Audible trial bang for my buck
June 12, 2016 11:34 AM Subscribe
Just got a 90 day Audible trial and as best I can tell that lets me choose three books. I would like good looooong books, well read, quite possibly scifi or urban fantasy, recommendations?
I've recentlyish enjoyed Seveneves as an audiobook and appreciated the length of it. I see Stephen King has dropped two new ones, but whoever reads his books does really bizarre women's voices to the extent I can't really listen. I completely loved both the Rivers of London series and MaddAddam trilogy, but I think Atwood's stuff might be a bit short? How do I get the best value out of my trial?
Bonus-question, anything else good I can get out of my audible 3-month trial or the last week or two of my prime trial that I got it from?
I've recentlyish enjoyed Seveneves as an audiobook and appreciated the length of it. I see Stephen King has dropped two new ones, but whoever reads his books does really bizarre women's voices to the extent I can't really listen. I completely loved both the Rivers of London series and MaddAddam trilogy, but I think Atwood's stuff might be a bit short? How do I get the best value out of my trial?
Bonus-question, anything else good I can get out of my audible 3-month trial or the last week or two of my prime trial that I got it from?
Infinite Jest is 55 hours, plus the endnotes.
John Lee is an excellent narrator. He regularly does Alastair Reynolds' and Peter F. Hamilton's books, which are generally quite long. Also, I enjoyed his reading of China Miéville's Kraken; it's not the best book, but Lee's voice acting makes it really fun.
posted by neushoorn at 11:55 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
John Lee is an excellent narrator. He regularly does Alastair Reynolds' and Peter F. Hamilton's books, which are generally quite long. Also, I enjoyed his reading of China Miéville's Kraken; it's not the best book, but Lee's voice acting makes it really fun.
posted by neushoorn at 11:55 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I listened to a few of Louis McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels as audiobooks, and I really enjoyed the narrator - he had a sort of cynical voice that brought out the humor in the books.
posted by moonmilk at 12:03 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by moonmilk at 12:03 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London series are read by the incomparable Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (link to the first), who I suspect has magical powers himself because wow is he fantastic.
posted by rtha at 12:25 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 12:25 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Doh, and I fail in reading comprehension. Flagged for deletion, sorry!
posted by rtha at 12:27 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 12:27 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie Willis is long and very funny with a solid performance.
posted by vogon_poet at 12:32 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by vogon_poet at 12:32 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I listened to David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks and it was beautifully read (by multiple readers) and very well written. It's 24 hours and 30 minutes.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:53 PM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:53 PM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Stephen King's 11-22-63 is a great audiobook, and over 30 hours long.
posted by The Architect at 1:09 PM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by The Architect at 1:09 PM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
For the bonus question: I think your trial membership still lets you get in on member prices and sales. There is a daily deal book which is typically under 5$ and there are regular (usually about once a month) sales, the current sale ends today and is a bunch of books for 5$/each. If you don't want to spend actual money, sometimes the sales are 2-for-1-credit, which would double your current purchasing power. Just make sure you check the expiration on your credits and your membership and don't let anything expire waiting for a good sale, since they are fairly random.
posted by anaelith at 1:19 PM on June 12, 2016
posted by anaelith at 1:19 PM on June 12, 2016
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (40+ hours) is one of my favorite audiobooks, and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys (only 10 hours) is the other one.
posted by mskyle at 2:04 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 2:04 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Outlander series of big fat books has a narrator that I really like who handles the range of voices well. However, even with a time travel element and snippets of witchcraft, they aren't exactly SFF books, and would probably be of more interest to fans of historical fiction.
posted by puddledork at 2:32 PM on June 12, 2016
posted by puddledork at 2:32 PM on June 12, 2016
You said urban fantasy, so how about The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams, the first of the Bobby Dollar series? It's more than 15 hours.
posted by tomboko at 2:39 PM on June 12, 2016
posted by tomboko at 2:39 PM on June 12, 2016
Best answer: Dune is over 20 hours and good to listen to.
