Best Audiobooks of 2008
Titles that hit big with our audio reviewers
By Raya Kuzyk -- Library Journal, 1/15/2009
Ladies and gents of library land, lend us your ears! The best listens of 2008, selected by our intrepid band of audio reviewers, range from tales of Bengali and Haitian immigrants to political autobiographies and take us from locales as diverse as North Dakota, sub-Saharan Africa, and Pakistan. There's "cake" from Sloane Crosley and emotional pyromania from David Sedaris; a biographical tribute to Maya Angelou and debut novels laced with the supernatural from Andrew Davidson and Brunonia Barry. All in all, a very good year for the sonically inclined, which you can sweeten further by revisiting the crème de la crème audiobooks of 2007 and 2006.
Barry, Brunonia. The Lace Reader. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.; retail, HarperAudio). Playaway®. download.
Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan “seamlessly” interweaves this best seller about a family that reads the future in lace.(LJ 10/1/08)
Davidson, Andrew. The Gargoyle. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.
Actor Lincoln Hoppe's reading in debut novelist Davidson's haunting story of a transcendent love is flawless. (LJ 11/1/08)
Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.; retail, HarperAudio). Playaway®. download.
A multigenerational tale, a duet of readers, an “exceptional” performance. (LJ 9/15/08)
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.
Lahiri's brilliant, insightful look at Bengali immigrants' lives gets enriched by Sarita Choudhury and Ajay Naidu.(LJ 7/08)
Pelecanos, George. The Turnaround. CD (lib., Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America; retail, Hachette Audio). download.
Dion Graham gives Pelecanos's best-selling Washington, DC–set crime novel “exactly the right ambiance.” (LJ 11/15/08)
Picoult, Jodi. Change of Heart. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.). Playaway®.
A five-member cast “masterfully” brings to life this #1 New York Times best-selling examination of faith. (LJ 6/15/08)
Shaffer, Mary Ann & Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.
Five readers lend “nuance, depth, and crackle” to this best-selling look at postwar friendships, which is currently being adapted to film. (Xpress Reviews 9/9/08)
Silva, Daniel. Moscow Rules. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Brilliance Audio). download.
Phil Gigante brings Silva's eighth Gabriel Allon title—after The Secret Servant, a 2007 LJ Best Audio—vividly to life. (LJ 9/1/08)
Slaughter, Karin. Martin Misunderstood. CD (lib., Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America). download.
Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) makes Slaughter's lively novella about a nebbishy, crime fiction–loving accountant “laugh-out-loud hilarious.” (LJ 9/1/08)
Stanley, Michael. A Carrion Death. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Tantor Media). download.
This pseudonymous kickoff to a sub–Saharan Africa–set mystery series gets “spot-on” Simon Prebble treatment. (LJ 11/1/08)
NONFICTION
Bhutto, Benazir. Reconciliation. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, HarperAudio). download.
Rita Wolf reads the late Pakistani prime minister's superb work addressing tensions between Islam and the West, written days before her 2007 assassination. (LJ 8/08)
Castro, Fidel & Ignacio Ramonet. Fidel Castro: My Life. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Tantor Media). download.
Todd McLaren and Patrick Lawlor convince us we're “actually hearing” journalist Ramonet and Castro speak. (LJ 6/15/08)
Corrigan, Kelly. The Middle Place. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Blackstone Audio). download.
Tavia Gilbert impressively voices the male and female characters of Corrigan's “heart-wrenching and humorous” breast cancer memoir. (LJ 5/1/08)
Crosley, Sloane. I Was Told There'd Be Cake. CD (retail, Penguin Audio). download.
Vintage Books publicist Crosley reads her own “opinionated, witty, and raw” essays; a New York Times best seller optioned by HBO. (LJ 10/15/08)
Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. CD (lib., Recorded Bks).
Danticat shares her Haitian family's triumphs and tragedies; Robin Miles conveys the narrative's glimmering nuances “with calm affection and respect.” (LJ 2/15/08)
Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded. CD (retail, Macmillan Audio; lib., Macmillan Audio from Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America). download.
Friedman follows The World Is Flat, a2006 Audie® Award winner, with this powerful tract on global warming, overconsumption, and overpopulation. (LJ 11/15/08)
Gillespie, Marcia Ann & Richard A. Long. Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Brilliance Audio). download.
A biographical tribute coauthored by two longtime friends of Angelou's and “skillfully” read by Dion Graham. (LJ 7/08)
Guare, John. The House of Blue Leaves. CD (retail, L.A. Theatre Works). download.
The performance by Sharon Gless in Guare's Tony Award–winning play is particularly “tender, sincere, and evocative.” (LJ 11/1/08)
Morris, Charles R. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown. CD (retail, Phoenix Audio).
Nick Summers's reading of this best-selling, sobering assessment of the subprime mortgage crisis by a former banker is wholly “solid, composed.” (LJ 9/1/08)
Sedaris, David. When You Are Engulfed in Flames. CD (retail, Hachette Audio). Playaway®. download.
Sedaris reads his latest essay collection examining the absurdities of everyday life with his inimitable delivery and cadence. (LJ 9/1/08)
Author Information
Raya Kuzyk is Media Editor, LJ
