Audiobook ONLY recommendations

[Anonymous]

These we’re good and easy to follow (meaning listenable while you’re doing other things, or too tired to catch every word)

Catherine Steadman’s books (something in the Water and The Disappearing Act) were good as audiobooks if you like suspense.

The Foundling

Muppets in Moscow

Horse

Any Liane Moriarty, the narrator who does her books is absolutely incredible, on a whole other level from most. She does voice acting for different characters but her voices are never clowny or childish like many narrators. her delivery and comedic timing add much to the comedic aspects of LM’s books. I like The Husband’s Secret best but Big Little Lies is good too.

Kara and the Sun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listen to Audible A LOT so I have tons of suggestions. You haven't said what kind of books you like, so my favorites might not work for you but I hope they do.

*) I was going in order through my library and I didn't feel like renumbering (the below is not done in order of enjoyment) but I had to stop and put this one at the top - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. He also wrote The Martian if you've never read that one. I am NOT a sci-fi person at all but I loved both these books and you HAVE to listen to Hail Mary (you'll figure out why) rather than read it, making it the perfect audiobook. I usually listen on 1.3x and I slowed this one down to 1x because I didn't want it to be over. My husband also loved this one.

1) Stephen King - I really like him as an author (I'm not a horror/fantasy/sci-fi person) because I get pulled into his books immediately and I love the characters he writes. Will Patton, the narrator for the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and a few other books like The Outsider is great. I also happen to like Stephen King's voice even though he's kind of nasally. Duma Key is also a good one and is narrated by John Slattery, who has the best voice. And The Institute is narrated by Santino Fontana, who is another great voice. Finally, King does a lot of short stories, which can be a nice change of pace for shorter listens here and there.

2) The Terminal List and subsequent books by Jack Carr - these were made into a show starring Chris Pratt (which I haven't watched yet so I can't speak to it), and the narrator, Ray Porter, is a really good one. I actually listened to all five books in a row because I enjoyed them so much. Not super high quality writing but good story lines and interesting characters.

3) Lessons in Chemistry and Remarkably Bright Creatures - these two books are lumped together only because I listened to them back-to-back and they have some similarities. Both were very good with excellent narrators. I can't recommend them highly enough.

4) Wrong Place Wrong Time - an interesting murder mystery narrated by a Brit. I listen to a lot of murder mysteries/thrillers/crime fiction because they tend to be simple and entertaining and this was my most recent favorite. (I have several duds in this category as well, which I won't list here, but it's a common genre and easy to do wrong).

5) Jennifer Weiner - chick lit/beach reads but pretty good. I did NOT like Big Summer but I did like The Summer Place, That Summer, and Mrs. Everything. Again, not high quality literature but great for listening to while doing things.

6) The Midnight Library - note that many people listed this on the popular books they hate thread, but I enjoyed listening to it. (Conversely, I did hate Where The Crawdads Sing so I agree with that thread in many ways).

7) When We Believed in Mermaids

8) The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand - kind of like Jennifer Weiner if you enjoy those types of books. I actually can't speak to her other titles because I think this is the only one I've ever read/listened to but I would be into others.

9) Anything by Jen Lancaster. Mostly she does autobiographical stuff (The Tao of Martha was her trying to live like Martha Stewart for a year). She's really funny and narrates well. She also wrote a fiction book called The Gatekeepers which is basically teen lit but was quite good.

10) Anything by David Sedaris. His are all autobiographical that I know of, but he's hysterical and has a great take on life. His Santaland Diaries is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

11) John Grisham books by the right narrator. I read all of John Grisham's books (I'm a lawyer and have been a fan of his for decades), but the best ones I've listened to are A Time for Mercy, A Time To Kill, The Guardians, and The Reckoning, all narrated by Michael Beck. HIs voice is like cotton candy and so easy to listen to.

12) You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes. Santino Fontana is the narrator and after listening to these I watched Frozen and he played the voice of Hans and I immediately said, oh, he's a bad guy. The books are entertaining and he's great to listen to.

