As my regular readers know, I always have at least one audiobook going for each member of the family. I had to accept the challenge to come up with 10 favorites for Top 10 Tuesday, hosted as always by the bold readers at the Broke and the Bookish. It’s rare for me to relisten to books now that I have so many waiting, so these are ones I’ve found myself going back to.
Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer. Read by Katherine Kellgren. – This is the story of a London orphan who decided her future would be better if she dressed as a boy and joined the navy. It’s the series that really turned me on to Katherine Kellgren as a narrator – her accents are impeccable, her enthusiasm contagious, and her singing spot-on. Decidedly raunchy in spots, it’s for teens and up.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. Full Cast Audio. – A dreamy fairy tale retelling with a fantasy Mongolian setting.
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Read by James Avery. – It may be the Depression, but Bud is irrepressible, and he captivated everyone in the family.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. Read by Euan Morton – it’s like Harry Potter, but not. I listened to it twice in a row.
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Read by Jim Dale. – I have lost track of how many times I’ve listened to these – they are comfort listening for sure.
Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater. Read by Will Patton.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Read by Wil Wheaton. – this virtual reality adventure is a favorite of my husband’s, and my middle school son’s teacher says that it’s a hit with her students, too, though it’s published for adults.
True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. Read by Bahni Turpin. – A story of aliens invading, as experienced by a whip-smart girl – this comes up on a lot of my lists because it’s hard to match the levels of humor and depth of thought here.
Wee Free Men and the rest of the Tiffany Aching series by Sir Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs. – I was saying depth and humor? Sir Terry is the master of this.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Read by Janet Song. – Back to poetry, an epic quest mixed with folk tales in a jewel-like story. You’ll want the print edition on hand, too, for the illustrations.
Honorable mention: the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld is the one my son turns to any time I’ve left him without a back-up audio book. I may have listened to it more than once myself.
What are your favorites?
alibrarymama 
OMG, how has it never occurred to me to find/listen to Book of a Thousand Days???? I hope my library has it.
Also, I loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. It is dreamy.
I hope you can find Book of a Thousand Days! And I’m very much looking forward to When the Sea Turned to Silver, for more dreamy Grace Lin stories.
My library has it! Now I just need a long trip to go on/more time in the car so I can listen to it.
Ooh, I’ll check out When the Sea Turned to Silver.
Harry Potter is the audiobook series I always return to as well. I just finished listening to the series again earlier this month. And like your husband, my husband also love Ready Player One. He basically listens to it on repeat, and he’s hesitant to try new books. What are some of your husband’s other favorites?
He also really likes the Martian, the Jacky Faber books, Seanan McGuire’s Velveteen vs. series and (for very different listening), the Maturin/Aubrey series.
HP & Jim Dale are classic. / Will Patton’s female voices aren’t great, but I really enjoyed the book / Wil Wheaton is perfect (I love when he gets to call himself a geezer) / Tiffany Aching & the Nac Mac Feegles are big favorites / I though Leviathan dragged quite a bit in the middle but the narration kept me going.
My Audiobook TTT
Thank you! I agree that Will Patton’s female voices aren’t great, but he still sold me on the book overall.
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