Discovering audiobooks

Illustration for "The Black Cat" by Aubrey Beardsley (1894–1895)

I discovered audiobooks last week. Intrigued, I listened to two short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, all told from the perspective of the murderer.

The first was The Black Cat which was about a man who liked animals. Among his so-called pet collection, one cat particularly interested him. "Pluto—this was the cat's name—was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets."

Eventually, though, he killed the animal by grasping it by the throat and cutting its belly with a pen-knife. This man was a psycho.

He did the same "damnable atrocity" to another cat. He accidentally killed her wife when she tried to get in his way. When the cops came looking for her, he hid her corpse in his house.

The second story was The Cask of Amontillado, which I had read in high school some years back, thanks to Mrs. Eleanor Panes who required us to know the story by heart (friends who studied under the KNCHS Special Science Classes will know what I mean). Montressor plotted revenge against his friend, Fortunato. He lured Fortunato to get inside a cellar, walled up the niche, and entombed him alive.

I enjoyed listening to these audiobooks. It was like having someone read to you a bedtime story. Audiobooks are perfect for long commutes or for spending the last few waking hours at night before eventually drifting to sleep. The downside is that my ear—especially the left antihelix—gets painful with prolonged use of earphones.

Is there any audiobook you can recommend?