When I was working at the box factory, I had a half hour commute every morning and every afternoon. I used this time to listen to audiobooks, going through about two per month.
Apparently, last winter I signed up for a one-year account at Audible. (I don’t remember doing this!) Since I haven’t been driving to work, I haven’t been listening to audiobooks, but now I have 18 credits that expire in ten days! I could use some recommendations.
I’ve listened to about 100 audiobooks over the past five years. My favorites include the Aubrey-Maturin novels, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Cloud Atlas, and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. I tend to like classics (Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Willa Cather) and motivational books (Dale Carnegie, etc.). I’m open to anything, really, as long as it’s good in audio format.
Help me keep my book credits — and the $229.50 I don’t remember spending — from going to waste! (And, yes, I’ll cancel the auto-renewal as soon as I download these books…)
P.S. Yes, obviously this is off-topic…
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I love to listen to anything from David Sedaris at work. Sometimes I’ll laugh out loud at my desk he’s so funny.
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I don’t listen to audiobooks, but my husband is an artist & loves to listen to them while he paints. I was also going to suggest David Sedaris. One of his favorite is Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. You could also do the Harry Potter books if you haven’t read them.
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If you like the really well written fantasy/comedy then try Terry Pratchett with Stephen Briggs narrating. Terry Pratchett is our favourite. My family has most of his work. “Thou Shall Prosper” by Rabbi Daniel Lapin is great too. My family owns a painting company and they use audible books a lot on their Nanos. “The Screwtape Letters” narrated by John Cleese is interesting. If you like Vampires then try “Pandora” by Anne Rice.
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I’d suggest the Pulitzer Prize winning ‘A Confederacy of Dunces.’ I purchased it and was amazed by the voice acting, not to mention that it’s a great novel.
From Wiki:
“A Confederacy of Dunces is a novel written by John Kennedy Toole, published in 1980, 11 years after the author’s suicide. The book was published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a revealing foreword) and Toole’s mother Thelma Toole, quickly becoming a cult classic, and later a mainstream success. Toole posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. It is an important part of the ‘modern canon’ of Southern literature.”
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I love the way Jim Dale read classics. He has a few out now, and some on Audible as I recall.
I also liked “Once upon a Town” by Bob Greene,
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Anything by Neil Gaiman is good. He tends to get really excellent readers for his books. Lenny Henry did Anansi Boys, I forget who did American Gods but it’s good. Gaiman also read his books Coraline and The Graveyard Book and he’s a natural at it.
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You might try Mike Leonards “The Ride of our Lives.” It was a PBS special about an american family trip across the states. If you want heavy duty listening, try one of Ronald Kessler audio tapes, such as Inside the CIA.
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Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
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I second the Terry Pratchett suggestion — just recently listened to the latest, Making Money, after I got tired of my sons’ garbled reading of their favorite sections to me when driving. LOVED it! The entire Harry Potter series is great as well.
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Elantris – Brandon Sanderson
just out on audio book. great fantasy book. (better than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in my humble opinion of course)
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I enjoyed “Eifelheim”. It’s an SF story with a dual storyline (one in contemporary US and the other in medieval Germany). And it’s very well read.
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I’ve heard really great things about the Patrick O’Brian books about Aubrey and Maturin, the series the movie “Master and Commander” was based on. The first one is “Master and Commander”.
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The best audiobooks I’ve heard in quite a while were C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. A friend let me borrow them, and the narration was great.
If you’ve already read the books, and are just looking for something inspirational, try the final book, “The Last Battle”. It’s narrated by Patrick Stewart (yeah, Capt. Picard), and is quite possibly the best narration out there (for any audiobook I’ve heard). Highly recommended.
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You might find the following links helpful (I did):
http://ask.metafilter.com/15026/
http://ask.metafilter.com/95955/
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JD,
Just wondering … why don’t you donate those audible points to someone who deserves them? Or why don’t you gift audiobooks to your friends for the holidays? I mean, look at it this way: you don’t recollect spending time/effort/money subscribing to audible, plus with the holidays coming up fast, you will need gifts for people you like. It’s a win-win situation … you don’t have to spend money all over again … and your gift-receivers would be happy with the gifts. What books should you get for your friends/family? The books that YOU like/liked and think that they should listen/enjoy them.
Just a thought!
Mahesh
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I enjoyed the (free) Librivox recording of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde ( http://librivox.org/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde/ ).
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I bought Ender’s Game from Audible a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. It’s one of my favorite books of all time, and the voice acting was especially excellent on this audio book. If you are a science fiction fan at all, you’ve probably already read this (it’s a sci-fi classic), but I highly recommend giving the audio book a listen anyway.
