Audiobooks can make a long trip seem shorter and can be played in the background while you do other rather unexciting tasks such as housework! Not just any book recorded into audio format is worth listening to--it takes a story that draws you in and a narrator with an engaging and interesting voice.
My name is Darla Rance, and I'm the Assistant City Librarian of Public Services. I also am currently doing the purchasing of audiobooks for the Helen Hall Library, so please contact me at 281-554-1102 if you have an audiobook to recommend for purchase, or you can create a purchase request through our online catalog. I hope you love the following titles as much as I do!
Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty
"A murder ... a tragic accident ... or just parents behaving badly? What's indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what? Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads.”
The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith
“Working as a private investigator after losing his leg in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike takes the case of a legendary supermodel's suspicious suicide and finds himself in a world of multi-millionaire beauties, rock star boyfriends, desperate designers, and hedonist pursuits.”
* This is the first in the series featuring memorable character Cormoran Strike, and I recommend all three of the current audiobook titles by Robert Galbraith. The characterization and narration are excellent. Check out all three and be on the lookout for the fourth, as I am!
* The Cormoran Strike series, which also available in multiple formats.
Glass Houses, by Louise Penny
“In the early days of the investigation into the murder, and months later, as the trial for the accused begins in a Montreal courtroom on a steamy day in July, the Chief Superintendent continues to struggle with actions he's set in motion, from which there is no going back. "This case began in a higher court," he tells the judge, "and it's going to end there.”
* This is the latest of the Inspector Gamache series of books on CD, and I highly recommend all of books in the series. The narrator who voices the characters changed due to the original narrator's death, but his replacement does a fabulous job. Each story will have you hanging on your the edge of your seat. Please do yourself a favor and check out any and all of these by Louise Penny!
* This book is part of the Chief Inspector Gamache seventeen part series, which is available in multiple formats.
The Husband’s Secret, by Liane Moriarty
“Discovering a tattered letter that says she is to open it only in the event of her husband's death, Cecelia is unable to resist reading the letter and discovers a secret that shatters her life and the lives of two other women.”
Leaving Time, by Jodi Picoult
“For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has searched for her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared after a tragic accident. Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. Serenity Jones is a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons. Virgil Stanhope is a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice's case. As they work together to uncover the truth, they realize that in asking hard questions, they'll have to face even harder answers.”
Longbourn, by Jo Baker
“A reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the perspectives of its below-stairs servants captures the drama of the Bennet household from the sideline viewpoint of Sarah, an orphaned housemaid.”
The Martian, by Andy Weir
“After a bad storm blows across Mars Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead and left behind. Now stuck on a hostile planet he must find a way to signal to Earth and in the meantime, survive on limited supplies.”
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
“At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut-- part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.”
* This book is part of the Ready Player, two book series, which is available in multiple formats.
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
“An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve...”
This Dark Road to Mercy, by Wiley Cash
"A resonant novel about a father's efforts to rescue his young daughters by the critically-acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller A Land More Kind Than Home."
Truly, Madly, Guilty, by Liane Moriarty
“In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don't say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.”
Unseen, by Karin Slaughter
“An electrifying thriller and a piercing study of human nature: what happens when good people face the unseen evils in their lives.”
* This is part of the Will Trent ten part series, which can also be found in other formats.
