2w ago

Recommendations?

I've somewhat recently become addicted to audiobooks. Every time I'm in my car or doing something mindless I put on an audiobook. I had a good stretch of one book I liked after another but now am looking to dig a little deeper. The books I've listened to so far were all books that I kept seeing being recommended over and over again.

Dungeon Crawler Carl Expeditionary Force Bobiverse Project Hail Mary The Martian The Expanse The Children of Time The Silo series Murderbot

Am I missing anything that gets consistently recommended?

What would you recommend that would fit with that list?

Other books I've tried but didn't love

Three body problem The Witcher books Wheel of Time

34 comments

Something a bit off the beaten path to potentially discover something new:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams, detective comedy in a fantasy world, a tiny sprinkle of horror. Great audiobook.
Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse, post-apocalyptic world with elements of prime nation mythology.
Starship troopers - Robert Heinlein, is it hilarious criticism or unconditional support of the military industry? Who knows! I laugh my way through it, some take it very literal. Either way, great sci-fi with political commentary.
The left hand of the darkness - Ursula Le Guin, because no sci-fi list is completed without a Le Guin book. Exploration, action and discussions on the meaning of gender, written by the best sci-fi writer possibly ever.
You might like The Deadly Education series by Naomi Novik. It's like Harry Potter but uses a hard magic system instead of a soft magic system.
- Definitely recommend this. It's a fun read with a really interesting take on magic.
Old mans war by John Scalzi
The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (BBC radio drama version)
These stretch your categories a bit - but we have similar tastes in books compared to your list. Here’s my recommendations
check out Blake crouch - dark matter was a fun read even if it’s a bit of a beach book
the red rising series - right up your alley, you’ll love it. Book one has a bit of YA feel to it, but they keep getting better and it was still good.
Enders game if you didn’t read that in school
what about Stephen king? Some people hate him - but he’s not just horror and his books can be fun. Some are trippy weird. The dark tower series was excellent (although long), and under the dome was good and oddly in this category (without spoiling too much).
dune
sphere by crighton - this one was fun, not a masterpiece or anything
I’ll also plug my all time favorites to get you into other genres (from someone who might have similar tastes)
lord of the rings
unbroken
the count of monte cristo
a man called ove
the book thief
Frankenstein
night
- I loved all the books you refer to, except Red Rising. While the set up was good, the background motivation seems plastered over after the fact (even if it’s the first chapters) and felt weakened at every step. The writing wasn’t compelling. If you want something in the recent YA, I would recommend The Hunger Games. Particularly the first and last books.
Asimovs universe?
There’s 3 different sagas that he incorporated together AFTER he wrote most of them. Robots, Empire, and Foundations in that chronological order.
Ive read foundations and robots, starting on Empire now
- I did listen to the Foundation trilogy. It had interesting ideas and a decent plot, but something about it felt kinda dull. It wasn't too bad though. I did make it all the way through. I don't know if it was the writing style or the narrator.. It was probably the narrator. It felt like listening to someone reading a book, unlike good narrators who play the roles and become the characters.
  
  Asimov’s writing can be off-putting in his own right. I would describe his writing as dry and factual, very little space for emotions, introspection and even action, while most scenes are almost screen plays. A lot is conveyed in very little words, a lot left to the imagination. They are all qualities I personally love and that make his books stand out, but some if not most readers find it too flat to relate to.
Alien III by William Gibson. It is competed different than the movie and is narrated by Lance Henriksen and Micheal Biehn.
Halo: The Fall of Reach
Fatherland by Robert Harris
A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
The Girl With All The Gifts
If you are in the States don’t do any Harry Potter Book. The narrator of the US audio books is fucking terrible..
- Alien III was interesting. I can see why the script wasn’t made into a movie though. It just told the same story we’d already seen twice.
  
  Doing the same shit over and over again has never stopped Hollywood before.
Three body problem is a trash book in my opinion so I don't blame you there ughhh.
I have been really liking the Southern Reach series by Jeff Vandermeer.
- I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on The Three Body Problem book/series if you don't mind? I loved the series and wonder what you saw differently than me or maybe what I'm missing that you picked up on?
  
