I don't listen any more, but when I was selling things to gift shops, I listened to all kinds of audio books. I even had my favorite reader. If you like the voice, it is much easier to listen. I personally prefer a male voice. And, after many attempts, I will not ever again have the author read.
If you want something that will get to you (over a long period of time) listen to Moby Dick.

Audiobooks are the only reason I enjoy my 45 minute (each way) commute. Right now I am listening to the third book in the Chesapeake Bay trilogy. It's fluff, but I mix it up. I like horror, mysteries, sci-fi, romance, biographies, you name it. I also got DH hooked on audiobooks, so whenever we go on a road trip, I have a few books loaded that I know he'll be interested in. He drives, I knit and we listen to a book. "We" just finished the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child.

Jim, I totally agree with you about an author reading their own books. I've listened to three done that way and with the exception of Stephen King, I steer clear of those.

I have no preference for male or female voices, depends on the book. Frank Muller passed away a few years ago, but he used to narrate a lot of Stephen King books. I just adored his deep voice.

Dick Hill has narrated all of the Jack Reacher books and to me he IS Jack Reacher, LOL. I prefer a series to be narrated by one person all the way through.

I miss Frank. He could use his intonation and you had no question about who was speaking. And, he did good with foreign words and phrases. Dick Hill comes across well, too.

At one time, I thought that I would like to do that. Ya know private studio in the home and do it as the bug bit you. The missus laughed and that was the end of that.

oh boy. I like them, but . . . I have a really hard time with getting ones I like. It has to be something I've already read and liked (because I'm picky and don't want to waste my time). It has to be a narrator I can stand (a small percentage). It can't have gobs and gobs of explanations or expositions (which are easily skimmed when reading but boring to sit through in audio).

I have an Audible account I want to get rid of, but I still have many credits and can't find anything I'd like to listen to.

If the voice of the reader is annoying or weird I'm done! I can't stand some of the voices on these audios.

I like them a lot. I'm always in the middle of one and have 2 to 4 others on deck and ready to go. My pace is about 3-4 books a month, depending on the length of the books. Real long ones can take several weeks. I listen when exercising, on solo drives of >15 minutes, and (less frequently) on plane flights.

I'm pretty indifferent who the reader is or how good or bad they are. Author and content are much more important to me. I abandon maybe one out of every five books I start, always because of the story or writing style. I can't remember once doing so because of the narrator.

I'm not sure how one could say one particular reader "is Jack Reacher". As I recall, all or almost all the Reacher books are written in the third person, so the written words being spoken belong to a narrator, not the character, except for direct quotes.

My last job had a 50-minute commute, and I always had an audio book going. Two series I remember with particular fondness were the JD Robb "In Death" books, with an excellent female reader, Susan Ericksen, and Robert B. Parker's Spenser series, read by Joe Montegna, who really nailed the wonderful dialogue between Spenser and Hawk.

More recently I started and rejected a couple of audio books. Roger Ebert's memoir, read by him, was interesting in parts, but not enough for it to stay in my car's CD player. I didn't even get through the first CD of Neil Young's nicely titled Waging Heavy Peace.

I'm a lifelong fan of Young's music, but not much of him personally. He has a long history of following muses, too many times without regard to whether such paths are advisable or not. He's an artist, it's to be expected, but Waging Heavy Peace was an idea that should have died before being pursued. I got through it but it was disorganized and not so good - in my opinion.

If you want a more objective and organized bio (that stops about 10 years ago), read Shakey by Jimmy McDonough. The project started as an authorized bio, McD traipsed around with Young's entourage for many years. They had a falling out, Young sued to stop further work on the project. He lost, the book got published.

Snidely, there are enough direct quotes in the books that you definitely get the feeling that it is Jack Reacher telling the story. Dick Hill changes his voice for each of the characters, but when he is just narrating, the voice he uses is the same voice he uses for Reacher.

Yes, I know. I'm two books behind "current" on Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, and I've "read" them entirely using audiobooks.

I'd compare that experience with reading Michael Connelly's books in the same way. I like his work a bit more than Child's stuff. I knew there have been changes, but I had to look it up to learn that there have been 3 or 4 different readers. Dick Hill did a chunk of them. For me, it doesn't affect the experience but for you it does.

When i was commuting an hour a day I enjoyed them. Especially enjoyed Lonesome Dove and other books by that author.

I think the best narrator I have ever heard on an audio book was Jim Dale, who narrated all 7 Harry Potter books. He won 2 Grammys for the work and actually held a record for 134 different character voices on Order of the Phoenix. Not really a narrator, more an actor acting the roles on tape. Not Jack Reacher material, but wonderful to listen to.

Roger Ebert "wrote" his book by talking into a microphone. Sometimes that works (many writers throughout history dictated their books to an assistant who transcribed them), but in Ebert's case it came out sounding something like, "Oh, boy--I can tell everybody every last little detail! I can even devote 20 minutes to the menu at the favorite chain restaurant of my childhood!" He comes across sounding like a thoroughly nice person, but the book couldn't sustain my interest.

I'm guessing a lot of famous people "write" their memoirs the same way.

The Prodigal Son is not a Christian book like it may sound. Its very good give it a try. I got mine from the library.