You are the wind beneath my wings, Valerie.  Although, I have to admit I got exhausted just reading your itinerary for the summer!  I hope you have a blast!

For our money the best books on CD are the
Harry Potter books. Jim Dale reads them unabridged,
and is excellent. Plus with about 10-12 CD’s per
book, they are about enough to play for a trip
from Dallas to Chattanooga and back.
John

I’ll second John’s recommendation.  Dale’s vocal performances are brilliant.  They’ve came in very handy on car trips to Florida to visit the P’s.

I’ll third the recommendation of the Harry Potter books, especially book 1, 3 & 4. But I’m not sure I liked Jim Dale as much as the previous posters. I listened to the first six books in their British incarnation (i.e. the way they were written as opposed to the americanized versions available in the US) read by the wonderful Stephen Fry, a top level British comedian, and was quite surprised when I first listened to Jim Dale’s reading. Maybe it’s because I was used to Stephen Fry’s laid back style of reading but I didn’t like Jim and threw that version out of my MP3 faster than you could say ‘Stephen Fry’. If you have the chance, go with Fry.

I can also throw in a recommendation for the HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy written and read by the late Douglas Adams. And (though I haven’t listened to them in English), ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘The DaVinci Code’ made excellent listening a year or two ago for me in their swedish translation.

I spend a lot of time in the car for work, and lately I’ve been enjoying the radio dramas from ZBS Media (http://www.zbs.org). They produced the radio version of Hitchhikers Guide as well as the Jack Flanders adventures and Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe. You can hear them late nights and weekends on public radio stations around the country. They aren’t to everyone’s taste (my wife rolls her eyes), but if you do like them there are literally hundreds of hours of entertainment to choose from on CD or MP3. The only catch that I’ve found is that because my little car lets in a fair amount of road noise I sometimes have to fiddle with the volume to compensate for the wide dynamic range of the performances. The site is worth checking out if you’re looking for something a little different.

I’ve enjoyed “The Kings and Queens of England” over the past year during my road trips… while interesting, if I listen for too long they tend to blur together.

The Narnia series is pretty good, some read by rather famous actors.

o-o-o
ZBS good!
I wore out two copies of The Fourth Tower of
Inverness on cassette. The only problem with
the ZBS CD’s is they are a little more
expensive. I’m not sure how dated the Fourth Tower
would be these days, as it originally was serialized
on radio in about 1972.
Meatball Fulton rules!

Janet Evanovich… hate to admit it. But that series has great narration and moves fast while keeping you engaged. Granted, it’s not the greater works of the classics. However, if you are driving and want to stay awake at the wheel, I suggest nothing else.

I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a truck trying to stay awake and her stuff was the best.

Most of these were available at my local library as well, so you probably have a good shot at saving money.

The Van by Roddy Doyle rad by Brendan Gleeson. Another personal favorite.

I’ll also second HHGTTG. It’s my favorite book and I have the Douglas Adams live readings which was kind of fun.

Worst thing I ever tried to get past was Ivanhoe. There is nothing more sleep inducing than a pretentious british accent from the upper crust trying to read something that is over a century old.

If you’re interested in hearing a pleasant narrative on general science.  I have enjoyed “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson.

From Wikipedia:

A Short History of Nearly Everything (ISBN 0-7679-0817-1) is a general science book by Bill Bryson, which explains some areas of science in ordinary language. It was the bestselling popular science book of 2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1]

A Short History deviates from Bryson’s popular travel book genre, instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology.

Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I typically hit a Cracker Barrel on my way out of town--they will sell you books on tape/CD but you can return them at another Cracker Barrel for a refund (minus a $3/week rental fee).  The choices are sometimes slim pickings, though.

I doubt I’d shell out the money for HP, HHGTTG, or Narnia since I’ve already read them all, but if they happen to be available at my library or the CB then I’ll definitely pick them up.

In general, unlike games, books and movies are bad investments for me--I rarely want to revisit them.