 you've got to listen to it on audiobook. These are cut above is what I'm saying, but it's not for kids. Wow. It's beautiful. They suck. Oh, I just hit myself in the face with it. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and sometimes they suck. And sometimes they're fine. And sometimes they're better than fine. Sometimes they're better than the actual book. So I'm not going to say that every audiobook that I'm going to talk about today is better than the original book, some maybe possibly. But I will say that each of the audiobooks I'm going to talk about today is an audiobook where if you're going to be reading this book, it's going to be something where I'm like, you've got to listen to it on audiobook. That is the way to consume this. The ideal way to experience this story is by audio. So I guess even if the audiobook isn't better than the original, it improves the experience of the original at the very least where it is, again, the ideal way to consume this material. It elevates it. It allows it to shine. Without further ado, these are the best audiobooks in my opinion. Oh yeah, to be clear, again, there's a lot of audiobooks that I really, really, really like. But I just like, it's fine. Like it's like, it's a really good narrator, and it's a really good story. And I enjoy the experience of it. These audiobooks are ones where I'm like, no, like this, you have to listen to this on audio. That is the best way to experience this because the audiobook is, nails it, perfect, amazing, 11 out of 10. These are cut above is what I'm saying. Anyway, first up, I have Skelduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. Skelduggery Pleasant is a fun book. It's a fun story. It's a fun series of stories. I believe they're middle grade, if not middle grade, then YA. On the older side of middle grade, it's about an Irish girl whose caretaker, I guess, is Skelduggery Pleasant. And he is a skeleton. And basically the series, it's like a lot of magical hijinks and like investigation and like the criminal underworld of like magicalness in Ireland. The reason this audiobook is just so like, this is how you have to experience it is one because the narrator is got great comedic timing and dry wit and a good and he has the accent, which is appropriate for the story. And he absolutely nails the character of Skelduggery just perfectly. Like if they did like an animated, you know, adaptation of this, then he should voice Skelduggery. He's perfect. But also the audiobook has this like fun kind of like jazzy music that really captures also I think the vibe of the character of Skelduggery. So the combination of this like little like jazzy riff with this voice actor's interpretation of the character of Skelduggery is just perfect. And so like basically like if you've seen Corpse Bride, which is one of my favorite movies, I love Corpse Bride. But in the part of Corpse Bride where they are in the underworld, and Danny Elfman is the voice of, I think he's literally just called Skeleton. Like I have the Funko Pop and I think he's just called Skeleton. But he's like this like singer at the underworld bar who's a skeleton. It looks like Skelduggery. And he sings the song of this like jazzy song about the story of our lovely Corpse Bride and like the tragic tale of how she came to be dead. And if like the vibe of that song and that Skeleton singing it and the jazzyness of it and the tone of it and all of that, if that was distilled into a book specifically an audiobook, then it would be Skelduggery Pleasant. So if that sounds good to you, but I cannot recommend highly enough the audiobook for Skelduggery Pleasant. Next is an audiobook that is like the newer audiobook because there is an older one. So the new audiobook for Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, which is a full cast audiobook. When people say a full cast audiobook, I think they oftentimes mean, I often mean that like if there's multiple perspectives, then each perspective gets its own narrator. And that's fantastic as well. But no, in this, there is a voice that there is a narrator or a voice actor that does all of the narration bits. And then you have different voice actors doing the dialogue bits. So the narrator is just the narrator. And then when we are hearing from Azera Fail, then it's Michael Sheen speaking. And when we are hearing from Crowley, it is David Tennant speaking. And they have, I don't think they have every single person from the show voicing their own characters, but like most of them as well as some new voice acting for like things that aren't in the show necessarily. I'm trying to remember, I think Neil Gaiman also voices someone in here. I would don't remember if that's true and if so who. But anyway, it's fantastic because it's like the show is already a really loyal adaptation, but this is like the most loyal adaptation. So you have like the charm of Michael Sheen and the charm of David Tennant with like the full accurate actual Good Omens with Nothing Lost. So if you love Good Omens and you also like the show, like if you love the book and the show, then the audiobook, this new audiobook of the book is like a perfect blending of