Audiobook Favorites

While I still have to finish a post on my favorite audiobook narrators, I thought I would share a couple of my favorite audiobooks from last year. I’ve listed these in the order that I listened to them in to avoid the agony of having to rank them.

Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje narrated by Alan Cumming

The combination of Ondaatje’s writing and Cumming’s narration is some sort of cosmic fate. Ok, I know that sounds a little bit dramatic, but I love this audiobook so much. It’s the second audiobook in my life that’s solidified by faith in the medium. I’m picky, I know, but when you stumble upon something as awesome as this, the hours of slogging through audio samples is totally worth it. Aside from my possibly overenthusiastic love there’s also the fact that this is the first audiobook that made me realize I might be on to something in terms of translated or foreign books. While the novel wasn’t translated, the story is almost entirely contained in Sri Lanka. Unfamiliar names and words tend to get stuck in my head and clog up the reading process, but with audiobooks this doesn’t happen. The words fall smoothly into sentences and roll around pleasantly in my head, meaning that I’ve now found a way to expand the scope of literature I’m exposed to.

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain narrated by Anthony Bourdain

I’m not normally a fan of author read narrations, but with Anthony Bourdain anything he writes needs to be written by him. I would almost go so far as to say don’t even bother with the book. His books are great, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never been able to read anything written by him once I listened to him reading his own writing. There’s just something extra that comes across with the reading that isn’t there on the page.

The Old Kingdom Trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen) by Garth Nix narrated Tim Curry

I love the pace of the audiobooks as much as I love the fact that all three are narrated by the same person which makes for great continuity. While these weren’t my favorite audiobooks of they year, I did enjoy them immensely and am looking forward to checking out more of Curry’s work.

Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez narrated by Gildart Jackson

I love this audiobook. If there was an English translation of the novel I would love it as well. If I hadn’t tried and failed abismally several times to learn French, I would consider taking on the task so that I would be able to read the rest of the books in the series. While normally I would take into account this love coloring my assessment of the narration, the fact that I suffered through possibly the worst book ever written for the sole reason that I needed Jackson’s narration not to end, esponges any worry I may have. Jackson’s narration is fantastic. If I had to pick a favorite for the year, this audiobook would definitely be in contention for first place.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki narrated by Ruth Ozeki

Perfection. I sat and listened to sections of this audiobook several times in a row and then scoured the internet looking for author readings. Frankly I’m happy to listen to Ozeki talk about almost anything, but I love her narration of the in particular. I have picked up the (written) book to see how it compares, but even with the footnotes and other added material I’m not sure it’s going to be able to surpass the warmth and depth of the audiobook. Out of all of the audiobooks mentioned here, this is the one that creates the most distinct sense of individual characters.

A Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith narrated by Robert Glenister

Again this wasn’t my favorite audiobook of the year, but I did enjoy it immensely. Most of my problems with the book were with the writing and not the narration itself.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson narrated by Simon Vance

I have suffered through many a book narrated by Vance simply because he narrated them. It’s so wonderful to find another book narrated by him that is as compelling and well written as this one. I’m currently 80% done with the audiobook and am hoping to do a review, particularly considering how varied (in all the best ways) it is from the film (2009: I haven’t seen the American adaptation), which I loved. One of the things that particularly struck me about the audiobook (and the English translation in general) is the conversion of units (Fahrenheit, miles ect) in the text. I can make due with metric, but there’s something about this little touch that I found particularly endearing.