Help needed! Audio books & app/platform suggestions for long(ish) car journeys

[Fillybuster]

One way and another, I’ve had a fairly difficult 6 months. Getting back to normal now, but somehow I’ve fallen into a total reading rut after being a lifelong bookworm. I just cannot get myself back into it, and I don’t know why.

Hopefully, that will pass, but in the meantime I’ve started a new job and am commuting by car rather than tube for the first time in years.

So that gives me about 6-8 hours a week driving time when I could be listening to someone read to me. Not as good as reading to myself, but definitely an improvement over the Times crossword and too much time on MN.

Please tell me about the best audio book apps….what works, what’s worth spending money on, what can I play in the car if that matters? And land your
best listening recs on me to: what’s so good that I’ll be glued to it even when I’m parked outside the house or late for a meeting?

My tastes: 40 plus years of mostly science fiction, classic fiction, modern novels, classics (both literally and in terms of English literature), a little bit of old fashioned whodunnits, a good wallop of steampunk, a smattering of magical realism and a chunk of anything goes as long as it’s good.

I liked the M R Carey series (Koli) but it took a little while to get into as the characters have a very different speech pattern. The girl with all the gifts is more famous and the better book. Then the same author has a couple of books about AI and multiverse spanning Sci Fi, also good - all very different

I use borrowbox for free too. Though occasionally I am tempted to go for a pay version as I often have to wait months for a book I want. I always have 2 or 3 books on the go, and 7 or 8 that I am on long waiting lists for.

Actually as a sideways offering and with regard to really good narrators, if you like history Real Dictators is an excellent podcast, totally fascinating and each episode is an hour long and they tend to span at least a couple of episodes per dictator. It’s narrated by Paul McGann and his voice is just fabulous I could listen to him for hours!
Back to sci-fi
Ready Player One is a good listen too.
Also the Otherland series by Tad Williams, the reviews for the audiobook seem to be solid, I absolutely love the novels and they are absolute doorstops!

If you like or want to try classics try Juliet Stevenson reading Jane Austen (or anything actually- she's my favourite narrator).

Cabin Pressure! Awesome comedy radio series. It helps me at work to pretend I'm Caroline sometimes.
John Finnemore/Roger Allam/Benedict Cumberbatch/Stephanie Cole

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabin-Pressure-Complete-1/dp/B002SQ3HC2/

Thanks @Gsyllama. Like you, I really enjoyed TGWATG, and I’ve read a few of the other books too, including the boy on the bridge (I think?), although none blew me away quite as much as the first.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’m not a huge fan of non- fiction @Pashazade That feels a bit like a moral shortcoming, actually! Maybe audiobooks will be my route through that? Hmmmm. Not a bad idea, although I think I need to start with things that are a bit more aligned with my normal reading tastes, otherwise I suspect that I just won’t press play…. I loved Ready Player One when it first came out (anyone else really disappointed in the sequel, or just me?), but less when I read it a second time. Tell me more about the Otherland series - I’ve never heard of it?

And thank you @StellaAndCrow @Latenightreader and @RareGoalsVerge - these are all really good suggestions. I’m beginning to realise that I need to think about my audio options with a slightly different lens - it not just “what book to read next” but all the other factors like voices, style, and so on, that come into play.

@Fillybuster the Otherland series is set in a world where people spend their entire existence online in a immersive VR state. Obviously the rich can afford to do it all the time the poor less so. It follows a group of people as they travel through the Otherland trying to solve a mystery and fight against a big bad, It’s brilliant story telling and characters are fab it is so in-depth. So there is a really strong mix of fantasy, the VR generated worlds, and sci-fi with the reality they are living in. I’m not sure if that sells it but it’s a bit complex!
Not liking non-fiction is fair enough! You might like the LeVar Burton Reads podcast (Geordi from TNG) reading lots of random short fiction stories. He has a lovely voice.

The narrator is SO important in audio. I've listened to autobiographies by quite random people because they told a good story, whereas I hated Miranda's first one as she is a bit screechy.

I listen to the Dresden Files (urban fantasy) books purely because James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer narrates! (the plot can be hard work occasionally though - I like the stories but a little too much action for me)

The Bobiverse narrator is great - I think he's the one who did Project Hail Mary too.

I will second Cabin Pressure as a great audio listen. Yes, sitcom rather than a book but it's now one of my favourite ever sitcoms.

If you have audible plus, the French and Saunders podcasts are decent too.

I listened to Bobiverse straight after Project Hail Mary and it felt like a weird sequel having the same narrator and words like astrophage.

My wife and I spent weeks travelling round Scotland on day trips listening to Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books.

Are you actually me @BasicBrumble because I came to recommend everything that you have already recommended, even down to first listening to the Dresden Files because of James Marsters (magic isn't usually my thing, but now I'm on book 5). I would, in addition, recommend Murderbot, although some of them are very short so not particularly good value for money but they are often in a sale when they are better value. The Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series are great if you like a big story arc, and so is The Expanse series by James Corey.

Have a look at Audible Plus which is stuff that you can listen to for free so long as you have membership. I recently listened to Him by JD Kirk which was a slightly techy thriller and I'm currently listening to Dragon Day by Bob Proehl. Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets (also Edwardian Secrets) is easy listening quirky historical stuff.

What I tend to do with Audible is take the special offer for three months, then cancel, at which point they will usually offer an extra credit for free, which I take, and then cancel (remember to use all your credits before cancelling). After about six months of not being a member they generally have another offer of three months at half price. If there is a book that I want while I don't have membership then I just add it to my wishlist and buy it when there is a membership offer.

