Listen List
91´«Ã½
The Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration seeks to highlight outstanding audiobook titles that merit special attention by general adult listeners and the librarians who work with them.
Details
Frequency: Annual
91´«Ã½
The list of winning titles is annotated, stressing the appeal elements of the title, and includes listen-alikes to lead listeners to additional audio experiences.
Award Information
Title | Year | |
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The Signature of All Things
2014 - Winner(s) Stevenson’s sublimely melodious, richly inflected voice brings myriad characters, places and even plants and animals to life in this story of a fictional 19th... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
The Son
2014 - Winner(s) Through three interwoven story lines, this powerful, sprawling family saga maps the history of Texas from 1849 onward. A cast of expert narrators immerse listeners... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Vampires in the Lemon Grove
2014 - Winner(s) Quirky, innovative, and brightly new, Russell’s collection of short stories blurs the line between horror, fantasy and myth. Her impressive scope is well matched by... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
The Warden
2014 - Winner(s) Shaw-Parker inhabits the role of Trollope’s amiable narrator in this social drama of English village life as he companionably guides readers through the often-amusing perils of ecclesiastical politics. With... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Boys in the Boat
2014 - Winner(s) Herrmann’s lively and emotionally connected reading captures the excitement and detail of this real-life Cinderella story of the U.S. rowing team’s journey to the 1936... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
World War Z
2014 - Winner(s) Melancholy in tone and rich in social insights rather than action-packed disaster, this futuristic apocalyptic “mockumentary” of life after the zombie wars features vivid characterizations... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Grand Sophy
2014 - Winner(s) Recently arrived on the London social scene, the indomitable Sophy Stanton-Lacey wreaks her own brand of delightful havoc in this charming Regency romp. With a... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Heartburn
2014 - Winner(s) Streep narrates celebrity chef Rachel Samstat’s account of her husband’s betrayal with all the unflagging energy of a pregnant woman scorned, aggrieved and bereft. Her... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Longbourn
2014 - Winner(s) Fielding narrates Baker’s extraordinary revisionist take on "Pride and Prejudice" with a quiet, shimmering assurance, as she exposes the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the Bennet family... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
2014 - Winner(s) Gaiman, as both author and narrator, immerses listeners in a modern fairy tale in which two stalwart children pit themselves against dark and relentless terrors... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
Oleander Girl
2014 - Winner(s) Upon the death of her grandfather, Korobi learns a shocking family secret and, postponing her wedding, journeys to America, searching for truths that must be... |
2014 - Winner(s) | |
River of Stars
2014 - Winner(s) While barbarians attack the decadent government of Kitai, a fantasy world resembling ancient China, a young man emerges from the provinces to save the empire... |
2014 - Winner(s) |
Title | Year | |
---|---|---|
Miles
2013 - Winner(s)
With his raspy, whispery voice Dion Graham inhabits musical genius Miles Davis in this tell-all autobiography that flows like a jazz riff. While setting... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
2013 - Winner(s) Affectionate and playful, Ari Fliakos’ narration is addictive as he expertly voices full-bodied characters, savoring their eccentricities, in this imaginative work of “geek-lit.” His optimistic... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
Angelmaker
2013 - Winner(s) In a gravelly yet gleeful voice, Weyman narrates this swashbuckling genre-blend of spies, gangsters, and a doomsday machine. The lavish and imaginative story of Joe... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Pickwick Papers
2013 - Winner(s) Timson’s irrepressible performance of this rollicking romp through 1830s England in Dickens’s first novel invites listeners along as Pickwick and his crew ramble through the... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
Bring Up the Bodies
2013 - Winner(s) In this grim and gripping tale, masterfully told, Vance brings Tudor England to life. Beautifully accented and paced, his pitch-perfect narration deftly navigates the large and... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Remains of the Day
2013 - Winner(s) Prebble’s performance is like listening to a full cast production so great is his skill in crafting characters. Navigating memories of both “upstairs” and “downstairs,”... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Chalk Girl
