarre touches that make it unique. For example, each narrator takes turns with chapters rather than having the narrators voice specific characters. Also, there are a lot of background musical touches interspersed in the production. Both of these features would normally turn me off in an audio production but the former didn't bother me and the latter added to my absolute immersion in the world. The 21 hours just flew by and I plan to listen to it again before I go forward with the series. It makes me happy that even while no proper movie has been made to capture the amazingness of this novel (This is arguable. Certainly the Kyle McLachlan/Sting in a diaper version is no one's perfect movie version. The miniseries one was pretty good.), this audiobook does it right. If you ever plan to give Dune a try, or want to read it again, I recommend listening to this production.
Stolen
Author: Lucy Christopher
Narrator: Emily Gray
Publisher: Recorded Books
An Excerpt of the Book
This narrator is amazing. Emily Gray voices an Australian young man and a British teenage girl seamlessly in this young adult audiobook. While I was listening to it, one of my sisters was in the car with me. After about a 20 minute drive, she went home and just started it herself from the beginning. We would have daily discussions until we both finished it, which definitely gives me some happy memories of this audiobook. Before I started, I was skeptical about how much I would enjoy a book about what basically amounts to a teen girl held captive in the Australian Outback and her relationship with her captor. The answer is a ton. The narrator is perfect and I've recommended this audiobook to several other readers who've enjoyed it as well. If you're thinking of reading it, listen to it instead. I'm sure the book is great as well but this audio performance is not to be missed.
Author: Lucy Christopher
Narrator: Emily Gray
Publisher: Recorded Books
An Excerpt of the Book
This narrator is amazing. Emily Gray voices an Australian young man and a British teenage girl seamlessly in this young adult audiobook. While I was listening to it, one of my sisters was in the car with me. After about a 20 minute drive, she went home and just started it herself from the beginning. We would have daily discussions until we both finished it, which definitely gives me some happy memories of this audiobook. Before I started, I was skeptical about how much I would enjoy a book about what basically amounts to a teen girl held captive in the Australian Outback and her relationship with her captor. The answer is a ton. The narrator is perfect and I've recommended this audiobook to several other readers who've enjoyed it as well. If you're thinking of reading it, listen to it instead. I'm sure the book is great as well but this audio performance is not to be missed.
What are some of your favorite audioboooks? Who are your favorite narrators? We love getting recommendations so leave us a comment!
