Your best book ever....

[Zoeyclash]

I've got a very long car journey coming up and I'm looking for recommendations for a really good audiobook. AIBU to ask what's the best book you've ever read/listened to? I'm open to all types of genres except sci-fi. Thanks!

The House of the Spirits, by Isabelle Allende.

The Secret History & The Goldfinch by Donna Tarrt.
My Booky Wook by....wait hang on....

Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom, It’s based on the Spanish civil war.

CJ Sansom was a great writer, but I found Winter in Madrid a bit depressing. I had to go and read some Georgette Heyer after I read it.

I couldn't get through Dune.

I think one's opinion of a book can change over time and according to mood.

A thousand splendid suns

And if you like something a little 'out there' Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan

To Kill A Mockingbird, read by Sissy Spacek was an absolute delight - I'd read it a few times before, but listened to it ahead of seeing the play (which was also awesome).

The Bee Sting - long, so good for a long car journey!

Recently I listened to Yesteryear, and I didn't want to get out of my car, very fast paced.

Still Life as above was a beautiful read (didn't listen).

Tom Lake, as above, read by Meryl Streep was lovely, not much really happens though. Similarly her latest, Whistler.

I love Any Human Heart by William Boyd, but read it rather than listened.

I think the Stephen Fry books are supposed to be a good listen, but haven't done so myself.

An old one, but I find my way back to I, Claudius by Robert Graves every few years. It’s interesting enough to keep your attention, but got enough froth, intrigue and murder to pass the time.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Gothic, suspense, twists and turns, and the narrator's personality evolves through the book. I love that it's in first person as well as I automatically feel closer to the story.

I love audiobooks where the accent of the narrator fits the book so my recommendations are: My Sister the Serial Killer a comedy thriller set in Nigeria, the narrator does a brilliant job of making you feel you’re there.
Bandit Queens - Parini Shroff another cracking narration and The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because the accent of the narrator just oozes old Hollywood and is perfect. Plus it’s a brilliant book.
Bee Sting - Paul Murray was absolutely gripping, and Shuggie Bain audio was fantastic. The accent also lending real authenticity.
The Milkman has one of my fav Irish stage actors reading it. Superb.

What are your current favourite books OP?

To be honest the book I would miss most in my collection is Nigel Slaters Christmas book!

oh and hogfather by Terry Prachett.

That's just reminded me to get that out!

I mostly read scifi, but have a few other suggestions:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Duerr
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow
the Cazalet Chronicles, starting with The Light Years, by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt (though I haven’t read this since my 20s and realise I might view it differently now).

All books I really enjoyed despite them not being my usual genre!

I absolutely love Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr.

Enjoyed A Woman of Substance, discovered it after seeing the adaptation advertised on the Tele. Enjoyed that too but I do like to read a book first!

Would second the midnight library as well.

We have all the harry potter books on audible, Stephen fry is very easy to listen to.

Apparently Daisy Jones and The Six is good.

If you're into history and podcasts I really like the histories heroes series on BBC sounds. Helena Bonham Carter. Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley is another fave, and Greeking Out (not just for kids!).

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is my favourite.

I just glanced at my bookcase and spotted Gillespie and I by Jane Harris - wish I could read that for the first time again!

Middlemarch by George Eliot is my favorite audiobook.

The Odyssey by Homer narrated by Clare Danes is up there.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

Robert Jackson Bennet's Shadow of the Leviathan trilogy starting with The Tainted Cup. It's a fantasy mystery.

Right now im reading a book that i found on the train seat a week ago.
I thought oh well lets see what this is like past time anyway, now i cant put it down.
So if this is anyones lost book im keeping it untill finished, but thank you for losing it.

I absolutely love shadow of the leviathan series, but they are very akin to sci fi (which is what I mostly read). Biopunk detective novels I’d say. The audiobooks are excellent though, the narrator does a fabulous job.

Loved The Book Thief on audible - suitable for older children too.
Many other books that I Iove but have read them rather then listened so not sure how good they in the latter format.

I loved this too but I haven't read it for years, however a few years ago I read Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman, a prequel, which is pretty good and an easy read.
Recently I reread Anya Seton's Green Darkness and still loved it.

Do you have an audio recommendation for The Iliad - I tried reading it but I am too thick so didn’t get very far!

Have a few but the main ones I advise everyone read are The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and Ham on Rye.

Should add I’m an English Lit lecturer so I know a thing or two 😉

I hope you're driving around the world!! 🤣🤣

😆
Wouldn’t that be fab?!

For audio books I like a first person narrative. So I'd echo PP and say We need to talk about Kevin. Or maybe Rebecca. Or the J Samson Shardlake serise.

Anything by Alice Munro.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
My name is Lucy Barton by Elisabeth Strout
Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes
For whom the bells toll. Hemingway
Revolutionary Road. Richard Yates
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier
She Devil by Fay Weldon
The plague by Stephen King

I could go on...But I'm really struggling to read nowadays. Instead, I'm writing on mumsnet 🙃

@sadeyedladyofthelowlands63 I read A prayer for Owen Meany a long time ago and although parts of it do still stay with me, I worry that I haven't absorbed the real message of it. Maybe I should read the reviews on Amazon one day to see if it means more then.