Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Best Audio Books of 2013

My wife gave me an Audible account Last Christmas, and I dove in with abandon.  Below are some of the best books I've listened to in the last year.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier Clay
So well written, it easily could have been real.

Snow Crash
If I had listened to this when it was originally published, I would have spent the intervening years a hipster douche talking about how Snow Crash did it first or better.  Still great.

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius
Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about Nikola Tesla.

Macbeth
Macbeth has always been one of my favorite Shakespearean works, and this novelization brings it to life in new ways.

World War Z
Possibly the best zombie story I've ever encountered.

Kitchen Confidential
I've been a fan of Anthony Bourdain for 10+ years, and this is an entertaining and interesting look at his early life and career.

The Martian
Simply one of the best books I've ever read.

Inferno
Easily the best of the Robert Langdon series, and with a rather surprising ending.

NOS4A2
Creepy and fantastic.

Relic
Great book, but don't re-watch the movie.

The Fault in Our Stars
Nearly brought me to tears a few times, which is really saying something.

Parallel Worlds
Mind blowing stuff.

The Gun Seller
If Douglas Adams wrote about conspiracies and terrorists, I think it'd be something like this.  Wonderful and hilarious.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Short, but amazing.  This is how I want to write.

The Areas of My Expertise
I laughed my way across Italy with this book.  Oh, the Hobo Wars and that fictional city of Chicago...

Rendezvous with Rama
I felt a few times like I'd read this already, but I later realized that many have used this story as inspiration for their own.

I, Robot
A great collection from Isaac Asimov.

Minority Report and Other Stories Unabridged Stories
A great collection from Philip K. Dick.

Ender's Game
The best parts of the book were left out of the movie.  Read this instead.

Peter & Max
Set in the Fables universe, which I haven't read since it launched all those years ago.  Still, this was excellent and may have convinced me to give the series another read.

Beyond Religion
Hands down, no one is cooler than the Dalai Lama.

Peter and the Starcatchers
Part of a series, but books two and three were middling.  One and four were great, though.

Series
Grimnoir Chronicles
Not only a great story set in an alternate early 20th Century with magic, but Bronson Pinchot is a helluva voice actor.

The Dresden Files
I wasn't overly impressed after book one, but +Dipak had books two and three already so I kept going.  Now, everyone we know has or is reading them and we're all waiting for book 15.

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy
A great continuation of the Star Wars story, that's very likely no longer cannon.