Audio Books, any other fans?

[ktwiltshire]

I am a lover of audio books, I take the bus to and from work so its a brilliant way to 'read' a book without much of the effort, i always listen when im doing housework also, makes it much more tolerable!!

I'm not a fan yet but want be! :)
I'm thinking of getting a few audio books for hospital and night feeds when dc2 arrives.
Can you recommend anything? I'm thinking contemporary, easy stuff which won't have me in floods of hormonal tears because it doesn't have a happy ending. I've not done audio books before so am totally new to this!

:)

Audiobooks are great for night feeds. I almost look forward to the 3am feed so i can listen to the next installment of Harry Potter - almost!! The fact that I've read the books and seen the films doesn't lessen my enjoyment of them at all. Not sure what I'll do when I get to the end of them though. I've had Jilly Cooper's "Jump" on the go since Christmas but can't find the time to just sit and read and it's a bit bulky to read whilst feeding - perhaps I'll get the audio version of that....

I love audiobooks. I think I'm probably dependent on them.

I started off with Terry Pratchett books, which probably wouldn't be a good start for someone not used to the genre, but I liked having to pay attention otherwise I'd miss either an important plot point or a good joke. A lot of what I now have is non-fiction. But I think what works for me is to have something to listen to that is way more interesting than the day-to-day mind-numbing cleaning - today I cleaned loos and basins while listening to Simon Winchester's "Crack in the Edge of the World". So now I have sparkling sanitary ware and know a little more about plate tectonics.

One series I borrowed some of from the library was Simon Brett's "Charles Paris" and "Mrs Pargeter" murder mysteries. Neither is the standard kind of murder mysteries - Charles Paris is a bumbling bit-part actor and Mrs Pargeter rights wrongs thanks to her late husband's shady former colleagues - completely unbelievable in a similar way as Agatha Christie.

A good place to start is in the local library. My local library charges a small fee, but because the audiobooks are organised by author it isn't always easy to find something interesting. But at least they've now separated out the CDs and cassettes, so I don't end up choosing something interesting only to find there's no way I can listen to a cassette on my iPod.

I am now hooked on listening to CDs in the car. Have just finished Alias Grace which was excellent and am now well into the Long Song by Andrea Levey.
I go on line to the local County Council website and order the CDs as the selection at the library is not vast. Costs 25p per reservation and £1.00 for 3 weeks loan. Bargain!