those two. Like you get the best of both worlds and it's an absolute delight and I highly recommend. Next up is definitely a book where I have definitely told people, hey, if you're going to read that, you have to listen to it on audio. That's this is a situation where I think I would say not only that it like elevates it or it's like a better experience, but they're like it genuinely makes it a better book. And that is Daisy Jones and the Sixth and I'm realizing this is an extremely shiny book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. So one of the reasons this is again, a full cast, where each perspective I guess is a different narrator. The reason I would say like you kind of have to do this on audio is because this whole book is told in the format of like interviewing these former band members about their days in the band Daisy Jones and the Sixth. It's kind of this like documentary podcast as kind of style, right? And so for that reason, like you can read the interview, but then it's like reading a transcript, you know, of something and like while you can do that and you can enjoy reading a transcript or a script, ideally you'd have someone perform it. And so because it's written in this way where interviewer asks a question. So interviewer then asks, you know, band member and then band member is telling then band member responds with like what they have to say about their recollections. It just works so much better as an audio book because like that's the natural way this would be experienced because it just sounds like like an audio book is is typically like someone voicing aloud something that someone has written down. But here it feels like someone has written down what somebody else has voiced. And so it feels like the actual real way to experience this should be orally because it feels like its original form was oral even though it's a fiction book. So the author wrote it. But you know what I mean? It just feels more natural for it to be experienced as someone talking because it's written like it's a recording of an interview that would have been verbal. And then also because it's a book about a band from like the 70s, then there are little bits of music in here as well, which kind of like add to add to kind of like the believability of this having been a band. I do think it's a really good book, but I do think that it's better to experience it on audio not just because it's a good audio but because like that's the ideal format and the most natural format for experiencing this story. I got some more gaming for you. This I frequently talk about and I will keep talking about until everyone in the world takes me up on this. The truth is a cave in the Black Mountains is a skinny little picture book. It's not a kid's book so just because it's a picture book don't buy this for your kids. I mean there's nothing in it like horrible, like truly terrible or anything, but it's not, it's not for kids. So the truth is a cave in the Black Mountains is originally a short story. I believe it's included in trigger warning, that collection, so you can just read it like in trigger warning just by itself. No pictures, no nothing. So first off I highly recommend getting the picture book. Oh I just hit myself in the face with it. First off I highly recommend getting the picture book because I mean the illustrations in it are fantastic. I mean look at that. I don't know that's the best example. Look at this. Why wouldn't you choose this? Over, over, not this. First step get the picture book. But second step and most important step for this video is get the audiobook because it is narrated by Neil Gaiman which is ideal always. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic narrator for his own books. But also not only does Neil, because if you get the audiobook for trigger warning you can hear Neil Gaiman read the story as he reads all the stories in trigger warning. But if you get the separate standalone audiobook for Just the Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains, it's read by Neil Gaiman, but he is accompanied by a string quartet which plays the most haunting and beautiful music while he reads this haunting and beautiful story. While he's reading it to you and while you're listening to them play this music, you can be flipping through this gorgeous book and reading along and looking at all the pictures and just be fully immersed in this haunting story. I don't know why you wouldn't choose to experience this in that way if you can, so I highly recommend that entire sensory experience. Next up I have, no one is surprised, the entirety of the first law, much of Abercrombie, should only be experienced, not okay not only, but it is ideally experienced by Stephen Pacey reading it to you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if and when they adapt to the first law, I mean they are actually adapting part of first law with Besser Cold now. I want Stephen Pacey to dub all of the speaking parts when they adapt it. I'm sorry Rebecca Ferguson, I'm glad to have your face as Monza, but it will be Stephen Pacey's voice speaking whenever you open your mouth. Stephen Pacey, it's a perfect marriage of