13) All the Light We Cannot See

DP. I think you’ve posted in other threads and just wanted to say I appreciate your detailed posts!

[Anonymous]

The Change by Kirsten Miller. It's a long book but the narration makes it go by really quickly. The narrator has an edge to her voice that goes well with the theme

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where the Crawdads Sing (beautifully read)

Wow. I really disliked it. Sort of the story but mostly the narration. She gave all women high dumb sounding baby voices and made the main character sound daft in a way that didn't fit everything we learned about her.

You said this way better than I could have. I agree wholeheartedly. I'm actually sad I listened to it because I think I might have enjoyed the book otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listen to Audible A LOT so I have tons of suggestions. You haven't said what kind of books you like, so my favorites might not work for you but I hope they do.

*) I was going in order through my library and I didn't feel like renumbering (the below is not done in order of enjoyment) but I had to stop and put this one at the top - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. He also wrote The Martian if you've never read that one. I am NOT a sci-fi person at all but I loved both these books and you HAVE to listen to Hail Mary (you'll figure out why) rather than read it, making it the perfect audiobook. I usually listen on 1.3x and I slowed this one down to 1x because I didn't want it to be over. My husband also loved this one.

1) Stephen King - I really like him as an author (I'm not a horror/fantasy/sci-fi person) because I get pulled into his books immediately and I love the characters he writes. Will Patton, the narrator for the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and a few other books like The Outsider is great. I also happen to like Stephen King's voice even though he's kind of nasally. Duma Key is also a good one and is narrated by John Slattery, who has the best voice. And The Institute is narrated by Santino Fontana, who is another great voice. Finally, King does a lot of short stories, which can be a nice change of pace for shorter listens here and there.

2) The Terminal List and subsequent books by Jack Carr - these were made into a show starring Chris Pratt (which I haven't watched yet so I can't speak to it), and the narrator, Ray Porter, is a really good one. I actually listened to all five books in a row because I enjoyed them so much. Not super high quality writing but good story lines and interesting characters.

3) Lessons in Chemistry and Remarkably Bright Creatures - these two books are lumped together only because I listened to them back-to-back and they have some similarities. Both were very good with excellent narrators. I can't recommend them highly enough.

4) Wrong Place Wrong Time - an interesting murder mystery narrated by a Brit. I listen to a lot of murder mysteries/thrillers/crime fiction because they tend to be simple and entertaining and this was my most recent favorite. (I have several duds in this category as well, which I won't list here, but it's a common genre and easy to do wrong).

5) Jennifer Weiner - chick lit/beach reads but pretty good. I did NOT like Big Summer but I did like The Summer Place, That Summer, and Mrs. Everything. Again, not high quality literature but great for listening to while doing things.

6) The Midnight Library - note that many people listed this on the popular books they hate thread, but I enjoyed listening to it. (Conversely, I did hate Where The Crawdads Sing so I agree with that thread in many ways).

7) When We Believed in Mermaids

8) The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand - kind of like Jennifer Weiner if you enjoy those types of books. I actually can't speak to her other titles because I think this is the only one I've ever read/listened to but I would be into others.

9) Anything by Jen Lancaster. Mostly she does autobiographical stuff (The Tao of Martha was her trying to live like Martha Stewart for a year). She's really funny and narrates well. She also wrote a fiction book called The Gatekeepers which is basically teen lit but was quite good.

10) Anything by David Sedaris. His are all autobiographical that I know of, but he's hysterical and has a great take on life. His Santaland Diaries is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

11) John Grisham books by the right narrator. I read all of John Grisham's books (I'm a lawyer and have been a fan of his for decades), but the best ones I've listened to are A Time for Mercy, A Time To Kill, The Guardians, and The Reckoning, all narrated by Michael Beck. HIs voice is like cotton candy and so easy to listen to.