2013 - Winner(s) The discovery of a blood-covered little girl wandering in Central Park draws police detective Kathleen Mallory into an investigation involving long hidden secrets of New... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Death of Sweet Mister
2013 - Winner(s) Welcome to the world of Shug Akins, a thirteen-year-old loner coming of age in the Ozarks. Tecosky skillfully demonstrates that the vernacular of this country... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Garden Intrigue
2013 - Winner(s) In this lively ninth Pink Carnation romp, Eloise and Colin are beset by a film crew, while in the 19th century, agent Augustus Whittlesby, infamously... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
Heft
2013 - Winner(s)
This magnificent dual narration illuminates a poignant story of the isolation, family relationships, and new beginnings of two lost souls on a collision course... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The House of Silk
2013 - Winner(s)
In a refined, resonant, and delightfully self-aware voice, Jacobi re-creates the world of Sherlock Holmes. His pacing is lovely – leisurely, inviting, and seductive... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
The Inquisitor
2013 - Winner(s)
Fliakos’ unflinching depiction of Geiger, an expert in the art of “information retrieval” (aka torture), intensifies this absorbing and disturbing thriller. He sets the... |
2013 - Winner(s) | |
Macbeth
2013 - Winner(s) Cumming makes “The Scottish Play” an electric event, allowing modern audiences a chance to experience it with the same excitement, horror and wonder Shakespeare’s contemporary... |
2013 - Winner(s) |
Title | Year | |
---|---|---|
All Clear
2012 - Selection(s) This sequel to Blackout, a stellar science fiction adventure, follows the plight of a group of historians from 2060, trapped in WWII England during... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Mischief of the Mistletoe
2012 - Selection(s) In this Regency Christmas caper, a pudding, a spy, a hilarious school theatrical, and a memorable country house party lead to laughter, love, and an... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Bossypants
2012 - Selection(s) In a very funny memoir made decidedly funnier by its reader, Tina Fey relates sketches and memories of her time at SNL and Second City... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
2012 - Selection(s) Dominic Hoffman reads this elegiac novel of memory and redemption with fierce grace, inhabiting Mosley’s characters with voices perfectly crafted in pitch and rhythm. His... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Life Itself: A Memoir
2012 - Selection(s) Ebert’s clear-eyed account chronicles his life from his youth in Urbana, Illinois, to his fame as a world-renowned film critic in Chicago. Herrmann’s engaging, affable... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Middlemarch
2012 - Selection(s) Juliet Stevenson brings crisp clarity, a witty sensibility, and a charming tonal quality to Eliot’s masterpiece of provincial life. Through her deft management of pacing... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
One of Our Thursdays is Missing
2012 - Selection(s) In this genre-bending romp, the “written” Thursday must rescue the “real” Thursday from a nefarious Bookworld plot. Emily Gray wears Thursday like a second skin... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
A Red Herring Without Mustard
2012 - Selection(s) Flavia de Luce, a terrifyingly proficient 11-year-old amateur chemist and sleuth, investigates the beating of a gypsy and the death of a villager in this... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Snowman
2012 - Selection(s) The icy chill of the Norwegian countryside and a series of cold-blooded murders dominate this Harry Hole crime novel. Sachs contrasts Hole’s world-weary professional attitude... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
A Tale of Two Cities
2012 - Selection(s) The tragedy and heroism of the French Revolution come alive through Prebble’s distinctive and graceful narration. As the lives of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
The Tiger's Wife
2012 - Selection(s) In this imaginative novel, Balkan physician Natalia, on a mission of mercy, learns of her beloved grandfather’s death. Duerden’s mesmerizing voice leads listeners through the... |
2012 - Selection(s) | |
Why Read Moby-Dick?
2012 - Selection(s) In what should be required reading before cracking the pages of Moby-Dick, Nathaniel Philbrick’s homage to this great American novel compels the listener to... |
2012 - Selection(s) |
91´«Ã½
The list of winning titles is annotated, stressing the appeal elements of the title, and includes listen-alikes to lead listeners to additional audio experiences.
91´«Ã½
The Council announces the winning titles at the CODES Book and Media Awards Reception, held the Sunday of each 91´«Ã½ Midwitner Meeting. All selected titles are published on the RUSA Web site following the event.