What audio book have you enjoyed?

Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, narrated by Richard Burton, of course. I love this and listen to it quite often.


Elodie

Whitman's Leaves of Grass, from librivox.org. I really didn't "get" Whitman until I heard it read aloud. It reminded me that poetry, like stage plays, should be read aloud to be understood. Both forms evolved among the Greeks as primarily performed art forms; they are not meant to be read (at least, not exclusively; reading a poem or a play should be an afterthought; seeing them performed should always be the goal).

None. I have to strain to listen to human speech and that takes all the fun out of listening. It's different if I'm next to the person reading, but pre-recorded stuff doesn't work for me.

The Art of Racing in the Rain--loved it as an audio book.

I've got a long commute, so I listen to 50-75 audiobooks a year and have for several years now.

The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein is, hands down, the best I ever heard. Bar none. No contest. It's not even close. Rubinstein's deadpan reading of his own book catapults an inherently fascinating, very well written true story into the territory of satiric genius.

Competing for second place, we have:

Into Thin Air read by the author, Jon Krakauer. Emotional account of the 1996 disaster on Mt. Everest by one who was there.

A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, as read by [ some British guy ]. Just generally informative and entertaining.

Diary, A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk, as read by Martha Plimpton. Diary is less gratuitously shocking than most of Palahniuk's other work, and Plimpton's reading is pitch perfect.

"This Just in--what I couldn't tell you on TV" by Bob Schieffer (and narrated by Bob himself.) Nothing better than a book being read to you by the author.

The audio version of the Time Traveler's Wife is FANTASTIC. Really one of the best performances I've heard. Of course the book in itself is awesome, which could be part of it, but no book has ever made me late for work because I was sitting in the car crying.

Oh yeah, Soccer Mom. I've got Coraline on tape, and we all love it. It's one of the few ways to keep the kids quiet in the car, and Gaiman's voice doesn't hurt much, either.

Although I hate to admit this, but knew I could never suffer reading the book, I did buy, 'The Da Vinci code,' a few years ago. It was just as I expected it to be; the best bits were plagiarised from, 'The holy blood and the holy grail.' I was far ahead of the so-called plots, everything was too easy and had the loose ends tied up too neatly. I heard it once and dumped it into a drawer.
I love the film though, it has my man, Jean Reno, in it! LOL


Elodie

I usually don't listen to audio novels, but I bought several for my drive across the country. I don't have a favorite, but here is the playlist:

Westbound trip

The Fifth Vial by Michael Palmer rates about an 8 out of 10
Dry Ice by Stephen White rates about a 7 out of 10

Eastbound trip (upcoming, so no ratings)

Stories from Night Shift by Stephen King
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
A John Saul collection including
The God Project
Nathaniel
Perfect Nightmare

Also, somewhere around here, I have the works of Sherlock Holmes on CD as audio books too.

The reader for the Alexander McCall Smith Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series is terrific. I've enjoyed listening to the audio book even if I have read the print version.

I can tell you one I didn't like, and it had nothing to do with content. It was Jack Welch's book, which I think is entitled "Winning." Whereas the book is very informative, I couldn't get past his reading of it. His thick Boston accent didn't throw me (my mom has one, too.) It was the slurring sound he made from his dentures slipping. It made it impossible for me to listen after awhile. I love that people want to read their own stuff, but hire a stunt double if your vocals are not easy on the ear .

I haven't listened to very many audio books, but I loved Stephen King's On Writing and Michael Crichton's The 13th Warrior.

Not a big audiobook fan - but I did enjoy Mur Lafferty's Heaven, which is technically a Podiobook and not available (afaik) in print.

Any time Douglas Adams is reading his own work, I can't help but listen.
And Neil Gaiman has a voice that's pure candy for the ears. Goes down easy.

I don't typically listen to audio books if I can read them on my own, but I used to have to drive two-plus hours over a radio-free mountain pass just to see my husband. Audio books saved my sanity.

When I drove cross country from NY to LA in '92 I listened to the complete, unabridged Frankenstein. Can't remember the reader, but he did the most wonderful Austrian accent. God, I remember driving across the desert while my mind was chasing the monster to the north pole!

That got me started on audio books. Since then I have come to love George Guidel, a very wonderful reader with a soothing deliberate voice reminiscent of the perfect grandfather. I will listen to almost anything he reads.

However, my main literary love is the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian and the reader for most of the twenty books is Patrick Tull, another old man but British; he can do all the upper and lower deck accents as well as a lovely Irish brogue for Stephen Maturin. Be warned, though, that the first book of the series, Master and Commander, is read by a different reader. He has a harsher, more nasal voice and may put you off the series. Don't let that happen, for it is truly brilliant.