The Sword and Laser discussion

I have only one credit left in my audible subscription before we part ways for a while, and I'd really like to get my money's worth out of it. Does anyone have any recommendations for really good 24+ hr audiobooks? It can be something outside of fantasy or science fiction, as long as it is huge and a fun listen with a good narrator (I'm thinking along the lines of the Kingkiller Chronicles which I just finished listening to). Also, I'd really prefer not to begin a 12+ book series so not Sanderson or Jordan or anything like that (because this is my last audible credit for a while, and I don't like switching formats mid-series).

Any ideas?

Rob Secundus wrote: "I have only one credit left in my audible subscription before we part ways for a while, and I'd really like to get my money's worth out of it. Does anyone have any recommendations for really good 2..."

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke!

Oooh, that's one of my favorite novels of all time, but I've never given the audiobook a go! A reread may be just the thing to get through dreary term papery november! How do they handle the footnotes?

A lot of Peter F. Hamilton's audiobooks are 35-40 hours or more.

I really liked 1Q84's 46-hour audiobook, although the story drags a little around the 65% mark. It's got multiple narrators which is fun.

Neal Stephenson might be a good choice too...Anathem is 30-some hours.

Rob Secundus wrote: "Oooh, that's one of my favorite novels of all time, but I've never given the audiobook a go! A reread may be just the thing to get through dreary term papery november! How do they handle the footno..."

Not the first time I've been asked that! Not very...elegantly I'm afraid. There's no real elegant way to go about it. When a footnote starts, speaker says, "footnote" and when it ends they go back to the text. It's fine for a re-listen but for people who were listening for the first time, it was a little jarring because you couldn't easily go back and relisten to remind yourself of what happened pre-footnote.

Rob Secundus wrote: "Oooh, that's one of my favorite novels of all time, but I've never given the audiobook a go! A reread may be just the thing to get through dreary term papery november! How do they handle the footno..."

But yes, I've been re-listening for some breaks and I forgot how funny the book was. So much snark. ^_^

John wrote: "A lot of Peter F. Hamilton's audiobooks are 35-40 hours or more.

I really liked 1Q84's 46-hour audiobook, although the story drags a little around the 65% mark. It's..."

I second Anathem. It's great for getting into a term paper groove because its main protagonists are academics.

I really didn't like Anathem (I hated the second part, loved the school part and if the book had ended there, I'd have loved it). I also didn't like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (hours and hours and hours of nothing happening and no resolution of any sort).

Since you and I don't seem to have the same taste in books, you may like them. ;)

I really did enjoy 1Q84 in audio. And there's always The Stand (near 50 hours).

Stephen kings Books are always Long audios try bag of bones or under the dome they were both really good

This one is a bit out of left field, but the The Autobiography of Mark Twain. Twain willed it that it would be published 100 years after his death, for good reason. He disparages religion, political figures and popular figures. 24 hours of history, humor and a super job of the narrator sounding like Twain, (Or like Holbrook imagined Twain sounded like)

Count of Monte Cristo is as long as Lord of the Rings, that should keep you going a while.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! Twain is def a strong contender.

John, I'd been eyeing Monte Christo, is there a particular narrator or translation you'd recommend?

Pandora's Star - 37.5 hours

It is book 1 of a 2 book series though. But at least it's not 12.

Cryptonomicon is another long one I enjoyed and is stand alone.

Rob wrote: "Pandora's Star - 37.5 hours
It is book 1 of a 2 book series though. But at least it's not 12.."

The second audiobook -- Judas Unchained -- can be purchased for only $3.99 with amazon's WhisperSync option. As can the first one, actually. (might not apply outside the U.S.) The second one is even longer so in any case you're getting plenty of bang for your buck.

I'm going to recommend Clive Barker's Galilee. It is the story of two dynasties; the Gearys and the Barbarossas and a woman who comes between them.
The Gearys rose to power during the Reconstruction and are very rich and powerful (the Kennedy family could be a good comparision). The Barbarossas are a family whose origins stretch back to the bronze age and they are supernatural beings, the matriarch (Cesaria) and patriarch (Nicodemus) are described as "two souls as old as heaven" and are still very much alive and they live in a mansion designed by Thomas Jefferson (who, at one time, was Cesaria's lover) with three of their four children. The fourth child, Galilee (whom the book is titled after), left the family and travels the world on his boat.

A young woman, Rachel, meets a man one day and they fall in love. She doesn't know at the time that this man is one of the scions of the Geary family. They court and eventually get married and now Rachel is part of a great american dynasty. Things go well until Rachel suffers a miscarriage. While recovering from her miscarriage she is told about a retreat in Hawaii that the Geary women use when they want to get away and relax. Rachel visits this retreat and then soon meets and is seduced by Galilee Barbarossa and begins to discover the connections between the two families.

The Stormlight Archive - The Way of Kings Words of Radiance are both excellent audiobooks, each over 35 cds. Or 45 and 48 hours plus respectively.

Robert wrote: "The Stormlight Archive - The Way of Kings Words of Radiance are both excellent audiobooks, each over 35 cds. Or 45 and 48 hours plus respectively."

He has some Sanderson hate he needs to work through. Otherwise that would have been my recommendation.

