Does anyone have any suggestions of really good audio books? M'lord and I are making a 5 hour journey to faire in a few weeks, and would love to have something to make our drive go a little faster. We like a bit of good fantasy, or anything that is related to ren, but it needs to stay entertaining. We've had mixed results in the past, some stories are good, but the delivery is a little dry. We're looking to borrow from our local library, so hopefully we can find something recommended on those shelves!
Thanks!
Since your taking a road trip I'll lend this:
Road Trip
"And what if the sky broke into pieces and fell?" Danny badgered his mother for miles from the back seat, with hours to go.
"And, and, what if I were sitting someplace and my shoes ran away with me? What if they did, Mama? What if they did?"
Danny's mother wistfully wondered the same thing.
*It's from 55 stories in 55 words or less*
I have not seen this foray of stories before, but I do have an audio book "stories in 55 words or less", from many years ago. Perhaps you can find one.......?
or you can go online a read these stories to each other and change from driver to passenger half the time.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/waddleudo/writing/9001091-55-mini-stories-55-words-each (http://www.redbubble.com/people/waddleudo/writing/9001091-55-mini-stories-55-words-each)
but don't start reading them until the road trip, as they can become addicting to read.........
I know it's not fantasy, but the Spenser novels by Robert Parker, narrated by Joe Mantegna, are terrific.
My favorite fantasy author is Terry Pratchett, although I've never listened to any of his books. My commute is only about a mile and a half, so it doesn't allow for much listening time, and I have never gotten into the habit of listening while doing housework, so that sort of torpedoes the other common listening activity. The only ren faire series I'm familiar with is more a cozy mystery series; very typical of the cozy genre. It's by Joyce and Jim Levene.
Obviously, you might want to try audio versions of favorite authors, but you're right: the wrong reader can really kill a great story. Besides Terry Pratchett, you might try Charles de Lint, Terry Brooks, Jasper Fforde, Neil Gaiman, or Tom Holt. You might also see if your library has collections on cd of things like old radio shows. Often you can find collections of broadcasts of shows like X Minus One, or Escape.
(reference librarianing since 1984)