Audible Book Recommendations - Post yours here

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Chris_IT

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In England we have just voted "Lord of the Rings" as the best book ever in a radio poll.
Since listening to thStephen King's "The Dark Tower" I would now say that this book should be a serious contender.
Chris
 

robert

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Limit this Thread to Lists with no more than one sentence comment on a book?

Should we voluntarily limit posts to this thread to lists?

I humbly suggest that we limit posts to this thread to how to find good books, lists of books we like and dislike, and observe a tight limit to review or commentary. It seems reduntant to other sites to have detailed review material here.

Each of us can investigate recommended books based on our reading of the recommenders' apparent tastes, check sites reviews, read or listen to excerpts, and make our decision according to our own tastes.

Liking a book is very much an individual thing. A coincidence of mutual likes and dislikes suggests that one can check out the books on that person's list and have a high yield rate.



Robert.
 
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Bob

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OK,
Threads like this tend to take own their own rules. As long as no forum / site rule is breached you can post how you like.
It does seem to make sense to keep posts to lists with perhaps brief review notes.
I have looked through the thread and it is easy enough to skip the existing posts which are not lists.
I will change thread heading to "Audible Book Recommendations - Post yours here" which is probably more descriptive.
We created the Audible forum as it was becoming a more popular subject so enjoy your thread.
 

Lyda

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While I did enjoy reading this book, I have to agree with your criticisms. The plot is very contrived and one must remember that this is, after all, fiction. The book reviewers, in my opinion, were overly enthusiastic about this novel as it has weak points as you have mentioned.
 

jfreda

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DaVinci Code tedious

Thanks! I am tired of all the positive reviews. I bought the audible version, and found the narration acceptable, with some lame French accents, but the writing was very flat-footed, to say the least. I dont want to spend time in an analysis of a book I hope to leave well behind me, but remember being appalled at the stereotyping of characters, their shallow motivations tacked on with post-its by the author, and the way the characters would sit down for a talk--necessary in order for the author to explain the plot, while trapped in a bank vault under seige or while being chased in some silly armored van.
Try Umberto's Eco wonderful if imposing Foucault's Pendulum or The Name of the Rose, instead.
 

Paislee

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This looks like fun. :D

Books I loved, loved, LOVED :D

  • Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck
    The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd (just finished this one)
    Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons
    Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
    Holes, by Loius Sachar
    Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (dumb me purchased the abridged version, listened to it, got sucked right in and HAD to hear the unabridged version)
Books I liked a lot

  • Alias Grace, by by Margaret Atwood
    'Tis, by Frank McCourt
    Into the Forest, by Jean Hegland
    Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier
    Drowning Ruth, by Christina Schwarz
    Gap Creek, by Robert Morgan
    White Oleander, by Janet Fitch
Books I liked

  • My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
    Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
    Star Girl, by Jerry Spinelli
    The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares
    Icy Sparks, by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Books that were "meh" :rolleyes:

  • A Virtuous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons
    Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding
    Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham
    Trans-Sister Radio, by Chris Bohjalian
    Williwaw!, by Tom Bodett
    Wish You Well, by David Baldacci
    Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer
Books that were a waste of credit, time, and hard drive space :mad:

  • Are You Somebody?, by Nuala O' Faolain
    Gal: A True Life by, Ruthie Bolton
    Lost!, by Donn Fendler
    Mandy, by Julie Andrews
    Hooking Up, by Tom Wolfe
What I'm listening to right now

  • Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
Waiting to be listened to

  • Empress Orchid, by Anchee Min (just downloaded it. this is next on my list)
    Child of My Heart, by Alice McDermott
    Don't Know Much About History, Part 1 by Kenneth C. Davis
    Don't Know Much About History, Part 2 by Kenneth C. Davis
    Don't Know Much About History, Part 3 by Kenneth C. Davis (apparently I don't know much about history yet :D)
    Falling Angels, by Tracy Chevalier
    Standing in the Rainbow, by Fannie Flagg
    The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
    Mother of Pearl, by Melinda Haynes
 
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sparkyewu

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Pratchett,Prachett, Prachett

Almost all of Terry Prachett books are very very good, i am working on getting them all.

If you have never listened/read a pratchett book before, i recommend starting with something like mort or Guards! Guards! Since it is with these books he really matured even more as a writer and they are simply a bloody good time.
 

