Books on Tape (CD)?

[goddess40]

I just posted on the Harry Potter thread about how fantastic they are on tape. Jim Dale does the reading and it sounds like a cast presentation. (Jim Dale was the bad guy in the Disney movie Pete's Dragon if you want to see him in action.)

Philip Pullman's His Dark Material series is also terrific on tape - he has an entire cast. Pullman is the narrator, if I remember correctly.

Does anyone have any recommendations for more books on tape.

[Mojambo]

1. Get America: The Book on tape

It's even more hilarious as an audio book.

[pk_du]

2. My wife tells me our CDs of "The Davinci Code"

are fantastic.

On-edit: "Non-Fiction" thread ?

[goddess40]

5. I should have posted on the fiction thread but I do have non-fiction too

My Life by Clinton (the only abridged book)
The Professor and the Madman
both I enjoyed very much.

[pk_du]

6. Yes - should have mentioned "My Life"...great "listen"

went by way too quickly.

[kohodog]

9. Professor and the Madman was a great tape

Some books are easier to listen to than read (especially if you're driving!)

[MrUnderhill]

3. The entire Patrick O'Brian series (Jack Aubrey).

At least all of the ones read by Patrick Tull (no idea if he's done anything else, but his ability to reproduce dialects/accents is amazing)

Most library systems I've been to have at least some of these.



Hint #2... Only get unabridged recordings.

[goddess40]

4. They only unabridged book I've ever bought was Clinton's

because he reads it himself - it made me feel good to hear his voice.

[Sabriel]

7. Garth Nix's trilogy is great, too

Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen

If you liked Pullman, you might like this.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson is a good listen, too.

Edit: additional title

[kohodog]

8. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I read it as a kid and listened to it last year. I really enjoyed the spoken version.

[harper]

10. Three recommendations

Before I changed jobs I had a much longer commute and used to listen to books on tape all the time. My faves were "A sunburned Continent" by Bill Bryson (he did the reading himself), "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Lord of the Rings". Be sure to get the unabridged version, not the BBC play. The reader on "The Lord of the Rings" was fantastic...did all the characters. It took me months to get through that series cause I started with "The Hobbit", but is was great listening to the whole thing without stopping.

[blondeatlast]

11. The "Lemony Snicket" series on tape is read by Tim Curry.

Excellent!

Can't let this one pass, either, even if it is a kid's book:

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" read and performed by Ray Charles; and it's pretty inexpensive, too.

I order most of the Spoken Word audio for the library I work for so I've really gotten into audiobooks.

[Calmypal]

12. Shakespeare, Ulysses

Somebody came out with full cast performances of the plays of Shakespeare some months ago. I hear they're excellent.

I want Ulysses by James Joyce on tape just so I can figure out how to pronounce "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk."