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Best Audiobooks of 2008
In this issue, AudioFile celebrates the best audiobooks and best voices of the past year. These are the books that everyone was talking about, the “must-listens” that we recommended to our friends, the performances that moved and transported us, the audiobooks that encouraged us to stay on the treadmill for an extra ten minutes and demanded that we sit in the driveway until the chapter was done. You’ll find here dozens of audiobooks--in fiction and biography, mystery and young adult, fantasy and classics--and the world-class narrators who translate the printed word into extraordinary audio experiences.
  BEST AUDIOBOOKS - FICTION & CLASSICS | |||
THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN Garth Stein | UN | ||
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows | UN | ||
HOME Marilynne Robinson | UN | ||
MOTHERS AND SONS Colm Toibin | UN | ||
ON THE ROAD Jack Kerouac | UN | ||
OUT STEALING HORSES Per Petterson, Anne Born [Trans.] | UN | ||
OWLS DO CRY Janet Frame | UN | ||
THE PLAGUE OF DOVES Louise Erdrich | UN | ||
THE RESURRECTIONIST Jack O’Connell | UN | ||
THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE David Wroblewski | UN | ||
| WHITE FANG/THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London Read by John Lee (Blackstone Audiobooks) Read Review | UN | ||
| THE WHITE TIGER Aravind Adiga Read by John Lee (Tantor Media) Read Review | UN | ||
| WINTER’S TALE Mark Helprin Read by Oliver Wyman (BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | UN | ||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - CHILDREN & FAMILYLISTENING | |||
| AGES 4-8 | |||
THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE George Selden | UN | ||
DIARY OF A FLY Doreen Cronin | UN | ||
DO UNTO OTTERS Laurie Keller | UN | ||
GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! Laura Amy Schlitz | UN | ||
I’M DIRTY Kate & Jim McMullan | UN | ||
| Ages 8+ | |||
BROOKLYN BRIDGE Karen Hesse | UN | ||
| ELIJAH OF BUXTON Christopher Paul Curtis Read by Mirron Willis (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| IGRAINE THE BRAVE Cornelia Funke Read by Xanthe Elbrick (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| KING FOR KIDS Martin Luther King, Jr. Read by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Hachette Audio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| MELTING STONES Tamora Pierce Read by Grace Kelly and a Full Cast (Full Cast Audio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| THE SHOE BIRD Samuel Jones, Eudora Welty Read by Jim Dale and the Seattle Symphony (Brilliance Audio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| THE UNDERNEATH Kathi Appelt Read by Gabra Zackman (Simon & Schuster Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
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 Kathi Appelt’s first novel, THE UNDERNEATH, offers animal characters older listeners will care about: an abused hound dog and a calico cat and her kittens who shelter underneath a porch. The novel was a National Book Award Finalist, and the narration helps make the magic of the story, which also follows the tale of a snake imprisoned in a jar a thousand years ago, real: “It is a ballad whose music is heard in Gabra Zackman’s perfect cadence.” Read Review | |||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - MYSTERY & SUSPENSE | |||
ATOMIC LOBSTER Tim Dorsey | UN | ||
DUMA KEY Stephen King | UN | ||
FEARLESS FOURTEEN Janet Evanovich | UN | ||
| THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Stieg Larsson Read by Simon Vance (Books on Tape) Read Review | UN | ||
| AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE Jacqueline Winspear Read by Orlagh Cassidy (Macmillan Audio/BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | UN | ||
| LUSH LIFE Richard Price Read by Bobby Cannavale (Macmillan Audio/BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | UN | ||
| THE MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS Alexander McCall Smith Read by Lisette Lecat (Recorded Books) Read Review | UN | ||
| NOTHING TO LOSE Lee Child Read by Dick Hill (Random House Audio/Books on Tape) Read Review | UN | ||
| SWAN PEAK James Lee Burke Read by Will Patton (Simon & Schuster Audio/Recorded Books) Read Review | UN | ||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - NONFICTION & CULTURE | |||
THE AGE OF TURBULENCE Alan Greenspan | AB | ||
ALPHABET JUICE Roy Blount Jr. | AB | ||
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE William Strunk, E.B. White | UN | ||
GIVING Bill Clinton | UN | ||
HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED Thomas L. Friedman | UN | ||
| IN DEFENSE OF FOOD Michael Pollan Read by Scott Brick (Penguin Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| LISTENING IS AN ACT OF LOVE Dave Isay [Ed.] Read by Dave Isay and StoryCorps Participants (Penguin Audio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| THE POETS’ CORNER John Lithgow [Ed.] Read by John Lithgow, Ellen Atkins, et al. (Hachette Audio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| TRAFFIC Tom Vanderbilt Read by David Slavin (Random House Audio) Read Review | AB | ||
| THE WAR WITHIN Bob Woodward Read by Boyd Gaines (Simon & Schuster Audio) Read Review | AB | ||
| THE WAY OF THE WORLD Ron Suskind Read by Alan Sklar (Harper Audio/Recorded Books) Read Review | UN | ||
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 If food is an intrinsic part of our lives, so, unfortunately, is traffic. Subtitled “Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us),” TRAFFIC delves into our ever-longer commutes. It might, therefore, be the perfect in-car companion, as our review reveals: "Listening to this book while in traffic creates the ultimate ‘news you can you use’ experience."Read Review | |||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - BIOGRAPHY & HISTORY | |||
BROTHER, I’M DYING Edwidge Danticat | UN | ||
CALL ME TED Ted Turner, Bill Burke | UN | ||
THE ESSENTIAL BARACK OBAMA Barack Obama | AB | ||
THE LAST CAMPAIGN Thurston Clarke | UN | ||
| LIFE BEYOND MEASURE Sidney Poitier Read by Sidney Poitier (Harper Audio/Books on Tape) Read Review | AB | ||
| THE SNOWBALL Alice Shroeder Read by Kirsten Potter (Books on Tape) Read Review | UN | ||
| THE SUM OF OUR DAYS Isabel Allende UN Read by Blair Brown (Harper Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| TOUCH AND GO Studs Terkel UN Read by Norman Dietz (Tantor Media) Read Review | UN | ||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - AUTHOR-READ | |||
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN | UN | ||
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK Neil Gaiman | UN | ||
IODINE Haven Kimmel | UN | ||
A MERCY Toni Morrison | UN | ||
THE PRINCE OF FROGTOWN Rick Bragg | UN | ||
THEN Morris Gleitzman | UN | ||
WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES David Sedaris | UN | ||
A WOLF AT THE TABLE Augusten Burroughs | UN | ||
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 Author Toni Morrison garners rave reviews for her narrations, whether in person or on audio. “When I read in public, I never vary from the rhythm or the accent or the emphasis,” she says. “I worked very hard in the writing to make the work have a presence that was quiet on the page, but at the same time to have an oral quality. I leave certain things out and shape the sentences for sound, as well as meaning.” She has performed unabridged versions of SULA, PARADISE, BELOVED, LOVE, and now this year’s A MERCY, all to great acclaim. “She honors each sound,” we write of her lush, luxurious style, “and expresses each image vividly.” Her prose merits nothing less.Read Review | |||
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 Australian author Morris Gleitzman narrates his own audiobooks for children with skill and empathy, including this year’s THEN, the sequel to his Audie Award finalist, ONCE. How does he believably embody the voice of a 10-year-old? “When I write,” he says, “I try to stay in touch with the internal world of the main character. That sort of emotional journey through the book helps me with my narration. Even though I don’t have many learned techniques of performance, staying connected to those emotions helps me read the story in the right way.”Read Review | |||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - YOUNG ADULT | |||
| AIRMAN Eoin Colfer Read by John Keating (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| THE COMPOUND S.A. Bodeen Read by Christopher Lane (Brilliance Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| GOLD DUST Geraldine McCaughrean Read by Laurel Lefkow (BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | UN | ||
