Top Books I'd Recommend to Someone Who Doesn't Listen to Audiobooks

Top Ten Tuesday is a weakly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  They love lists as much as I do, so it's only fair to tip my hat.

This week I'd like to recommend my top reads for someone who doesn't read listen to audiobooks.  Personally, I grew up on audiobooks, they were a constant presence on family road trips (of which there were many), and I continue to listen to them today.  I love them!  Some books just work better orally, and I have a few suggestions to get you started:

1)  The Harry Potter series has produced my all-time favorite audiobooks!  I mean it, these books are amazing.  I'm a natural contrarian, so naturally, I hated Harry Potter without even reading it when they first started getting big.  But then, cue thirteen-hour family road trip to visit relatives and me stuck in the back seat with very little choice but to listen.  I was converted almost instantly, and this remains my favorite audio series to this day.

2)  Speaking of Harry Potter, you know what made the audiobooks so awesome beyond J.K. Rowling's story?  The narrator--Jim Dale.  Jim Dale is hands down the best audiobook narrator to be had, and I cannot recommend his work enough.  If you're looking to try an audiobook and don't know where to start, just look at this man's backlog.  Whether you choose a childhood classic like Peter Pan, or a beautiful new work like The Night Circus, you won't be disappointed.

3) You know Neil Gaiman?  That man we all dearly love?  He has been producing his own line of audiobooks entitled "Neil Gaiman Presents", and I hear they are fantastic.  I've heard great things about his production of Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint in particular, and am hoping to pick it up soon myself.

4) As I said above, some books sincerely work better when spoken aloud.  Two such examples are Libba Bray's Beauty Queens and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why.  I'm not sure I could have read Beauty Queens, but listening to it was a blast, and Thirteen Reasons Why as a story focused on audiotapes works excellently in the spoken form.

5) Journey stories work excellently as audiobooks, especially if you listen to them on road trips!  A great example of this is J. R. R. Tolkein's The Hobbit.  I also think that most middle grade tales translate excellently to audio. 


I realize audiobooks aren't for everyone, but I hope if you're thinking to try this list might help!  Audiobooks are perfect for commuting, long road trips, working out, or even listening to around the house while doing chores.  Think of all the extra 'reading' you can get done if you fill that extra downtime with audiobooks!