Each month, for your literary listening pleasure, our friends at AudioFile Magazine bring us the cream of the audiobook crop.
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Now, at 2024 draws to a close, they’ve rounded up the very best audiobooks of the year.
Happy listening and happy holidays!
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BEST FICTION AUDIOBOOKS FOR 2024
AudioFile’s 2024 Best Fiction Audiobooks are excellent choices for anyone in search of a good story. The skilled narrators draw listeners into a reimagined classic, absorbing historical fiction, and fascinating contemporary reads.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez| Read by Alma Cuervo
[Recorded Books | 9 hrs.]
Alma Cuervo’s warm, rich timbre and measured style suit this captivating audiobook. Her delivery works perfectly as she emulates the author’s empathetic tone and wit. This is a vividly imagined story of a novelist whose nom de plume is Scheherazade. She leaves Vermont and returns to her native Dominican Republic to bury her untold (unfinished) works.
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid| Read by Nicole Lewis
[Penguin Audio | 13 hrs.]
Millie Cousins is a senior resident assistant at the University of Arkansas. When a visiting professor and journalist offers her money in exchange for the opportunity to eavesdrop on the dorm’s residents, Millie decides to take the risk and accept.
Lewis’ performance makes the vivid dialogue sing. She creates unique voices for all of the major characters, complete with the perfect accents and delivery of expressions.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty| Read by Caroline Lee, Geraldine Hakewill
[Random House Audio | 16 hrs.]
Narrators Caroline Lee and Geraldine Hakewill weave the threads of this tense exploration of free will. Lee voices a nondescript woman on a delayed flight across Australia who suddenly stands and begins pointing to fellow passengers and stating how they will die and when.
Hakewill’s narration creates the sense that the other travelers are united in fear and hope.
The Limits by Nell Freudenberger| Read by Rebecca Lowman
[Random House Audio | 11.75 hrs.]
Set in New York City and French Polynesia in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this mesmerizing audiobook is flawlessly narrated by Rebecca Lowman. Lowman’s flexible, emotive delivery and steady pace settle listeners into this contemplative story exploring medicine, environmental devastation, colonialism, family dynamics, and the impact of privilege during the pandemic.
James by Percival Everett| Read by Dominic Hoffman
[Random House Audio | 7.75 hrs.]
Dominic Hoffman narrates this reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but this time Jim tells his own story. Hoffman’s performance captures the varying tone of Jim’s dialogue, highlighting the shifts in his vocabulary and rhythm.
With its subtlety and attention to detail, Hoffman’s narration reinforces Jim’s character and narrative arcs as Jim takes back his agency in life.
The Women by Kristin Hannah| Read by Julia Whelan, Kristin Hannah
[Macmillan Audio | 15 hrs.]
The sure touch of Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan transforms Kristen Hannah’s absorbing novel about Vietnam War combat nurses into an addictive listen. As the novel interweaves historical research with the characters’ Vietnam and postwar lives, Whelan’s intensity and warmth help listeners empathize with the personal and understand the big picture.
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BEST NONFICTION & CULTURE AUDIOBOOKS FOR 2024
AudioFile’s 2024 Best Nonfiction & Culture Audiobooks give listeners insights into everything from the reality behind reality TV to global affairs to basketball courts to poetry and beyond. Powerful narrations from both authors and professional narrators make for absorbing and informative audiobook listening.
Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum| Read by Gabra Zackman
[Random House Audio | 15.25 hrs.]
Gabra Zackman’s narration fully embodies a balance of deep insight and affability—a perfect fit here. Nussbaum’s approach to the topic of reality television transcends the usual narrative history as it captures key social commentary of programs unique to their time and place.
Zackman’s voice is gently entertaining and always engaging, guiding listeners through this fascinating history of modern pop culture.
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates| Read by Ta-Nehisi Coates
[Penguin Audio | 5.25 hrs.]
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates narrates this must-listen, a powerful and thought-provoking collection of essays. Coates frequently addresses listeners in the second person, a technique that creates an intimate connection to his words.
This audiobook is a haunting, timely examination of global affairs and the importance of truth and inclusivity in our culture.
Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris| Read by Michele Norris and a Full Cast
[Simon & Schuster Audio | 17.75 hrs.]
Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris and a full cast deliver a must-listen performance of Norris’ riveting examination of race in America. Based on twelve years of submissions to Norris’s Race Card Project—six words about race from over half-a-million people—the audiobook shifts between Norris’ clear, warm, thoughtful commentary and participants’ contributions, all delivered by a talented group of narrators.
A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry by Mary Oliver| Read by Kimberly Farr
[Harper Audio | 3.5 hrs.]
The best poets get that way because they have given a great deal of thought to questions such as: “What is poetry?” “How does it get that way?” Mary Oliver was one of those best poets, and in this audio version of her classic work about how to write and read poetry she offers some answers, both detailed and expansive, to John Ciardi’s classic question: “How does a poem mean?”
Kimberly Farr’s performance is wonderful, as witty and wise as the text.
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib| Read by Hanif Abdurraqib
[Random House Audio | 8.75 hrs.]
Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest book is a transcendent feat of poetry, memoir, and—well, magic. His narration is as breathless and beautiful as his prose; this book is epic in every sense of the word. It’s an ode to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio; a love letter to basketball; a meditation on home and belonging; and an exploration of faith, Blackness, music, and place.
What’s Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready by Frederik G. Pferdt| Read by Sean Pratt
[Harper Audio | 7 hrs.]
Narrating this cutting-edge guide to personal growth and initiative, Sean Pratt captures every bit of the author’s enthusiasm for the lessons he learned while leading an innovation team at Google. Pratt’s tone and intensity sync perfectly with the author’s stories and insights.
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For the full list of 2024 Best Audiobooks, visit AudioFile’s website.
