Fantasy Book Club discussion

I have a long drive ahead of me later this month and am interested in getting a couple of audio books in MP3 format to listen to so the time goes by faster. Any recommendations for any audio fantasy books?

I recently listend to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel and The Sparrow on long road trips. Those are the only two I've listened to in years, so can't recommend any others. I have several checked out from the library right now. I'm halfway finished with Revolutionary Characters What Made the Founders Different. I will probably next start Master and Commander or Three Cups of Tea One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.

Sorry I couldn't be much more help.

Have a safe trip.

Jon

The best audio book I have listened to, so far, was Abhorsen by Garth Nix, read by Tim Curry. I find that books should be fairly straightforward for reading while driving, just so you don't get too distracted.

My audio book listening has been all over the place. Other notables that I have listened to while working out are Thirteen Gun Salute by O'Brian, Casino Royale by Flemming, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Keasey.

I've found that a good reader is very important to me. I have to like the voice, cadence & format or else the reading is an irritant. For this reason, I didn't like Edding's Belgariad series much on audio book nor do I care for most of the free audio books. Your mileage my vary, but for me, the reader is at least as important as the story. Possibly more so. I liked reading the Belgariad.

I drove from northern Maryland to central Florida & back a few years ago. I listened to the first 3 or so Harry Potter books, although I'd read them all at least once. I found Jim Dale's reading of them was so fantastic that it was almost new to me. Really fantastic.

Oh, I just thought I would add that there are audio books of tons of classics available at Project Gutenberg, as well as eBooks that can be used in most readers.

I'm currently listening to Inkheart, Lynne Redgrave's reading is wonderful, the story really comes to life. I also liked Tim Curry's reading of Sabriel.
There's a really neat website librivox.org where you can download audiobooks for free. They're mostly all public domain classics (like you can find at project gutenberg) read by volunteers.

I've heard the audio version of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Is very good. I have not heard it myself. I'm listening to Eclipse on audio - and I must say I really don't like the person reading it - though I've not had much experience with audio so not sure if it is just me or not.

Eric wrote: "Oh, I just thought I would add that there are audio books of tons of classics available at Project Gutenberg, as well as eBooks that can be used in most readers."


Hmmm didn't know the audio part - I read classics from Gutenberg quite frequently. Thanks for letting us know.

Megan wrote: "There's a really neat website librivox.org where you can download audiobooks for free. They're mostly all public domain classics (like you can find at project gutenberg) read by volunteers.

Oh another great find!! I love Social networking groups!

Try the Internet Archive, archive.org, as well. They have audiobooks, old movies, radio shows & more.

Eric wrote: "The best audio book I have listened to, so far, was Abhorsen by Garth Nix, re..."

OMG! I adore Tim Curry! I definitely need to look for that one!

I haven't listened to them myself, but I heard the Harry Potter ones are good as well.

Does anyone have a recommendation for Tolkien's Lord of the Rings? I found several available from the library, but not sure which one to request. Has anyone listened to one or more of them?

Jon,

I own a 13-part BBC radio version that was produced a few years ago, I think back in the 90's. It's quite good, and the actor who voices Gollum is exceptional.

Leslie wrote: "Jon, I own a 13-part BBC radio version that was produced a few years ago, I think back in the 90's. It's quite good, and the actor who voices Gollum is exceptional."

I saw that one listed. My only concern is if it's unabridged or not.

Jon,
I've been listening to the Recorded Book version of The Fellowship of the Ring narrated by Rob Inglis -
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48...

The cover looks a lot like the one in the link above, but it was on audio cd, and according to my library catalog, was published in 1990 (from a recording originally made in 1954). This is an unabridged version. My daughter and I finished the Hobbit (by the same narrator) in December and we're about a third of the way through the Fellowship of the Ring. I like the narration.

Jeanne,
I have recently listened to the audio of The Book Thief and would highly recommend it, although it's not fantasy. I also liked the audio versions of The City of Ember and The Chronicles of Narnia.

I've heard good recommendations for the audio versions of Terry Pratchett's young adult books but have not listened to them myself.