The Scar by China Meivelle is over 20 hours too. That's one of my favorites.
I find the most bang for buck tends to be The Great Courses by the Teaching Company. Non fiction but they can be fascinating. My favourite at the moment is the History of Ancient Egypt.
posted by poxandplague at 4:53 AM on June 13, 2016
The Scar by China Meivelle is over 20 hours too. That's one of my favorites.
I find the most bang for buck tends to be The Great Courses by the Teaching Company. Non fiction but they can be fascinating. My favourite at the moment is the History of Ancient Egypt.
posted by poxandplague at 4:53 AM on June 13, 2016
I'd recommend Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's The Long Earth. It clocks in just shy of 12 hours. It's also one of the few audio books I've REALLY REALLY enjoyed.
posted by lukez at 6:13 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by lukez at 6:13 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here are some long books I've enjoyed:
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Of course, there's always the Game of Thrones series and many Neal Stephenson books like Snow Crash or The Diamond Age
If you like noir fantasy, there's the Grimnoir series.
posted by eye of newt at 12:45 AM on June 14, 2016
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Of course, there's always the Game of Thrones series and many Neal Stephenson books like Snow Crash or The Diamond Age
If you like noir fantasy, there's the Grimnoir series.
posted by eye of newt at 12:45 AM on June 14, 2016
Best answer: I enjoyed Murakami's 1Q84. It's 46 hours long, slow paced, but it drew me in.
posted by The Incredible Gnome at 9:16 PM on June 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by The Incredible Gnome at 9:16 PM on June 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Loads of really great suggestions here, including stuff I've already enjoyed like Norris&Strange, best answer for now to 1Q84 for sheer length and knowing the great courses on there s also really helpful, and will add as I listen, I have a giant wishlist now for my trial. Thanks!
posted by Iteki at 1:42 PM on June 15, 2016
posted by Iteki at 1:42 PM on June 15, 2016
So the sale thing and pure length... They have another sale now that is 2 for one credit for a pretty good selection of the Great Courses. So right now you could get Great Mythologies of the World (31 hours and 35 minutes) and Joy of Science (30 hours and 31 minutes) and end up with 62 hours and 6 minutes for one credit.
posted by anaelith at 5:07 AM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by anaelith at 5:07 AM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I don't see the two-for-one credit on this, is there something I need to activate?
posted by Iteki at 7:55 AM on June 24, 2016
posted by Iteki at 7:55 AM on June 24, 2016
It ended Thursday. The sales are always on the front page banner, usually a different one every week or two. For the two-for-one sales, you have to get the books from the sale page for it to work properly.
posted by anaelith at 4:13 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by anaelith at 4:13 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Finally spent all my credits and time to mark some best answers although pretty much everything was a great suggestion and I will be checking some of them out in print! I really noticed how sensitive I am to narrators and unfortunately some real stars fell on that. After I went to finish my trial, they offered me an extra credit to stay the rest of the period, so I totalled four downloads.
My final picks ended up being: IQ84 @ 47 hours, The Robber Bride @ 20 hours, Dune @ 21 hours and last but not least, clocking in at a juicy 51 hours the newly released collected short stories (100+) of Arthur C. Clarke, bringing me to a whopping total of 139 hours of listening. Thanks to all!
posted by Iteki at 1:25 PM on August 18, 2016
My final picks ended up being: IQ84 @ 47 hours, The Robber Bride @ 20 hours, Dune @ 21 hours and last but not least, clocking in at a juicy 51 hours the newly released collected short stories (100+) of Arthur C. Clarke, bringing me to a whopping total of 139 hours of listening. Thanks to all!
posted by Iteki at 1:25 PM on August 18, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
My absolute favorite is "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell," and the audiobook is a one man show par excellence.
posted by jferngler at 11:42 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]