Recommendations for long drive audio books?

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:56 am

I know I am behind the times on this, but I just discovered the entertainment value of audio books on long drives. Typically I enjoy actually reading the book, but the audio versions are pretty good now. I have an 8 hour tow coming up soon and I am looking for a good audio book for the trip. I want something to keep my interest, but nothing too involved since I will be driving with a large trailer. I want to keep it light but so simple it's not fun.

Just finished the new Dan Brown, and I might get the Garth Stein Book “The Art of Racing in the Rain”. What other audio books would you recommend that are good for long drives?

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:53 pm

Marty,

Have you considered going to your local library and just checking them out instead of purchasing? My mother in-law does this as she is on the road quite often and it beats buying.

-Kevin

RobLupella · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:58 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

I know I am behind the times on this, but I just discovered the entertainment value of audio books on long drives. Typically I enjoy actually reading the book, but the audio versions are pretty good now. I have an 8 hour tow coming up soon and I am looking for a good audio book for the trip. I want something to keep my interest, but nothing too involved since I will be driving with a large trailer. I want to keep it light but so simple it's not fun.

Just finished the new Dan Brown, and I might get the Garth Stein Book “The Art of Racing in the Rain”. What other audio books would you recommend that are good for long drives?

+1 on "The Art of Racing in the Rain" . Just find one from an author you like. I listen all the time when driving. The library is a good source or you can go to www.audible.com and they have audiobooks to download.

I also have some audio CDs - mostly of the novel type by Jonathan Kellerman, Grisham, Robt. Parker etc. You can have them if you want them

Rob

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:15 pm

yeah, I actually prefer the downloads since I can just load up the MP3 player and go. No swapping CD's, etc.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:17 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

yeah, I actually prefer the downloads since I can just load up the MP3 player and go. No swapping CD's, etc.

Your media-player/converter of choice (Windows Media Player included) makes quick work of converting the library audio book CD's to digital format that fit nicely on portable devices. Not that we would do that, of course....

Alan Hensley · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:39 pm

I sometimes use librivox.org, all free to download.

http://librivox.org/

Just about any writings that are in the public domain are here.
Many with a choice of languages.
Great if you want to hone your German to impress 'em at the BMW waxing sessions.
They are read by volunteers, some are very good and others are not.
Since you don't pay anything, if you don't like the reader, move on to your next book.
Some readers are really good, and you can search the books by reader.
Classics as well as many books on what ever subjects interest you.

Downloadable as mp3 or ogg files.
The download will be zipped, so don't forget to unzip them before adding them to a player or burning them to a CD.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:28 am

Marty Howard wrote:

I might get the Garth Stein Book “The Art of Racing in the Rain”.

I know everyone here seems to love that book, but I felt like putting a bullet in my head while reading it.

It is well written and I enjoyed the fact that the main character is an up and coming race car driver. I also realize the main idea is about perseverance, but other than the last 10 pages or so in which they wrap things up, the book is depressing as hell. It just wasn’t enjoyable and I don’t think it would be a good travel book.

Personally for travel, I prefer books that are not very heavy on the intellectual side. I think the last thing I need while driving is to think “hmmm, now what did that mean”. So when I am in the car, I am a fan of quick paced formulaic thriller/adventure fiction. My suggestions…

* Dirk Pitt and/or Oregon Files series (written by Clive Cussler and others)
* Covert-One series (written by various people, but is part of the Robert Ludlum jugernaught.)

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:45 am

I went ahead and got Valhalla Rising and a couple more of Cussler books.

I am also curious about Neil Gaiman stuff and I am going to try out Anansi Boys.

I got about 40 good recomendations and should load me up for a while. One of the issues I have found is a lot of the recomendation I have actually read, and so the Audio version's impact would be lost.

Other recomendations I haven't read though are
The life of Pei.
Some other works by Bill Pullman
Lion in the White House
State of Fear
Sun of Suns

Stacy King · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:52 am

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy !!!

Preferably originally read by Douglas Adams

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:58 am

Stacy King wrote:

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy !!!

Preferably originally read by Douglas Adams

already read them all.

Stacy King · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:01 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

Stacy King wrote:

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy !!!

Preferably originally read by Douglas Adams

already read them all.

I know... but hearing Douglas Adams read them is just as good (if not better... it's always funnier in a British accent)... and if you've only read 'em once or twice, you're still missing out

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:39 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

I went ahead and got Valhalla Rising and a couple more of Cussler books.

I am also curious about Neil Gaiman stuff and I am going to try out Anansi Boys.

I got about 40 good recomendations and should load me up for a while. One of the issues I have found is a lot of the recomendation I have actually read, and so the Audio version's impact would be lost.

Other recomendations I haven't read though are
The life of Pei.
Some other works by Bill Pullman
Lion in the White House
State of Fear
Sun of Suns

I just downloaded the Life of Pei, I'll let you know. I'm not big on sci-fantasy and could not get into Neil Gaimen. (Discworld right?)

I would try anything by Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaason (funny, ironic, ssatirical).

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:34 pm

RobLupella wrote:

Marty Howard wrote:

I went ahead and got Valhalla Rising and a couple more of Cussler books.

I am also curious about Neil Gaiman stuff and I am going to try out Anansi Boys.

I got about 40 good recomendations and should load me up for a while. One of the issues I have found is a lot of the recomendation I have actually read, and so the Audio version's impact would be lost.

Other recomendations I haven't read though are
The life of Pei.
Some other works by Bill Pullman
Lion in the White House
State of Fear
Sun of Suns

I just downloaded the Life of Pei, I'll let you know. I'm not big on sci-fantasy and could not get into Neil Gaimen. (Discworld right?)

I would try anything by Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaason (funny, ironic, ssatirical).

Discworld is Terry Pratchett.

I like Neil Gaiman. I would recommend "American Gods"

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:00 pm

Anything by David Sedaris.

David Sedaris is a humorist and author who frequently contributes to the NPR show This American Life. Most, probably all, of the pieces he's read on the show are from his books. To read the books is funny enough, but they're a whole lot funnier when read aloud by Sedaris. The format is essay and short story length, which I also find good for driving.

Otherwise, Chris and I listened to Malcom Gladwell's Outliers on the way to Nationals this year. That was really interesting. Turns out, I need to have been autocrossing for ten thousand hours before I'll actually be any good at it. :lol:

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:10 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

Marty Howard wrote:

I went ahead and got Valhalla Rising and a couple more of Cussler books.

I am also curious about Neil Gaiman stuff and I am going to try out Anansi Boys.

I got about 40 good recomendations and should load me up for a while. One of the issues I have found is a lot of the recomendation I have actually read, and so the Audio version's impact would be lost.

Other recomendations I haven't read though are
The life of Pei.
Some other works by Bill Pullman
Lion in the White House
State of Fear
Sun of Suns

I just downloaded the Life of Pei, I'll let you know. I'm not big on sci-fantasy and could not get into Neil Gaimen. (Discworld right?)

I would try anything by Christopher Moore or Carl Hiaason (funny, ironic, ssatirical).

Discworld is Terry Pratchett.

I like Neil Gaiman. I would recommend "American Gods"

Hmmm, you're right. I didn't get into diskworld I may now have to look into Neil Gaiman.

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Recommendations for long drive audio books?

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