I bought Sabriel by Garth Nix as well as downloaded a few podcasts.

Jon, I have The Hobbit narrated by British Actor Nichol Williamson from 1975 and it is fabulous. Don't know if he ever did the Trilogy though but if he did I'm sure it would also be great.

I've never really "read" audio books - I like the "quiet" of reading. But I have heard the voice guy who did the Potter series did a really good job.

Well, it's sorta difficult to drive and read at the same time :-) Seemed to me an audio book would be more entertaining than bad backroads radio.

Can't do audiobooks. I recall Robin saying how the vision of a character on the cover killed the story for her. Listening to a voice kills it for me. I need to hear the characters in my own mind. It doesn't matter how good the book is. I could listen to my favourite books on audio and hate them. *shrug* Just a quirk ;)

Jeanne wrote: "Well, it's sorta difficult to drive and read at the same time :-) Seemed to me an audio book would be more entertaining than bad backroads radio."

Without question audio books are THE best thing to have on long trips - when you are groggy from the road you pay much more attention to them rather than music. I rarely drive these days - we live in a VERY congested area (near Washington DC) so I use the Metro a lot and love it because I can read while they take care of the moving my body from place to place.

Jon wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Jon, I own a 13-part BBC radio version that was produced a few years ago, I think back in the 90's. It's quite good, and the actor who voices Gollum is exceptional."

I saw that one ..."

I just finished listening to this version and you should know it is an adaptation - not a bad one, though, by any means but if you're looking for a straight reading from the text, you'll have to look elsewhere.

And Jeanne, if you're still contemplating this trip and are in a classic mood, I've been listening to the Arkangel series of Shakespeare's plays and have found them uniformly excellent. Currently I'm listening to Henry IV on my drive to/from work.

As much has I travel... whether it's flying or by car, good audio is a necessity, and 'good' audio books, with an engaging narrator, or a 'full-cast' audio book that doesn't sound like a group of people reading a stilted monologue... are hard to find.

My favourites for driving are old radio mysteries. They engage your mind without distracting you from what's in front of you.

There are a few really good BBC adaptions of John Le Carre novels. Sadly, some are either no longer available or only in tape cassette format, so I've been having a friend dub copies from my tape library to disk and burning CD's.

I have started to use audio books while driving, especially for longer trips, and I like young adult books for this (good ones -- most YA fiction adheres firmly to Sturgeon's law*).

Current favorites:
The Bartimaeus Trilogy Simon Jones is fantastic here. Third book in the set is weakest, but definitely a worthwhile series.

The Artemis Fowl series. I'm only working my way through now, but books #2 and 3 just helped me travel for a working weekend in another state. Narrator is pretty good, too, with varied voices for each character.

I personally hated the BBC LOTR, just for the record, but obviously there are others who really liked it. I did enjoy a series of dramatized Holmes adventures. I'd love a steady supply of old radio dramas!

I require a fantastic reader for an audio book; nothing can kill a great story faster than a lame performer.

(* Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything [in a genre:] is crud.")

Laura;

If you do a web search using 'Sherlock Holmes OTR' as the key, you'll find more than you might think.

This is one of the best OTR (old time radio) sites on the web.

http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/

Though they do gladly accept donations, the downloads are free.

My partner and I support it because we're avid fans of OTR.

@ Gwendolyn -- I'd never found this! thank you, new best friend! :D

Don't forget the Internet Archive (archive.org) for free audio books & more. I've gotten movies (Attack of the Giant Leeches), radio shows & more from there.

The Gutenberg Project & Libervox also have free audio books, but the readers can be rough. They're volunteers, not trained. The reader can make all the difference in the world for me. A bad reader can ruin a great book. They don't even have to be bad, just irritating.

Laura wrote: "Current favorites:
The Bartimaeus Trilogy Simon Jones is fantastic here. Third book in the set is weakest, but definitely a worthwhile series...."

Nice, I only read the first one so far and loved it I think I'll try the other ones on audio ;-)

I'm back from my long drive! I listened to Tim Curry read Sabriel by Garth Nix, Tim Curry's reading is brilliant! He does voices and everything! Extremely entertaining and kept me awake for 8 hours whilst driving. I highly recommend it!

