Alright Y’all, here it is: the bigass list of all your favorite audiobooks of the year! Because there are so many, I don’t have much room for description, but if you mentioned something specific about the title (that I didn’t mention in the newsletter last week). And thank you, so much, to everyone who wrote in with their favorites. It was so fun to see what stood out for everyone this year.
We’re giving away a stack of our 20 favorite books of the year. Click here to enter, or just click the image below.
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman (full cast production)
- American War by Omar El Akkad, narrated by Dion Graham
- Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber, narrated by Mark Deakins & Laurel Rankin
- Artemis by Andy Weir, narrated by Rosario Dawson
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens narrated by Sean Barrett & Teresa Gallagher
- Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America written and read by Patrick Phillips
- The Bobiverse Trilogy by Dennis E. Taylor, narrated by Ray Porter
- Born a Crime, written and read by Trevor Noah
- The Broken Road written and read by Richard Paul Evans
- Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, narrated by Rachel Dulude
- Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas, narrated by Kate Reading
- Cork Dork written and read by Bianca Bosker
(Reader says: This wasn’t life-changing, but still a funny listen, especially with the author narrating her own story.)
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone, narrated by Dion Graham
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, narr. Cary Elwes
- Discount Armageddon: InCryptid, Book 1 by Seanan McGuire, narrated by Emily Bauer
- The Diviners by Libba Bray, narrated by January LaVoy
- Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones, narrated by Neil Hellegers
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, narrated
by Cathleen McCarron - Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin…Every Inch of It by Brittany Gibbons, narrated by Lauren Fortgang
- The Fireman by Joe Hill
- The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, narrated by Anna Bentinck
- Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith
(Reader says: The book itself is fascinating, and Nicholas has captured the tone and pacing required to convey the “gentleman’s” character. Beautiful!)
- The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, narr. Christian Coulson Ghost: Paladin of Shadows, Book 1 by John Ringo, narrated by Jeremy Arthur
- Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach, narrated By Abby Elvidge
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, narrated by Bahni Turpin
- Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi, narrated by Dominic Hoffman
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones, narrated by Jenny Sterlin
- Hunger written and read by Roxane Gay
(Reader says: It was a tough listen, I’m not gonna lie, but it was so much more powerful because Gay actually read the audio.)
- I Can’t Make This Up by Kevin Hart
(Reader says: I loved Kevin Hart’s memoir that he read aloud. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it had a lot of good life lessons.)
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and narrated by Thandie Newton
- Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, narrated by Rachel Dulude
- Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott, narrated by Karen White
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, narrated by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, et. al.
Long Way Down, written and narrated by Jason Reynolds- Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, narrated by Vikas Adam
(Reader says: I didn’t see the movie, but was curious about the story. I loved the audiobook.)
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and narrated by Kristoffer Tabori.
(Reader says: Not new but I just listened to it and loved Tabori’s voice. He managed to make every character sound so unique.)
- Norse Mythology, written and read by Neil Gaiman.
- Noel Diary written and read by Richard Paul Evans
- Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl by Emily Pohl-Weary, narrated by Kate Rudd
- The One by John Marrs
- The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum, narrated By Coleen Marlo
- Priestdaddy written and read by Patricia Lockwood
- The Right Time by Danielle Steel, narrated by Victoria Bevin
- Slavery By Another Name
by Douglas Blackmon, narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris - Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King, narrated by Marin Ireland
- Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel (full cast narration)
- Solo, written and read by Kwame Alexander
- The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
- A Study in Scarlet by Sherry Thomas, narrated by Kate Reading
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*k by Mark Mason, narrated by Roger Wayne
- This is Just My Face written and read by Gabby Sidibe
- Trying to Live with the Dead: The Veil Diaries, Book 1 by B. L. Brunnemer
- Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel (full cast narration)
- Watership Down by Richard Adams, narrated by Ralph Cosham
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Cadish, narrated by Corrie James- What Happened, written and read by Hillary Rodham Clinton
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, narrated by Sunil Malhotra
(Reader says: I know that the author died before this book was published, but I couldn’t help feeling like he was reading this book and talking to me. I loved this book so much. I made it through the book without tears, until the epilogue by his widow.)
- When the Dead Come a Knockin’: The Veil Diaries, Book 2 by B. L. Brunnemer, narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer, Kris Koscheski
- Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, written and read by Kory Stamper
(Reader says: This was SO good, and Kory does such a great job narrating. Honestly, it felt like I was having a legit conversation with her she sounded so natural. I feel like that’s the sign of an amazing audiobook, right? You don’t even feel like you are being read to. I primarily listen to nonfiction, so you don’t get that all too often to be honest.)
Alright, folks, how ’bout them audiobooks? Think those will tide you over until January?
As always, feel free to say hello on twitter at msmacb or via email at katie@riotnewmedia.com
Happy Forced Family Time!
~Katie