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Audiobook suggestions for a family road trip?

38 replies

dontdarepokethebear · 05/02/2023 21:46

Just looking for some fresh ideas for audiobooks for a family road trip. Previously we've enjoyed Michael Morpurgo and classics like Treasure Island, The Borrowers, Stig of the Dump but open to anything - maybe something more contemporary? Especially now the DC are older.

DC are aged between 15-12 years.

Thanks

OP posts:
DorritLittle · 06/02/2023 21:28

Placemarking! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

OKScarpetta · 06/02/2023 21:50

I loved audio drama at that age- really got into listening to so many with my parents and I’ve revisited many of them recently:

The Eagle of the Ninth
Out of the Hitler Time (Judith Kerr, includes When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit)
Poirot audio dramas (especially Murder on the Orient Express- there’s the BBC one and also an Audible original which I like as well with actors and is narrated well too),
39 Steps (and the other Richard Hannay books- John Buchan)
Dark Materials audio play (recently added as a trilogy)
Sherlock Holmes (Clive Morrison ones my favourite as audio drama, but Stephen Fry
reading will give you ~70 hours!)
Treasure Island/ Kidnapped are good as plays as well
Chronicles of Narnia
Jeeves and Wooster- good plays or Stephen Fry reading is good too.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- great suggestion, so many series! We listened recently and our 7 year old got engrossed, and more confused as to what was happening (but enjoyed hugely!).

Slightly left field suggestion, but I loved the Lee Hall dramas- I remember hearing “Spoonface Steinburg” on the radio, crying my eyes out (it is brilliant) and it’s probably the most impactful piece of drama I remember. It’s relatively short, but I was 14 or 15 when it was on the radio but it was good! There are a couple of his other plays (“I luv you Jimmy Spud”) which are great too…

I still prefer a drama to being read too- I’m very fussy about the narrator!

OKScarpetta · 06/02/2023 21:52

@User4873628 - I’ve added to my wish list, sounds fascinating…

WinterFoxes · 06/02/2023 21:53

Truckers - Terry Pratchett
My Family & Other Animals - Gerald Durrell
Hitchhikers' Guide - Douglas Adams
Holes - Luis Sachar
Point Blanc - Anthony Horowitz
Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

Neverknowinglysensible · 06/02/2023 22:01

I second Terry Pratchett. Alan Garner’s The weirdstone of Brisingamen also went down well. A surprising hit was Agatha Christie, although the Miss Marple ones were damned as “Too talky.”

declutteringmymind · 06/02/2023 22:03

YY to Anthony Horowitz
Also the Theodore Boone series by John Grisham.

Lord of the rings?

DistrictCommissioner · 06/02/2023 22:04

Endurance - all about the Endurance/Shackleton. My kids were fascinated.

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 06/02/2023 22:17

Definitely Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :)

Was going to say Cabin Pressure but you are already a fan.
Words of one syllable can while away a good chunk of a journey.

Also Yellow Car :D

MarthanotMarfa · 06/02/2023 22:29

The Explorer
and cabin pressure…!

tobee · 07/02/2023 17:15

I'm just listening to Samuel West reading Brighton Rock but maybe a bit too gritty? He reads it really well.

Or my go to recommendation Rebecca read by Anna Massey.

imayhavelostmymarbles · 12/02/2023 08:51

Just shown this list to my 13 DS. He has reserved a huge list on the borrowbox library app. Thank you all! Looking forward to some peace and quiet as he wanders around the house with his headphones on!

JoonT · 12/02/2023 15:21

Simon Callow reading The Twits, by Roald Dahl. My friend is a literature academic, and he reckons this is the greatest audiobook of all time.

Anything read by Stephen Fry is a must. (He has recorded both P. G. Wodehouse and Sherlock Holmes.)

Anything by Roald Dahl will hook them.

C. S. Lewis: The Voyage the Dawntreader. It's one of the Narnia books. Had me spellbound from start to finish.

Tolkien: The Hobbit

Douglas Adams: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (read by Stephen Fry)

M. R. James: Ghost Stories

Conan Doyle: The Lost World

H. G. Wells: War of the Worlds

Philip Pullman: Northern Lights (read by the author)

CrossPurposes · 16/02/2023 00:11

Mortal Engines and the sequels and prequels by Philip Reeve.

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