Favorite audiobooks of 2023 Archives

Little Monsters

by Adrienne Brodeur

From the publisher: "Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated—and as adults their relationship is strained. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As Adam grows more attuned to the frequencies of the deep sea and less so to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan the elaborate gifts they will present to their father on his birthday, jostling for primacy in this small family unit. Set in the fraught summer of 2016, and drawing on the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, Little Monsters is an absorbing, sharply observed family story by a writer who knows Cape Cod inside and out—its Edenic lushness and its snakes."

How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told

by Harrison Scott Key

From the publisher: "One gorgeous autumn day, Harrison discovers that his wife—the sweet, funny, loving mother of their three daughters, a woman 'who's spent just about every Sunday of her life in a church'—is having an affair with a family friend. What will he do? Kick her out? Set fire to all her panties in the yard? Beat this man to death with a gardening implement? Ask God for help in winning her back? Armed with little but a sense of humor and a hunger for the truth, Harrison embarks on a hellish journey into his past, seeking answers to the riddles of faith and forgiveness. Through an absurd series of escalating confessions and betrayals, Harrison reckons with his failure to love his wife in the ways she needed most, resolves to fight for his family, and in a climax almost too ridiculous to be believed, finally learns that love is no joke. How to Stay Married is a comic romp unlike any in contemporary literature, a wild Pilgrim's Progress through the hellscape of marriage and the mysteries of mercy."

Skyward

by Brandon Sanderson

From the publisher: "Spensa's world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father's—a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa's chances of attending flight school at slim to none. No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars."

The Rachel Incident

by Caroline O'Donoghue

This is the book I can't stop recommending! I picked this up on a whim and am so glad I did: the novel reads like a warmer, wittier Sally Rooney, perfect for fans of introspective first-person literary fiction. When the novel begins, Rachel is living in London, happily married and pregnant, when she hears the news that one of her old long-ago college professors is in a coma. (This beginning reminds me of one of my favorite novels, This Must Be the Place.) This discovery prompts her to recall a pivotal year in her early twenties, when she met her best friend James working at the bookstore and their lives soon became enmeshed with those of the professor and his wife. A provocative novel with an enticing plot that thoughtfully interrogates themes of power, class, art, and the queer experience; I adored the Irish accents in Tara Flynn's excellent narration.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride

by Cary Elwes

This was a blast! I'm so glad our What Should I Read Next patreon community gave me the push I needed to finally read this. As You Wish is very much a celebration of The Princess Bride, as I expected. But even more than that, it’s a celebration of the creative process, and what that process specifically looked like in the making of this one particular film. In the particular is found the universal; the universal themes that grabbed me in this story were the challenge to pull off something that many said could never be done (in this case, to adapt William Goldman’s novel to the screen), the timeless struggle of the creator to make something great, and the joy that comes with the stars exactly aligning to bring the right people to the right place at the right time to make something special. Of course now I need to watch the movie again.

Before I Let Go

by Kennedy Ryan

I've often heard this 2022 novel described as a romance but it read more like a family drama with a strong (open door) love story component. However you want to categorize it, Wesleigh Siobhan and Jakobi Diem's dual narration sucked me right in on audio! Yasmen and Josiah met and married young and have always been #couplegoals to their friends. But several years ago, after Si's beloved aunt died and their third child is delivered stillborn, they plunged into grief and Yas struggled with clinical depression. They divorced in the aftermath of their terrible losses, but now that they've found some measure of stability as coparents and as business partners, circumstances (mainly in the form of Si's attractive new love interest) have Yas questioning if they might have a shot after all. This was such a good (and emotional) ride on audio: I loved the Atlanta locale, all the restaurant details, and the emotional promise of two thirtysomethings finding a second chance at true love. I burned through this story because I needed to hear them get their happy ending.

The Ensemble

by Aja Gabel

A much-anticipated debut from former cellist Gabel. It’s the 1990s, and four promising musicians decide to forego the usual soloist path and bind their professional (and personal) lives to form a string quartet. Jana is driven, Henry a prodigy, Daniel a success through dogged determination, and Brit a bit of a wild card. With the feel of a dysfunctional family novel, the characters aren’t always likable but always ring true, and Gabel nails a wide range of human emotions—joy and pain, envy and fear, frustration and near-despair—as she portrays the group’s turbulent eighteen years together. An utterly believable and emotionally compelling submersion into the competitive world of classical music.