Podunk

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I've read a lot of positive comments on Terry Pratchett books. So I downloaded my first one yesterday and will check it out.
 

robert

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Not all these Books are available outside the US

Originally posted by david1951 From Outside US Audible Member Thread (click here)
...how annoying it is that Audible won't sell you certain books unless you live in the US. We're talking best sellers here, not "How to Build Your Own H-Bomb". It's apparently a very stupid remnant of the old copyright agreement between the British Empire and the Americas. The sooner we lose all that ancient baggage and have a unified world copyright regime, the better.
As a result of a pm from someone in Germany that Empress Orchid was not on Audible...

For those who do not live in the US, you will not be able to get all the books on the lists here.

May I humbly suggest that, to avoid cluttering this thread, any discussion of this problem take place at the other thread: Outside US Audible Member Thread (click here)
 
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W9FIF

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Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Still Life with Crows Lincoln Childs
The Firm, Street Lawyer, Painted House all by Grisham
The Dark Tower series by the one & only Stephen King
Odd Thomas Dean Koontz
Hichiker's Guide, Restaurant At The Far End of the Universe by Adams

A mere starting point my friends. Many more to be had!

I Love My iPod!
 

fordan

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Re: Pratchett,Prachett, Prachett

sparkyewu said:
Almost all of Terry Prachett books are very very good, i am working on getting them all.

If you have never listened/read a pratchett book before, i recommend starting with something like mort or Guards! Guards! Since it is with these books he really matured even more as a writer and they are simply a bloody good time.
They don't quite have all of the Discworld books last I checked, but I got email from a VP at Audible saying they were working on it. They are all available in audio form (from ISIS Publishing), but Audible didn't have them all, although they've added a number recently.

I'd also recommend starting with Guards! Guards!... The City Watch characters seem to be some of Terry's favourites. The Colour of Magic is technically the first book, and is good, but not as good as many of the later ones.

There are some good visual reading order guides available from http://www.ie.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index.html, which is a useful guide to follow the different plot paths.

I think I have all of them in Audible format, but then, I've had the 5 books for $30 plan for a while, so I have many many Audible.com books. Just no iPod yet until I get a job. :p
 

VegasRobb

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Here's another vote for Snow Crash.

I'm hoping House of Leaves or something by China Mieville gets put on audible soon.
 

dordale

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Robert--I agree with you...it would be nice if audible provided feedback about it's reviewers...but I'm just glad that they've added reviews! It wasn't so long ago that audible didn't include any form of customer feedback at all!

I still find myself going to Amazon to get more reviews for books I might be interested in, but it is nice to see reviews on audible's site that I know refer to the audio book version!

dordale :)
 

BigD

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Sigh...I WISH audible had a good review system. The best I've found was to do an advanced search and sort by rating. But then you have to sort (by eye) by the number of reviews. Anyone can go in and give it a high rating, but when 400 people rate it and it's still up at 5 stars - well, it's got to be good.

Or so I hope.

Unfortunately, that doesn't filter out the types of book that I just don't like. For example: DaVinci Code. It's got great and high ratings, but it's just not my type of book. Same with Left Behind. Not for me.

This is how I just stumbled on "Across the Nightingale Floor" by Lian Hearn. Wow. I am on book 2 and really enjoy it.

I wish the reviewers were listed by current reviews of recent books. Say - each reviewer had a list of reviews of the SAME books. A few best sellers from each section and some popular older books. (DaVinci Code, Middlesex, The Company, The Corrections, The Life of Pi, Dude, where's my Country) stuff like that. Then you can compare each reviewer - what they like and don't like - to your own personal tastes. Equally. That would be nice - for me at least.

I wonder if I can add "better review section" to my wish list in audible! :D
Denise
 

Compact

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Peter Kay - Top of the Tower

not sure if they sell this, but listened to "Peter Kay - Top of the Tower" yesterday and found it very funny.
(Northern english comic/tv guy so not sure if all humour will transfer to US)


But good quote from the start of this topic..
I still haven't read the Hitchhiker's Guide, but it is definitely on my to do list!!
Made me laugh, was sure if he was meaning he was going to read it or listen to it.
 

Roadkill

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My recommendation:

Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

If your a fan of Douglas Adams and the hitchhiking guide, you should definately read (or listen to) this book. It is a compilation of many of Adams short storys and radio transcripts that he had left on his Macintosh computer when he died. Also contained in this is the unfinished book Adams was in the process of writing when he passed: The Salmon of Doubt, which is awesome, and it's a shame it couldn't have been finished.
 

CarbonRods

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parannoya said:
I've read a lot of positive comments on Terry Pratchett books. So I downloaded my first one yesterday and will check it out.
parannoya, have you listened to it yet? Did you like it?

CR
 
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