styles and tones and it's just that Stephen Pacey gets it. Abercrombie has written something brilliant and amazing and clever and cynical and humorous and Stephen Pacey has picked it up and he just gets it. He understands the tone, he understands what Abercrombie is going for and getting at and then he even brings even more to it. He's definitely done things that Abercrombie was like, I hadn't actually imagined that, I hadn't been thinking that, but I am now because you nailed it, that's great. So it's just this perfect symbiosis and I'm so glad that Stephen Pacey has continued to be the narrator for the whole of the first law. I mean it's good because of just continuity, but he's so good and there's so many times when I'm listening to it where you would think this is a full cast audiobook, but it's like a one man play where I forget that it's Stephen Pacey doing all these different voices because they sound like distinctly different people talking and it's just insane to me that he is doing all of them. There are so many times where like before the book has told you who is speaking, sometimes it's a scene where like it's probably supposed to be a surprise or a secret who is speaking because we haven't been told yet who it is that's saying something, but Stephen Pacey's like voicing of them is just so spot-on that you're like, I know exactly who that is that's speaking right now because I recognize their voice when Stephen Pacey voices them. So anyway, if you have read all of first law but you haven't listened to it on audiobook, then reread it all on audiobook. You will not regret it. Next up is one of the first audiobooks that I ever listened to when I was like first getting into audiobooks and it's really, really, really gorgeous and that is Strange the Dreamer by Lainey Taylor. I love this book and I think it's a gorgeous book and this is kind of a similar situation although very different from first law where the it's a like the narrator is like on the same page as like the writer with their words. So Lainey Taylor's writing is beautiful and poetic and lyrical and just like evocative and lush. And the narrator Steve West, he just naturally like has a really beautiful speaking voice just like God-given. So I mean he could read Ikea instructions and you'd be like, wow, it's beautiful. He also kind of like reads Strange the Dreamer with the kind of like the kind of like weight and the kind of reverence that it feels appropriate for it. So there's a lot of passages where we're talking about like this kind of like melancholically beautiful thing or concept or scene and just his voice alone reading those words would like be perfectly adequate and you'd be like that was really pretty and thank you for that. But he reads it with this kind of like again this like reverent tone that is just like so perfect for what he's reading that it's like honey in your ears listening to Steve West read Strange the Dreamer. I just oh my god it's it's so gorgeous. So yeah if you plan to read Strange the Dreamer then do it by audio and if you've already read Strange the Dreamer then I highly recommend you reread it by an audiobook because Steve West is stunning. Next up I have the Simon Snow books by Rambo Rowell mainly because the narrator just nails it on like comedic timing also does really well with the accent. So these books have a lot of humor in them and have a lot of kind of like banter and a lot of like incidental humor and just kind of like a quippy tone throughout and it's maybe a little bit difficult if especially if you don't know that aren't looking for it or aren't like actively thinking that to read it with that tone in mind. So if you like to just read it straight you might kind of miss the humor of it if that makes sense and the narrator does a really good job of like without much like he's not like exaggeratedly like ha ha funny reading it but he does read it in this like kind of like dry sarcastic way a lot of the time where like you're like oh that was a joke I got you I got you or like kind of like again just kind of like the Britishness of some stuff that like the narrator does a really good job of nailing it. Even if you're not going to do the whole thing on audio I recommend listening to a bit of it on audio if you plan to read it because again it kind of like gives you a sense of the tone and it's quite I mean you definitely can listen to the whole thing on audio no reason not to but again even if you don't plan to listen to the whole thing I think it's good to kind of like get a feel for the kind of flow and the vibe of it because the the narrator really really nails that and if you can kind of like download that into like your brain for when you're reading it and kind of like maintain that as you're reading it it would be if not helpful then it would improve your reading experience I would think but I recommend just doing the whole thing on audio because the narrator's really really good. Next quite similar to Good Omens is The Whole of the Lord of the Rings as narrated by Andy Serkis. The old audiobooks are like fine but they're like quite old and read in a much more old fashioned way and I don't particularly like