I also have a streaming service called Everand that costs me about $90 per year with unlimited listening and they also have ebooks, they don't have as big a range as Audible but they swap books in and out of the catalogue so there is always something to listen to. There are some authors that I like that Everand never has (like Scalzi) which is why I have occasional Audible membership.

@FillybusterThe standard Borrowbox pin for my local area is first 2 and last 2 digits of your date of birth - might save you a trip to the physical library and worth a try! The member number is the same as the number on your card. Happy (audio) reading.

I might be you @BlackAmericanoNoSugar because I also like Murderbot and Alastair Reynolds but I read those series in book form! Annoyingly, I can’t remember where I’m up to in the Expanse and I started that in print too. Maybe I should try the audio as I do like a series. On Dungeon Crawler Carl now but don’t think it would be for everyone, even though it’s made me laugh out loud.

Wow….thank you for all the suggestions! Despite a lifetime of SF&F reading I’ve never come across the Bobiverse: it’s turned up on this thread several times, so I’m definitely going to check that out.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar I’m so impressed and inspired by your account management style - total respect! - that I’m going to have a bash at trying the same. That level of organisation is not really my forte, so wish me luck 😂 And yes, I’m working through the Audible Plus free catalogue right now. Do you get to keep the things you’ve downloaded from there when you stop paying? I assume not….

@ledway thank you for putting Borrowbox back into play! Will do some research before my 3 month audible trial ends.

@Pashazade that sounds a bit like Ready Plater 1? Or not….?

I always use borrowbox you dohtbhafevto honinto the library . Some libraries use libby it depends where you are . The bbc sounds versions of the classics are good .

If you have put a free book in your Audible library then it will show as ‘unavailable’ if you stop your membership. Also some books don’t stay free forever so if you wait to listen then you might miss it. The books that you pay for are always available whether your membership is active or not.

@BasicBrumble Murderbot is coming out as a tv series this month, either Amazon Prime or Apple TV, I forgot which one. I sometimes hesitate to watch something that was a good book in case they ruin it but there have been some really good adaptations recently like Altered Carbon and The Expanse so hopefully Murderbot will be reasonable. I have listened to it twice, once just narrated as a book and once dramatised and I preferred it just narrated, but a tv dramatisation might be better than an audio one.

I have only read Alastair Reynolds too because I didn’t get into audio books until a few years ago, they would be great if you need some epically long books for commuting through.

Have you read the Rivers of London series? Brilliantly narrated on audible, police drama central London but it’s the magic department not the normal one. Hoping you’ve already read them but if not you absolutely must, with your list of what you like.

Audible plus books change out every now and again, so you can download for free and listen as long as you’re a member, but beware because they rotate them, so a book might be free for a while then come out of the plus catalogue and you can’t listen to it any more. So don’t wait indefinitely with the free ones. They tend to give a month warning or something like that.

@FillybusterYes there are similarities in that it’s VR and haves vs have-nots but Otherland is a whole level up, more Lord of the Rings level immersive in terms of world building and far more complex in terms of characters. You’ll see the inspiration for Ready Player One. Otherland is 30 years old (well almost, first one came out in 1996] so way ahead of its time.
Would also second the Dresden Files if you like a bit of modern wizardry! I’ve only listened to one of them (read them all) but James Marsters is a good narrator.

@Fillybuster Audible have regular deals that change monthly and have 2-for-1 sales every so often. If you put all the books that you're interested in into your wishlist then Audible will send you an email when those books are on offer. However you can't return a book that you bought on offer or in a sale. Although I hardly ever return books anyway, mostly because I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it before I buy it but also because I read somewhere that the author looses slightly more money when a book is returned than they received when the book was sold.

In my area, the Borrowbox PIN is the last 4 digits of the library membership number

Check your library's website which will tell you what audiobook platform (prob Borrow box or Libby) they have. It might tell you on the website the PIN format or you can ask them by email/contact form. It's a really common query!

I am just enjoying The Innocents by Michael Crummey from my library. This is the second of his books I've read, set in the past on Newfoundland - a hard life.
The narrator has an unusual accent which I guess is actually a Newfoundland accent. A brother and sister are orphaned and make a life for themselves in an isolated cove.

I've just popped back to say that I've been browsing Audible Plus and the first Murderbot book is on there, the narrated version - the dramatised version is paid for. I much preferred the narrated version, I've listened to both. It's quite short, so only a day or two of commuting.

Also Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, which is book 1 in the series, is on Audible Plus, as is The Prefect which is technically book 5 but actually comes chronologically before book 1 but was written later. Most of the Revelation Space books do need to be read/listened to in order but you can listen to The Prefect at any stage so no need to worry about buying books 2-4 before listening. Revelation Space is 22hrs and The Prefect is 19hrs, so that ought to keep you commuting for a few weeks.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar they’ve just released Murderbot on Apple TV. Haven’t watched it yet! Out of curiosity do you give Murderbot a “sex” in your head, I realised, of course, the character has no obvious gender in the books but in my head they are female, that may have something to do with their love of soap operas! In the tv adaptation they’re being played by a man. My OH hasn’t assigned any gender in his head, so I’m curious to know if it’s just me. 😁

Yes, I have always thought of Murderbot as male presenting, but not looking like Alexander Skarsgard. I can’t think of an actor who does look like my mental image of him but generally dark hair and a square, bland face and a solid, quite barrel-shaped body. Skarsgard is too handsome and sculpted. I visited Tbilisi on holiday and there were a lot of men who could easily have been my version of Murderbot.

I’ve watched the first couple of episodes and it’s great so far.