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Engrossing audiobook recommendations

57 replies

BB49 · 10/02/2025 22:10

I have had a few disappointing listens on audible recently so would love to hear any fantastic books you’ve listened to. I like most fiction, but specially horrors or thrillers.

OP posts:
QueenOfToast · 10/02/2025 22:20

I listen to loads of audiobooks. My main listens are romantasy but in the crime/thriller category; I recently enjoyed Red Queen by Juan Gomez Jurado.

Dappy777 · 10/02/2025 23:14

M. R. James is great on audiobook. For me he’s still the master of horror.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, you must listen to Stephen Fry read Sherlock Holmes.

BiscuitTins · 10/02/2025 23:20

The Cormoran Strike books are fantastic and wonderfully read by Robert Glenister.

Also a total opposite of horror/ thrillers, but beautifully read: any Jane Austin read by Juliet Stephenson

wildfellhall · 10/02/2025 23:44

Do you have any Favourite genres?

I like a very wide range of audiobooks from classics to contemporary. I loved the Wolf hall trilogy.

It depends on what I'm doing while listening. Some books take more close attention than others.
Unruly by David Mitchell made me laugh out loud.
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland was so good that I went to listen to it again.
Wifedom by Anna Funder is genius.
I love Jane Eyre
The Tenant If Wildfell hall is a great listen
Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream - brilliant

wildfellhall · 10/02/2025 23:45

Jimmy Carr Before & Laughter I really valued. Funny and full of solid advice.

wildfellhall · 10/02/2025 23:46

I'm drawn to Rob Lowe's autobiography as it has had good reviews but I hesitate over sleb biographies as I was brought up by a literature snob.

InALonelyWorld · 10/02/2025 23:48

Listen For The Lie is excellent on audio.

LittleMG · 11/02/2025 19:46

Into the Uncanny by Danny Robins I really enjoyed it

chillycat · 11/02/2025 20:12

BB49 · 10/02/2025 22:10

I have had a few disappointing listens on audible recently so would love to hear any fantastic books you’ve listened to. I like most fiction, but specially horrors or thrillers.

Heart's Invisible Furies
Intermezzo
You are Here
Wuthering Heights
Shardlake series

bettbburg · 13/02/2025 06:03

The Naturalists Society on audible is excellent

thornbury · 13/02/2025 06:15

I loved Andy Weir Project Hail Mary - superbly narrated and I kept getting to work and not wanting to get out of the car!

Ridingthegravytrain · 13/02/2025 07:46

I am pilgrim is a good thriller. And at over 20hrs you get plenty of bang for your buck!

DisplayPurposesOnly · 13/02/2025 07:51

Samuel Pepys Diary BBC adaptation

Abracadabra12345 · 13/02/2025 16:13

Dappy777 · 10/02/2025 23:14

M. R. James is great on audiobook. For me he’s still the master of horror.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, you must listen to Stephen Fry read Sherlock Holmes.

Another one who recommends Sherlock Holmes. Mine was read by Stephen Fry or rather, performed, and he's excellent. The stories are so clever and the characterisation spot on. I really did fall in love with Sherlock!

I'm currently reading Wolf Hall read by Ben Miles and love it.

I do know what you mean - poor narrators can ruin a book

cuttinganotheronion · 13/02/2025 18:29

Another vote for Uncanny by Danny Robbins
Also The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Currently enjoying Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

OswaldCobblepot · 13/02/2025 18:40

thornbury · 13/02/2025 06:15

I loved Andy Weir Project Hail Mary - superbly narrated and I kept getting to work and not wanting to get out of the car!

Yes! I was the same, loved this audio book.

Also recommend:
The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

bumblingbovine49 · 13/02/2025 18:45

In memoriam by Alice Winn. I was absolutely spellbound by it.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 13/02/2025 18:57

Audiobooks that I have enjoyed recently
Lavender's Blue by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer (also listened to the next two books in the series)
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne (also more books in this series)
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly, also by him Contest
The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard
Who Took Eden Mulligan by Sharon Dempsey

I have a load of sci-fi recommendations but people either really like the genre or not at all IME.

Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit · 13/02/2025 19:08

I'm such a bore about this topic but Diary of a Nobody read by Martin Jarvis is just wonderful. And Kobna Holdbrook Smith Reading Rivers of London, is such a pleasure for me.
@Dappy777
I'm sure Stephen Fry is very good at Sherlock Holmes but I think Derek Jacobi is sublime. He was Watson for me. I first read Sherlock Holmes when I was 11 and I'm 58 now, that voice, that narrators voice which is Watson in my head all those years? It is Derek Jacobi!

StinkerTroll · 13/02/2025 19:21

Another vote for project Hail Mary by Andy weir narrated by Ray porter, one of the best audio books I've ever listened to.

SydneyCarton · 13/02/2025 19:29

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit Martin Jarvis also does a great reading of A Tale of Two Cities (the only Dickens I can stand). Andy Serkis doing all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings is brilliant, so many different voices and characters.

This is a bit niche but you can find Kenneth Williams reading the Just William books on YouTube and they crack me up. My sisters and I used to listen to it on tape from the library and we still quote phrases from it to each other.

BlueberryStar · 13/02/2025 19:48

No Exit by Taylor Adams.
The Shining by Stephen King.
Misery by Stephen King.
Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven.
Sadie by Courtney Summers.
The Last House of Needless Street by Catriona Ward.

I also thought I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid was really good on audio but the book does have mixed reviews as it's a bit unusual.

I just started listening to Impact Winter by Travis Beacham which is a full audio production which is included with Audible. It's good so far.

I agree with others that the Martian and Project Hail Mary are great. Stephen Fry does an excellent job with the Harry Potter books too.

Bookish123 · 13/02/2025 20:32

If you fancy a bit of non fiction I'm most of the way through Storm Pegs by Jen Hadfield. It's absolutely brilliant and beautifully narrated by the author herself. She's a poet so if you dislike poetry it's not one for you. However her descriptive language is something else and you can tell she is a poet as she reads. Her love of the ancient Shetland language is also really interesting. It's been an absolutely unexpected joy for me.

BB49 · 13/02/2025 21:36

Fantastic thank you, I’ll look through all these :)

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olivehater · 13/02/2025 21:39

I like Lucy foley on audiobooks. They are murder mysteries read by multiple narrators as different characters and their perspectives. I struggle when audiobooks are read by one narrator.