| NATION Terry Pratchett Read by Stephen Briggs (Harper Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| OCTAVIAN NOTHING: THE KINGDOM ON THE WAVES M.T. Anderson Read by Peter Francis James (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE NORTH Philip Pullman Read by Philip Pullman and a Full Cast (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| PAPER TOWNS John Green Read by Dan John Miller (Brilliance Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| PLAYING WITH FIRE Derek Landy Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio) Read Review | UN | ||
| SEEING REDD Frank Beddor Read by Gerard Doyle (Scholastic Audiobooks) Read Review | UN | ||
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 Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs make a clever, deft team, something the author is the first one to point out. “Stephen acts the novels. Discworld books are very dialogue driven, and pace change and tonal change are very important. It's a performance.” Having adapted 14 novels for the stage and collaborated with Pratchett on a number of Discworld maps, lists, and compendiums, Briggs has an encyclopedic familiarity with the material that few narrators can match, says Pratchett, who now and again calls Briggs when he can't remember which character did what in which novel.” That same dedication is apparent in Pratchett’s YA novels, like this year’s NATION, a coming-of-age story. “Briggs adopts a tone of fun without resorting to outrageous hilarity and thus preserves the satire, and the overall sweetness, of the story.”Read Review | |||
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| BEST AUDIOBOOKS - SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | |||
| ACACIA David Anthony Durham Read by Dick Hill (Tantor Media) Read Review | UN | ||
| ACHERON Sherrilyn Kenyon Read by Holter Graham (Macmillan Audio/BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | UN | ||
| BRISINGR Christopher Paolini Read by Gerard Doyle (Listening Library) Read Review | UN | ||
| 52 Greg Cox, DC Comics Read by Richard Rohan and a Full Cast (GraphicAudio) Read Review | AUD | ||
| SELECTIONS FROM DREAMSONGS George R.R. Martin Read by Claudia Black, Mark Bramhall, et al. (Random House Audio/Books on Tape) Read Review | UN | ||
| SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLSYuri Rasovsky Read by a Full Cast (Blackstone Audiobooks) Read Review | AUD | ||
| VICTORY OF EAGLES Naomi Novik Read by Simon Vance (Random House Audio/Books on Tape) Read Review | UN | ||
| THE WAR OF THE WORLDS H.G. Wells, Susan Sallis Read by Martin Jarvis and a Full Cast (BBC Audiobooks America) Read Review | AUD | ||
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 ACACIA is an epic fantasy, full of the kind of cultural detail and world building author David Anthony Durham honed writing historical fiction such as GABRIEL'S STORY and PRIDE OF CARTHAGE. Golden Voice Dick Hill’s ability to make characters memorable and his eagerness to “play all the parts” serves this long novel well. “Hill turns in a magnificent performance, creating subtle yet distinct differences in the dialects of different peoples. The fluidity with which he is able to switch between these dialects is striking, and a perfectly timed sigh or pause further heightens the believability of the characters.” Start listening now, and get in on the ground floor of what should be an engrossing new series.Read Review | |||
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 If it’s possible to create comic books for the ears, GraphicAudio has done it. We call their 52 (available in two parts) “a wonderfully rich and layered recording” and “a sheer delight to be enjoyed over and over by comic book fans and other listeners searching for an escape.” Richard Rohan, who is also an audio producer and director at The Cutting Corporation, which produces audios for others as well as for its own imprint, GraphicAudio, handles the duties of the bridging narration. Cutting executive Anji Cornette calls his voice work “high impact.” A cast of 25 actors embodies the larger-than-life comic book heroes. Wonder Woman, Superman, Booster Gold, and more are as fully-imagined on audio as their brightly-illustrated counterparts are on the page. The soundscape is completed with sound effects and a dramatic musical score. It’s a superhero movie in your mind.Read Review | |||
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| UN = Unabridged AB = Abridged AUD = Audio program | |||
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