Listening Library Presents..

Not many audiobooks have the depth and quality of a full cast and production, however a great reader truly does make the difference.

Lately I've been hunting through audible.com. It's a difficult hunt, a book that doesn't require 100% concentration to follow, that can capture your imagination without difficulty. Some may love the dry informative reads such as Outliers, Lost city of Z or Devil in the White City. I however avoid them like the plague. Action, drama, mixed with a good amount of comedy is essential for any listener, especially a novice.

So far? This is not necessarily a criticism of the writing nor the reader, but sometimes the stories just need to be read on paper. Often, light fluff makes for the best campfire stories...

5 stars

BBC Lord of the Rings

George Orwell, War of the Worlds

Harry Potter series

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Hunger Games

Neverwhere

Agatha Christie series with full cast and production value Radio 4 (Murder on the Orient Express, Death in the Clouds, Thirteen at Dinner)

Bridget Jones Diary

4 stars

The Night Circus

Tigana

The Ring of Solomon

Discovery of Witches

American Gods

City of Embers by

Gideon the Cutpurse

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Spy Who came out from the Cold

3 stars

Robopocalypse: A Novel

Bartimeaus Trilogy

The Pale King

The Alchemyst

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Pride and Prejudice & Zombies

Neuromancer

Bossypants

Blood Meridian

Year of the Flood (best to read...)

The Road

2 stars

George R. R. Martin series Song of Ice and Fire: DON'T BOTHER, his books are a great READ, but the dense storyline and vast group of characters can easily lose any attentive listener.

Top Audiobooks and Radio plays

I've been a fan of audiobooks since my school days, even during my childhood I would receive Arabian Nights or the original Hans Christian Anderson books on records (that's right... not even on tape... a record with my own little record player). When you often work over the twelve hour point you will quickly discover the difficulty of finding music that will occupy your time. I'd often swap between BBC, CBC radio, music and silence... until a friend re-introduced me to the world of books on tape.

There is a decline of quality of audiobooks however, it's often best to find a copy of BBC radio plays that promise a full cast of voice actors, sound fx and music tailored to specific stories and dramatic points. I have found that Brian Sibley and Michael Bakewell have produced some of the best radioplays to date. There are many worth finding, here a few to hunt for...

THE FOOL'S PICKS

1. BBC Orson Welles directed and narrated H.G. Wells' novel War of the Worlds

2. 1981 BBC Radio 4, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. A twelve part series is an abridged version starring Ian Holm as Frodo along with many other great voices.

3. 1978 BBC Radio 4 version of Douglas Adams' novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

4. 1985 Titus Groan and Gormenghast

5. 1968 The Hobbit by BBC 4

6. Orson Welles 1939 radio adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

7. The Chronicles of Narnia (10 x 25 min episodes) Among the cast of talent, Tom Wilkinson... recognize the name?

The very best of Agatha Christie audiobooks tend to pale in comparison to their BBC radio play counterparts. I have noticed that John Moffatt was the David Suchet for radio, playing the voice of Poirot more than once. Many of the Christie's novels are read respectably well by Hugh Frasier or David Suchet but nothing beats a well produced play.

Poirot BBC 4 (John Moffatt voiced Poirot 1987 onward with great success)

1985-86 The Mystery on the Blue Train (Maurice Denham)

1986 Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Peter Sallis)

Murder on the Orient Express

Death on the Nile

Murder on the Links

Murder in Mespotomia

Cards on the Table

Appointment with Death

Dumb Witness

Hallowe'en Party

Sad Cypress (This was truly one of their best. Emma Fielding and David McCallister as the two main roles.)

Marple BBC 4 (June Whitfield plays Miss Marple)

At Bertram's Hotel

A Caribbean Mystery

4:50 From Paddington

Other Christie plays

1953 Partners in Crime (Richard Attenborough and Shelia Sims play Tommy and Tuppence), a thirteen part version.

1990 The Sittaford Mystery

1940 And Then There Were None

1993 The Pale Horse (One of my favourites)