Audiobooks vs Printed page (suggestion needed)

[Saffi_Anne]

I forgot to cancel my "free" Audible.com subscription on time, so now my "free" subscription has actually cost me money, and I've got to spend it on something. Le sigh.

I'd like to at least get something worthwhile out of it, but the problem is that if I'm going to own a book, I'd much rather own an actual, you know, book. I usually find the reader's voice a distraction, especially in the case of dialog, because want to imagine the voices of characters or the narrator, not have them supplied for me. Readers also tend to read too slow, which is especially annoying in action scenes. Yet I'm having trouble finding any reviews of audiobooks that even mention the narration, much less give any information about it.

The only time I deliberately got the audiobook instead of the printed page was for Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, because I heard it first in a library copy, and the narration by Lenny Henry was hilariously perfect. It was the first time I've ever considered the narrator's work as a "performance" that was a piece of art in and of itself, and not just a bland voice behind the author's words.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an audiobook (any genre) whose narrator adds something to the work?

(PS: Spike reading the Dresden Files is out, because I already have all the hardbound copies.)

[karen1982]

I liked the Coraline audiobook, Neil Gamain reads it himself!

[moodygrrl]

It's funny you mention Anansi Boys as that's my best example of the (rare) occasions when the audio book is _better_ than just reading the printed page. Lenny Henry's performance really made the book for me.

If you don't already have them I'd suggest Douglas Adams reading any of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.
Whoever read Christopher Moore's Fluke did a fantastic job and IMHO the book is a great intro to Moore's universe.
James Marsters does a great job with the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher, starting with Storm Front.
Also, to go with what Karen said, I've found anything written and read by Neil Gaiman is worth listening to.

For non-fiction, Bill Bryson does a great job reading his own work, with In a Sunburned Country, a travelogue of Australia that's affecting and very very funny being the standout.
Also for non-fiction I enjoy listening to Malcolm Gladwell's books. I haven't finished the newest one yet but I've listened to Outliers a number of times.
Roy Blount Jr. also reads all his own work and listening to his books is my preferred way of 'reading' them.
I hope those suggestions give you somewhere to start, I agree that audio book readers can be incredibly uneven. I didn't suggest any Terry Pratchett books because there are some good ones (the later books, for the most part) and some terrible clunkers (mostly earlier titles).

[Atheana]

If you're looking for nonfiction, the Feynman Lectures on Physics are a masterpiece.

Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate, giving the actual lectures that his "Red Books" (The Feynman Lectures on Physics, one of the most used calculus-based-physics textbooks in the world) are based off of.

[Saffi_Anne]

Thanks to you all! I think I'm going to get the Bill Bryson one - I've read several of his books, and I really love his writing style. I've also heard him read two (A Walk in the Woods and Shakespeare: The World As Stage), and really liked how he translated the humor from page to audio - another case of the audio adding something to the work rather than distracting from it.

I haven't bought it yet, because I've also reserved Fluke, the Christopher Moore book, from the library, and hopefully it will be available for me to try out before I have to commit to the Bryson one.

PS Kathy: I've got the Feynman lectures! (Great Minds think alike!)
But: I have yet to listen to them (but some Minds are lazier than others.)
Guess it's time to pull them out.