I’ll start first: (bear in mind I usually listen to audiobooks)

  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir |A guy finds himself stranded in space aboard an international space vessel where he has to remember who he is.
  • The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater |A true story about how hanging with the wrong crowd can have life-altering consequences
  • The Animorphs series by KJ Applegate |Young adult series in which a group of kids find an alien, get the powers to morph shape into animals, as well as uncover an alien takeover conspiracy (Plus, detailed depictions of how grotesque those transformations are!)
  • Saga by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples (Comic, ongoing) |Following the story of Hazel, a baby born from an ex-soldier and an enemy combatant, Saga shows how gowing up and raising a kid in a wartorn universe can have highs and lows.

Edit: added pipes for better separation

  • Donebrach@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 days ago

    Not recently but the Witcher audio books are really well produced.

    Also the lord of the rings as read by Rob Inglis are, I think, the best way to experience that tale.

  • Michal
    4·
    3 days ago

    ‘The first Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ was pretty good.

    Besides that, ‘The Waiting’ by Michael Connelly, but he’s my favorite author, so I’ll recommend almost each of his books.

  • Azal@pawb.social
    5·
    3 days ago

    Just finished World War Z again. It hits so much different post-pandemic.

    For those that see “zombie book” or worse, just saw the movie, the book is written as an ‘after the infestation’ chronicle interviewing people from across the world and society, exploring the beginning moments, the panics, long term survival, and the cleanup. I view it as a modern “War of the Worlds” in that book shows what society react view from the “all-threat”, which at that era was worried about a larger more powerful enemy coming in vs in 2006 the societal fear of an “all-threat” was infestation whether societal to plague and the reactions of the people in it.

    • turmacar@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 days ago

      The author took inspiration from a WW2 book using actual accounts before, during, and after the war.

      It (WWZ) really is fantastic. And the audiobook version with an all star cast is as well.

  • ettyblatant@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 days ago

    I’m about 75% through The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It is also a movie. I really enjoy how he writes his characters, and the book is legitimately scary and creepy. I have to set it down sometimes.

    On the scary/creepy note, another amazing book and movie is Birdbox by Josh Malerman. That book legitimately terrified me.

  • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    13·
    4 days ago

    Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson. An epic fantasy.

    I loved it and just started the second book.

      • 9bananas@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I love that trilogy.

        i mean…technically it’s like 15+ Books…but who’s counting? ;)

        sidenote: Stormlight Archives Book 5 is coming in December, i think?

          • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            1·
            1 day ago

            I tried audiobooks only twice for… not even 10 mins each time. Once a proper audiobook read by a human and another time a text-to-speech thing.

            They’re not for me, I find myself trying to do something else because I’m “Free” and I just can’t multitask, I can barely pay attention to it and walk.
            Furthermore, English is not my native language. While my English is not too poor, it’s an extra mental obstacle, which makes brain have to do some extra gymnastics. When reading in English, I read at my own pace, but when listening … :P

            You mentioned in your other comment it’s 15+ books.

            Which 15+ ? I’m aware of the two Mistborn eras which are… 3 + 4 = 7.
            And I think he wants to write a 3rd Era - but hasn’t.
            Maybe you’re including the Stormlight Archives which are 5 if we count Wind and Truth.
            Where are the other 3+ I’m missing? :D

              • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                1·
                16 hours ago

                I’ll admit this sounds awesome, thank you!

                I still don’t think it’s for me though, due to the sort-of-language-barrier. I feel I’d miss out on a lot of the details by trying to listen.
                I followed this excerpt well enough because I had already read it.

                Even if I understand the words spoken (which is not always the case), and especially for fantasy books where we make up new words (skaa), or invent concepts (burned tin), it makes it harder to follow unless I’m already familiar with them.

                As an example of the first reaction when reading, the brain working: “What do you mean, burned tin? Isn’t tin a metal, let me double check. Yes, did he bring a forge? Wait, what, in his … stomach? Ok I guess I’ll understand this better later.”
                When I’m reading I pause and continue at my own leisure, when I’m listening I already missed out on the next 20-30 seconds of audio if I’m trying to figure this out or end up forgetting about this to pay attention to those 20-30 seconds. Sure enough, sometimes the explanation comes right after, but not always :)

                That being said, this does sound awesome and I may try it for books I already read!

                –
                As for my previous question, which books am I missing from those collections you mentioned 15+?
                I checked his bibliography and from what I could tell, either you were talking about another series or some of the short stories such as The Eleventh Metal.

  • KammicRelief@lemmy.world
    13·
    4 days ago

    The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles. My first time reading an ancient classic, and it’s much less scary than I thought. In fact I’m quite enjoying it, and might read The Iliad (Homer’s other epic poem) next. The humanness of the characters (well, the human ones!) is very relatable, even though it’s 2700 years old. I don’t know why I expected it to be crusty and boring. Maybe I assumed it’d be like the Bible.

    The intro explains a lot of stuff about the original Greek poem and how it was written in dactylic hexameterwhich bards back then used to be able to improvise in, which is amazing to me. Reminds me of 8 Mile or something. 😅

    • B1naryB0t@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      1·
      3 days ago

      If you read a modern bible translation from the perspective of christian mythology just as we treat Greek mythology a lot of the stories are actually fantastic reads

      • KammicRelief@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        interesting… it’s been a while since I’ve tried (as a kid in the 80s probably). Can you recommend a translation (and book/story)?

        • turmacar@lemmy.world
          2·
          3 days ago

          A lot of the Old Testament this. Any translation that uses more readable language is nice. The King James version etc get too much credit for sounding religiousy.

          Genesis through Deuteronomy or so are what a lot of Protestant churches at least focus on. The New Testament is Jesus’ life and then a bunch of letters to various early churches about how the Religion should work.

          A lot of “the rest” are the kind of fables they’re talking about. Ruth, Esther, Job, Samuel, etc. The ones named after people/mythological figures, depending on your point of view/beliefs.