Where fiction is concerned, I see value in audiobooks over and above the ability to listen to them in your car. If my kids were younger, I would likely try–and truthfully likely fail, as I did in fact try something close to this–to get them gathered around for the reading of Dickens.
Good stories benefit yet further from good tellers. There is a qualitative difference between reading a book, and having it read to you by someone skilled in it.
I am particularly enjoying the ability of this story teller, his name is Simon Prebble, to conjure the endless British accents on command. What are there, hundreds? Many, to be sure. Even Brits would likely have to do their research, but I think he has done his.
As I think I’ve mentioned, I am also listening to Shakespeare this way. I had an unanticipated tragedy: I lost the damn CD set–but I will presently be taking my lumps, paying for a new one at the library, and starting anew.