Dustin wrote: "Robert wrote: "The Stormlight Archive - The Way of Kings Words of Radiance are both excellent audiobooks, each over 35 cds. Or 45 and 48 hours plus respectively."

He..."

I like the man! I just don't want to start a 20 book series with my last audible credit, was really what I was trying to get at.

Rob Secundus wrote: "John, I'd been eyeing Monte Christo, is there a particular narrator or translation you'd recommend?"

No, I went with the anonymous translation offered on Gutenberg Press. Later on I found that version downplayed a few of the more risque aspects of Paris life. I took a look in the book discussions and didn't see anything there. But if you go and ask, you'll likely get a number of suggestions.

heh - just use the credit. then get radiance from your library system. I actually listened to both via the library system.

I think the John Adams autobiography was at least that long

Henry is more my guy.

I went with Jonathan and Norrell in the end-- a lot of wonderful ideas here, and I've added them all to my wishlist for the day when financial pressures let me return to audible and/or when they come up for whispersync deals. Thank you all!

Another to add is the Complete Sherlock Holmes. I think the reader is Simon Vance. Something like 64 hours. I'm not on Audible, but I heard it's just 1 credit.

Atlas Shrugged is 63 hours for 1 credit.

When you go back and if you ever have a bunch of credits to burn I do recommend Wot and Mistborn. Both are read by Michael Kramer (the first with a female.narrator for the female POV parts). The story is excellent and so is Kramer. Mistborn was the perfect antidote to my end-of-WoT induced depression. :)

The Count of Monte Cristo was a mammoth of an audio book, over 60 hours I believe.

You can do an advanced search in audible for genre of your choice, select books over 20 hours in the advanced search, then reverse sort by length.

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...

If you don't care about genre, you can get the longest audio book Audible carries, "Romans: The Greatest Letter Ever Written: Complete Set", which clocks in at 154 hours and has a 4.4 star rating, for 1 credit or $18.78 :)

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_s...

Sorry, moving over here from the thread I started when I didn't find this one in search.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Almost forgot The Expanse, a series name covering an expected nine books, five of which are now in print. James SA Corey. Good space opera based on inside the solar system space travel. Don't expec..."

Oh, I've read ALL of The Expanse that's available so far. :-) (For this series, I actually have them all in ebook, audiobook, and dead tree versions for getting signed. Plus extra copies of LW for giving away to people I think will enjoy them. I've spent a good chunk of cash on this series, haha. ) LOVE this series. It's just about perfectly tailored for my science fiction preferences. And the start of the tv show is going to be the highlight of my holiday season for sure.

If I could find stuff similar to The Expanse (or Daniel's own fantasy, or Ann Leckie's work) in the 25-40 hour-per-book range, that would be the perfect listen for this trip. I've only got a couple of credits, and almost 60 hours of drive time to fill.

Sorry JC, missed Rothfuss on the list. Glad you've enjoyed Stephenson in one format or another.

Have you read the Redwall books? I haven't but a coworker and others here recommended them. They're each about 10 hours but there are a lot of them. There are also the Ryria books which I really liked, by Michael J. Sullivan. And there's a book Audible & a friend recommended to me, The Shadow of What Was Lost. It's 25.5 hours but I think there is a second book out already...

I posted this on the older thread, but you can always advanced search for over 20 hours (choose genre if you wish) then reverse sort by length

longest audio book available:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Religion-Sp...

154 hours, 1 credit ;)

Sky wrote: "I posted this on the older thread, but you can always advanced search for over 20 hours (choose genre if you wish) then reverse sort by length

longest audio book available:

http://www.audible.com..."

Thanks, Sky. I have done that, and am poking through, but still hoping for suggestions as well. I am a little horrified at how many of the over-30-hours books they have I've already consumed. I may have a problem I need to address. ;-)

terpkristin wrote: "Have you read the Redwall books? I haven't but a coworker and others here recommended them. They're each about 10 hours but there are a lot of them. There are also the Ryria books which I really li..."

I'll look at Redwall. I love a good series. But for this trip, I need long books, because I have a limited number of credits to use, and a very long time to spend driving. (I tend to do shorter work on ebook, and longer work on audio, so that I'm getting my credits' worth at Audible.)

Funny you should mention Sullivan, though. I'm not even sure how I stumbled across him, but I've read the first two volumes on ebook. And looking at Audible, vol 3 is a good length, would cover half my trip. I don't usually switch formats in a series, but this time I think I will! (I'd actually somehow or another gotten book 1 of the second series first. Once I realized it was essentially book 4, I doubled back and picked up books 1 and 2 in a single ebook. I realize the second series is set before the first, but I always prefer to read in publication order.)

The Shadow of What Was Lost looks like a good possibility. The fact that Michael Kramer is the narrator may sway me.

Thanks!!

I'd reiterate Kristen's suggestion in post 8 of The Stand. It's is 48 hours.

Or It which is 45.

Sky wrote: "I posted this on the older thread, but you can always advanced search for over 20 hours (choose genre if you wish) then reverse sort by length

longest audio book available:

http://www.audible.com..."

Ha Ha - I've listened to that one already :) (yes seriously)


If you're going to listen to 30+ hours you want the best narrator out there.

Speaks the Nightbird - Edoardo Ballerini is to die for.

The Dune series ?

...and if it doesn't need to be sci-fi, how about
Moby Dick or
Les Miserables