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Which of the various Aubrey-Maturin audiobooks do you like? There are a few versions.
Thanks.
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Guns, Germs and Steel –> AWESOME on audiobook
Also, Treasure Island was good . . .
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As a side note, some public libraries now offer free audiobook downloads via the web to library card holders. San Diego Public Library is one example.
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Don’t buy anything you can get for free from http://librivox.org/ …
-Wm
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I highly recommend The Historian. I listened to it on audiobook and was completely entranced by it. It’s very long, but you’ll be sad when it ends.
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So many great comments already, some of which are (unintentionally) hilarious. In no particular order:
1. Luneray, Eifelheim is my default link for constructing Amazon links for any of my sites. I’ve never read the book, but somehow that URL ended up as my base that I build from, as many readers have discovered (because I sometimes forget to change the ISBN).
2. Mahesh, I didn’t know I could donate Audible points. That’s an interesting idea. I may do it. But I’m a big enough reader, that I’m interested in keeping these myself if I can.
3. Chris, one of those Ask Metafilter links you posted is actually my question from three years ago!
4. Craig, I actually have Confederacy of Dunces in my collection!
5. I’m not a huge Pratchett or Gaiman fan, believe it or not. I should be, but I don’t like either one. (I thought Neverwhere was awful.) I could give them a try on audio, I suppose.
6. David Sedaris is a great suggestion!
7. Rachel, I like the Aubrey-Maturin books narrated by Patrick Tull. I think Patrick Tull is brilliant.
Thanks, everyone, for your recommendations so far. I don’t like hijacking this space for non-personal finance stuff. I try not to do it often. You’re very good to humor me.
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Hapiness, by Tal Ben Shahar. He is a Harvard professor that teaches the most popular class at Harvard that teaches students how to find true hapiness, and guess what……………according to him you don’t have to be rich to be happy. There are a few parts that seem a little hokey, but oveall a great addtion to any collection.
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I am an Audible subscriber myself, and I like the service. The books I’ve really like so far that I’ve got from Audible are:
Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything (or anything Bryson ever wrote, ever)
Elyn Saks’ The Center Cannot Hold (I could not “put it down”, a good example of riveting nonficiton)
Jerome Groopman’s Hose Doctors Think (helpful to anyone who sees doctors frequently)
Val McDermid’s A Distant Echo (just a good thriller!)
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I’ll second David Sedaris! My favorite is Me Talk Pretty One Day.
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Sci-fi comedy: Anything by Douglas Adams. I had most of his stuff on tape at some point.
Fantasy: Why not Tolkien?
Go for the Gusto: War and Peace (does anyone have the guts to even make this an audiobook?)
Poetry: The Song of Hiawatha (this would make a good audiobook, maybe)
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I haven’t listened to many audiobooks since my commute went from 2 hours to 5 minutes, but I really enjoyed the works of Philip K. Dick and P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves books from my local library. Don’t know any of the details, but they were quite entertaining…
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I am a long time and continuing audible customer, having listened to over 150 audio books. In fact I very much enjoyed Cloud Atlas myself.
If you enjoy classics, several of Jane Austen’s novels are availalbe at Audible. I can personally recommend “Emma” and “Mansfield Park”, both of which were wonderful and very well produced. Cormac McCarthy’s book “All the Pretty Horses” is also worth the time and “Lolita”, read by Jeremy Irons is fantastic. I second the earlier recommendation of “A Confederacy of Dunces” as well.
Finally I would recommend “His Excellency”, “Alexander Hamilton” and “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.” (which includes several very powerful recordings of Dr. King’s speeches and sermons) if you are at all interested in compelling and inspiring historical biography.
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My husband and I recently listened to “The Great Train Robbery” by Michael Crichton. It was a fascinating and well-written Dickensian heist story, with a lot of history thrown in. Very well narrated too.
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Areas of my Expertise by Hodgman (yes, PC in “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC”);
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
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“The Big Over Easy” and “The Fourth Bear” by Jasper Fforde are great books. I listened to The Fourth Bear as I drove from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, and it kept my attention the whole time. These are intelligent and witty books, that incorporate well known fairy tales into the real world – resulting in entertaining, yet poignant stories.
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I enjoyed Ellen’s audiobook, “It’s Always Something.”
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Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
Anything by Malcome Gladwell for that matter.
Freakonomics
Jack – Jack Welch (former GE CEO)
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Anything by Jim Collins
Five Dysfunctions of a CEO – Patrick Lencioni
Anything by Pat Lencioni
Anything by John Piper they might have, but especially Desiring God.