12) You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes. Santino Fontana is the narrator and after listening to these I watched Frozen and he played the voice of Hans and I immediately said, oh, he's a bad guy. The books are entertaining and he's great to listen to.

13) All the Light We Cannot See

DP. I think you’ve posted in other threads and just wanted to say I appreciate your detailed posts!

I'm glad they're helpful! I love getting recommendations for things from others. Even if I don't end up loving them it usually helps me try to see a different perspective as to why someone else would have enjoyed it, which makes it not seem like a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:John Corey series by Nelson DeMille. Scott Brick is an excellent narrator. More for the guys though.

I’m a woman who loves Scott Brick. I don’t think he’s more for the guys. Love all of the Greg Hurwitz books.

Another +1 for Scott Brick from a woman

If you like Scott Brick he did The Passage trilogy, which is quite good. It's an apocalyptic tale with vampire-like bad guys. Not really my normal genre but it was well done.

[Anonymous]

Daisy Jones and the six. Great audiobook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see here

+1 Loved this

The Guncle
Behold the Dreamers has been one of my favorite audiobooks of the last couple years
The Girl with the Louding Voice

Anything read by Bahni Turpin or Jeannette Whalen (Whalen is correct, Jeannette is off the top of my head without going back. But I am pretty sure this is the narrator of Nothing to See Here and she is great)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see here

+1 Loved this

The Guncle
Behold the Dreamers has been one of my favorite audiobooks of the last couple years
The Girl with the Louding Voice

Anything read by Bahni Turpin or Jeannette Whalen (Whalen is correct, Jeannette is off the top of my head without going back. But I am pretty sure this is the narrator of Nothing to See Here and she is great)

Oh shoot, I went backwards through the thread and was reminded it's Marin Ireland for Nothing to See Here - also anything with her has been really good!

I think Whalen has done some of the Kristin Hannah books? Either way, I know for sure I like her narration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listen to Audible A LOT so I have tons of suggestions. You haven't said what kind of books you like, so my favorites might not work for you but I hope they do.

*) I was going in order through my library and I didn't feel like renumbering (the below is not done in order of enjoyment) but I had to stop and put this one at the top - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. He also wrote The Martian if you've never read that one. I am NOT a sci-fi person at all but I loved both these books and you HAVE to listen to Hail Mary (you'll figure out why) rather than read it, making it the perfect audiobook. I usually listen on 1.3x and I slowed this one down to 1x because I didn't want it to be over. My husband also loved this one.

1) Stephen King - I really like him as an author (I'm not a horror/fantasy/sci-fi person) because I get pulled into his books immediately and I love the characters he writes. Will Patton, the narrator for the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and a few other books like The Outsider is great. I also happen to like Stephen King's voice even though he's kind of nasally. Duma Key is also a good one and is narrated by John Slattery, who has the best voice. And The Institute is narrated by Santino Fontana, who is another great voice. Finally, King does a lot of short stories, which can be a nice change of pace for shorter listens here and there.

2) The Terminal List and subsequent books by Jack Carr - these were made into a show starring Chris Pratt (which I haven't watched yet so I can't speak to it), and the narrator, Ray Porter, is a really good one. I actually listened to all five books in a row because I enjoyed them so much. Not super high quality writing but good story lines and interesting characters.

3) Lessons in Chemistry and Remarkably Bright Creatures - these two books are lumped together only because I listened to them back-to-back and they have some similarities. Both were very good with excellent narrators. I can't recommend them highly enough.

4) Wrong Place Wrong Time - an interesting murder mystery narrated by a Brit. I listen to a lot of murder mysteries/thrillers/crime fiction because they tend to be simple and entertaining and this was my most recent favorite. (I have several duds in this category as well, which I won't list here, but it's a common genre and easy to do wrong).

5) Jennifer Weiner - chick lit/beach reads but pretty good. I did NOT like Big Summer but I did like The Summer Place, That Summer, and Mrs. Everything. Again, not high quality literature but great for listening to while doing things.

