This year, I finally got Dan hooked on audiobooks for our road trips. They really make two hour car rides go by SO much faster! We don't always love them. I think we tried 3 or 4 just in the past week that we couldn't get through the sample without yawning. There are a couple where I thought I would enjoy reading the book, but the audiobook was just too dry to listen to.
These are audiobooks we truly loved:
The Martian
This was truly fantastic. I chose it because it was on the Great American Read list, and I thought Dan might enjoy it. I really didn't expect to love it myself. I was wrong. I loved it.
Dan later rented the movie and watched it while I was out one night. He said it was good, but not nearly as good as the book. He's learning... LOL!
This was truly fantastic. I chose it because it was on the Great American Read list, and I thought Dan might enjoy it. I really didn't expect to love it myself. I was wrong. I loved it.
Dan later rented the movie and watched it while I was out one night. He said it was good, but not nearly as good as the book. He's learning... LOL!
"Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plainold "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills - and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit - he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?"
Narrated By Will Wheaton
So it's pretty awesome when there's a line in the book about Will Wheaton, and you realize that Will Wheaton is reading that line. :-)
Educated by Tara Westover
I don't know what I thought this book was about - I think I was expecting more about our American education system? But it's a memoir of an interesting life. This one I did not expect Dan to like nearly as much - but our previous book had ended mid road trip, and this was all I had available on my phone at the time. Again, I was wrong. Dan was as thoroughly drawn into this story as I was.
Born A Crime By Trevor Noah
Another memoir. I really enjoyed hearing this soon after reading Hillbilly Elegy. Comparing and contrasting the two was especially interesting. Both of them are memoirs similar to Educated - although I think Educated was the most gripping of the three. If I had closely read the description of this book I probably would not have chosen it - but it came up at the top of the list of available audiobooks from the library, and I clicked on it. Although the description is all about "social commentary" and sounds political, the book is just his story - and it's a fascinating story.
Trevor Noah, one of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars and host of The Daily Show, tells his wild coming-of-age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. In this Audible Studios production, Noah provides something deeper than traditional memoirists: powerfully funny observations about how farcical political and social systems play out in our lives.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that makes for a thrilling listening experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets 16-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
Some Favorites From Past Years:
Holmes On The Range by Steve Hockensmith
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Steve_Hockensmith_Holmes_on_the_Range
This is is a series of books, and they are all fun reads. But I think I like the audiobook versions even better! They have a fantastic, perfect, narrator (William Dufris) and are a cross between humor, mystery, a little history , and a western. Yeah, I know, it sounds like too much. Just trust me and try them - they are FUN books!
1893 is a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job. When Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at the secretive Bar-VR cattle spread, they're not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a comfortable campfire around which they can enjoy their favorite pastime: scouring Harper's Weekly for stories about the famous Sherlock Holmes. When another ranch hand turns up in an outhouse with a bullet in his brain, Old Red sees the perfect opportunity to put his Holmes-inspired detective talents to work and solve the case. Big Red, like it or not (and mostly he does not), is along for the wild ride in this clever, compelling, and completely one-of-a-kind mystery.
A Long Way Home by Saroo Bierly
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Saroo_Brierley_A_Long_Way_Home
An amazing memoir of a boys journey to find his parents.
Narrated by Vikas Adam
"At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family. A Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: hope."
Seven Years In Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
I have found that I often enjoy memoirs as audiobooks. This one was mesmerizing!
Recounts how the author, an Austrian, escaped from an English internment camp in India in 1943 and spent the next seven years in Tibet, observing its social practices, religion, politics, and people.
In 1943, Heinrich Harrer, a youthful Austrian adventurer, mountaineer, and skier, escaped from a British internment camp in India and traveled through the rugged Himalayas seeking refuge from the war. He ended up in the Forbidden City of Lhasa in Tibet, with no money or permission to be in the country. However, his curious appearance and the traditional hospitality of Tibetan society soon worked in Harrer's favor, allowing him unprecedented acceptance among the upper class. His intelligence and his European ways also intrigued the curious young Dalai Lama, and Harrer became his tutor and trusted confidant. When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1950, Harrer and the Dalai Lama fled the country together.
The Lost City Of The Monkey God
Since the days of conquistador Hernan Cortes, rumors have circulated about an ancient White City of immense wealth hidden in the Honduran interior. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who had fled there to escape the Spanish, warning that anyone who disturbs this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the jungle with hundreds of artifacts and tantalizing stories of having seen the crumbling walls of the Lost City of the Monkey God for himself. Soon after, he committed suicide without revealing its mysterious location.
Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying expensive laser technology that could map the terrain under the dense rainforest canopy. That flight revealed for the first time an unmistakeable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing proof of not just the mythical city but an entire lost civilization.
Suspenseful, surprising, and unputdownable, The Lost City of the Monkey God is narrative nonfiction at its most compelling: a story of adventure, danger, ancient curses, modern technology, a stunning medical mystery, and a riveting eye-witness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.
Brave Companions By David McCullough
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6568682-brave-companions
This is a great book of short stories, mostly about nature lovers. (I love everything David McCullough has written - he's an incredible historian! ) I read the book, but knew I would be unlikely to convince Dan to read it, even though I knew he would enjoy it! This was one of the first audio books I got him interested in, we would listen to it in segments on many of our jaunts into the woods for hikes and geocaching trips.
