Librarians pick top “‘Better on Audio’ Books”
BETTER AS AUDIO BOOKS (in no particular order)
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde, narrated by Simon Prebble
The Flashman series by George McDonald Fraser (notably Flashman and Flash for Freedom, and already discussed on our discussion board)
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
His Dark Materials (trilogy) by Philip Pullman, performed by Full Cast Audio
The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
- Crocodile on the Sandbank
- Deeds of the Disturber
- The Mummy Case
- The Curse of the Pharaohs
- The Last Camel Died at Noon
- The Lion in the Valley
- The Golden One
- Children of the Storm
- Guardian of the Horizon
- The Serpent on the Crown
One of the online librarians’ communities (specifically, the Fiction-L email group)has done us all a service and picked out their favorite “better on audio” books– where, in their expert opinion, the audio book version actually improves upon the text version. I’ve been on a quest for a similar list for several months now, and was sooooo pleased to see that their picks and my informal ones largely match up.
April 18th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I’m glad the librarians are willing to recognize some of the unique benefits of audio books. I’m definitely one who would never bother reading Harry Potter in print, but have delighted in Jim Dale’s narration. (Interestingly, in England I take it that Stephen Fry does the narration, so over there they all think of him as the voice of Harry Potter…)
To add to the list, I think I enjoy the James Bond stories more as audiobooks, where the accents and all can be expertly communicated.
Some non-fiction falls into this also…it can’t possibly be as enjoyable to read James Cramer as it is to hear him tell his own story in his over-the-top way…
And there is the non-fiction that can add in the historical recordings to illuminate a topic…
May 1st, 2006 at 4:01 pm
I just listened to my first Amelia Peabody mystery narrated by Barbara Rosenblat and thought it was absolutely fantastically done!
I haven’t listened to the Jasper Fforde book because I wasn’t sure how all the subcripts and things would work.
September 26th, 2006 at 8:31 am
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