My dearest, Heather-with-a-comma-after-dearest, has asked for audiobook recommendations. I know for the fact this has all happened before, but I love her, so this may now also happen again. We proceed.
But first: I will tell you a few of my biases. Generally I find that audiobooks emphasize the salient qualities of writing, making the book
even more... whatever it is. This can be a positive (for example, a funny celebrity memoir, charmingly narrated by the funny celebrity herself), but if the writing is flawed in some way, boy howdy can it suffer out loud. Wordy becomes interminable and unclear becomes incomprehensible. I most often run into this with writing that I perceive as sexist. A male actor doing a stupid falsetto for the voices of women highlights all the ways a book makes a mockery of its female characters. It is for this reason that I am extra wary of audiobooks with male narrators. I think this is also the reason (although she doesn't realize it) that my sister says she doesn't like fiction on audiobook at all. Personally, I prefer fiction to nonfiction on audio, because I am detail-oriented but cannot always keep track of details on first listen. By the same token, worldbuilding-heavy SFF audio is hit-or-miss for me, especially if I can't visualize how unfamiliar, invented names should be spelled. All of which is to say that this list is limited not only by my taste but also my cognitive quirks.
Also,
- I can give TWs, content notes, and expanded opinions if needed
- yes I DO know most of the audiobook narrators by name and by voice too but nobody else cares so I'm not listing them here unless there are multiple recordings, which happens more than you might think
- most of these can be got for FREE from your local library via OverDrive/Libby or Hoopla Digital. New Audible members also get at least one free audiobook, AND, current audible members (for example: me) can share one book from their library with another member so what I am saying is I can send you one free audiobook that I own
- finally: this list isn't limited to my absolute favorites. I certainly have opinions on all and complaints about some, but if included, you can be sure that I count it as particularly good either in recording, writing, or the elusive all-around. So:
Some Audiobooks I'd Recommend, With As Little Commentary As I Can Possibly Keep It Down To
MG/YA
Fire and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (please note these are books 2 and 3 of a trilogy - the first installment, Graceling, having been subjected to a very different style of audiobook recording which I disliked)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
The Howl's Moving Castle series, beginning with Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
Sadie by Courtney Summers
ADULT SFF
Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (not to be confused with the podcast and its compilations; this is an actual novel)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
The Arcadia Project series, beginning with Borderline, by Mishell Baker
The Imperial Radch Trilogy, beginning with Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (caveat: I haven't actually listened to Ancillary Justice. I read it in print, and was happy to for the aforementioned worldbuilding reasons. Since the narrator is the same for all three books, however, I assume it is just as good as the other two, which are excellent)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (specified narrator: Rachel Dulude; I cannot speak to the other recordings, nor have I listened to the audiobooks for the rest of the Wayfarers series, but they're excellent books and are probably great on audio too)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (which is more of what I'd call literary fiction but it is so lonely by itself)
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
MYSTERIES, THRILLERS, HORROR
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (specified narrator: Bronson Pinchot)
The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (not a series) by Shirley Jackson
Sharp Objects and Dark Places (also not a series) by Gillian Flynn
The Dublin Murder Squad series, beginning with In the Woods, by Tana French
The Lord Peter Wimsey series, which technically begins with Whose Body? but you may wish to skip to the excellent het romance beginning with Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers (specified narrator: Ian Carmichael) (but I really only recommend this if you are in the mood for rich white british people chatting cleverly at great length in the 1920s and 30s, which is a very particular taste)
MEMOIRI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (and, I assume, her other memoirs, of which she wrote SIX)
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (
her other two memoirs are good too)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
I AM TIRED OF LISTING STUFF
Click here instead:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/952002-beatricks?page=2&per_page=100&shelf=read-listened&utf8=%E2%9C%93 Enjoy!
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