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:

Abracadabra12345 · 25/02/2025 18:10

anon2022anon · 25/02/2025 10:25

Not a crime, but I'm currently really enjoying Tom Lake, read by Merryl Streep. I think I'm fast realising that I like actors narrating, they give a book a completely different life than some other narrators.

This comment has been like a lightbulb moment so thank you! You're absolutely right. Actors make the best narrators.

I loved Wolf Hall narrated by Ben Miles who played Cromwell on stage. I am struggling with Simon Vance narrating Bring Up the Bodies. Thanks to your comment, I looked up Simon Vance who is described as an audiobook narrator, and he is a good one. But compared to Ben or Mark Rylance....where is "my" Cromwell?

I've just listened to a sample of Mirror and the Light and was so relieved to see it's the magical Ben Miles again so will download it.

I also loved Patrick Stewart narrating his own autobiography - to have that rich voice in my ear last thing at night - well, there's worse ways of falling asleep! 😁

Abracadabra12345 · 25/02/2025 18:21

Actually I've done Simon Vance a disservice as it was several narrators from the trilogy version. Simon is very good- but Ben Miles has the edge

SatinHeart · 25/02/2025 18:41

Lisa Jewell is good for thrillers, I really liked Invisible Girl and also The Family Upstairs.

Deathraystare · 28/02/2025 10:51

I liked a number of books narrated by Loreli King. She is American but has such a lovely warm voice. I cannot stand the nasally voice of ? New Yorkers??

One guy narrated Mrs Galloway and I am not sure if there was something wrong with the recording but it sounded like he had had a very very heavy lunch and could barely get the words out!

Beebsta · 28/02/2025 10:54

I really enjoyed The Rosie Project when I listened to it years ago.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 09/03/2025 21:27

If you have an Audible membership then Him by JD Kirk is free and I found it gripping right to the end.

Deathraystare · 13/03/2025 11:49

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 15/02/2025 16:11

Hi @HowardTJMoon
My absolute favourite in recent years is the Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor. The first book is We are Legion (We are Bob). The first three books were written as one story arc. Books 4 and 5 I think were added on because the first three were so popular, there was a bit of a cliff hanger at the end of book 5 so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a book 6.

I love John Scalzi generally except for his war books, especially Lock In and its follow up Head On, there is a choice of narrators both are good but I slightly prefer Wil Wheaton. The Dispatcher series is pretty good too and there are a load of stand alone books like Agent to the Stars, Constituent Services and Starter Villain that are very enjoyable.

I like the Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but have tried a few of his other books and not liked them as much except for Service Model which was quirky and quite sweet.

For incredibly long and involved stories the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds is fantastic. I have mostly read these in print form though as I am a very fast reader, I don't know that I could dedicate 27 hours of listening to one book but if you are the type to have a book running for several hours every day then it would work well.

I really enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, these come in narrated form or dramatised form. I much, much prefer the narrated ones and found the dramatised ones to be a bit clunkier and slightly harder to follow. Some of the books are quite short so not great value on Audible, which has definitely bothered some reviewers.

Loved the murder bot. It was yet another of our bookclub books.

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