This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I’d Recommend To Someone Who Doesn’t Read _______(choose any topic you like). I’ve chosen audiobooks as my subject. I’ve just gotten into audiobooks over the past year and have found some audiobooks that are outstanding, and some that are so-so. It’s hard when you are just starting out to find the ones that are right for you, and everyone has their own personal preferences for narrators. Overall I recommend starting with a book you’ve already read at first, and then try a few audiobooks from the library to find readers you like. You can also look up audiobook reviews on sites like Audible or Audiobook Jukebox before you buy.
I am cheating by adding a few extra audiobooks to the list..
In no particular order these are the audiobooks I recommend:
1. A Million Suns by Beth Revis – Read effectively by Tara Carrozza and Lucas Salvagno. The audio sets the perfect tone for the book and makes you feel like you are enclosed in the spaceship Godspeed along with main characters Amy and Elder.
2. The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder – Read by Emma Galvin. Galvin is a great fit for the main character, and conveys her toughness and sarcasm convincingly. Also by the same narrator: Check out Divergent by Veronica Roth, where Galvin again does a wonderful job capturing the spirit of the protagonist Tris, as well as the other characters.
3. Blood Red Road by Moira Young – Read by Heather Lind. The book is written in a unique way with phonetic spelling and a lack of punctuation. The style does take some getting used to (though it’s very worth it). If you find the writing style distracting, consider trying the audiobook. Heather Lind handles the narration and dialect with ease and gives a flawless performance. Another awesome dystopian series to experience via audio is The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, read by Carolyn McCormick. I have listened to this series on audio a couple times, in addition to reading the books. I always catch something new about the story when listening to the audio.
4. Ready Player One by Ernie Cline – Read by Wil Wheaton. Wheaton is the perfect choice to narrate this book, and he reads with enthusiasm and knowledge of the many pop cultural references found in the book. He made the time fly by in this almost 16- hour audiobook.
5. Delirium by Lauren Oliver – Read by Sarah Drew. Drew brings Lena’s story to life and captures the emotional intensity necessary to tell the story.
6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – Read by Kim Mai Guest. Also worth a listen is the companion book Lola and the Boy Next Door, read by Shannon McManus. While you are waiting for next year’s Isla and the Happily Ever After, you can revisit the first two companion books via audio. Both books are enjoyable listens and the readers do a good job with the different character voices.
7. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan – Read by MacLeod Andrews and Nick Podehl. The narrators do well with the hilarious material, and even sing in the audiobook. Another wonderful contemporary audiobook by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn is Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, read convincingly by Ryan Gesell and Tara Sands. A fun and entertaining holiday read/listen.
8. Unwind by Neil Shusterman – Read by Luke Daniels. A chilling and fast-paced dystopian story made even more thrilling by Daniels’ narration. Daniels does well with the character voices and there are some truly disturbing scenes that are very realistic in the audio.
9. The Help by Kathryn Stockett – A full-cast audio read by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell. An entertaining audio, great story and audio production, and the narrators really bring the characters to life. Octavia Spencer who also plays Minny in the movie reads the character in the audiobook.
10. The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine – Read by Cynthia Holloway. I started with the books in this series, and then got hooked on the audio thanks to Holloway’s wonderful narration. Her character voices line up with the way I imagined they would sound, and she handles all the character nuances with ease.
Also consider trying these other audiobooks: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, and Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon.
I just finished the will grayson audio and it was great. Love these choices. Might try the morganville one as it’s a series I have been wanting to start.
I only have seen the movie, the Help, but it was really emotional and I loved it. 🙂 I’m not a big fan of audio books, mostly because they are so super expensive. Great list.
Thank you for this awesome list! I’ve tried getting into audiobooks before, but wasn’t too fond of it. So this list will make a fantastic starting point 🙂
I haven’t actually listened to an audiobooks, but after reading your list I may have to change that! 🙂
Thanks for the recommends. I’ve wanted to start the Morganville Vampires, but was wondering how to ever get it done. Audio may be a great way to work them in.
I really really need to start listening to audiobooks! Those all sound like a great place to start too.
My Top Ten Tuesday
Aren’t audiobooks great? I have a long daily commute (which sucks!) so audiobooks are a great way to stay caught up on my reading and help to make the drive go by much quicker. Great recs! I’ll definitely have to look for some of these to listen to!
I had The Help on my list too! I love the multiple narrators.
ALSO I almost put Delirium as well, I love Sarah Drew as a narrator. ALSO YAY for The Probability of Miracles! Emma Galvin was fantastic. I did not know that she also narrates Divergent.
Because BOTH of you had this on your lists, I tracked down The Help on audio at the library and added it to my wish list.
I think you will enjoy The Help audio. It is one of the best I’ve listened to, and seems to be universally well-liked.
Looking forward to following your audio reviews!
I LOVE a good audio book! I’ve given myself Unwind as a required reading for January. I was going to read it in print, but since you’ve put it on this list I think I’ll try the audio.
Ready Player One and The Probability of Miracles might also move to the “TBR” audio book pile. As for The Help, I totally agree that it was excellent in the full-cast audio form. I would just sit in my car listening to it in my driveway. Some audio books are a pain to listen to, so thank you for highlighting some great ones for me to try!
I hope you do like Unwind – it is chilling! Ready Player One is so fun on audio, and Emma Galvin is great narrator overall and so good with Probability.
The Help is one of the ones that got me hooked on audiobooks.
Looking forward to hearing what you think of these!
I’m just getting into audiobooks and I’ve found that memoirs/autobiographies and books I’ve already read are my favorites! I just finished Ready Player One and LOVED IT! (I started Life by Keith Richards this morning…it’s read by Johnny Depp. So far, I love it!)
Thanks for the list! I’m heading to my library’s website to look them up now. 🙂
I haven’t tried non-fiction audiobooks yet, but think autobiographies are a great choice. Yeah, can’t go wrong with Johnny Depp reading Keith Richards. Thanks for the rec- I’ll have to pick that one up!
Happy listening 🙂
Awesome audiobook list. I completely agree that The Help was a really good audiobook. And I didn’t know that Octavia Spencer also did the voice. I will have to check out some of the others you recommended. Thanks for sharing. =]
Here is My Top Ten
Great list!
I never listen to audiobooks, but I should really start. Thanks for the suggestions!
Laura @ The Traveling Owl
I’ve only ever listened to one audio book before, and I didn’t like it very much. Then again the person talking had an annoying voice to begin with. I’ll have to try it out again sometime, good suggestions!
I already had Unwind and Shiver on my list, good to hear they’re decent listens. Also I’m like 8th on the waiting list for Anna and the French Kiss ebook, but now that I know that audio’s decent, I can check out the audiobook with no wait, thanks!
Glad to find another audio fan! Hope you enjoy the Anna audiobook- that’s awesome that there’s no wait!
Unwind is particularly good on audio, I’ve only listened to the final book Forever in the Shiver trilogy, though Shiver seems to be well-liked too.
Happy listening!
I’m going to have to bookmark this list. I’ll eventually want to get into audio books, and I think this is an awesome list to start with. Thank you!
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