Best audiobooks of 2024 Archives

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships

by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

This was a walk-another-mile, fold-another-load DELIGHT. I wasn't sure about it at first, because the opening meet cute was a little much, but I settled in and thoroughly enjoyed this chaste blend of women's fiction and romance. The story centers a nearly-30-year-old woman named Jo who was once excitedly completing a 30-by-30 list, but her plans got derailed by a family tragedy. Then her nieces unexpectedly show up for the summer and basically demand that she get back to work on her list. She gets started by kissing a stranger: she thinks she'll never see him again, but surprise! He's her new neighbor, AND her new coworker (soon to be dubbed "Hot Yacht Chef") aboard the luxury yacht where Jo works as a steward. With the help of her friends, family, and new love interest, Jo starts facing the pain of the past, and plotting a course for the future—including plans to knock out that bucket list. Narrated by Karissa Vacker. (Chaste.)

Colored Television

by Danzy Senna

This darkly comic satire centers on a Los Angeles-based novelist named Jane who is tired of pouring herself into her work only to barely make ends meet. L.A. is expensive—especially with two kids—and novel writing just doesn't pay. Jane decides she wants to "sell out" like her friend Brett and become a screenwriter, with its predictable hours and paychecks. But when Jane makes one tiny lie in order to secure a gig, it leads to a bigger one, then a bigger one—and it's only a matter of time before her precarious house of cards comes crashing down. This was smart, funny, and packed with insider-y publishing mischief. Fun fact: Senza is married to novelist Percival Everett, and she draws on her own life experience in sooo many ways in this (fictional) story. I initially tried this in print and it just didn't stick but once I switched to the audiobook narrated by Kristen Ariza, I breezed right through it!

Black Cake

by Charmaine Wilkerson

I jumped into this 2022 release after reading and loving Wilkerson's sophomore novel, Good Dirt. At once a family saga, a sibling story, and historical fiction surrounding a family secret, Black Cake introduces us to the Bennett family. When the matriarch Eleanor Bennett dies, her children inherit a strange legacy: a black cake made from an old family recipe and an audio recording in which Eleanor finally clues her children in to the identity-upending secrets she's been keeping for decades.

When in Rome

by Sarah Adams

This winter I found myself in need of an engaging, uplifting, and not-too-heavy listen for a solo road trip. I opted for the first book in Sarah Adams's When in Rome series; I read the second book Practice Makes Perfect last year but reading them out of order was no problem. This romance was the perfect book for the occasion: in it, famous pop star Rae Rose desperately needs a getaway and flees Nashville for Rome, Kentucky. She would go to Italy if she could, but since the setting for her favorite Audrey Hepburn movie is too far to be practical, she settles for the much nearer Rome that pops up in her GPS. Car trouble puts her in the path of Noah Walker, a gruff but handsome pie shop owner with a heart of gold. I enjoyed the small town charm, celebrity/commoner relationship, career details for music and pies, and Noah's deeply invested sisters. The book was the exact right length to carry me to my destination, and Karissa Vacker and Andrew Eiden's narration was perfection. After reading this, I feel like a re-watch of Roman Holiday is in order.

The Woman on the Ledge

by Ruth Mancini

I recommended this British standalone mystery to Tara on episode 425 of WSIRN as a plotty thriller, for fans of an intricately paced story where the character's motivations are important to the story. In the opening pages, a woman falls to her death from a fancy high-rise bank. Another woman on the scene is arrested for her murder. As readers, we're watching this unfold, convinced she's innocent of the crime. And yet, it becomes clear to the detective on the case (and readers) that she's hiding something. She seems to be protecting someone, but we don't know who. Something weird is happening and we don't know what it is; it doesn't make sense, but she's not guilty. As the story progresses, we bring in more characters and visit different timelines in the highly textured London setting, we slowly come to see what really happened, and more importantly, why. This is great on audio, narrated by Annabel Scholey.

Sipsworth

by Simon van Booy

Eighty-three-year-old Helen Cartwright moves back to her English village hometown after sixty years in Australia. Her husband and adult son have both died and she doesn’t feel the need to seek out new friends. The quiet solitude is enough as she lives out the remainder of her life. When she finds and rescues an abandoned pet mouse whom she names Sipsworth, she has no idea just how much her life is about to change. A moving exploration of grief, loneliness, community, and second chances.