6) The Midnight Library - note that many people listed this on the popular books they hate thread, but I enjoyed listening to it. (Conversely, I did hate Where The Crawdads Sing so I agree with that thread in many ways).

7) When We Believed in Mermaids

8) The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand - kind of like Jennifer Weiner if you enjoy those types of books. I actually can't speak to her other titles because I think this is the only one I've ever read/listened to but I would be into others.

9) Anything by Jen Lancaster. Mostly she does autobiographical stuff (The Tao of Martha was her trying to live like Martha Stewart for a year). She's really funny and narrates well. She also wrote a fiction book called The Gatekeepers which is basically teen lit but was quite good.

10) Anything by David Sedaris. His are all autobiographical that I know of, but he's hysterical and has a great take on life. His Santaland Diaries is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.

11) John Grisham books by the right narrator. I read all of John Grisham's books (I'm a lawyer and have been a fan of his for decades), but the best ones I've listened to are A Time for Mercy, A Time To Kill, The Guardians, and The Reckoning, all narrated by Michael Beck. HIs voice is like cotton candy and so easy to listen to.

12) You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes. Santino Fontana is the narrator and after listening to these I watched Frozen and he played the voice of Hans and I immediately said, oh, he's a bad guy. The books are entertaining and he's great to listen to.

13) All the Light We Cannot See

I am so glad I stumbled on your post! I also enjoyed The Midnight Library and hated Where The Crawdads Sing. I'm adding many of your recommendations to my list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see here

+1 Loved this

The Guncle
Behold the Dreamers has been one of my favorite audiobooks of the last couple years
The Girl with the Louding Voice

Anything read by Bahni Turpin or Jeannette Whalen (Whalen is correct, Jeannette is off the top of my head without going back. But I am pretty sure this is the narrator of Nothing to See Here and she is great)

Oh shoot, I went backwards through the thread and was reminded it's Marin Ireland for Nothing to See Here - also anything with her has been really good!

I think Whalen has done some of the Kristin Hannah books? Either way, I know for sure I like her narration.

Julia Whelan I think is who you're talking about - she does a lot of Kristin Hannah books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see here

+1 Loved this

The Guncle
Behold the Dreamers has been one of my favorite audiobooks of the last couple years
The Girl with the Louding Voice

Anything read by Bahni Turpin or Jeannette Whalen (Whalen is correct, Jeannette is off the top of my head without going back. But I am pretty sure this is the narrator of Nothing to See Here and she is great)

Oh shoot, I went backwards through the thread and was reminded it's Marin Ireland for Nothing to See Here - also anything with her has been really good!

I think Whalen has done some of the Kristin Hannah books? Either way, I know for sure I like her narration.

Julia Whelan I think is who you're talking about - she does a lot of Kristin Hannah books.

Yes! Thank you!

Julia Whalen I've enjoyed-
Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read - All written by Emily Henry (Vacation was my favorite)
Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo by Linda Holmes (both cute, prefer Evvie)
The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
Malibu Rising, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Giver of the Stars, Jojo Moyes

Marin Ireland -
Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People - All Fredrik Backman
Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
Remarkably Bright Creatures - has been mentioned, loved it!

[Anonymous]

These are my most recent audible purchases that I kept and finished - I enjoyed every one of them.

- Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
- Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
- The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
- American Dirt

[Anonymous]

+1 for Remarkably Bright Creatures as an audiobook
-1 for Lessons in Chemistry as an audiobook. I hated the narrator (or one of the narrators; I guess there are several?)

Loved Christopher Moore's Noir, which like RBC has a talking animal

Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series is technically for kids, but I love it and the narrator

If you're up for some nonfiction, Anhad Giridharadas reads his own Winners Take All and it's really well done.

[Anonymous]

Also agree on autobiographies/memoirs read by the author. I tend to like comedians.

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson is still one of my favorites.

David Sedaris books are enjoyable too.