Best Audiobooks Read in 2024

I love listening to audiobooks and actually prefer doing so over reading the print versions usually. This year there were some real standout audiobooks and then a whole batch of very wonderful ones. I've ranked the standouts but the others I just listed as they came to mind, so the numbering system falls apart at that point.

Standout #1: James by Percival Everett; read by Dominic Hoffman

Random House Audio, 2024. 7 hours and 49 minutes.

James is the retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn story from the point of view of Twain's Jim, the enslaved man who escapes with Huck. In a lot of ways this is a perfect audiobook since so much of the book is about the language or dialect we use. "A white character notices James’s standard English cadence with shock and asks: “Why are you talking like that?” With impressive comedic timing and vocal agility, Hoffman skips nimbly between James’s natural eloquence and the “slave filter” he uses to hide it from white people, deepening a project that hinges on vernacular as both signifier and tool of liberation" (NYT). James is also my favorite book read in 2024.

Standout #2: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea; read by Barbara Flynn, Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea

Penguin Audio, 2023. 12 hours and 5 minutes.

In her 60+ years of acting, Judi Dench has acted in 20 Shakespeare plays and in a variety of roles within those plays. This project, a series of conversations with Brendan O'Hea about the Bard and her career, was meant to for the Globe Theater Archives, but was reworked under the direction of O'Hea with the help of Barbara Flynn (who sounds an awful lot like Dench) into this fabulous audio experience.  "Sheer heaven for fans of Dench, Shakespeare, or the craft" (Cathy, Blue Willow Book Shop). 

Standout #3: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, read by the author

Recorded Books, 2024. 31 hours and 16 minutes.

I loved The Covenant of Water narrated by Verghese himself. This was a rare treat because I got to listen to his beautiful Indian accent but also learned how to pronounce previously unknown words and locations to me. The 30+ hours of listening made me feel like I had practically moved to India and more specifically to Parambil, the family estate, built as far away from the nearby river as it could be for fear of the water. The audiobook experience was so immersive it felt like I was living and breathing the same air as the characters.

4. Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, read by Stephen Hoye

Random House Audio, 1974, 2004. 13 hours and 44 minutes.

Killer Angels is a novel about the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. My husband and I listened to the audiobook together. Stephen Hoye did an exceptional job reading the story, building up the tension preceding the battles to a perfect pitch. His accents for the both the Southern Generals and for the Maine men were spot-on and led to an even more personalized experience with the text. Even though I knew who won the battle historically, every time we stopped listening, I wanted to get back to it as soon as possible to find out how things worked out. As I listened I knew the book would end up on this list as best audiobooks of the year.

5. Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan, read by Nirmala Rajasingam

Random House Audio, 2023. 13 hours and 28 minutes.

A Women's Prize judge said Brotherless Night is "a powerful book that has the intimacy of a memoir, the range and ambition of an epic, and tells a truly unforgettable story of the Sri Lankan civil war." The story was intense but I couldn't stop listening to the audiobook. To stop would mean I didn't care. And I did care, very much, because of this story. About the audiobook, the narrator Nirmala Rajasingam did a brilliant job. Audible says this book is meant to be heard. I agree.

6. North Woods by Daniel Mason, read by a cast of ten voice actors.

Random House Audio, 2023. 11 hours and 5 minutes.

In North Woods all the stories revolve around a small cabin in Western Massachusetts over several centuries. North Woods has a series of linked stories told chronologically centering the action on or near the cabin. Four centuries of stories, families, characters, and schemes. And all these stories are not told in the same formats -- some are told in prose, others in lyrics and poetry, newspaper articles, medical case file entries, real estate advertisements, a true-crime detective story, a page entry from an almanac, and even a historical society speech. The audiobook was excellent and used a variety of voice actors, ten in all. That seems about right considering the story took place over so many centuries.

7. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar (10th anniversary edition) by Cheryl Strayed, read by the author.

Random House Audio, 2012, reissued 2022. 10 hours and 41 minutes.

For more than a decade, thousands of people have sought advice from Dear Sugar—the pseudonym of bestselling author Cheryl Strayed—first through her online column at The Rumpus, later through her hit podcast, Dear Sugars, and now through her popular Substack newsletter. Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. I listened to the audiobook of Tiny Beautiful Things which was narrated by Cheryl Strayed. It was a perfect decision to have the author, Sugar herself, read out the advice she had given her readers. Everything about the experience was so authentic. I'm sorry I missed the book when it was first published in 2012, but I am so glad I found it after its 2022 reissue, which has a few updates and additions from the original.

8. The Song for Achilles by Madeline Miller, read by Frazer Douglas

HarperAudio, 2012. 11 hours and 15 minutes.

The Song of Achilles is the retelling of the Iliad story from Patroclus' point of view. The story was new and fresh to me. My husband and I listened to the audiobook, read by Frazer Douglas, and enjoyed it immensely. The pronunciation of names and places were all handled expertly. What we lacked was a complex list of the many characters, gods and heroes alike, to help us keep everyone straight in our heads. Not until I dug around the house and found the print copy loaned to me by my daughter, did I find what I needed to fill out the story: a character glossary and a gods and heroes illustrated closeup. I recommend listening to the audiobook but getting a copy of the print version to refer to as you listen.

9. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea, read by the author

Hachette Audio, 2018. 9 hours and 46 minutes.

"This audiobook begins with a frantic revelation--"Big Angel was late to his own mother's funeral"--and the pace never slows down after that. The author narrates his novel with a verve and engagement that few performers could emulate, blending Spanish and English, dialogue and narrative with the balance of a dancer. Listeners get to know Big Angel and his family through an almost stream-of-consciousness rhythm that can seem frenetic at some times, poetic at others" (Audiofile). I found this book really enjoyable and helpful in my thinking about what it is like to be a member of a Mexican American family living in California but whose hearts are very much still across the border. This is a fantastic story and Urrea is a fantastic storyteller.

10. The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich, read by Peter Francis James and Kathleen McInerney

HarperAudio, 2008. 11 hours and 3 minutes.

The first book in Erdrich's Justice Trilogy, The Plague of Doves details the interconnected lives of several generations of whiles and Indigenous people living in a town in North Dakota where an unsolved murder in 1911 still haunts the community. "Erdrich is a master storyteller known for her compelling novels, and her lyrical, recursive narrative style is enriched by the narrators' ability to fully portray her characters. This ideal match of writer and readers creates a memorable and moving experience" (Audiofile).

-Anne