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
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)
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.
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.
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.
World War Z is a book I didnt see on your list and its very commonly recommended. Very good with a full cast.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
The first Southern Reach book was great. I found the sequels dull as dirt tho.
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.
That I think is a good little quip that helps summarize my feelings on the series.
Oh yeah, I see all of that. My love comes from a non-colonialismish take on aliens and the authors display of what I took as views on how their culture views or writes on a subject that is so well worn in the west.
I wasn’t looking for deep or well written characters and gave that a pass when it didn’t hold up.
Thank you for taking the time to write that out, I hadn’t realized I gave it a pass until I read your reply. I had to think about why I didn’t notice it at the time.
I really enjoyed Sea of Tranquility, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Star Maker, anything Ursula K Le Guin
He who fights with monsters spoken by Heath Miller is good.
Anything spoken by Steven Fry.I had trouble getting into books on tape years ago. Then someone gave me a bunch of “full cast audio” tapes of early Heinlein stuff. They were fantastic. I don’t know if they’re still available, but if you can find them, I recommend them. I get why they don’t do full cast audio anymore (I think), but they were the best.
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.
