As the holiday season approaches many folks will be traveling.
I've been helping teachers, parents and kids find audio books "for the road" recently.
As a public service, it has occurred to me that we might compile some suggestions for good listens in the car or on planes or trains.
Personally, I have found audio books very motivating to get me out walking more frequently.
I like a narrator whose performance or personae does not get in the way of the story. I found Brendan Fraser's narration of Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider almost too distracting at first because I kept hearing "Brendan Fraser" instead of the story. I knew Funke had envisioned him as Mo in Inkheart so I was interested to see if he could really bring the story to life. I did enjoy the book after a while but felt he was pushing a bit hard on the character's voices. I have not heard any of his subsequent reads. I imagine there is a learning curve.
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Jim Dale's sublime readings of JKRowling's Harry Potter books are the gold standard of audiobook-dom. Yes, I've read them but I found listening to them has highlighted new details and brought the books to life in a whole new way. Dale's performance sets the bar for charicterization and originality.
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Anything read by Allan Corduner.
Corduner read Book one of Septimus Heap series, Magyk with such style and aplomb that I rushed to get the next book in audio form. I was disappointed to discover that Corduner did not read the other books in the series and I could not settle in to the second book at all until some time had passed.
I had been planning to read The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix so when I saw Corduner read them I was thrilled. Mister Monday was excellent. I have book 2 on the old mp3 player now.
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The Joey Pigza books by Jack Gantos, read by the author are hilarious, poignant, touching, scream-out-loud funny. I hope you saw 7 Imp's excellent interview with Gantos during the Winter Blog Blast Tour.
I do not think anybody else but Gantos can read his books. I have still been unable to listen to Love Curse of the Rumbaughs because he did not read it. I think I recall the rep at FSG telling me that he had not initially wanted to let another person narrate. They should have listened to him.
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Sometimes I just know that I will never get around to reading a book. Carl Hiassen's Hoot was on my "want to read" list but it just never seemed to make it to the top of the pile. I was very happy to find the audiobook and Chad Lowe does an outstanding job of bringing the story to life.
More to come... I'd like your suggestions too.
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Additional audiobooks:
Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith is an excellent audiobook. The narrators who read Elias, Shohei and Honoria are spot on. Their performances are so good but Recorded Books DOES NOT CREDIT THEM by name anywhere on the jacket or box. Unbelievable.
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By: Camille,
on 11/20/2007
Blog: Book Moot (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: audiobooks, Greg Leitich Smith, Jack Gantos, Narrators, Jim Dale, Brendan Fraser, Chad Lowe, worth a listen, Allan Corduner, Add a tag
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By: Camille,
on 11/20/2007
Blog: Book Moot (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: audiobooks, Greg Leitich Smith, Jack Gantos, Narrators, Jim Dale, Brendan Fraser, Chad Lowe, worth a listen, Allan Corduner, Add a tag
6 Comments on Over the rivers and through the woods..., last added: 11/20/2007
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I had that problem listening to Brendan Fraser narrate Inkspell (the sequel to Inkheart, which he hadn't narrated). It kept taking me out of the story, hearing his voice.
Another excellent book to listen to, for adults and teens, is Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It, narrated by Emily Bauer. I positively lived in that story - I actually felt hungry, as the characters suffered problems with deprivation. It also helped drive up my walking time significantly.
Hooray! Audiobooks! Love 'em!
The Georgia Nicholson books (Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, etc.) are wooonderful on audio.
I love, love, loved the audiobook of Dairy Queen. The reader has a great Wisconsin accent that makes D. J. very real.
I also enjoyed:
- Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle
- The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
- The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer, read by Katherine Kellgren (I think she's a great reader)
- Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going, read by Matthew Lillard
- King of the Mild Frontier, Chris Crutcher's autobiography and he reads it
- Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee, read by Keiko Agena (Lane on Gilmore Girls)
- Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The first three Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot, read by Anne Hathaway. They switched to Clea Lewis after that, and I just can't get used to her.
<3 audiobooks <3 I listen to them mainly in the car... maybe I should take them on walks like you do.
I've wanted to read Dragon Rider for awhile now but still haven't gotten around to it! I admit it's too distracting when a known celebrity does voice overs or reads for books. Patrick Dempsey does a voice over for some car commercial (I think?) but I never actually pay attention to what hes talking about.
I have a 6 hour car trip (I live in Mississipi, the rest of my family lives in Georgia) ahead of me in December (I won't be able to make it this Thanksgiving) and I need a good audio book too. I get migraines and dizzy spells if I try to read in the car.
Oh, these are good suggestions.
I absolutely hate it when they change narrators in a series. It must be money or availability? I loved listening to the first 2 or 3 books of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evonovich but then they changed narrators...bleh...
The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Elliot is an excellent audio. I think it's sold exclusively through Chinaberry, though (http://tinyurl.com/3885fu). I don't know who reads it, but her voice is perfectly suited to the story.
We also love the stories done by Jim Weiss, though he doesn't *read* the books. He's more of a storyteller. I just discovered that he's done recordings of several of GA Henty's stories and I'm anxious to listen to those.
And, Odds Bodkins's telling of The Odyssey is captivating.
Here's something really funny. I loved the audiobooks of the Keys to the Kingdom series but I hated the audio book of Magyk - and I never realized that they had the same narrator! I felt that in Magyk he used that kind of saccharine, fake voice that some adults use when they are talking down to children. I've never read the rest of the series because I was so turned off by the first book.
Jim Dale has also narrated some classics. I listened to his version of A Christmas Carol and Around the World in 80 Days, and they were just as good as Harry Potter. They're a great way to introduce kids to some classics, or just to enjoy yourself!