Audiobook recommendations?

[TotallyFkingClueless]

I love audio books, I do a lot of driving and find that they are an excellent form of entertainment on the road. Can anyone recommend a good audiobook? I'm looking for an engaging story with good narration. The best ones I've listened to are the King Killer Chronicles. Great story and brilliant narration. I enjoy most fiction, fantasy, science fiction, thriller, crime etc.
Thanks.

[pollyhemlock]

I also love in- car listening. My favourite recent listen was The Count of Monte Cristo narrated by Bill Homewood, available on Audible.co.uk. However it is very long so you have to be willing to commit! Also quite slow moving but incredibly atmospheric. For something shorter try The Ocean at the End of the Lane, written and read by the great Neil Gaiman.

[Ivory200]

All of Anthony Trollope's works, read by the incomparable Timothy West. He becomes all of the characters, so you might think it's a cast of thousands, and such wonderful prose. My drug of choice!!

[hagsrus0]

Terry Pratchett - Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs are great narrators.

The Matthew Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom if you like Tudor period.

Various books by Norah Lofts

[fatowl]

I also listen to a lot on Audible.

My favs in the last year have been

Fall of Giants and World Without End by Ken Follet
Americanah
Katherine by Anya Seton
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit
Anything read by Jonathan Keeble - I really like him as a narrator esp the early Bernard Cornwell Saxon books which have been made into the Last Kingdom on the BBC. Beware though they changed narrator for the later ones, and the new one is nowhere near as good. I've also listened to him read Oliver Twist - also very good.

I'll remember some more in a minute

[tobee]

Oh goody more audiobook suggestions! (Not sarcastic, btw). It's so disappointing when you get a duff one. I know you can return them but it's still a letdown. I read "Strange Meeting" some years ago and thought it would be good so used a credit. But the narration was so bad after listening to the first couple of chapters I returned it. It was like the (male) narrator thought "hmmm, how do I make my voice as annoying as possible?" The women all sounded like hideous caricatures and the main character sounded like he needed to clear his throat all the time! Sorry, rant over, but it makes such a difference.

[TotallyFkingClueless]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've listened to most of the Terry Pratchett Discworld. They are brilliant. I didn't think anyone would be able to do them as well as Nigel Planer but Stephen Brigg is brilliant.

I agree tobee it is so disappointing when a book is ruined by a dreadful narrator and it isn't that easy to get a refund. Audible can be quite difficult about it.

[hagsrus0]

I've returned a couple for narrator problems with no hassle, but it was a while ago. Wyrd Sisters; and The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley - so disappointing after the excellent readings of the Margaret trilogy and The Serpent Garden

[SplitInfinitive]

I never had any problems returning poorly narrated books to Audible. There's a button you just click on your library page, give them a reason (selected from their list of reasons), the book disappears, and then you just get an automated message saying you will be credited with a refund.

[Shosha1]

Another who loves audio books in car.

Recent ones

Outlander series by Diana Gabeldon
Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffith
The Last Tribe by Brad Manuel

[fatowl]

I return books fairly regularly to Audible, I love them for that.

Others I've remembered I've enjoyed:

The Muse by Jessie Burton

The Cormoran Strike Detective books by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) read by Robert Glenister- enjoyed all of those.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier read by Anna Massey (who played Mrs Danvers in the BBC version) - that was brilliant

84 Charing Cross Road - Helen Hanff - read by John Nettles and Julia Stevenson - finished that in one session. The story of a correspondence between and eccentric american book lover and an English bookshop employee. Sheer brilliance

The Mists of Avalon read by Davina Porter - very good narrator. The story of King Arthur told from the point of view of the women, starting with his mother, but mainly through his half sister Morgaine. First read it years and years ago, but enjoyed listening to it.

11-22-63 by Stephen King - long but really didn't seem it. The story of Jake who finds a time tunnel which takes him back to the late 1950s. He stays to prevent the assassination of JFK - what could go wrong?)

