The website fivebooks.com has the most amazing curated lists of items to read in various categories. Highly recommended.
https://fivebooks.com/category/audiobooks/
Finding the best audiobooks is a tough task. The underlying book has to be good, but the audio performance has to be good, too. Perhaps some books which aren’t so good can be transformed into something stunning by a great audio performance, or a book that’s wonderful can be ruined by an audio performer who isn’t great at dialogue (say).
For recommendations of the latest books, the Audie Awards are a great place to start. Michele Cobb, Director of the Audio Publishers Association, talked through the shortlisted audiobooks of 2022.
We also have an entertaining selection of audiobooks for kids. For an expert introduction to what makes a good listening experience, we recommend this interview, with Robin and Mary Burkey, another audiobook veteran who has judged a number of prizes.
We’ve also got lists we’ve compiled ourselves, including some of the books we’ve come across and enjoyed listening to. They include:
Great actors reading great books
Audiobooks narrated by their author
The Best Audiobooks of 2022, recommended by Robin Whitten
- Read1The Marriage Portrait: A Novel
by Maggie O’Farrell & narrated by Genevieve Gaunt - Read2The Maid
by Nita Prose & narrated by Lauren Ambrose - Read3You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
by Zora Neale Hurston and narrated by Robin Miles - Read4Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound
by Lake Bell - Read5In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
by Amy Bloom
The Best Audiobooks for Kids of 2022, recommended by Emily Connelly
- Read1A Is for Oboe: The Orchestra’s Alphabet
by Lera Auerbach, Marilyn Nelson, Paul Hoppe (illustrator) & Thomas Quasthoff (narrator) - Read2A Different Pond
by Bao Phi & Thi Bui (illustrator) - Read3The Last Mapmaker
by Christina Soontornvat & Sura Siu (narrator) - Read4What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix
Tasha Suri, narrated by Becca Hirani and Alex Williams - Read5All My Rage
Sabaa Tahir, narrated by Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan and Kausar Mohammed
The Best Audiobooks: the 2022 Audie Awards, recommended by Michele Cobb
- Read1Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir & Ray Porter (narrator) - Read2A Promised Land
by Barack Obama - Read3The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music
by Dave Grohl - Read4The Sweetness of Water
by Nathan Harris & William DeMeritt (narrator) - Read5All the Lonely People
by Mike Gayle & Ben Onwukwe (narrator)
The Best Audiobooks of 2021, recommended by Robin Whitten
- Read1Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (editors) - Read2Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II
by Daniel James Brown - Read3The Alexandria Quartet
by Lawrence Durrell - Read4Eartha & Kitt: A Daughter’s Love Story in Black and White
by Kitt Shapiro (with Patricia Weiss Levy) - Read5The Night Gate
by Peter May
The Best Audiobooks: the 2021 Audie Awards, recommended by Michele Cobb
- Read1Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator) - Read2The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X and assisted by Alex Haley, Laurence Fishburne (narrator) - Read3The City We Became: A Novel (The Great Cities Trilogy)
by N.K. Jemisin & Robin Miles (narrator) - Read4Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid & Nicole Lewis (narrator) - Read5More Myself: A Journey
by Alicia Keys
The Best Audiobooks for Kids of 2021, recommended by Emily Connelly
- Read1We Are Still Here: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know
Traci Sorell, Frané Lessac (illustrator) - Read2Stuntboy, In the Meantime
Jason Reynolds, Raúl the Third (illustrator), Guy Lockard (narrator) - Read3Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood
Kwame Mbalia (editor), Amir Abdullah & Taj Leahy (narrators) - Read4Redemptor
Jordan Ifueko, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt - Read5Firekeeper’s Daughter
Angeline Boulley, narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc
The Best Audiobooks of 2020, recommended by Robin Whitten
- Read1Vesper Flights
by Helen Macdonald (author and narrator) - Read2The Sandman
by Dirk Maggs (audiobook adaptation), Full Cast & Neil Gaiman - Read3The Pull of the Stars: A Novel
by Emma Donoghue & Emma Lowe (narrator) - Read4The Searcher: A Novel
by Roger Clark (narrator) & Tana French - Read5A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team
by Adam Lazarre-White (narrator) & Arshay Cooper
The Best Presidential Memoirs as Audiobooks, recommended by Robin Whitten
- Read1A Promised Land
by Barack Obama - Read2My Life
by Bill Clinton - Read3Decision Points
by George W Bush - Read4Promise Me, Dad
by Joe Biden - Read5The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
by Ulysses S Grant and Elizabeth Samet (editor), Mark Bramhall (narrator) - Read6White House Diary
by Jimmy Carter
The 2020 Audie Awards: Best Multi-Voiced Performance, recommended by Mary Burkey & Robin Whitten
- Read1200 Women: Who Will Change The Way You See The World
by Geoff Blackwell, Kieran Scott, Marianne Lassandro, Ruth Hobday & Sharon Gelman - Read2Daisy Jones & The Six
by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Read3Dooku: Jedi Lost (Star Wars)
by Cavan Scott - Read4Hey, Kiddo
by Jarrett Krosoczka - Read5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001
by Garrett Graff
The Best Romance Audiobooks, recommended by Emily Connelly
- Read1The Bride Test
by Helen Hoang and Emily Woo Zeller (narrator) - Read2Get a Life, Chloe Brown
by Talia Hibbert and Adjoa Andoh (narrator) - Read3Boyfriend Material
by Alexis Hall & Joe Jameson (narrator) - Read4Desire Lines
by Elizabeth Kingston & Nicholas Boulton (narrator) - Read5Love Lettering
by Kate Clayborn & Nicol Zanzarella (narrator)
The Best Audiobooks for Kids of 2020, recommended by Emily Connelly
- Read1¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat
by Raúl the Third, narrated by Gary Tiedemann - Read2Overground Railroad
by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James Ransome, narrated by Shayna Small and Dion Graham - Read3When Stars Are Scattered
by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson, narrated by Faysal Ahmed (and full cast) - Read4Before the Ever After
by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Guy Lockard - Read5King and the Dragonflies
by Kacen Callender, narrated by Ron Butler
The 2020 Audie Awards: Best Audiobooks for Young Adults, recommended by Mary Burkey & Robin Whitten
Abycats' Thoughts 