Look for other audio books by him as well!
So it's pretty awesome when there's a line in the book about Will Wheaton, and you realize that Will Wheaton is reading that line. :-)
From this list so far, you might assume we are science fiction or fantasty readers. Nope. Not at all. I very very rarely read anything that could be classified sci fi or fantasty. That's part of why I chose this audiobook - I wanted to cross it off on the Great American Read list, but I didn't really expect to like it. I thought as an audiobook on a road trip, it might pass the time and get it off my list. And then, it ended up being one of my absolute favorite books of 2018.
"At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut - part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of 10,000 planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune - and remarkable power - to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved - that of the late 20th century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt - among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life - and love - in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?"
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?"
Educated by Tara Westover
I don't know what I thought this book was about - I think I was expecting more about our American education system? But it's a memoir of an interesting life. This one I did not expect Dan to like nearly as much - but our previous book had ended mid road trip, and this was all I had available on my phone at the time. Again, I was wrong. Dan was as thoroughly drawn into this story as I was.
Another memoir. I really enjoyed hearing this soon after reading Hillbilly Elegy. Comparing and contrasting the two was especially interesting. Both of them are memoirs similar to Educated - although I think Educated was the most gripping of the three. If I had closely read the description of this book I probably would not have chosen it - but it came up at the top of the list of available audiobooks from the library, and I clicked on it. Although the description is all about "social commentary" and sounds political, the book is just his story - and it's a fascinating story.
Trevor Noah, one of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars and host of The Daily Show, tells his wild coming-of-age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. In this Audible Studios production, Noah provides something deeper than traditional memoirists: powerfully funny observations about how farcical political and social systems play out in our lives.
mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that makes for a thrilling listening experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets 16-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
Some Favorites From Past Years:
Holmes On The Range by Steve Hockensmith
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Steve_Hockensmith_Holmes_on_the_Range
This is is a series of books, and they are all fun reads. But I think I like the audiobook versions even better! They have a fantastic, perfect, narrator (William Dufris) and are a cross between humor, mystery, a little history , and a western. Yeah, I know, it sounds like too much. Just trust me and try them - they are FUN books!
1893 is a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job. When Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at the secretive Bar-VR cattle spread, they're not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a comfortable campfire around which they can enjoy their favorite pastime: scouring Harper's Weekly for stories about the famous Sherlock Holmes. When another ranch hand turns up in an outhouse with a bullet in his brain, Old Red sees the perfect opportunity to put his Holmes-inspired detective talents to work and solve the case. Big Red, like it or not (and mostly he does not), is along for the wild ride in this clever, compelling, and completely one-of-a-kind mystery.
A Long Way Home by Saroo Bierly
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Saroo_Brierley_A_Long_Way_Home
An amazing memoir of a boys journey to find his parents.
Narrated by Vikas Adam
"At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family. A Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: hope."
Seven Years In Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
I have found that I often enjoy memoirs as audiobooks. This one was mesmerizing!
Recounts how the author, an Austrian, escaped from an English internment camp in India in 1943 and spent the next seven years in Tibet, observing its social practices, religion, politics, and people.
In 1943, Heinrich Harrer, a youthful Austrian adventurer, mountaineer, and skier, escaped from a British internment camp in India and traveled through the rugged Himalayas seeking refuge from the war. He ended up in the Forbidden City of Lhasa in Tibet, with no money or permission to be in the country. However, his curious appearance and the traditional hospitality of Tibetan society soon worked in Harrer's favor, allowing him unprecedented acceptance among the upper class. His intelligence and his European ways also intrigued the curious young Dalai Lama, and Harrer became his tutor and trusted confidant. When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1950, Harrer and the Dalai Lama fled the country together.
Since the days of conquistador Hernan Cortes, rumors have circulated about an ancient White City of immense wealth hidden in the Honduran interior. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who had fled there to escape the Spanish, warning that anyone who disturbs this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the jungle with hundreds of artifacts and tantalizing stories of having seen the crumbling walls of the Lost City of the Monkey God for himself. Soon after, he committed suicide without revealing its mysterious location.
Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying expensive laser technology that could map the terrain under the dense rainforest canopy. That flight revealed for the first time an unmistakeable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing proof of not just the mythical city but an entire lost civilization.
Suspenseful, surprising, and unputdownable, The Lost City of the Monkey God is narrative nonfiction at its most compelling: a story of adventure, danger, ancient curses, modern technology, a stunning medical mystery, and a riveting eye-witness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.
Brave Companions By David McCullough
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6568682-brave-companions
This is a great book of short stories, mostly about nature lovers. (I love everything David McCullough has written - he's an incredible historian! ) I read the book, but knew I would be unlikely to convince Dan to read it, even though I knew he would enjoy it! This was one of the first audio books I got him interested in, we would listen to it in segments on many of our jaunts into the woods for hikes and geocaching trips.
Look for other audio books by him as well!
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If you buy your audiobooks from google, you can download them & keep them.
(If you buy them through Amazon, you are really only renting them.)
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