[Ev1lEdna]

I am listening to 'Small Great Things' by Jodie Picoult on Audible. The story is good and makes you think. The narration is by far the very best I have heard on Audible, possibly because she is a big name author. Well worth a listen.

[CornflakeHomunculus]

There are some really good Stephen King audiobooks if you fancy a bit of horror.

IT read by Steven Weber is excellent, as is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon read by Anne Heche.

The Dark Tower series is also well worth listening to. The narrator does change partway through the series but they're both very good.

Duma Key read by John Slattery is also pretty good.

[claireybeee]

I'm currently listening to The Dead Zone by Stephen King narrated by James Franco. I'm really enjoying it and James Franco is an excellent narrator.

[antimatter]

I just finished listening to The Color Purple. Very well read and was sad when it finished.
I would also second Rebecca read by Anna Massay.

I listened to many Haruki Murakami books and loved them all.

[hagsrus0]

For light listening the Stephanie Plum books. Lorelei King is a great narrator. And you don't really have to worry about following the plot - just enjoy the usual highlights of Grandma Mazur, car getting totaled, Ranger showing up, etc.

[buckeejit]

I love Murakami too - IQ84 is great value on audio. I like big books on audio - has anyone listened to the stand by Stephen King?

The goldfinch, a little life & Lianne Moriarty are all good!

[rainforestsloth]

Loved The Goldfinch by Donna Tarrt and A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (have listened to both a few times ). For some humour Three Men in Boat. I love audible just about to start The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

[Khadernawazkhan]

Can highly recommend Somerset Maugham. His short stories are very good listening, especially after a long Dickens or Trollope!

''Rain and other Stories' narrated by Steven Crossley might be an enjoyable first choice?

[SpornStar]

I have listened to The Stand. I love that book and the audio version didn't disappoint.

If you like true crime, I can recommend Checklist for Murder by Anthony Flacco.

I've recently finished and enjoyed The Girl Before and Behind Closed Doors.

[devondream]

If you fancy a funny one - Michael McIntyre reading his own autobiography is excellent.
My fallback one when in a big traffic jam!

[BeardwithanIdiotHangingoffIt]

Since you enjoyed the Terry Pratchett discworld audiobooks, can I recommend Good Omens? I think this is one of my favourites which I never tire of listening to. Thinking about it, it might be Stephen Briggs who reads it, but it's fab.

Also really enjoyed the Harry Potters and Northern Lights Trilogy which are perfect for long journeys.

[hollytom]

I like the shardlake series interesting and well narrated historical crime by C J Sansom.

I have recently enjoyed Linda Grant the Dark Circle about TB after the war and just finished the new Paula Hawkins which I think benefits from being an audiobook as its a multiple narrators story but there are different actors narrating characters.

I also listened to all of the Elena Ferrante series set in Italy which are very good.

One of my favourite narrators is Juliette Stevenson I think she makes anything enjoyable although I haven't attempted the 32 hours of Middlemarch!

[buckeejit]

Just popping back to add that theres an audible offer if you buy 3 books you get £10 credit. Well worth it if you have a subscription as the £10 is useful to spend on daily deals and you can get 4-5 extra books for nothing if you spend wisely

[AaarghUsername]

I really enjoyed The Girl With All the Gifts by MR Carey. I adored the narrator for that one.

Also Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. Fab concept for the book, and read really well by Julian Rhind-Tutt (him off Green Wing). And Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Massive book, really long listen and again, a wonderful narrator.

My personal pet peeves are books series/trilogies that switch narrators with each new book - I find it really jarring - and narrators who do "accents" to help identify different characters, but then appear to forget which accent they use for which character.

[astrantiamajor]

My latest find is Dorothy Koomson 'The Girl from Nowhere'. I tempted to buy another of hers. Any other of her fans who can recommend me one.

I would be really interest in the problems people have found in returning books. One of the reasons I am such a big fan is the ease of returns.