A selection of some of the top audio books currently available, including Atonement by Ian McEwan and Minority Report by Philip K. Dick.
Atonement, by Ian McEwan, read by Isla Blair (HarperCollins, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 sterling)
Ian McEwan used to be the enfant terrible of English fiction, but this jaw-droppingly accomplished novel has turned him - at a stroke - into something much closer to an éminence grise. It opens in the dappled, innocent sunshine of England between the wars as Cecilia Tallis strips off her clothes and plunges into the fountain of her family's country house garden, watched by a friend called Robbie Turner - and, from inside the house, by her younger sister Bryony. But the difference between what Bryony actually sees and what she - a precocious teenager and aspiring novelist - thinks she sees, will be the undoing of all of them. Even in this abridged form Atonement comes across as enthralling, horrifying, and beautifully written, and reader Isla Blair's unfussy, understated approach to the text fits the listening bill perfectly.
The English, by Jeremy Paxman, read by the author (Penguin, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 sterling)
'Being English used to be easy," is Paxman's rueful opening remark as he scrambles over history, geography, realpolitik and Celia Howard's trembling lower lip in Brief Encounter in search of that most elusive creature, the English sense of identity. It turns out never to have been easy, "England" having been actually defined by the Romans, who walled Scotland neatly off, and its people, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, being actually German, with a healthy dollop of Viking and Celt thrown in. In an amiable Jubilee Year offering, Paxman lifts the lid on his countrymen's insularity, democracy and sexuality (or the lack of it). He is a master of the amusing aside, whether on the topic of the Church of England or the passion for DIY. In short, he does what the educated English have always done best. He sends himself up - but languidly.
The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton, read by the author (Penguin, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 sterling)
Ever woken up in a strange city surrounded by maps, guidebooks and timetables, and been gripped by the overwhelming desire to stay in bed - or, worse, take the earliest flight home? Well, so has the indefatigable de Botton who ignores the "where to go" and "how to get there" issues beloved of telly travel programmes and skips straight to the "why do we bother?" He is a somewhat unassuming reader of his own work, but his provocative and inspirational musings, first-hand observations and insightful recycling of Flaubert, Van Gogh, Baudelaire, Wordsworth and Ruskin will see to it that this marvellous little book is first into the thinking traveller's suitcase for many journeys to come.
Blood Hunt, by Ian Rankin, writing as Jack- Harvey, read by James Frain (Orion, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 sterling)
Will Rankin outlive Rebus? The boozy Edinburgh detective's last outing, Resurrection Men, abandoned all pretence at plot, pacing or coherence, and his creator appears to have cast him off like an old coat; to the delight of his fans, however, DI John Rebus is currently enjoying a resurrection of his own every Friday night on Network 2. Meanwhile, wearing a brand-new coat labelled "Jack Harvey", Rankin has produced a trio of taut, tight, politically correct thrillers which move from one side of the Atlantic to the other with ease, boast a new (though always flawed) hero each time, and always, at some point, hark back to some wee, quirky, off-beam reminder of his Scottish past. Blood Hunt is the best of them, and is deftly read by James Frain.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, Book the First: The Bad Beginning, and Book the Second: The Reptile Room, read by Tim Curry (HarperCollins, each 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 sterling)
'If you are interested in stories with happy endings you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle . . . " So begins the latest series of books to carve out cult status in that uncertain, but lucrative, territory between children's and adult fiction. As the tale of the three Baudelaire orphans unfolds, it becomes clear that the author has, if anything, understated his case. Though the text is quite brilliant in its mastery of chuckle-inducing irony, and a series of running jokes is delightfully handled, there is no let-up in lugubriousness as the children stagger from one disaster to another. Tim Curry's OTT Gothic reading won't appeal to everybody; indeed, in the bouts of all-too-realistic coughing of Mr Poe, it is - literally - a turn-off.
Minority Report, by Philip K. Dick, read by Keir Dullea (Orion, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 sterling)
The doyen of the sci-fi short wraps up his ends so tight that the only unsolved mystery of this five-story collection is, why did they choose the rather cumbersome title story for a movie starring Tom Cruise? The answer, of course, is that the ingenious "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and the eerie "Second Variety" have already provided kick-off points for the feature films Total Recall and Screamers - doubtless, as you read this, someone is busily plotting an adaptation of Paycheck, a thriller set in two time zones. In the meantime, Keir Dullea (aka David Bowman from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) will send chills down your spine with his perfectly-pitched reading of these intriguing yarns - and the creepy incidental music is fabulous.