Summer road trips? Listen up!

Fact: I am a sucker for a good audiobook, especially in the car. They're capable of occupying both front- and backseat passengers, thereby making even long trips inexplicably enjoyable. They may even promote better gas mileage. (Honest to God -- I drive more slowly when I'm listening to a story than if I've got music playing.)

However, picking out a great story is only half the task. Imagine getting your paws on an audio edition of Catching Fire only to find out it's performed by...Fran Drescher. 'Nuff said?

Here, then, is a by-no-means-complete hodgepodge of audiobook narrators I l-o-v-e, LOVE. Some of them won me over by portraying a particular character just the way I imagined her in my mind. Others have a magical way of conveying the mood of a story. And a handful just have voices I find especially delicious. The starred titles are the performances that first seduced me, and the rest are recordings I was pretty geeked up to discover as I compiled my list:

Cherry Jones

The entire Little House series* by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Because of Winn-Dixie* by Kate DiCamillo

So B. It, by Sarah Weeks

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

Graeme Malcolm

The Tale of Despereaux* by Kate DiCamillo

A Single Shard* by Linda Sue Park

The Scarecrow and His Servant, by Philip Pullman

Dylan Baker

The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck

The Teacher's Funeral* by Richard Peck

The Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo

Scott Brick

In Cold Blood* by Truman Capote

Ender's Game, by Orson Scot Card

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

Tim Curry

Peter Pan* by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan in Scarlet* by Geraldine McCaugherean

A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket

Sabriel, by Garth Nix

Brendan Fraser (yes, Casey, that Brendan Fraser)

Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke

Patrick Stewart

A Christmas Carol* by Charles Dickens

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

Sissy Spacek

To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee

Jessica Almasy

the Clementine series* by Sara Pennypacker (my parents are Clementine fans because of these recordings)

Rules, by Cynthia Lord

Shooting the Moon, by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Lois Smith

A Year Down Yonder* by Richard Peck

John McDonough

The Van Gogh Cafe* by Cynthia Rylant

Poppy, by Avi (and its sequels)

the Mr. Putter and Tabby series, by Cynthia Rylant

the Freddy series, by Walter R. Brooks

Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry

George Guidall

The Chocolate War* by Robert Cormier

The House with a Clock in its Walls* by John Bellairs

Night* by Eli Wiesel

Something Upstairs* by Avi

Call it Courage* by Armstrong Sperry

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, by Nancy Farmer

the Henry and Mudge series, by Cynthia Rylant

(and half a hojillion other books for adults and kids)

Honorable mentions for authors who can read their own work: Bill Bryson, Chris Crutcher, Robert Fulghum, and E.B. White. (Most authors shouldn't read *anybody's* work aloud, let alone their own.)

An unexpected quirk about Jim Dale, the Grammy-winning dude who does such a fan-freaking-tabulous job of reading the Harry Potter books: Dale is darn near unsurpassed at creating and maintaining unique voices for even the most vast cast of characters, but he's not so hot at livening up the longer narrative passages you find in old-school classics like Peter Pan, or A Christmas Carol. Turn to the likes of Tim Curry and Patrick Stewart for that task.

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Currently reading:

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins