Audio Book Recommendations

Turns out I'm going to have to do some driving the next few weeks and I'm tired of losing the signals to NPR and decent music stations as I go along, so I got a few science audio books. I am alone among my traveling companions, though, in preferring those kinds of books over fiction. Thing is, I don't really care for the single narrator type of audio book. Despite some really excellent recordings such as Ed Asner reading Carl Hiaasen and Martin Jarvis reading Good Omens, even they have limitations when it comes to performance. Jarvis was particularly good, but he only had two "female" voices.

So I'm looking for fiction that's more like old-timey radio shows, with a cast of actors at the minimum, but also with sound effects and music if possible. That way the others can get some relief from having their knowledge expanded and I can tolerate a story.

World War Z might just float your boat, if you're interested in zombies. The book itself is told through accounts of different people's experiences related to a worldwide zombie outbreak compiled by the author, so the audio book has a number of actors playing the people being interviewed as they tell their stories.

You do know that NPR has podcasts so you can listen to shows you might have missed. Hours and hours of material.

I haven't listened to them, but I saw at my local library that they had Twilight Zone episodes as a radio play if you can find them.

Theres a free oldtime radio archive here, which has some great stuff.

If you like lovecraft, the hp lovecraft historical society have some nice radioplay style audio books here

I generally get my ausdio drama fix from BBC Radio 7 (which might not be available to you) but generally just search for any full cast recordings by the BBC and you'll find some descent stuff (I reccomend the Sherlock Holmes ones)

I've been fairly impressed with the Big Finish audio drama lines. While I mostly stick to Doctor Who, they've picked up a number of licenses (Highlander, Sherlock Holmes, Dark Shadows, Stargate, etc.) and have done a good job with them from the snippets I've heard. Most albums are also sold as MP3 versions, so no need to wait on shipping, either.

If you like Doctor Who, I especially recommend Doctor Who: Spare Parts, a 5th Doctor adventure that is to Cybermen what Genesis of the Daleks was for, well, Daleks.

Oh yeah, even though it's not quite what you are looking for, I thought I'd mention The Spiderwick Chronicles. It was a fun book, very different from the movie, and read by Mark Hamill.

The Big Finish full cast recordings of Dark Shadows sound exactly like what I'm looking for. Not that property, but definitely in that style.