The Briar Club

by Kate Quinn

This historical fiction set during the McCarthy era in 1950 Washington, DC takes place almost entirely in the Briarwood House, a women's boardinghouse run by a parsimonious landlord. The structure is interesting: we hear from each of the house's residents in turn, but just once, and learn of her dreams, disappointments, and the secrets she's keeping from her housemates. But the house has its own opinions on what unfolds within its walls: we hear from the house itself repeatedly throughout the story, beginning in the opening chapter when it tells us two people have been murdered there. Beautifully constructed and highly entertaining. I definitely folded extra laundry so I could find out what happens next. If you opt for the audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, don't miss her conversation with Kate Quinn at the end.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir

by Ina Garten

Ina Garten’s much-anticipated memoir was certainly on my radar but wasn’t necessarily a priority read. But then I found myself in need of a new audiobook on October 1, the memoir’s actual release day. I downloaded the audiobook on a whim and couldn’t stop listening to Ina narrate her own story. I listened to much of it in the car on a rather stressful solo road trip, and found Ina to be the perfect traveling companion: chatty, engaging, and soothing all at once. Maybe you should take my words with a grain of salt because I’m by no means a superfan: I have a few Ina Garten cookbooks, I’ve had good luck with her recipes, I’ve seen a few snippets of her tv show while vacationing someplace with all the channels. I’m not a student of Everything Ina—but golly I loved this memoir.

Weyward

by Emilia Hart

I'm happy to share this is our January 2025 MMD Book Club selection! I knew it was a great pick when I devoured the audiobook in two days and came away with both a deep feeling of readerly satisfaction and an urge to talk about what happened with my fellow readers. This layered story weaves together the narratives of three different women in the same family, over a timeline that spans five centuries. In the 1600s Altha is accused of being a witch for her knowledge of natural remedies and the healing arts. In the 1940s Violet is coming of age during WWII in a home where men are all-powerful and women are feared, though her own mother is absent, having died mysteriously when she was young. And in 2019 Kate is a young professional in London who is feeling increasingly isolated and imperiled due to her increasingly disturbing relationship with her boyfriend. Though living in different eras and facing different circumstances, Hart shows us how these women are fundamentally alike and share a deep spiritual connection that will ultimately save them. Weyward reminds me a little bit of Sarah Addison Allen and a whole lot of Kate Morton, two authors I love. I'm excited to read more from Hart—but first I'm excited to reread Weyward for Book Club and discuss it with the author in January!

A Song to Drown Rivers

by Ann Liang

Bestselling YA author Liang makes her adult debut with a plotty, romantically-laced historical fantasy based on the ancient legend of Xishi, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Xishi’s beauty is renowned throughout the land, but when the king’s military advisor discovers she is also brave, she is recruited to use that beauty as a weapon in service of her people. Driven by her sense of duty, she consents, agreeing to spy on the enemy kingdom of Wu by becoming their reviled king’s concubine: her job is to make the man she loathes fall in love with her. A page-turning epic that thoughtfully examines the complexities of womanhood, the horrors of war, the obstacles to love, and even the nature of fame. Heads up for audiophiles: the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus is excellent.

A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon

by Kevin Fedarko

In this nonfiction adventure-slash-history, Fedarko and his long-time photojournalist pal Pete McBride celebrate the National Park Service centennial by embarking on a 750-mile end-to-end traverse—described by many as “the toughest hike in the world”—across Grand Canyon National Park, which Fedarko calls both the most visited and least understood park. During their year in the canyon, they come face to face with the grandeur and terror of their landscape: it gets so hot the glue on their shoes melts, then so cold their boots freeze solid overnight, and the pair endure more than one (absolutely terrifying and often nauseating) near-death experience. Along the way we meet the very few intrepid explorers who know the canyons best, as well as the Native people who've known it longest. Fedarko narrates his own audiobook: it took me a few chapters to get used to his style but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

by Judi Dench

I would not have enjoyed this nearly as much eighteen months ago, but last fall I took an acting class that focused on a sampling of well-known scenes from Shakespeare plays that showed romantic relationships at pivotal moments. To my great surprise, in this conversational nonfiction work Judi Dench (as voiced by Barbara Flynn, in narration so spot-on I thought it was Dench) and her friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea discussed nearly every single one of them—and so I was familiar with the material and ready to hear from Dame Judi about her astounding seven decades in the theater, a span in which Shakespearean performances have featured prominently. Audio felt perfect for this work because it is in fact a series of conversations; the print book is a transcription of those talks. Judi and Brendan are warm and funny and wise: I found them to be good company, interesting and soothing, when I was road tripping alone this fall.

Best audiobooks of 2024

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