them. My dad really really does. So sorry dad Andy Serkis is butter. Andy Serkis's narration of Lord of the Rings is just chef's kiss. It's so perfect it's so good and he's so passionate about it as well like you can tell how much he cares about the story and he cares about these characters and Andy Serkis's voice isn't like natively stunning the way that Steve West's is and Andy Serkis isn't like I mean he's really good at doing voices don't get me wrong but it's not quite the like full cast one man play that Steven Pacey achieves with first law but he does capture the voice and tone of the different characters in the different places and he gives so much like emotion to the parts that are emotional and and so much like tension to the parts that are tense and it's just it's infectious like how much Andy Serkis cares about what he's reading about and how much he feels about what he's reading about you can't help but feel that kind of way when you hear Andy Serkis read it because he's just he's like pouring all of that into it when he's speaking and it's just stunning like it just hearing little clips of it sometimes like it'll have me like choked up so if you've already read Lord of the Rings I recommend re-experiencing it as read by Andy Serkis and if you've never read Lord of the Rings and you've always been kind of intimidated by reading Lord of the Rings then listen to Andy Serkis read it to you because it will be just pure joy the entire time and last but not least is the book that for a long time was my official favorite book and I had not actually read it on audio so this isn't a situation where like you have to read on audio otherwise you won't like it um but when I reread it years later I decided to do an audio and I was very glad that I did and there were some some things that I got wrong when I read it in high school the first time and that is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt this is a memoir and in general I do tend to think that memoirs um it's good to listen to them on audio if they are read by their author because like a memoir is someone telling you their life story so listening to them tell their life story feels very very natural so there was a few I mean Jeanette McCurdy's um memoir is read by Jeanette McCurdy recommend that Trevor Noah's memoir read by Trevor Noah recommend that but Angela's Ashes was my official favorite book for a long time and hearing Frank McCourt tell the story of his life even if you just physically read this book I highly recommend it but just it feels like you're like in a pub with this elderly Irish man and he's just kind of like telling you about his life over a pint and when he talks about his father coming home drunk singing songs then he sings those songs as he would and there's there's a few things that like I mispronounced in my mind for years and years and years and when I first listened to the audiobook I was like wait what and then like the flipped it open I was like oh is that how you say that it's not what I was saying listening to Frank McCourt tell his own life story is an absolute treat even though it's a tragic treat and that's a thing too with Angela's Ashes in general I recommend the book um because his life it was pretty bad like his childhood was really really bad but it's told in hindsight and it's told to the eyes of a child so like he's remembering how he understood what was going on around him as a kid and so like it's really depressing how like how impoverished his childhood was but it's not told in a way that's just like constant like the tragedy and the horror of it all and we suffered so much because like it's a very clear how much they are suffering but it's all told by this like kind of sardonic irish man who was like when I was a kid that is not what I understood to be happening this was my interpretation of what was happening which is like very funny like darkly funny but very funny and so like it's really like heartwarming and heartbreaking and very humorous and just an amazing experience to read it if this isn't convinced you to read it then then don't read it but when I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it all it was of course a miserable childhood the happy childhood is hardly worth your while worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable irish catholic childhood also I mean it won the Pulitzer Prize so I'm just saying so yeah those are the best audiobooks that I can recommend uh if you have already read all those books then go experience them again on audio and if you have experienced all of them on audio already well done I'm glad that your life is amazing let me know in the comments down below your recommendations for audio books if you've listened to these and you hated them or if you listen to these and you agree and they are amazing or if you listen to these and you agree they are amazing but you have a recommendation that's even more amazing and blows all of these out of the water then I would love to know whatever you don't let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well but only Saturdays so I can subscribe to my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see bye