Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Audiobooks

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists.  It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is about villains - the ones we hate, the ones we love etc... but I actually went rogue several weeks ago and did this topic of my own volition.   I was sad to miss the audiobooks topic a couple weeks ago because I'm addicted to them, so I'm going to do that instead.

September 20: All About Audio freebie --  aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio,10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with.

I'm going to straight up list some of my favorite recent audiobook experiences where the book and the narrator seem made for each other.

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1) Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - Narrated by James Marsters

Yes, that is the James Marsters who became famous as Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his fame is well deserved but he should be just as recognized for his fantastic narration of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series.  He is absolutely perfect for it, so much so that there is one book for which they couldn't get him so they had it narrated by someone else.  He did fine but he wasn't James Marsters so they've brought James back in to re-record the book.  It's also worth noting that I have listened to another book narrated by Marsters (The Greyfriar) and I thought his narration was a total mess and terrible so I really feel that he and The Dresden Files are a match made in heaven.

2) Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch - Narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Peter Grant, the protagonist of this series, has a very particular and awesome voice and Kobna Holdbrook Smith captures it perfectly.

3) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Narrated by Stephen Fry

I can't imagine anyone else narrating this book better than Stephen Fry - it's masterful and hilarious.  It has made me eternally sad that I can't get my hands on the Harry Potter series narrated by him.  

4) The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood  - Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

This is a delightful series made even more delightful by Katherine Kellgren's fantastic narration.  

5) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - Narrated by Rebecca Soler

I loved how Rebecca Soler voiced all of the characters in this series - she was perfect!

6) Any Bill Bryson Book  - Narrated by Bill Bryson

An author reading their own book doesn't always work but Bill Bryson is the perfect narrator for his books with their dry humor.

7) The Flavia DeLuce Series by Alan Bradley - Narrated by Jayne Entwistle

The voice of the Flavia DeLuce mystery series is 11 year old Flavia and Jayne Entwistle nails it.  

8) Shine Shine Shine and How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer  - Narrated by Joshilyn Jackson

I love both of these books and I think part of the credit for that goes to Joshilyn Jackson's narration.  She takes a little getting used to but once you do, she really is perfect for them.  

9) The Martian by Andy Weir  - Narrated by R.C. Bray

R.C. Bray captures the humor of this book to perfection.  

10) The Son by Philipp Meyer - Narrated by Will Patton, Scott Shepherd and Kate Mulgrew

This is a multi-generational Western and all of these narrators are amazing and do a great job bringing the three main protagonists to life.  

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So what are some of your favorite audiobooks?  Any  narrator-book pairs you think are particularly perfect?