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Confessions of an Economic Hitman
Into Thin Air
Snowball : Warren Buffet Story
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John Hodgman – Areas of My Expertise
Narrated by John and it is hilarious!
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All the King’s Men.
It’s a little slow to start, but it gets absolutely fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough.
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I tend to pick books based on the reader -
Anything read by Dick Hill, Barbara Rosenblat, Lorilei King.
And I second the suggestion of Harry Potter – they come alive with Jim Dale’s reading.
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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson is brilliant. It’s an extremely dark, extremely awesome story set just before and during the Revolutionary War, liberty, and property. It won the National Book Award. I have heard the sequel is as good, though it just came out and my library holds are backed up. I do not know how well the audio versions are read (I read incessantly but dislike audiobooks), but they appear to be unabridged.
Avoid spoilers if at all possible. No, really, I mean it.
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I’ve got a fantastic recommendation for you, about a sad-sack middle-aged schlub who one day hops on the bike from his teen years, and starts on a cross-country trek! (obviously never heard of getting fit slowly).
best of all the story of the book is heart-warming as well: the author couldn’t get it published, but he worked as a narrator at an audio book company, and they published his book in audio format BEFORE he ever got a print contract… which happened after Stephen King listened to the book & praised it to the heavens.
the book? Memory of Running, by Ron McLarty. I promise you’ll love it.
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I third John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise. And if you’re interested in trying out some Neil Gaiman (also recommended) before you buy, his short story, A Study in Emerald might still be floating around on the net.
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Yes to all David Sedaris. Also, anything by Sarah Vowell. My husband and I have both enjoyed “the Curious Incident of the Dog in the nighttime” by Mark Haddon, “Boomsday” by Christopher Buckley, “Rant” by Chuck Palahniuk, “Wickett’s Remedy” by Myla Goldberg and the “Memory of Running” by Ron McLarty.
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I don’t know if anyone above me has made this recommendation, but Dean Karnazas the “Ultra Marathon Man” has released one of his books on tape; Confessions of a Midnight Runner. It’s inspiring, even if you’re not a runner. He is the perfect spokesperson for how fulfilling an adventurous life can be if you only give yourself the chance.
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World War Z by David Brooks (Son of Mel)
A surprisingly well written and intriguing book about how different governments and regions of the world would react if a zombie outbreak actually happened. Okay as a book, but phenomenal as an audiobook due to David Brooks’ celebrity connections through his father, Mel Brooks.
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Why Not? by Nalebuff
Predictably Irrational by Ariely
Sway by Brafman
Made to Stick by Heath
Collapse by Diamond
Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
A Long Way Gone by Beah
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I’ve been listening to books on the way to work also (got the books from the library). I started listening to some history books, something good for me that I might not read otherwise. This has been fascinating. I’ve read the following:
FOUNDING BROTHERS: THE REVOLUTIONARY GENERATION by JOSEPH J. ELLIS
JOHN ADAMS by DAVID MCCULLOUGH (the basis of the HBO miniseries)
1776 by DAVID MCCULLOUGH
HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON by JOSEPH J. ELLIS
Along with 1776, I listened to a historical novel covering the same period:
GLORIOUS CAUSE by JEFF SHAARA
This has been quite educational and interesting. And puts some current events into perspective.
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You spent $230 dollars one something you don’t remember? Is this GetRichSlowly or GetPoorIndistinctly?
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I highly recommend Shalimar the Clown. Incredible production values and a fascinating story.
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We can turn this into a personal finance recommendation. If you have a library card number, you may be able to check out audio books from online…I’m able to do it from Poland. I can download 6 books a week.
Once they are transferred to my device, they don’t expire, but otherwise, after 2 weeks, I think it is, they expire, and I can’t listen to them without redownloading them. They do allow some of them to be burned to cds.
So, in order to relate this to personal finance…don’t pay for something you can get from your public library for free!
Here’s my link from our local public library…http://digitalbooks.tblc.org/56029252-B1D5-4E04-8DFE-78A22388EFC0/10/285/en/Default.htm so you can see what I’m talking about.
Just in case you didn’t know.
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You can download audio books from your local public library, so make sure you don’t buy one of the ones you can download for free. Make sure you check it out. Here’s our local library’s link for comparison. I’m reasonably sure it is around the country.
http://digitalbooks.tblc.org/56029252-B1D5-4E04-8DFE-78A22388EFC0/10/285/en/Default.htm
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