  My primary issue is that the series insults the nuance of the human condition in order to act out the cool ideas of the author and despite the fact that this completely undermines anything the authors cool ideas have to say potentially, the general air of the series comes off like it is saying something meaningful when again the portrayal of humans by the author is so incomplete, fractured and reductive that I don't think the series manages to say anything of substance at all.
  Certainly not on the topic of first contact with aliens.
  Though both [female] characters are largely defined by the plot mechanics that they set in motion, they still provide a welcome female presence on a show that could have easily become a sexist mess.
  https://thoughtcatalog.com/evan-lambert/2024/03/how-netflixs-3-body-problem-fixed-the-books-sexism-issue/
  That I think is a good little quip that helps summarize my feelings on the series.
- The first Southern Reach book was great. I found the sequels dull as dirt tho.
I've been going through Adrian Tchaikovsky's works (author of Children of Time) and been enjoying most of them. Alien Clay and Service Model most notably.
The Southern Reach Trilogy (Jeff Vandermeer) seems to be commonly recommended along with the list you have above.
The Locked Tomb Series (Tamsyn Muir) is a fun genre-bending read. Ostensibly a gothic horror sci-fi/fantasy series it is also had the absolute funniest thing I've read recently.
Psalm for the wild built (robot and monk series) is a very well done scifi solarpunk slice of life thing. Wayfarers, same author, is pretty compelling for, arguably, just being about space infrastructure.
- Vote in support of the locked room series.
  Did you actually laugh while reading? I find your description of funny as odd, even if I enjoyed it thoroughly.
  
  Oh absolutely! But I also have a painfully dry sense of humor that Muir hits on brilliantly that especially when put in contrast with the bleak world and story makes the jokes especially funny. ::: spoiler example the "Hi not dead yet, I'm dad" scene in the second book, or the repeated callbacks to the cows in the third. :::
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie and the entire First Law series. The books are narrated by the wonderful Steven Pacey and they're just so good. Pacey does an excellent job of conveying each character's personality, and the way he narrates fight scenes are so good.
World War Z is a book I didnt see on your list and its very commonly recommended. Very good with a full cast.
The Yahtzee Croshaw books are good. Will save the universe for food.
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series.
Ben Aaronovitchs Rivers of London.
He who fights with monsters spoken by Heath Miller is good.
Anything spoken by Steven Fry.
I really enjoyed Sea of Tranquility, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Star Maker, anything Ursula K Le Guin
Try out The Wandering Inn.
If you like the first, it'll keep you going for a while.
I've heard that the narrator for Name of the Wind audiobook was excellent, so if you don't want to tear your hair out in frustration with that "likely to never be completed" series, you can try to find other books narrated by him.
I'm not seeing anything by Brandon Sanderson on your list, so if you are looking for "consistently recommended" books then that would be anything by Sanderson. Mistborn is the standard starting point for his books.
- Thanks for that info! I've never done audiobooks, only heard from my buddy who does.
Anything narrated by Ray Porter.
- I did look into his work after PHM and the Bobiverse. I found Quantum Radio to be pretty good and thought it was going to be a series, but apparently its just a stand alone book.
I always keep a few episodes of the various Pod Castle, Escape Pod, etc. short fiction podcasts loaded up for those times I'm stuck on a trip and between books.
Narrators make the difference. Some authors try to narrate their own books and while good authors, are often bad narrators. Find a narrator you like, and see what else they’ve worked on.
That said, comedians usually do a good job of narrating their own books, and often ad lib or throw in extra side stories that aren’t in the print edition.
If you like classic sci fi, I recommend “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” by Heinlein, narrated by Lloyd James. It’s a classic, and the narrator does a fine job.
Artemis by the guy that wrote The Martian was fun and well narrated. I can visualize it as a streaming tv show.
The Murderbot books are also narrated well, and an interesting listen. I enjoyed them more than the tv series.
Sophie's World
Omgosh I was gonna say project hail mary and I'm not even an audiobook person. I haven't listened to it either I only found out after reading it and then looking for discussion that the audiobook is an upgrade.
So anyone reading this: project hail mary by Andy weir is great. The audiobook especially considered the best medium. Go in blind. If you must read about it first then do so and give yourself time to forget it. You're meant to figure stuff out slowly with the main character from the very beginning.

34 comments