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?

by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

This was a delight on audio! I was inspired to pick it up after WSIRN alum Valencia Taylor mentioned it in a Patreon bonus episode with our team member Shannan. Blackburn's debut is based on her own experience as a Nigerian woman whose mother desperately wants her to find love and happiness—which means, of course, that she must find a husband. Yinka is 31, a British-Nigerian woman in possession of a degree from Oxford, a good job, and loads of friends, and yet she can't help but be bothered by her aunties' fervent prayers that she find romance. Driven by this insecurity, she tells a little white lie, which soon enough lands her in a heap of trouble with those who love her most. I enjoyed cheering Yinka on as she attempts to put things to rights and find love, happiness, and—most crucially—self-acceptance. Narrated by Ronke Adékoluejo.

Wrong Place Wrong Time

by Gillian McAllister

This was the best kind of brain bender! In the opening pages of this time travel mystery, a British woman watches in horror from her window as her 18-year-old son stabs a man on the street. A horrific scene ensues, the police take him away, she spends the evening at the station in shock and agony. But then Jen wakes up the next morning, only to find that it’s not the next morning at all, but the day before the crime occurred. When she wakes up the next morning, it’s the day before that. Jen seems to be living her life backward, and—with the help of a physicist friend-of-a-friend—determines that the only way to break out of the time loop is to “undo” whatever event put her son on the path to murder. To do that she has to go far, far back in time, getting to the roots of her most important relationships. This may end up on my best of the year list; it will certainly be one of my most enjoyable reading experiences.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

by Shannon Chakraborty

City of Brass author Chakraborty kicks off a new trilogy with this spirited tale of a renegade pirate captain—who happens to be a middle-aged mother simply trying to enjoy her retirement. But after a former crewmate’s daughter is kidnapped, Amina reluctantly accepts one last job and pulls her long-retired crew together again to help. The historical fantasy unfolds on the high seas of the twelfth-century Indian Ocean and bursts with period detail and magical adventures. From the book’s touching dedication to the detailed author’s note and acknowledgments, I found this imaginative tale and irresistible protagonist unique, exciting, and just plain fun. For fans of Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and Brandon Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea.

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma

by Claire Dederer

I was previously unfamiliar with Dederer's work but picked this up because I was interested in the topic: how can we reconcile our love for art with the biographies of its creators? Gone are the days when fans knew little about the real people who created the art they consumed; Dederer writes of how things are different in the internet era: "Biography used to be something you sought out, yearned for, actively pursued. Now it falls on your head all day long." She frames her case from the jarring (and somewhat graphic) opening: she has long loved the films of Roman Polanski—Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist—yet Polanski committed objectively terrible crimes. What is the fan to make of this? How can the fan think about their relationship to art made by always imperfect and sometimes monstrous people? I found this a thoughtful and thought-provoking treatment, which covered questions I knew I wanted to hear more about and also topics I didn't expect to enter the conversation, like capitalism. (So fascinating!) I listened to the audio (narrated by the author), and found Dederer's conversational style worked well in that format.

Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain

by Andrew McCarthy

Our team member Ginger raved about this book ... and then when I was looking for an audiobook Will and I could listen to together on our way to the beach, I realized the walk in question takes place on Spain's Camino de Santiago. Will and I were actively anticipating our upcoming trip to Spain, so the timing was perfect! This is the real-time account of the Brat Pack actor's 500-mile walk across Spain with his 19-year-old son Sam, detailing the pair's reasons for embarking on the trip, their long, hot days spent walking—sometimes upwards of 20 miles a day—in the hot summer sun, the fellow walkers they meet along the way, the food they eat, the coffee they drink, the inns they sleep in, what they talk about along the way. We rarely listen to audiobooks together and enjoyed this one so much. The narration was especially good: the elder McCarthy reads the majority but son Sam frequently adds his own voice, which made for a wonderful listening experience.

Favorite audiobooks of 2023