I am listening to "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley. It is a cute murder mystery, but I have a hard time believing the protagonist is only 11. She's way too smart! Here's the summary: It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities. But who can blame her? What else does an eleven-year-old science prodigy have to do when left to her own devices? With her widowed father and two older sisters far too preoccupied with their own pursuits and passions�stamp collecting, adventure novels, and boys respectively�Flavia takes off on her trusty bicycle Gladys to catch a murderer. In Alan Bradley's critically acclaimed debut mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, adult readers will be totally charmed by this fearless, funny, and unflappable kid sleuth. But don't be fooled: this carefully plotted detective novel (the first in a new series) features plenty of unexpected twists and turns and loads of tasty period detail. As the pages fly by, you'll be rooting for this curious combination of Harriet the Spy and Sherlock Holmes. Go ahead, take a bite. --Lauren Nemroff

I've been reading audiobooks almost exclusively since 1982 through the US National Library Service's Talking Books program, and all of their narrators are top-notch. Very occasionally there is someone with an accent I find harder to follow but the problems created by unusual accents are never so severe that I stop reading a book. My impression of commercial audio books is that they tend to be jazzed up with (a) background music and (b) narrators who assume different "voices" for the various characters. I prefer just the book, read in a straightforward way. But I do wish sometimes that the readers would make it clear where a quotation begins and ends, maybe by saying "Quote" and "End quote."

A narration shouldn't sound as dramatic as a radio play but different vocal tones are used so that a listener can distinguish when a different person is speaking in a conversation (and who that person is). I found that I had to "learn" through practice how to effectively listen to an audio book. It wasn't automatically easy or comfortable for me, but that came with more time and experience. I generally agree that authors often make poor readers for their own books. An exception I recently came upon was the author David McCullough reading his book "The Wright Brothers". Most of you know him from his longtime association with shows on Public TV, though his main gig through the years has been writing award winning non-fiction books. His exceptional voice and intonation put most audio readers to shame, it was as good a book to listen to as I can remember. As for living and retired authors and estate managers who authorize ghost writers and "co-authors" to continue the production of books in another's name, I think the practice is outrageous. It's an inexcusable demonstration of greed. I stop reading any work of an author who begins that practice, I don't care who it is. Imagine what the reaction would be if it were announced that new books from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens would be written by Bob Robertson and released next year. Or four new paintings by Van Gogh, or by Renoir, or by whomever, were to be produced by Fred Funk and released in the spring. People would be outraged by that. Why is it an acceptable practice for authors?

To Linelle's point, sometimes I find I like a series of shorter stories when travelling. Your party might all enjoy the Sherlock Holmes series, read by Rick Kishner (sp?). These are 45 minute short stories, very well read and, well, what more is there to say about AC Doyle's writing? You can find them HERE, just click on Itunes U under the twitter and fb icons. You can download them while on wifi before you leave instead of streaming. I agree with writersblock that Librivox can be amateurish as the readers are volunteers. But anything read by Karen Savage (you can search by reader) I would recommend. Not sure if she is British, her accent varies by author, but her rendition is perfect. Among her books are Jane Austen's, The Treasure Seekers, and The Secret Garden (see fave children's book thread). These may not be the best selections for your travel companions, so consider this a PSA. Also about librvox, you can search by "solo reader". I'm not a fan of the group read, or the dramatic read... bp you asked about how to listen to audio: If your car has bluetooth https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203412  If you want car speaker audio but don't have bluetooth http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/162020530489?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true  Be aware that streaming will use a lot of data. If you have space on your device, better to download them. Happy Travels!