Welcome back Jeanne!! So glad you found a good book to keep you occupied along the way.

-- Robin (31 days until Avempartha)

Jeanne wrote: "I'm back from my long drive! I listened to Tim Curry read Sabriel by [a:Garth..."

I agree. I listened to him do a couple of the Lemony Snicket books. He's an excellent reader..

Oooooooo! Tim Curry reads Lemony Snicket??? I must get those! ROFL! I'm an addict now.

He did some of them, and Lemony himself did the others. I'm can't who did which, but they were both good readers. I'm not sure if they each did the whole set or not. I just went with what our library had...

I love the Lemony Snicket books!

I guess it just depends on what version you find whether it'll be Lemony Snicket or Tim Curry.

But while looking this up, I found that Curry has done lots of stuff over the years. He did some Anne Rice, Umberto Eco, and the Dune prequels, among others..and two sections of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes...

I had no idea Tim Curry had done so many audio books. Thanks!!!

Here's an old (2005) but pretty good list of some of the readings he's done:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/ci...

Curry reading Umberto Eco? VERY intriguing.

Hmmm...*considers getting an audio book in which Tim Curry narrarates* ;) I've never listened to an audio book before, but if Tim Curry is doing the reading I may just consider it. :P

This was my first audio book ever, Elise, and I may just do the whole series since Tim Curry reads them all. He's a delightful reader!

Audio books are pretty pricey, but most libraries have a collection of them that can be checked out like any other book. If you are interested but don't want to pay the Audiobook price, that's one way to go.

I checked out my first audio book from the library - and so far - so good except there is a scratch on disk 10 of 17 and there is a bout a 5 min stretch that I can't play.

-- Robin (29 days until Avempartha)

It's nice that the audio books in the library are mostly CD now. I quit getting the cassettes after twice having my cassette player almost ruined by filthy tapes. Since I listen to books in my truck exclusively, I go through all the disks & clean them at home before trying to listen now.

My old vehicle had an mp3-friendly stereo system. That was nice. I ripped Abhorsen to MP3, then burned the whole book onto one disk.

Now I do the same, but instead of a disk I put them on my mp3 player.

I wanted an MP3 system for my shop - actually, a stereo I could plug a thumb drive into. The shop is dusty. A CD/MP3 player lasts about a year before it starts having issues from all the sawdust. I found that only car stereos seem to have that capability inexpensively; $100 vs. $1500 when I queried Crutchfield about it. So I have my wife's old truck stereo hooked up to a power converter. Works great.

I still can't listen to audio books on it. I concentrate on something & completely zone out. Unlike CDA's, I can only go back to the beginning of an MP3 track, no FF or Rewind within them. The car seems to be the only place I can stay on track with an audio book.

An inexpensive MP3 player, and a boom box with a simple audio-in cable port might fit your bill, if you lose patience with the truck stereo.

They almost all have FF/Rew functions, too.

Thanks, Eric. I looked at them, but getting the Boss a new stereo, since her display had died, was the higher priority at the time. I probably will break down & get one, but for my truck. I can't see listening to books in the shop. Tools drown out the sound too often, besides my spaciness.

I'm listening to Inkheart right now read by Lynn redgrave. She's amazing. Our library has these really neat things called Playaways. Instead of getting CD's that may be scratched or dirty its all recorded on to an MP3 thing. All you have to do is plug in earphones and your set. I don't know how many library's have them though. Although it's kind of annoying because I got this book, Street Magic, and only until I was half-way through it did I find out that it was a seccond in a series and the library didn't even own the first. Anyways, Inkheart is a really great one to listen to.

They have those here, too, Amanda. My sweetie checked one out - I haven't tried it yet.

You know, the only audio books I've ever listened to were the Harry Potter ones, done by Jim Dale. I really enjoyed his reading, but I haven't gotten around to trying any other novels. Can anyone recommend one or two that are done really well?

I heard that Jim Dale did a fantastic job. I want to re-read the whole series from the beginning and I'm seriously thinking of doing via audio.