Challenge: 50 Books discussion

Okay, anyone who's been reading the general folder knows there has been a wee bit of discussion about whether AudioBooks count in this challenge, so just let me say right off the bat, 1) sorry for starting another AudioBook thread; 2.) this is not a thread to discuss the validity or merits of auditory books in general.

That all said, I have just started a job with a somewhat ugly commute and I am relying on audioooks to keep me entertained. I recently heard The Elegance of the Hedgehog read by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris and it was fantastic! It was like having an ultra interesting story-telling passenger from far away. I loved the authentic Parisian pronunciation of the french words.

I also recently borrowed the audio version of The Postmistress read by Orlagh Cassidy. I don't know if it was the book and the reader or just the reader, but it seemed excruciatingly dull and didn't make it passed disk 1.

My goodreads pal Heather was impressed with Andrea Levy's reading of Small Island and Stephanie recently extolled Khaled Hosseini's reading of The Kite Runner. In both instances, these are the authors reading their own works and lending authenticity with accents.

Perhaps obviously, I'd say the voice artist (?) of any audiobook has a tremendous impact of the recording's entertainment value.

So, the questions are: What audiobooks do you think shine in the format? Which ones would you nominate as a waste of disk space?

Currently I listen to Prousts "In Search of Lost Time" (in German spoken by the German voice of Ben Kingsley, total of more than 9300 minutes) and it's my first complete audio book. The voice is just perfect for the content and the elaboration of Proust. So far I have to admit that audio books might be a new passion.

I have heard that the Harry Potter books are really good reads (listens lol) on audiobooks. I, myself, have not actually listened to any audiobooks. There is a feature on my Kindle that allows for that but I have not yet played with it.

I actually found the audiobook for Elegance of the Hedgehog to be quite difficult to follow and ended up putting if down in favour of the actual book. It wasn't the actors (who were wonderful, as Faye said) or the way it was done, but the writing itself. Some books are so beautifully written that every word in every sentence has to be savoured, and I personally think that books like this are cheapened when listened to (as it's far easier to get distracted and stop paying attention, especially when there's a lot of reflective prose). Needless to say, I loved it once I started actually reading it!
I think the actors and the way the book is done (music, etc) can make or break an audiobook. I recently listened to Dune by Frank Herbert, and Audible's version was SO crazily done- a full cast in random chapters, followed by huge chunks of the narrator doing the voices; crazy music, coming in at unexpected/unnecessary times- that it made me really dislike the book. On the other hand, I'm currently listening to Water for Elephants and because it's done so well, I'm really enjoying it. It's a shame there's no clear way to discern how good an audio version of a book is, as it can leave you hating a book that you may otherwise have loved (well, maybe not to that extreme, but you get my drift!).

I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog on audio very much, but I think we all differ on which books "speak" to us better on audio. Like Heather, I completely enjoyed Water for Elephants on audio. The voices of the young man and the old man were well done.

My favorite audio series is the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. Will Patten is perfect as Dave. One of the books was narrated by someone else, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I have also read many of them before in "real book" form, and like the audio books better. The beauty of Burke's writing comes through well when spoken by a good narrator.

I split my reading about equally between audio books, print books, and my Kindle, and enjoy all three formats equally. I sometimes cannot remember later in which form I read a book, and think all the controversy about which one "counts" is pretty silly.

Too bad I just read Water for Elephants. Keep the recommendations coming - I need to update my library wait list with audiobooks to fuel the new commute :)

Faye wrote: "Because the general thread "Do AudioBooks Count?" has been by far the most popular thread in this group's recent history, effective April 1, 2011,* the 50 Books group will be changing it's focus ex..."

OMG you totally got me. I was all worked up to give a nasty response along the lines of "WHAT? I've been READING all these books and now everyone else will be listening?" LOL, I must be so gullible. Well played.

Audio books are an April Fools joke. I don't listen. XD

Lindsey wrote: "OMG you totally got me. I was all worked up to give a nasty respons ..."

Oh goody! Thanks for telling me. I was hoping I'd gotten someone fooled for a minute, at least. I've updated the initial posting in this thread to the one I wrote before I got the idea to try and trick some people into thinking this group was going exclusively to audio-books starting April Fool's Day.

I agree that the reader can really make or break an audio book. A lot of times if I get really sucked into an audio book I will also get the actual book from the library so I can keep going with the story when I'm out of the car. When the reader is really good I'm always torn between wanting to know what happens and wanting to listen to the way the narrator tells the story.

The good:
I agree, the audio of Water for Elephants was fantastic-loved it. I'm currently listening to Faithful Place by Tana French which is narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds and it's fabulous. The guy's brogue is perfect, I am in love. This is my third Tana French audio in a row and they've all been great. Faithful Place and The Likeness have been my favorites but In the Woods was great too. I also loved the audio of The Time Traveler's Wife. I think the guy who narrates for Henry is the same one who does young Jacob in Water for Elephants.

The audio of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close were great too but given the way Jonathan Safran Foer uses a lot of visuals in his books I would recommend also reading through parts of the actual books because you definitely miss things with just the audio.


The bad:
I tried to listen to The Golden Compass and it made me insane. There were multiple narrators (more than 20) and it made the thing way too hard to follow. I listened to an audio of Choke by Chuck Palahniuk which he read himself and it was not good. His phrasing was really weird and he ended a lot of his sentences like a question. A lot of times things read by the author are better but not this time. The woman who narrated Cordelia's parts in Love Walked In annoyed the hell out of me and really influenced my feelings about the book. I think if I had read that one instead of listed I would have liked it a lot more.

I've only tried to listen to one audiobook, and I couldn't do it. The Hunger Games was a great book, but I didn't think the audiobook was entertaining which is why I ended picking up the actual book (well, e-book). I don't know if it is audiobooks in general or just that one, but I haven't tried any since. I don't feel as though I'm getting as much out of a book through audio as with reading the copy.